¡Sí puedo! Can-Do Statements

Use adjectives of color to describe things using the correct placement, gender and number of adjectives.

An adjective modifies a noun; that is, it provides more detail about a noun or pronoun. It might provide a color:

  • the ball
  • the red ball

or a description:

  • the house
  • the magnificent house
  • the house is magnificent (adjective following the linking verb “is”)

Note: adjectives only modify nouns or pronouns. To modify verbs, we use adverbs. Compare:

  • You speak well (adverb modifying the verb speak)
  • That was a good speech (adjective modifying the noun speech)

We will get to Spanish adverbs in later chapters. For more about adjectives and adverbs in English, you can visit the style guide here.

As you will see, adjectives in Spanish behave slightly differently from those in English. First, they are often placed after the noun they modify: the white house = la casa blanca.

Also, the ending of adjectives has to agree with the gender and number of the noun it describes: la casa blanca, el libro blanco, los libros blancos, las casas blancas. We will get to all that in the pages ahead!

 

 

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  • Introduction to u00bfEs una rosa roja o blanca?. Authored by: SUNY Oneonta with Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution