Spanish descriptive adjectives

Descriptive adjectives (adjetivos descriptivos) describe some quality of the noun.

In Spanish, adjectives must agree in gender (masculine, feminine) and number (singular, plural) with the noun they modify and they generally follow the substantive they refer to. 

• Mi madre se compró un abrigo rojo. (My mother bought a red overcoat.)
• Mi hermana tiene dos faldas blancas. (My sister has two white skirts.)

Descriptive adjective endings

Spanish adjectives are usually listed in their masculine singular form in dictionaries.

Here below are the most common masculine endings of descriptive adjectives: 

1. adjectives ending in -o
2. adjectives ending in -e
3. adjectives ending in -ista
4. adjectives ending in consonant

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1. Adjectives ending in -o

Examples: 

• The beautiful (male) dog: El perro bonito 
• The beautiful (male) dogs: Los perros bonitos
• The beautiful (female) dog: La perra bonita 
• The beautiful (female) dogs: Las perras bonitas 

2. Adjectives ending in -e 

Examples: 

• The interesting man: El hombre interesante 
• The interesting men: Los hombres interesantes
• The interesting woman: La mujer interesantes 
• The interesting women: Las mujeres interesantes

3. Adjectives ending in -ista

Examples: 

• The idealist (male) professor: El profesor idealista
• The idealist (male) professors: Los profesores idealistas
• The idealist (female) professor: La profesora idealista
• The idealist (female) professors: Las profesoras idealistas

4. Adjectives ending in consonant

Adjectives that end in a consonant do not change according to gender, but do change for number.

To form the plural, -es has to be added to the singular ending. 

Examples: 

• El libro azul está encima de mi cama. (The blue book is on my bed.)
• Los libros azules están encima de mi cama. (The blue books are on my bed.)

Adjectives ending in z in the singular change the z to a c before adding the plural ending -es.

  Examples: 

• Miguel es un abogado muy capaz. (Miguel is a very capable lawyer.)
• Los defensores publicos son abogados muy capaces. (The public defenders are very capable lawyers.)

Adjectives ending in -or, -ón and -ín have feminine forms. When forming the feminine and plural, remember to drop the accent mark if necessary.  

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* N.B Adjectives ending in -erior do not have a feminine form (e.g. exterior, posterior).

Spanish descriptive adjective list