Adjectives: position and form
A big house, the house is big: where adjectives go, and why they don't take -s.
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An adjective describes a person or a thing: big, old, cheap, happy, red. It usually goes in one of two places: before a noun, or after the verb be.
Before a noun
When an adjective and a noun go together, the adjective comes first.
- We live in an old house.
- She's got a new job.
- It's a quiet street.
- Incorrect: I've got a car red.
- Correct: I've got a red car.The adjective goes before the noun, not after it.
- Incorrect: They live in a flat small.
- Correct: They live in a small flat.
After be
An adjective can also come after am, is, are. Then there is no noun after it.
- The house is old.
- I'm tired today.
- The shops here are very expensive.
- Incorrect: My sister is a tall.
- Correct: My sister is tall.With no noun after the adjective, don't use a or an.
You can also say it with a noun: My sister is a tall woman.
The same form for one and many
An English adjective doesn't change for one or many. It is the same for one thing and for many, and for men, women and things.
One | More than one |
|---|---|
a big house | two big houses |
a good friend | good friends |
the room is warm | the rooms are warm |
- My brother is tall, and my sisters are tall too.
- These are cheap shoes.
- Incorrect: We've got two bigs dogs.
- Correct: We've got two big dogs.Only the noun takes -s. The adjective doesn't.
- Incorrect: The rooms in this hotel are bigs.
- Correct: The rooms in this hotel are big.
A or an: look at the next word
The article goes before the adjective. Choose a or an by the sound of the word right after it.
- an apple, a green apple
- a job, an interesting job
- Incorrect: She's got a old bike.
- Correct: She's got an old bike.Old starts with a vowel sound, so we say an.
Very, really, quite
Words like very, really and quite go before the adjective. With most adjectives, quite means "more than a little, but not very".
- The film is very good.
- It's a really nice café.
- Our flat is quite small, but it's cheap.
- Incorrect: The hotel is expensive very.
- Correct: The hotel is very expensive.Very comes before the adjective.
Two adjectives
After be, join two adjectives with and. Before a noun we usually put them side by side, with no and.
- The room is small and dark.
- It's a nice old house.
- She has long dark hair.
Look, feel, sound
Adjectives also come after a few verbs like look, feel, sound and taste. These verbs say how something seems to us.
- You look tired.
- I feel cold.
- The soup tastes good.
- That sounds great.