Tiscali: Spanish Phrase Finder - Adjectives

Adjectives normally follow the noun they describe in Spanish,

e.g. la manzana roja (the red apple)

Some common exceptions which go before the noun are:

buen good; gran great; ningún no, not any; mucho much, many; poco little, few; primer first; tanto so much, so many,

e.g. el último tren (the last train)

Spanish adjectives also reflect the gender of the noun they describe. To make an adjective feminine, the masculine -o ending is changed to -a ; and the endings -án, -ón, -or, -és change to -ana, -ona, -ora, -esa:

To make an adjective plural an -s is added to the singular form if it ends in a vowel. If the adjective ends in a consonant, -es is added:

masc. los libros rojos fem las manzanas rojas
(the red books) (the red apples)

masc. los hombres habladores fem las mujeres habladoras
(the talkative men) (the talkative women)

my, your, his, her

These words also depend on the gender and number of the noun they accompany and not on the sex of the 'owner'.

with masc. with fem. with plural
sing. noun sing. noun nouns

my mi mi mis
your (familiar sing.) tu tu tus
your (polite sing.) su su sus
his/her/its su su sus
our nuestro nuestra nuestros/nuestras
your (familiar pl.) vuestro vuestra vuestros/vuestras
their su su sus
your (polite pl.) su su sus

There is no distinction between his and her in Spanish:

su billete can mean either his or her ticket.