Using Adjectives to
Describe: Adjective
Agreement
Gender Agreement (pg 59)
You already know that every word in
Spanish has a gender:
masculine or feminine.
El chico = masculine
El helado= masculine
La galleta = feminine
La maestra= feminine
Gender Agreement (pg 59)
Adjectives describe nouns.
– Ex: the fast car, the red dress, the happy girl.
Like the definite (el, la, los, las) and indefinite
articles (un,unos, una, unas),
the adjectives will also “agree” or “match” with the
noun it describes based on two very important
things:
Adjectives must agree in both:
gender
– Masculine / feminine
Number
– Singular (one) / plural (more than one)
In English, we describe nouns using
adjectives. In English, the adjective comes
before the thing you’re describing:
Ex: The red shirt, the big house, the pretty
cat.
In Spanish, you put the adjective after
the noun, and you also have to make it
match the noun in gender and number. So
instead of the big ugly dogs, you say
something like “the dogs bigs uglies.”
Gender Agreement
Here are your steps to use adjectives correctly:
1. Decide the gender of the noun. (masc/fem)
2. Decide the number of the noun. (sing./plur)
3. Form the adjective to match.
4. Put the adjective AFTER the noun.
(This is almost always the rule in Spanish)
ADJECTIVE AFTER!!!!
masculine,
singular
adjectives ending
in –o
serio
adjectives ending
in –e
interesante
adjectives ending
in consonant
joven
adjectives ending
in –ador, nationality
trabajador
masculine,
plural
feminine,
singular
feminine,
plural
Gender Agreement
To say “the serious girl” in Spanish:
Step 1: gender? fem = _____________
Step 2: number? =_____________
Step 3: I need to form the adjective to agree with the
noun.
Make serio feminine =______________________
Step 4:Put the adjective after the noun:
________________________
Let’s try a plural one: number 12 in your
paquete:
12. The lazy dogs.
1. Gender = perro = masculine.
2. Number = plural = add an S = perros.
3. Make the adjective match = perezoso
means lazy, and I need to add an S to the
end. = perezosos
4. Put the adjective after =
5. The dogs lazies = los perros perezosos.
Gender Agreement (pg 59)
Note: For adjectives that end in “e,” they usually
match both genders:
– El chico inteligente, la chica inteligente.
Many adjectives that end with a consonant
match both genders:
– El chico joven, la chica joven
Some add “a” to become feminine. These
adjectives must be learned.
– El chico trabajador, La chica trabajadora.
Gender Agreement (pg 59)
Your turn! Use your vocab lists to describe the
following:
The ugly man = ____________ 
________________  _________________
1. The thin dog. ___________________
2. The big cookies. _________________
3. The red-haired girl.___________________
4. The fat cat. ________________________
5. The ugly woman.
__________________________________
6. The artistic boys.
___________________________________
7. The hard-working students.
_________________________________
8.The serious man.
_________________________________
9. The pretty, studious woman.
___________________________________
10. The athletic girls.
_________________________________
11. The small pizza.
_________________________________
12. The lazy dogs.
________________________________
6. The black socks.
__________________________________
7. 7.The purple blouse.
_________________________________
8.The yellow shoes.
_________________________________
9.The red jacket.
___________________________________
10.The green T-shirt.
_________________________________
11.The strong boy.
_________________________________
12.The lazy woman.
_________________________________
Gender Agreement with SER
Using SER to describe something:
You can use “ser” plus the adjective to describe
a noun.
You need to use SER if you want to say that
someone IS something or some people ARE
something else.
Remember, you use “es” for one object, “son”
for more than one.
Gender Agreement
The form of SER you use should match your
___________________.
Matt is tall = Mateo es alto.
Why did we use ES to talk about Mateo?
_______________________
What if you wanted to describe the students?
________________
How about my friends and I?
_______________________
The man is short and ugly =
El hombre es bajo y feo.
The girls are nice but lazy =
Las chicas son simpáticas pero perezosas.
1. The girls are short.
_______________________________
2. The ice creams are big!
____________________________
3. The men are hard-working and nice.
__________________________________
4. Some girls are ugly.
_________________________________
5. A student (fem) is hard-working and
studious.
____________________________________
What about if you want to talk
about yourself?
I am short and nice =
_______________________________
You are tall and serious
__________________________________
My friend and I are hard-working and smart.
__________________________________
Gender Agreement (pg 59)
Let’s throw in some indefinite articles:
1. A brown jacket.
__________________________
2. Some white skirts.
____________________
3. A green hat.
____________________
4. Some orange pants.
______________________
Gender Agreement (pg 59)
Mix-up! Try these with a partner:
1. The sweater is white.
2. The girl is hard-working.
3. The teacher (m) is boring.
4. The blue pants.
5. The jacket is purple.
6. Some yellow sweaters.