Introduction
This
post is about the use of describing words/ adjectives in general, and
more specifically about the use of the
masculine/
plural form
of a describing word/ adjective.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you talking to a relative or a work colleague. You are talking about
some friends of yours. The other person wants you to tell him/ her a
little bit about those friends and says to you: "what
are your friends like?".
In Spanish, the
other person could choose to be less formal and ask you:
¿Cómo
son tus amigos?
Alternatively, he/
she could choose to be a little bit more formal and say:
¿Cómo
son sus amigos?
OUR
TIP
This
is a straightforward question about some of your friends. If your
answer does not include a reference to the person asking the
question, you DO NOT need be concerned about the degree of
formality in the original question. You can just concentrate on
answering the question.
Perhaps
you want to describe your friends in the following terms:
- Marital status.
- Profession/ occupation.
- Nationality.
- Their appearance.
- Other characteristics
Here
are some sample replies:
- Mis amigos están solteros* (my friends are single);
- Mis amigos son maestros* (my friends are teachers);
- Mis amigos no tienen hijos (my friends don't have any children);
- Mis amigos son altos* y delgados* (my friends are tall and thin);
- Mis amigos son muy guapos* (my friends are very good looking);
- Mis amigos son mexicanos* (my friends are Mexican)
- Mis amigos son bajos*, un poco gordos* y llevan gafas (my friends are short and a little fat and wear glasses)
- Mis amigos son inteligentes*, trabajadores* y simpáticos* (my friends are intelligent, hard working and pleasant/ likeable);
Notes
The use of the word amigos (masculine/ plural) in the question implies that at least one individual is a male. You need to choose the word “amigas” when all the friends in question are female.
See further practical examples of describing places/ people/ etc.
Now
you should practise answering the question:
¿Cómo
son tus amigos?
*NB
See Grammar below
*Grammar-Adjectives
- GenderNumberAdjectiveamigomasculineonesolteroamigosmasculine/ mixedmore than onesolterosamigafeminineonesolteraamigasfemininemore than onesolteras
Noun-Adjective
Agreement
See notes below on Noun-Adjective agreement
Noun-Adjective
Agreement
As
you can see above, in Spanish you can use describing words/
adjectives when describing people. Below follow some notes on how to
choose the correct form of the adjective to describe a given person.
Adjectives
-Gender
When
you use Spanish describing words/ adjectives, you need to bear in
mind that for each describing word in English, there are often two
related but different describing words/ adjectives in Spanish. The
reason being that Spanish describing words/ adjectives have to
'agree' with the gender (masculine or feminine) of the person they
describe. Most Spanish describing words have similar but separate
words for each of the two genders (for example, alto/
alta). A few, however
have one single form (for example, inteligente).
Thus
when you come to use a describing word to describe a person, you need
to check whether the corresponding Spanish describing word/ adjective
has:
- One single form to describe both a male and female persons (for example , inteligente)
- Two separate forms (for example, alto/ alta).- If the describing word/ adjective has two separate forms, then you need to choose the form which matches the gender (masculine/ feminine) of the person to describe.
Adjectives
-Number
When
you use Spanish describing words/ adjectives, you also need to bear
in mind that Spanish describing words/ adjectives have singular and
plural* forms the same as nouns. A Spanish describing word/ adjective
must also to 'agree' with the number (singular/
plural) of the person
it describes. For example, amigo soltero
(unmarried friend) or amigos
solteros (unmarried friends).
*NB
View posts with details about the plural of Spanish words here.
Adjectives
-Use
All
the practical examples in this post refer to more than one friend,
amigos. Consequently,
they require the masculine/ plural form of a describing
word/ adjective, for example, solteros.
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