Adjectives Order
Introduction
In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun — for example, “He's
a silly little boy,” or “She's a young energetic woman.” When you use more than one
adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to their type. This lesson will
explain you the different types of adjectives and the correct order of them.
1. The basic types of adjectives
An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may
Opinion
not agree with you). For example: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult
A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is.
Size
For example: large, tiny, enormous, little
An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is.
Age
For example: ancient, new, young, old
A shape adjective describes the shape of something.
Shape
For example: square, round, flat, rectangular
A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of something.
Colour
For example: blue, pink, reddish, grey
An origin adjective describes where something comes from.
Origin
For example: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
A material adjective describes what something is made from.
Material
For example: wooden, metal, cotton, paper
A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often
Purpose end with “-ing”.
For example: sleeping (as in “sleeping bag”), roasting (as in “roasting tin”)
2. Some examples of adjective order
Article Opinion Size Age Shape Color Origin Material Purpose Noun
A boring old English movie
The big round metal hammer
A small red sleeping bag
The fast new yellow Japanese racing car
An ugly old blue woolen sweater
1. Which is the correct order? a) a small serving Japanese bowl
b) a Japanese small serving bowl 1. round / small / reading / lamp
c) a small Japanese serving bowl
d) a serving small Japanese bowl
2. Which is the correct order?
a) a carving steel new knife
b) a steel new carving knife
c) a new carving steel knife
d) a new steel carving knife ______________________________________
3. Which is the correct order? 2. German / old / yellow / car
a) a French new exciting band
b) an exciting French new band
c) an new French exciting band
d) an exciting new French band
4. Which is the correct order? ______________________________________
a) a plastic big red hat 3. wooden / huge / sailing / ship
b) a big red plastic hat
c) a red big plastic hat
d) a big plastic red hat
5. Which is the correct order?
a) a dirty old cotton tie ______________________________________
b) an old cotton dirty tie 4. physics / boring / old / teacher
c) a dirty cotton old tie
d) a cotton dirty old tie
6. Which is the correct order?
a) a blue beautiful sailing boat
b) a sailing beautiful blue boat
c) a beautiful blue sailing boat
d) a blue sailing beautiful boat
______________________________________
7. Which is the correct order? 5. slim/canadian/handsome/snowboarder
a) a small thin Canadian lady
b) a Canadian small thin lady
c) a small Canadian thin lady
d) a thin small Canadian lady
8. Which is the correct order?
______________________________________
a) an old square wooden table 6. sugar / blue / round / bowl / a
b) a square wooden old table
c) an old wooden square table
d) a wooden old square table
______________________________________
Exercise No 2: Put the adjectives into their correct order.
1. German / old / yellow / car / an – an old yellow German car
2. A / Reading / round / lamp / huge - A huge round Reading lamp.
3. that / slim/ Canadian/ handsome/ snowboarder – that handsome slim Canadian snowboarder
4. sugar / blue / a / round / bowl / - a round blue sugar bowl
5. box / round / wooden / black / small / a – a small round black wooden box
6. big / American / a / book / black - a big black American book
7. Pink – ornament- a - plastic – disgusting - A disgusting pink plastic ornament.
8. Engineer / intelligent / an / environmental / old - An old Intelligent environmental engineer -
9. Woman / a / young / beautiful / Colombian - A beautiful young Colombian woman
10. Metal / huge / a / bowl round - A huge round metal bowl
Una caja grande de cartón – a big cardboard box
El enorme florero cuadrado de vidrio - the big square glass vase
Un joven y amable chico americano – a Young and kind american boy
Mi gran maleta vieja de viajes – my big old travel bag
Tres viejos libros de poesía. Three old poetry books.
Un cuchillo nuevo de carne de acero. A new Steel meat knife.
Esa bolsa grande roja de plástico. That big red plastic bag.
Un pequeño libro interesante de español. An interesting small Spanish book.
Un gran barco viejo canadiense. A big old Canadian ship
Un viejo y delicioso vino francés – adelicious old french wine.
The big black bug
