Adjective order

Level: intermediate

Two adjectives

We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:

a handsome young man
a big black car
that horrible big dog

Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:

good
bad
lovely
strange

nice
beautiful
brilliant
excellent

awful
important
wonderful
nasty

He's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful teacher.

That's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful book.

Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun, for example:

Food	Furniture, buildings	People, animals
delicious tasty	comfortable uncomfortable	clever intelligent friendly

We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:

nice tasty soup
a nasty uncomfortable armchair
a lovely intelligent animal

We usually put an opinion adjective in front of a descriptive adjective:

a nice red dress
a silly old man
those horrible yellow curtains

Order of adjectives 1: Grouping_MTQwNzg=
Order of adjectives 2: ReorderingHorizontal_MTQwNzk=

Adjectives after link verbs

We use some adjectives only after a link verb:

afraid
alive
alone
asleep
content
glad

ill
ready
sorry
sure
unable
well

Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:

annoyed
bored
finished
pleased
thrilled

We say:

Our teacher was ill.
My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed.

but we do not say:

We had ~~an ill teacher~~.
When he heard the news he was ~~a very glad uncle~~.
He seemed to be ~~a very annoyed policeman.~~

Order of adjectives 3: MultipleChoice_MTQwODE=

Level: advanced

Three or more adjectives

Sometimes we have three adjectives in front of a noun, but this is unusual:

a nice handsome young man
a big black American car
that horrible big fierce dog

It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.

Adjectives usually come in this order:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
General opinion	Specific opinion	Size	Shape	Age	Colour	Nationality	Material

Order of adjectives 4: ReorderingHorizontal_MTQwODI=

Adjectives in front of nouns

A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:

north
south
east
west

northern
southern
eastern
western

countless
occasional
lone
mere

indoor
outdoor

We say:

He lives in the eastern district.
There were countless problems with the new machinery.

but we do not say:

~~The district he lives in is eastern.~~
~~The problems with the new machinery were countless.~~

Average

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Hello agie

In speaking, the tone of voice is really important in communicating what you really mean. In general, though, 'good' is stronger than 'fine', which can mean something more like 'OK' than 'good'. Many people say 'good' or 'fine' even when they are having quite a hard time, but I suppose that's a separate issue.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I would like to ask you which of the following is correct When our house is full of sun, the sun comes from the windows inside the house, we say 1.Our house is bright or 2 Our house is light? Thank you in advance

Hello, I would like to ask which of the following is correct When we really like the house we live we say 1.The house is suitable for us? Is suitable ok? Thank you in advance

Hello agie,

'Suitable' sounds positive but not particularly enthusiastic. It tells us that the house is the right size/location etc, but not that we really like it.

You can use any thesaurus to find alternative ways to say 'good'.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

hello everyone ! I would like to ask something. Since some pages i found say that the order of adjectives could be : Opinion - Size - Age - Shape - Colour - Origin - Material - Purpose The order is a little bit different Would anyone tell me if it is acceptable ? I would be thankful If you guys could help Thank you in advanceeeeee !!!!

Hello Cloudy Cloudy

In reality, it's very unusual to use more than a couple of adjectives in a series, so most of the time the order here and whatever order you saw elsewhere will probably yield the same result. We think the most useful order to learn is the one on our page.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

In these Adjectives in front of nouns section, this section had contained all of adjective in the guideline that stated above? This means that in these Adjectives in front of nouns is just provided in these sections and no more adjectives. I know my expression is not that good can make any reader can understand what I am asking for. So, I will provide some examples of my question. For example, examples were given at guideline and are it will some adjectives will also belong to Adjectives in front of nouns section such as "busily" , "honestly". Thank you in advance that understand what i am asking for.

Hello Backlight

No, the list of adjectives in Adjectives in front of nouns is not comprehensive -- in other words, there are other adjectives like these one. A complete grammar reference for English would be extremely long; what we provide here is what we feel are the most important points for learners of English.

I think I have answered your question, but if not, please feel free to ask us again.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I would like to ask if the following are correct 1. This is a casual classic restaurant(does this make sense?) Thank you in advance

Hello, I would like to ask if the following is correct My level in French (language) is enough to speak, but needs improvement. 2.I am far from enough? Thank you in advance

Hello agie,

You need to include an adjective before 'enough' in the first sentence: '...is high enough to...'

The second sentence does not seem to make sense. I'm not sure why you have 'I' there. You could say 'It is far from enough', where 'it' refers to your level and the word 'high' is omitted because it was used in a previous sentence.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

The problems with the new machinery were countless Why is this not correct? Couldn't both be correct?

Hello InmaLD

I'm afraid there is no easy way to explain this; it's just the way English is used. Anyone would understand the sentence you propose, but it would sound unnatural to native speakers.

By the way, our House Rules ask you to write only in English so that everyone can understand your comments. I have translated your question into English, but in the future we won't be able to do this for you.

Thanks in advance for your understanding.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi, Im so confused. Which one is correct, " Big beautiful house." Or Beautiful big house."? I see sentenced where Size comes first before the quality, how so? Thank you so much.

Hello MissR

The rules here are guidelines, which means they don't explain every single possibility. If you explained the full context, that might help us be able to explain it.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi! I have a doubt. By descriptive adjective do you mean a fact? that's what I have seen in other explanations as there are several different explanations for adjective order. For example "a delicious fried chicken" was given as an example of personal opinion and then a fact. Would you say that a descriptive adjective is something like a fact then? Thank you in advance!

Hello Pablo Diablo

Yes, despite the differences in name, that's the idea. The important thing is distinguishing between an opinion and something more objective.

In that example, 'delicious' is an opinion and 'fried' is a fact/description. For example, for many people, fried chicken is delicious, but for vegans it is disgusting. On the other hand, a fried chicken is fried whether you are a vegan or a meat-eater.

Does that make sense?

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello there, this has nothing to do with this topic, but I'd like to know how i can find a description of the tenses here on this site for example "present simple tense" Thank you

Hello Roman...

You can find this in the Verbs section of our English grammar reference.

All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I would like to ask if the following word, demanding, is properly used in the following sentence: This school/university is demanding(I would like to say that it is really good so someone has to study and have high marks in order to succeed) Thank you in advance

Hello agie As far as I know, 'demanding' is normally used to speak of a specific course or teacher (e.g. 'Inorganic chemistry is really demanding' or 'Professor Smith is more demanding than most'), but I think you could say that. All the best Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

Could you help me please? Are all the following sentences correct? If so, what is the difference between them? - England and Germany are in north Europe. - England and Germany are in northern Europe. - England and Germany are in northerly Europe. Thank you.

Hello Ahmed Imam, Only the second sentence is correct here. 'Northern' is an adjective and has a relative meaning. It describes a part of a larger whole (the part of Europe which is more to the north) 'North' as an adjective is generally used in proper nouns ('the North Pole', 'the North Star', 'North Carolina') or in certain expressions ('the north face of a mountain', 'the north part of London'). 'Northerly' as an adjective usually describes direction ('they set off in a northerly direction'). ~ Peter The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Team! I have a question. Do these two sentences have same meaning "Find someone as wild as you run with","Find someone just as wild to run with you"? Thank you!

Hello Goktung123,

The first sentence has a mistake. It should be '...as you to run with'.

In terms of meaning there is only one distinction.

The first sentence makes it clear that the point of comparison is 'you': ...someone as wild as you...

The second sentence leaves this ambiguous: ...someone just as wild (as who?)...

Of course, the context may make this clear.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Peter thank you for your kind help! ActualIy I thought if "to run" modifies "wild" in the second sentence.(how wild(quantity) he/she is) For example,we can say,"He/she is brave enough to run with me" Can we do that kind of comparison with "as adj as or just as adj" ? Thank you!

Hello Goktug123

I hope you don't mind me answering for Peter. I'm not completely sure I understand your question, but let me answer what I think you are asking about.

The 'as + adj + as' structure does quantify the adjective, but this quantification is relative to another person. In 'She is just as brave as me', 'me' is this reference point, but if you don't mention who the other person is after the second 'as', then it must be understood from context -- for example, maybe the sentences before explain who this person is and how brave they are. There must be another person whose bravery is described for this structure to make sense.

'She is brave enough to run with me' also quantifies 'her' bravery, but her bravery is not compared to my bravery -- it is relative to whatever it is about my running that requires bravery. Again, this has to be understood from the context.

I hope this answers your question, but if not, please ask again, making your question as specific as possible.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Is the use of the adjective 'required' correct in the following sentence? "The man got such dams built that its water comes in the field only as per required."

Hello Zeeshan Siddiqii,

The correct form here would be as required, without 'per'. I would suggest one or two other changes to make the sentence more natural:

The man had dams built in such a way that the water comes into the field only as required.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Helpful. Thanks

Hello team! Do these sentences have same meaning? "I took the printed photos" "I took the photos printed" Are words of "printed" in these sentences adjective? Thank you!

Hello Goktug123

Yes, that's right, 'printed' is an adjective here. In general, adjectives go before the noun they modify, so the first sentence is correct and the second one is not.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I would like to ask the following 1. When we want to order coffee with or without sugar a.with no sugar we can say I would like my coffee black? even if it is espresso? b.with little sugar,I would like my coffee mild or medium?(for any kind of coffee) 2. When someone liives in the north/south part of a city,we say He lives in the northen/southern suburb of Rome/Madrid etc? Thank you in advance

Hello agie

If you say you want your coffee black, it means with no milk. Everywhere I've been, they give you a packet of sugar so you can add it yourself if you want it. The same is true for an espresso.

If I were in a place where the server added the sugar, I'd say 'just a little sugar' to communicate that.

A suburb is technically outside a city. I'd probably say the 'northern part of Madrid'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Good day! I would like to know why it's ungrammatical to say I am AN English and I am AN American? I read in some books saying that it's grammatical to say I am An English or I am AN American. Is there any grammar rules when to use an + nationality or no article + nationality. Thanks.

Hello html,

It depends whether you are using a noun or an adjective.

The correct forms for nationalities using a noun are as follows:

I am an Englishman.

I am an American.

If you use an adjective then no article is needed:

I am English.

I am American.

Note that the noun and the adjective sometimes look the same (American, for example).

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, which of these two options is right? black wavy hair or wavy black hair? short curly black hair or short black curly hair? Thank you for your answer!

Hi chrisp,

What I'd say is 'wavy, black hair'. To be honest, I don't think I'd ever say the second combination of adjectives -- it's quite rare to use more than a couple. But if I had to, I suppose I'd say 'short, curly, black hair'.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I would like to ask what the following sentence means; I work funny hours funny means, not 9 am-5 pm? Thank you in advance

Hello agie,

In this context 'funny' means strange or odd. That would suggest hours which are not typical or hours which are not regular, and certainly not regular 9-5.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I would like to ask which of the following words is correct When we want to describe a city with many people and restaurants, bars. We can say that this city is full of life? It is a vivid city? or it is a living city? Thank you in advance

Hi anie2,

Yes, 'full of life' is good. You could also say 'vibrant', but I wouldn't say 'vivid' or 'living' here.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hi every one. Could you please help me to find out how can I use these pair-adj next to each other? Healthy Distinct Sport or Distinct healthy Sport? Which one them is Correct? Thank you ^.^

Hi Sasan1989,

My ear tells me that the correct order if 'distinct healthy sport'. I'm afraid, however, that since I don't understand what a 'distinct sport' would be, it's difficult for me to justify or explain my intuition. If you could explain what you mean by this and what context it would be in, I can try to help you understand it a bit better.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Sir, Do we need to use articles before both the adjectives used for the same person? She is a tall and a beautiful lady. Or She is a tall and beautiful lady. Kindly help. Regards

Hello amol,

You only need to use the article once. It is not grammatically incorrect to repeat it, but it is poor stylistically.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello!!! Could you please help me with the words "big" and "large", "small" and "little"?? which one is correct large room, or big room?? small baby, liitle baby....etc??

Hello Elusik,

All of them are correct and it is really a question of style and context as to which is preferable in a given example.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

what is Task 3 for ? The different couple words are not explained here or I do not understand this lesson ? I do not understand the answers of task 3, why its answer choose this but not that. afraid and frightened. alive and living. asleep and sleeping. well and healthy. ill and sick.

Hi mitykg,

Task 3 covers characteristics of some adjectives. 'afraid', for example, is not used predicatively, i.e. before a noun -- this is mentioned in the explanation above where it says that some adjectives are used only after a link verb. Therefore, the third option in the first sentence is incorrect, since 'afraid' is not used this way.

The other pairs of adjectives work similarly -- the first ones are not use predicatively, whereas the second ones are.

Does that make sense?

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Adjective order

Two adjectives

Adjectives after link verbs

Three or more adjectives

Adjectives in front of nouns

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