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Adjectives: a big red car
A1 A1 grammar · lesson 24 of 24
Adjectives describe people and things. In English they have a fixed position and they never change their form.
Rule
An adjective goes before a noun or after be.
- Before a noun: a small house, an old man, blue eyes.
- After be: The house is small. The man is old.
Adjectives never change. They have no plural and no -s: a green apple, two green apples.
Sam has got a new phone.
These are expensive shoes.
The soup is hot.
Maria is a good teacher.
My cat has got long hair.
Two adjectives
When we use two adjectives before a noun, we usually follow this order:
| Opinion | Size | Age | Colour | Noun |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nice | big | red | car | |
| beautiful | old | house | ||
| small | black | dog | ||
| lovely | little | garden | ||
| new | white | shirt |
Ken drives a big red car.
They live in a beautiful old house.
Lucy has got a small black dog.
I want a new white shirt.
Very and really
Use very or really before an adjective to make it stronger: It’s a very big city. The film was really good.
After be, we can join two adjectives with and: The room is big and bright.
Common mistakes
✗ I have a car red.
✓ I have a red car.
✗ They are olds books.
✓ They are old books.
✗ She has a red big bag.
✓ She has a big red bag.
✗ It’s an big house.
✓ It’s a big house.