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Foreign Languages
Foreign Languages: Adjective Agreement
Matching Adjectives to Nouns
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Adjective agreement is the rule that an adjective changes form to match the noun it describes. Many languages, such as Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, and Arabic, mark nouns for features like gender, number, and sometimes case. Agreement matters because it helps listeners and readers identify which words belong together in a sentence. It also makes your speaking and writing sound accurate and natural.
Key Facts
- Adjective agreement means: adjective form = noun gender + noun number + language-specific ending.
- In Spanish, masculine singular often ends in -o, as in libro rojo, while feminine singular often ends in -a, as in casa roja.
- Plural nouns usually require plural adjectives, such as libro rojo becoming libros rojos in Spanish.
- In French, many feminine adjectives add -e, such as grand becoming grande, and many plurals add -s.
- Some adjectives are invariable or irregular, so they do not follow the most common ending pattern.
- In many languages, the noun controls the adjective, so identify the noun first, then choose the adjective ending.
Vocabulary
- Adjective
- A word that describes a noun, such as red, tall, old, or interesting.
- Agreement
- The matching of one word's form to the grammatical features of another word.
- Gender
- A grammatical category such as masculine, feminine, or neuter that affects word forms in many languages.
- Number
- The grammatical feature that shows whether a noun is singular or plural.
- Ending
- The letters added to the end of a word to show features such as gender, number, or case.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Changing the noun to match the adjective is wrong because the noun controls the agreement and the adjective changes to fit it.
- Forgetting plural agreement is wrong because a plural noun usually needs a plural adjective, such as libros rojos instead of libros rojo.
- Using the same adjective ending for every gender is wrong because many languages mark masculine, feminine, or neuter forms differently.
- Assuming every adjective follows the regular pattern is wrong because some adjectives are irregular or do not change in certain forms.
Practice Questions
- 1 Spanish: Change the adjective rojo to agree with 4 nouns: libro, casa, libros, casas. Write all 4 noun plus adjective pairs.
- 2 French: The adjective petit has the forms petit, petite, petits, and petites. Match them to 4 nouns: le chien, la table, les chiens, les tables.
- 3 A student writes las casas blanco in Spanish. Explain what feature does not match and correct the phrase.