In Spanish, adjectives need to match the nouns they describe. They have to agree in gender and number. This means that the way we say an adjective changes based on whether the noun is masculine or feminine, and if it’s singular (one) or plural (more than one).

Let’s take the word “casa” (house) and the word “grande” (big) to understand this better.

1. Gender Agreement

• Feminine Noun:

  • The word “casa” is feminine. So when we talk about “casa,” we use the feminine form of the adjective.
  • Example: La casa grande (The big house)

• Masculine Noun:

  • If we use a masculine noun like “perro” (dog), the adjective stays the same.
  • Example: El perro grande (The big dog)

2. Number Agreement

Adjectives also change based on whether the noun is singular or plural.

• Singular Noun:

  • Example: La casa grande (The big house)
  • Example: El coche grande (The big car)

• Plural Noun:

  • To show that we’re talking about more than one noun, we usually add an -s to the adjectives.
  • For feminine nouns, we change the adjective to “grandes.”
    • Example: Las casas grandes (The big houses)
  • For masculine nouns, it stays the same:
    • Example: Los coches grandes (The big cars)

3. Summary of Rules

• Adjectives need to match in gender:

  • Feminine: Add -a (grande)
  • Masculine: No change (grande)

• Adjectives need to match in number:

  • Singular: No change (grande)
  • Plural: Add -s (grandes)

4. Practice Sentences

• Describe a big house: La casa grande.
• Describe two big houses: Las casas grandes.
• Describe a big dog: El perro grande.
• Describe two big dogs: Los perros grandes.

5. Conclusion

Remember, in Spanish, adjectives and nouns work together. They need to agree in gender and number to describe things correctly. When you get this right, you’ll be able to make better sentences!