Adjectives in English: A Beginner’s Guide
What adjectives are, where they go (before a noun / after a linking verb), why they never change form in English, how to compare them (tall/taller/tallest), adjectives vs determiners, common mistakes, and a practice quest.
What is an adjective?
An adjective is a word that describes a noun (a person, place, or thing) or a pronoun (words like he, she, it).
Adjectives answer questions like:
- What kind? — a red car, a funny movie
- How many? — three dogs, many people
- Which one? — the first day, the last chance
- “I saw a dog.” → “I saw a small, fluffy dog.”
Both are correct — but the second one paints a picture.
Where adjectives go
In English, adjectives usually appear in two places.
- She lives in a beautiful house.
- He told a funny story.
Linking verbs are verbs like be, seem, look, feel, taste, sound.
- The house is beautiful.
- This soup tastes delicious.
- You look tired.
The adjective still describes the noun (house, soup, you) — it just stands on the other side of the verb.
Unlike Spanish, French, or Ukrainian, an English adjective is the same for singular, plural, masculine, or feminine:
- a tall man → tall men (not talls men)
- a smart girl → smart girls
Comparing: tall, taller, tallest
Adjectives have three degrees:
- Base form — tall: describing one thing.
- Comparative — taller: comparing two things.
- Superlative — tallest: comparing three or more.
- My sister is tall.
- My sister is taller than me.
- My sister is the tallest person in our family.
- Short adjectives add -er / -est: fast → faster → fastest.
- Longer adjectives use more / most: expensive → more expensive → most expensive.
- A few are irregular — memorize them: good → better → best; bad → worse → worst.
A few useful types
Don’t memorize these — just recognize them.
- Proper adjectives — from names of places/people, always capitalized: Italian food, American movies, Ukrainian culture
- Compound adjectives — two or more words, usually hyphenated: a well-known singer, a five-star hotel, a part-time job
- Non-gradable adjectives — absolute qualities (either it is or it isn’t): impossible, perfect, married, free — you can’t be very unique or a little dead
Adjectives vs determiners
Words like a, an, the, this, my also come before nouns — but they are determiners, not adjectives. Two easy tests:
- A determiner can’t follow a linking verb. You can say “The dog is happy,” but not “The dog is the.”
- You usually can’t remove a determiner. “She had a dog” ✅ / “She had dog” ❌. Removing an adjective is fine: “a small dog” → “a dog” ✅.
Common mistakes
- Adjective after the noun: ❌ She has a car red. → ✅ She has a red car.
- Adding -s to adjectives: ❌ Those are bigs houses. → ✅ Those are big houses.
- -ed vs -ing: I am bored* (my feeling) vs this movie is boring* (what causes the feeling). Saying “I am boring” means you make other people bored!
Quick recap
- ✅ Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.
- ✅ They go before a noun or after a linking verb.
- ✅ They never change form — no plural, no gender.
- ✅ Use -er / more to compare two things and -est / most for three or more.
Practice: Test Yourself
What part of speech is the bold word?
1.The old bridge crossed the river.
2.I bought two cheap tickets.
3.This soup tastes great.
4.She has a red car.
5.Her answer was surprising.
6.The early show sold out.