Adjective agreement: gender & number

el chico alto, la chica altathe tall boy, the tall girl

A Spanish adjective doesn't just describe a noun — its ending has to match that noun's gender and number. The adjective's form changes; the noun's own gender never does.

Quick shortcut: adjective ends in -o → four forms (masc./fem., singular/plural). Adjective ends in -e or a consonant → only two forms (singular/plural; gender doesn't change the ending) — except -dor, -án, -ón, -ín, and nationality endings, which do add -a for the feminine.

Adjectives ending in -o: four forms

• el chico alto / la chica alta (the tall boy / the tall girl)
• los chicos altos / las chicas altas (the tall boys / the tall girls)

This mirrors noun gender: the adjective doesn't decide the noun's gender, it just matches it. And the plural ending follows the same pattern as plural nouns — add -s after a vowel.

Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant: gender doesn't change the ending

Many common adjectives — ending in -e, or in a consonant like -l, -z, -n — have just one form for masculine and feminine alike. Only the plural changes, the same way a noun's plural does:

• el coche verde / la casa verde (the green car / the green house) — same form, both genders
• un examen fácil / una pregunta fácil (an easy exam / an easy question) — fácil doesn't end in -e, but the rule still applies to it
• el cielo azul / la puerta azul (the blue sky / the blue door)
• un día feliz / una vida feliz (a happy day / a happy life)
• los coches verdes, los exámenes fáciles, los cielos azules (plural: add -s or -es, exactly like a noun) — and feliz → felices, the same z → c spelling change plural nouns already teaches

Some consonant-ending adjectives do take a separate feminine form

A specific group of endings breaks the rule above: -dor, -án, -ón, -ín, and the consonant endings used by nationality adjectives all add -a for the feminine, rather than staying the same:

Notice holgazán → holgazana, francés → francesa, and alemán → alemana drop their written accent in the feminine — once -a is added, the stress already falls on the right syllable by the ordinary rule, so the accent mark is no longer needed.

Common mistakes

• ❌ la chica alto → ✅ la chica alta (the ending has to match the noun's gender)
• ❌ una pregunta fácila → ✅ una pregunta fácil (fácil has only one form for both genders — don't invent a feminine one)
• ❌ la mujer español → ✅ la mujer española (-dor/-án/-ón/-ín and nationality endings are the exception: they do change for gender)
• ❌ los libros verde → ✅ los libros verdes (the plural still needs its own ending, even when gender doesn't change anything)

Quick check

Which form of the adjective in parentheses completes each phrase?

1. la casa ___ (pequeño — small)
2. los estudiantes ___ (inteligente — smart)
3. una mujer ___ (francés — French)
4. el problema ___ (difícil — difficult)
5. las mesas ___ (azul — blue)

Key takeaways

• Adjectives ending in -o have four forms: -o, -a, -os, -as.
• Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant (verde, fácil, azul) have just one form for masculine and feminine — only the plural changes.
• A specific group of consonant endings is the exception: -dor, -án, -ón, -ín, and nationality endings all add -a for the feminine (trabajador → trabajadora, español → española, francés → francesa), sometimes dropping a written accent in the process.
• Plurals of adjectives follow the same -s/-es pattern as plural nouns.
• The adjective's form changes to match the noun — the noun's own gender never changes.