Where does the adjective go in Spanish?

by Alba Castro

Usually, Spanish adjectives are placed after the noun, while in English are placed before the noun:

- An electric guitar.

-Una guitarra eléctrica

However, these happens only with the adjectives that help us classify the noun, and there are some exceptions that you may have encountered.

Subjective information

If the adjective expresses something that depends quite a lot on how the person talking perceives it, it can go either before or after and the meaning doesn't change.

  • Escribió una bonita carta - He/she wrote a beautiful letter.

Two very common are:

Bad - Malo/mala

Good - Bueno/buena

Now, when these are placed before the noun they changed like this:

Bad- Mal / mala

Good - Buen / buena

Ex:

El mal hijo - The bad son

El buen libro - The good book

So obvious

If the adjective we use is not necessary because the information is giving is already evident.

- La ruidosa batería - The noisy drums

- La blanca nieve - The white snow

Adjectives that can work before or after the noun

Here you have more adjectives that can go either place, plus the meaning before the noun and the meaning after.

An important one is: Big - Grande

When it goes before the noun it changes, with both feminine and masculine nouns.

Big - Gran

Ex: El gran poeta - The great poet

Es una gran persona - She/he is a great person

As you can see, I translated "gran" as "great" not "big". This is because this specific word means two different things depending on where it's placed. It means "big" when it's after the noun and it means "grand" or "great" when it's placed before it.

So, if I put it after: El poeta grande it would mean "the tall /big poet" and I'd be describing the size of the poet instead of his talent or personal cualities.

There are more adjectives that change meaning depending on where they are.

Here you have the most common ones, including both meanings (Before Noun/After Noun):

Grande - BN (gran) great, grand - AN big

Próximo/a - BN next - AN close/near in space

Antiguo/a - BN past one - AN old

Nuevo/a - BN the most recent -AN modern

Curioso/a - BN interesting - AN that feels curiosity

Pobre - BN you feel sorry for him/her - AN poor, with no money

Puro/a - BN simply, just - AN pure

Verdadero/a - BN important- AN true

Cierto/a - BN considerable - AN true, sure

Solo - BN (solo) only, just - AN (solo/a) alone, lonely

Simple - BN just - AN that is not complicated

Único/a - BN just one - AN unique

Mismo/a - BN same one - AN self

Raro/a -BN rare, only a few of them - AN strange, weird.

So, what do you think, is this un buen post?

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