Ser with adjectives & gender/adjective agreement
SER WITH ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are words that describe people or things. Use the verb ser with the
adjectives to describe what someone or something is like.
soy
Somos
eres
Sois
es
Son
The form of ser agrees with the subject of the sentence. In Spanish you don’t
always need to use the subject pronoun if you already know who the subject is.
EXAMPLES: Soy inteligente. (we know the subject is yo)
Eres moreno. (we know the subject is tú)
When the subject is singular the adjective will stay in the singular form.
EXAMPLES:
Yo soy inteligente. I am intelligent.
Tú eres simpático. You are kind.
Ella es rubia. She is blonde.
Él es tonto. He is silly.
When the subject is plural the adjective must also be plural.
EXAMPLES:
Mi amiga y yo son altas. My friends and I are tall.
Nosotros somos graciosos. We are funny.
Ellos son bajos. They are short.
GENDER AND ADJECTIVE AGREEMENT
Nouns and pronouns are divided into genders in Spanish. Nouns are either
masculine (male) or feminine (female).
Since adjectives describe nouns, they need to match or agree with the nouns that
they describe in two ways: number and gender. The masculine forms of most
adjectives end in an –o. The feminine forms of most adjectives end in an –a.
Adjectives that end in an –e have the same masculine and feminine forms. When an
adjective ends in a consonant, you do not add an -a to make it feminine.
Feminine: Mary es alta. Lisa es baja. Gloria es seria.
Masculine: Mario es alto. Luis es bajo. Juan es serio.
Jennifer es inteligente. Robert es inteligente.
When an adjective ends in a consonant, you do not add an -a to make it feminine.
The only exceptions to that rule are if you are speaking about someone’s nationality
or if the adjective ends in –or.
Miguel es trabajador. Maribel es trabajadora.
Ken es español. Kelly es española.
When a subject is singular(one person or thing) the adjective is singular and when
the subject is plural(more than one thing or person), the adjective must be plural
as well. If an adjective ends in a vowel, you add an –s to make it plural and if it
ends in a consonant, you add an –es.
SINGULAR PLURAL
Alberto es alto. Alberto y Miguel son altos.
Rebeca es intelectual. Rebecca y Christina son intelectuales.
To describe a group of men and women (mixed gender group) you must use the
masculine plural form of the adjective!!!
Carlos y Ana son perezosos. Danielle y David son activos.
