Functions of ADJECTIVES in Spanish

The adjective is a grammatical category that has the function of modify to a noun and give us more information about this. It is a word that accepts variations of gender and number to agree with the name that it accompanies and of which it expresses a quality.

The functions of adjectives there are three: adjacent, attribute or predicative complement. In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to explain what are adjectives and their functions so you can easily recognize them within a text.

The adjectives are a grammatical category made up of words that accompany the noun and complement its meaning. They add information to what we write or speak and in this way the interlocutor has more details of the story. The adjective can give us specific information about the name, for example: the blue book; or it can give us abstract information, such as: the difficult book.

When we write and talk We could simply say "Juan has given me a t-shirt" and the phrase would be completely correct, but we would not know any quality of the pants, but instead if

we add adjectives to the sentence, its meaning can be very specific, for example: “Juan has given me a t-shirt red and tight”. In this way it is clear to us what the shirt is like and all thanks to the adjectives.

Characteristics of adjectives

There are certain common features in all adjectives and they are these:

• The adjective is usually positioned behind the noun unless we want to give it more strength than the name. For example: man poor / the poor man
• Agree with the name they accompany in gender (feminine or masculine) and number (singular or plural). For example: the cat well / the cat good / the cats good ones / the cats good.
• They are never accompanied by determinative adjectives, since, if they do not acquire the names function. For example: my big man.

There are only three functions that adjectives can do depending on where the noun they complement is found.

Adjacent or attached adjectives

The function of adjacent adjectives is accompany a noun and qualify it so that you can recognize it within a group. For example: the child blond. I am selecting this particular child from a group of children and the interlocutor can perfectly understand who I mean.

Adjectives attributes

The attribute adjectives are in the predicate and are separated from the noun by a copulative verb (to be, to be or to seem), for example: the player is Quick. To identify it, we can substitute it for it, for example: the woman is brunette / the woman it is.

What's more it matches in gender and number with the subject, therefore to find it quickly we can change the subject and it will automatically change the adjective attribute, for example: the teacher was Handsome / the teacher was beautiful / the teachers were handsome / the teachers were beautiful.

Predicative Complement Adjectives

The adjectives of Predicative Complement are also in the predicate of the sentence and this time they are separated from the noun for non-copulative verb, that is, all the existing verbs except ser, estar, or appear, for example: the old man arrived tired. To find it within a sentence we can substitute it for like this, for example: the frog ran happy / the frog ran So.

What's more it matches in gender and number with the subject, therefore if we change the subject we must also change the predicative complement adjective. This is a quick way to find it, for example: the girl jumped happy / the boy jumped happy / the girls jumped happy / the children jumped happy.

Now you know the functions of adjectives. If you are interested in continuing to learn about this topic or other related topics, do not hesitate to consult our grammar and linguistics section.