Spanish grammar · interactive
Adjective Agreement in Spanish
Rojo, roja, rojos, rojas — every adjective has to match its noun. Drill the endings (and the sneaky exceptions) with instant feedback.
These exercises drill adjective agreement in Spanish — making every adjective match its noun in gender and number. You’ll pick the right form in real sentences and get an explanation for every answer, including the exceptions that trip up even intermediate learners.
The short version: adjectives ending in -o have four forms (alto, alta, altos, altas); adjectives ending in -e or -ista only change for number, never for gender; and a few common ones (bueno, grande, primero) lose their ending before the noun.
Try the adjective agreement exercise
Choose the form that matches the noun. You’ll see why after each answer.
Las flores son .
The flowers are red.
How it works
- 1
Read the sentence
A real Spanish sentence appears with the adjective blanked out.
- 2
Match the noun
Pick the ending that agrees in gender and number. Instant right/wrong feedback.
- 3
Learn the why
Every answer comes with the rule behind it — including the exceptions — so the pattern sticks.
What you’ll learn
- The four-form pattern for -o adjectives (alto, alta, altos, altas)
- Which adjectives never change for gender (-e, -ista)
- The shortened forms buen, gran, primer — and when to use them
- The -or exception: trabajador → trabajadora
Think ending, not memorization
Learners often try to memorize every adjective’s forms separately. There’s a faster mental model: look at the adjective’s last letter. Ends in -o? Four forms — swap -o/-a and add -s. Ends in -e or -ista? Two forms — gender never changes, only number (grande/grandes, optimista/optimistas). Ends in a consonant? Usually two forms too (azul/azules, fácil/fáciles) — with one carve-out: -or adjectives and nationality adjectives add -a for the feminine (trabajadora, española).
Number agreement is the easy half: add -s after a vowel, -es after a consonant. The mistakes that actually mark you as a learner are gender mistakes on the invariable groups — saying ‘inteligenta’ or ‘optimisto’ — which is exactly why this drill keeps serving them.
The shortening trap: buen, gran, primer
A handful of very common adjectives lose their ending when they stand directly before the noun. Bueno, malo, primero, tercero, alguno, and ninguno drop the final -o before a masculine singular noun: un buen día, el primer piso, ningún problema. Move the adjective after the noun and the full form returns: un día bueno.
Grande plays by its own rule: it shortens to gran before any singular noun, masculine or feminine — un gran hombre, una gran idea — and shifts meaning from ‘big’ to ‘great’. That position-changes-meaning pattern is worth internalizing: una gran mujer is a great woman; una mujer grande is a big one.
Quick reference
| Adjective type | How it agrees |
|---|---|
| Ends in -o (alto) | Four forms: alto, alta, altos, altas |
| Ends in -e (grande) | Number only: grande, grandes — no gender change |
| Ends in -ista (optimista) | Number only: optimista, optimistas |
| Ends in -or (trabajador) | Adds -a for feminine: trabajadora |
| Before the noun | bueno → buen, primero → primer (masc. sing.); grande → gran (any sing.) |
Frequently asked questions
Do Spanish adjectives go before or after the noun?
Usually after: una casa blanca. A few short, common adjectives (bueno, malo, gran) often go before, and some change meaning with position — una gran mujer (a great woman) vs una mujer grande (a big woman).
Why is it un buen amigo and not un bueno amigo?
Bueno drops its final -o when it stands directly before a masculine singular noun — the same shortening happens with malo (mal), primero (primer), and ninguno (ningún). After the noun, the full form comes back: un amigo bueno.
Does inteligente change for gender in Spanish?
No. Adjectives ending in -e are invariable for gender: un chico inteligente, una chica inteligente. They only change for number: chicos inteligentes.
What happens with adjectives and mixed-gender groups?
Spanish defaults to the masculine plural: Juan y María son altos. Even one masculine noun in the group makes the whole adjective masculine plural.
Make agreement automatic
Exercises teach the endings; real sentences make them reflexive. HablaCore drills adjective agreement in real AI-generated sentences with instant feedback, and resurfaces the forms you keep missing.
Practice adjective agreement in real sentences