Adjective Order in English - English Grammar Lesson

Oh, hello.

I'm Oli.

Welcome to Oxford Online English.

Sorry, I'm just standing here.

I'm drinking a cup of a strong Italian black coffee.

Wait, is it black Italian strong coffee?

That doesn't sound right.

Italian black strong coffee?

Anyway, in this lesson you can learn how to put adjectives in the right order.

Let's go back to the example I was having so many problems with.

You want to use the words "coffee," "black," "Italian," and "strong" all together.

They can go in many different orders.

Which is correct?

"Strong black Italian coffee," "Strong Italian black coffee," "Black strong Italian coffee,"

"Black Italian strong coffee," "Italian black strong coffee," or "Italian strong black coffee?"

What do you think?

Is there only one possibility, or is there more than one right answer?

Think about it.

There is only one possibility, "strong black Italian coffee."

Do you know why this is the right answer?

In English when we use several adjectives before a noun, the adjectives have to go in

a particular order.

Of course your meaning will still be clear if you make a mistake with adjective order.

It's not a big problem.

However, it is very noticeable especially to native speakers if someone makes a mistake

with adjective order.

So if you want your English to sound correct and natural, you need to learn how to use

adjectives in the correct order.

Let's start with a simple rule that you can use.

Rule number one: opinions go first, facts go second.

The full rules for adjective order, which you'll see in a minute, are complicated and

not very practical.

However, there is a simple rule which you can use.

Adjectives which describe an opinion go before adjectives which describe a fact.

For example, adjectives like 'nice', 'beautiful', 'useful', or 'delicious' all describe opinions.

Just because you describe something as delicious, it doesn't mean that everybody will agree

with you.

Adjectives like 'big', 'new', 'green', or 'silk' describe facts.

Take a second, try to think of some more adjectives which describe opinions or facts.

Think about it.

Now let's see our rule in action with some examples.

"They live in a beautiful old house on the edge of the city."

"We had some delicious Korean food with some friends."

"Why are you wearing those ugly purple trousers?"

"She has an interesting new perspective on the economic situation."

In all of these sentences, we used two adjectives before a noun, and you can see that the adjective

of opinion goes first and the adjective of fact goes second.

Rule two: general ideas go before specific ideas.

There's another general rule which works well if you don't know the correct word order.

Adjectives which describe a general idea go before adjectives which describe a specific

idea.

For example, if you say, "A long wooden table."

The word 'long' is more general.

Many things can be long in many different ways.

A street can be long, a story, or a speech can be long.

You can have a long day and so on.

'Wooden' is more specific.

Generally speaking, something can only be wooden if it's actually made of wood.

So we put 'long' first and we say, "A long wooden table."

Can you think of any other adjectives which have a general meaning?

Adjectives like 'old', 'hot', or 'small' all have a general meaning because they can be

used with many different meanings to describe many different things.

On the other hand, adjectives like 'green', 'French' or 'straight' are more specific.

If something is green, that's quite a specific idea.

Okay, let's see this rule in action with some examples.

"He works for a small Canadian company."

"I love these old black-and-white films."

"We bought a new leather sofa for the living room."

"I need to buy a really warm woolly hat."

Again, we used two adjectives with each noun.

In each case, the adjective with a more general meaning goes first, and the adjective with

a more specific meaning goes second.

Okay, point three, let's look at the full rule.

We said before that the full rule for adjective order is quite complicated.

I'm showing you just for your interest.

Are you ready?

The full rule is: opinion, size, other qualities, age, color or pattern, nationality and then

material.

Okay?

So we could say for example, "She bought a beautiful long warm new black-and-white striped

Italian silk scarf."

We have opinion, 'beautiful'; the size, 'long'; another quality, 'warm'; an age, 'new'; a

color, 'black-and-white'; a pattern, 'striped'; nationality, 'Italian'; and the material,

'silk'.

So, do you need to know this rule?

No, not really.

First of all, it's too complicated.

You can't carry this around in your head and use it when you speak.

Secondly, it's very rare that we use more than two or three adjectives with a noun;

it almost never happens.

And three, native speakers don't always follow these rules, especially when there are more

than two or three adjectives.

So it doesn't matter so much what you do in those cases.

However, this doesn't mean that adjective order doesn't matter, it does.

If you make a mistake like, "She has black straight short hair," this sounds a bit strange,

a bit wrong, and native speakers will hear and notice mistakes like these.

Okay, part four, let's look at some advice you can use, and let's review what we've talked

about.

Point one: trust your instinct.

If it sounds right, it probably is.

If it sounds wrong, it probably is.

Point two: remember the basic rules: general before specific, opinion before fact.

These rules can help you in most of the situations you will meet in everyday speaking.

That's the end of the lesson.

Thanks very much for watching.

I hope you found it useful.

Do you want some more practice with this?

Well, check out the full version of the lesson on our website, oxfordonlineenglish.com.

You can also see many other free English lessons.

That's all for today.

Thanks again!

I'll see you next time.

Bye-bye!