Orders of Adjectives

In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun — for example, “He's a silly young fool,” or “She's a smart energetic woman.” When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type.

1. The basic types of adjectives

Opinion

An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you).

e.g. silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult

Size

A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is.

e.g. large, tiny, enormous, little

Age

An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is.

e.g. ancient, new, young, old

Shape

A shape adjective describes the shape of something.

e.g. square, round, flat, rectangular, oval, spiral

Color

A color adjective, of course, describes the color of something.

e.g. red, blue, green, pink

Origin

An origin adjective describes where something comes from.

French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek

Material

A material adjective describes what something is made from.

e.g. wooden, metal, cotton, paper

Purpose

A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with “-ing”.

e.g. sleeping (as in “sleeping bag”), roasting (as in “roasting tin”)

2. Some examples of adjective order

Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Color	Origin	Material	Purpose	Noun
	small			brown		paper		bag
sexy	short			white				dress
lovely	long			blonde				hair
new				black	German		sports	car

Look at the examples below.

• The shop assistant put the gift into a small brown paper bag.
• I’m going to a party tonight. I bought a sexy short white dress to wear.
• Paul sang a slow love song to his girlfriend. 
• It was so nice to come in from the cold and eat a delicious hot meal. 
• She was a beautiful woman with lovely long blonde hair.
• I just bought a new, black, German sports car. 
• Watch out! There is a big black ferocious dog over there. 

Note: It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.