Adjective order

Rules

• Rule 1: Opinion first, then facts

  Opinion adjectives (beautiful, nice, cute, funny, delicious) tell what you think, so they come first. Facts that anyone can see, like size and color, come after.

  Pattern: opinion + size / age / color… + noun

  Example: a lovely big park

  Example: a funny little clown

• Rule 2: Size → age → shape → color

  The facts have an order too: first size (big, small), then age (old, new), then shape (round, square), then color (red, blue).

  Pattern: size → age → shape → color

  Example: a small new phone

  Example: a big round red ball

• Rule 3: Color → origin → material → purpose

  After color comes origin (Turkish, Japanese), then material (wooden, plastic, leather). A purpose/type word (sleeping, running, dining) sits right before the noun.

  Pattern: color → origin → material → purpose + noun

  Example: a blue Japanese kite

  Example: a brown leather bag

• Rule 4: Determiners first; a / an depends on the next word

  Words like a, an, the, my, your, two, these, those always come before the adjectives. Choose a or an by the sound of the word right after it, not the noun.

  Pattern: determiner + adjectives + noun

  Example: my two little brothers

  Example: an old blue bike

Common mistakes

• a red big balloon → a big red balloon

  Size comes before color.

• a wooden old chair → an old wooden chair

  Age comes before material; old starts with a vowel sound, so an.

• a little cute kitten → a cute little kitten

  Opinion (cute) comes before size.