Order of Adjectives

Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun or a pronoun to give a better description of something. However, using more than three adjectives in sequence to describe one noun or pronoun would sound a little awkward.

Why do we say a small white cat and not a white small cat? Because adjectives in English have a pre-established order. The proper order of adjectives is shown in the image above. So let’s see some examples:

• I bought a beautiful, blue tie.
• Let’s order a delicious, huge, vanilla ice cream.
• My parents visited some big, ancient, greek buildings.
• The classroom has six, round, wooden tables.
• Kathy gave me a square, leather, school backpack.

We can use a specific opinion and a general opinion of a noun in the same sentence. We use specific opinion adjectives to describe particular kind of nouns:

Food: yummy; exquisite.
Furniture, buildings: cozy; uncomfortable.
People, animals: brilliant; smart; friendly.

We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion. For example: My mom made a nice tasty soup.

There is a grammatical variation that joins “shape” and “size” and puts them before “age”. As in, “Paul brought a rectangular, large, old ping pong table.“

In case you make a description using the wrong order of adjectives, native speakers will be able to understand you but maybe it can make the communication unclear.

Practice using an object that you use daily and make a description with more than two adjectives in the comments. If you need help try to follow the order of the staircase in the image.