Spanish · Chapter 5 · Lesson 6 · Grammar primer
Adjective agreement
Adjectives agree with the noun for gender and number. The endings, the position, the agreement patterns.
The short version
Why it is buen amigo, never bueno amigo
A short list of adjectives lose their final vowel before a masculine singular noun: bueno becomes buen, malo becomes mal, grande becomes gran, primero becomes primer. Move the adjective after the noun, or make it feminine or plural, and the full form comes straight back: un hombre bueno, una buena amiga.
Es un buen amigo.
Position changes the meaning, not just the music
Spanish adjectives normally follow the noun, and a handful mean something different when they jump in front. Un gran hombre is a great man; un hombre grande is a big one. Un viejo amigo is a long-standing friend; un amigo viejo is an elderly one. These are semantic choices, not stylistic ones.
un gran hombre
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