4.1 Adjectives

Notice, however, that in English adjectives normally go before the noun, e.g.:

He's a very old man.
(Es un hombre muy mayor.)

The Gothic Quarter.
(El Barrio Gótico.)

Notice also that we do not normally use and between adjectives before the noun, e.g.:

They showed us some small round stones.
(Nos mostraron unas piedras pequeñas y redondas.)

However, with two or more colours, we use and, e.g.:

green and white curtains
(Cortinas de color verde y blanco)

a red, white and blue flag
(Una bandera de color rojo, blanco y azul)

As in Spanish, English uses adjectives with a noun (attributive use) and after be, become, get, etc. (predicative use), e.g.:

An old man ~ The man is old.
(El hombre es mayor.)

A red and yellow flag. ~ The flag was red and yellow.
(La bandera era roja y amarilla.)

I got very tired.
(Me cansé mucho.)

As distinct from Spanish, in English a noun is normally obligatory with the predicative use of adjectives, e.g.:

Un ciego nos explicaba su situación.
(A blind man told us about his situation.)

Una ciega nos explicaba su situación.
(A blind woman told us about her situation.)

Unos ciegos nos explicaban su situación.
(Some blind people told us about their situation.)

See also the use of one(s).

However, we can use the with, e.g.: blind, deaf, living, dead, homeless, wounded, disabled, handicapped, rich, poor, unemployed, young, etc. for a whole group of people, e.g.:

The rich have more benefits than the poor.
(Los ricos tienen más ventajas que los pobres.)

An association for the blind.
(Una asociación para ciegos.)

After the battle they buried the dead and took the wounded to hospital.
(Después de la batalla, enterraron a los muertos y llevaron a los heridos al hospital.)

Nationality adjectives and languages are normally written with a capital first letter, e.g.:

Rosa is Andalusian, but her husband is Scottish.
(Rosa es andaluza, pero su marido es escocés.)

Pat speaks French and German very well.
(Pat habla muy bien el francés y el alemán.)