Adjective order

Finn Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me Finn…

Catherine And me Catherine. And today’s show is all about adjective order.

Finn Adjectives - yes, those useful words we use to describe things. We’ll look at what adjective order is - and how to use it.

Catherine There’ll be a nice, easy quiz…

Finn And we’ll leave you with a small, but meaningful tip for learning vocabulary.

Catherine So: let’s start off with Nikki and Joe who are talking in a furniture shop.

Finn Here’s a question to think about while you listen: what did Nikki’s grandparents have?

Catherine What did Nikki’s grandparents have? Let’s find out.

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Nikki Joe! Come and sit on this sofa!

Joe It’s really uncomfortable.

Nikki I know… but I’ve always wanted a big, old, leather sofa. My grandparents had one when I was little.

Joe That’s not a good reason to buy a horrible sofa! The one with the stripy blue cotton cushions looks a lot nicer.

Nikki Maybe… Ooh what’s this… Look, a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim!

Joe Kilim? Oh, a little carpet. Sofas first, Nikki.

Finn So, that’s Joe and Nikki. And we asked you: what did Nikki’s grandparents have?

Catherine And the answer is: they had a big, old, leather sofa.

Finn That’s right. And the phrase a big, old, leather sofa is our first example of adjective order .

Catherine Now, when we use two or more adjectives together to describe a noun, the order we put them in is important. For example, we don’t usually say an old, leather, big sofa.

Finn So for our sofa example, first it’s size - so big , then age - old , and then material - leather. A big, old, leather sofa.

Catherine So that’s size, age, and material type. And each new adjective in the list needs to go in the right place.

Finn For example, colour goes between age and material type. So we can say: a big, old, red, leather sofa.

Catherine Now some people find it difficult to remember the adjective order…

Finn But there’s a good tip which is: the adjective with the meaning most closely related to the noun goes nearest to it.

Catherine And in our example, the material type - leather - is most closely connected to the noun. Big, old and red are more general. So: big, old, red, leather sofa. Another one please, Finn?

Finn Blue stripy cotton cushions.

Catherine So colour - blue , quality - stripy , and material type - cotton. Blue stripy cotton cushions.

Finn And Nikki got very excited about a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim.

Catherine Did she? I can understand that.

Finn Yes. So it’s a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim. There we had opinion: beautiful, and then colours: green and blue, we had two colours joined by ‘and’, and then country: Turkish.

IDENT You’re listening to BBC Learning English.

Finn And we’re talking about adjective order. And you might have noticed that we used some adjectives at the beginning of the programme.

Catherine We had nice, easy quiz - with two opinion adjectives. Easy has a closer connection to the noun quiz than nice. So we put easy next to the noun. A nice easy quiz.

Finn A nice, easy quiz. And another one: a small, but meaningful tip.

Catherine We can put ‘but’ between adjectives when they seem a bit unusual next to each other. Like small, but meaningful.

Finn Strange, but true , eh, Catherine?

Catherine Indeed. Nothing strange about vocabulary. So let’s hear today’s examples again. First, size, age, colour, and material.

Finn Big, old, red, leather sofa.

Catherine And leather has the strongest connection to the noun. Next, colour, quality, and material.

Finn Blue stripy cotton cushions.

Catherine And opinion, colour, and country.

Finn Beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim.

Catherine Right. And now it’s quiz time. Put these adjectives in the right order. Number 1. I love my … old, smelly, big dog.

Finn Right: I love my big, old, smelly dog.

Catherine Good. Number 2. This is a … Moroccan, simple, but delicious recipe.

Finn This is a simple, but delicious, Moroccan recipe.

Catherine Very good. And that brings us almost to the end of the programme.

Finn But before we go, here’s that tip we promised you, and it’s a game this time. Now, this is a game to play with a friend to practise describing things. Think of a noun but don’t tell your friend what it is. Then give adjective clues to help them guess the noun.

Catherine Good game. Do you want to play?

Finn Let’s give it a go.

Catherine Brilliant. There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both Goodbye!