Adjectives are one of the important parts of speech in English. This adjectives lesson shows you how to use them correctly. You can find the exercises at the bottom of the page. You will also find links to comparative and superlative adjectives lessons and tests.
Let’s get started!
What are adjectives?
They describe nouns. Here are some examples.
- Happy
- Tall
- Cold
- Funny
They can go before or after nouns. Here are some examples before nouns:
- He is a tall boy.
- The black cat is in the kitchen.
- The expensive jacket is for sale.
- The old house is on the street.
Here are some after the nouns.
- The man is happy.
- She is young.
- My mother is beautiful.
- The house is new.
When the adjective is after the noun, you must use the verb”to be”.
- The boys are tired.
- Mike is hungry.
- The dog is tired.
Adjectives Structure
Adjectives have a number of common endings called suffixes. You can see them in the list below.
| Suffix | Examples |
| ING | Boring, Exciting |
| ED | Bored, Excited |
| IVE | Creative, Persuasive |
| ABLE | Breakable, Affordable |
| IBLE | Possible, Incredible |
| AL | Global, Final |
| IC | Heroic, Futuristic |
| Y | Shiny, Funny |
| OUS | Fabulous, Glamourous |
| FUL | Helpful, Harmful |
| LESS | Helpless, Harmless |
| ISH | Foolish, Selfish |
If you would like to learn more about how suffixes impact part of speech in English, try this suffixes lesson.
Now that you have an idea of how to use adjectives, try these tests.
Adjective Tests
Adjective Test
Adjective Test 2
You can use adjectives many different ways in English. Here is a list of all the lessons at learnEnglish-online: