Order of adjectives

When there are two or more adjectives in front of a noun they are placed in a particular order. Most native English speakers wouldn’t be able to tell you this order but they would probably use it correctly. They’ve learned it through familiarity, and it has become automatic for them.

If you’re learning English as a second (or third, or fourth…) language it might become natural to you as well. In the meantime you might want to learn the order – especially if you will be taking exams in English.

The usual order is:

• (Determiner)

• Opinion (General opinion followed by specific opinion)

• Size

• Condition

• Age

• Shape

• Colour

• Origin

• Material

• Purpose

Examples:

These would be written as follows:

• A lovely, old, square, Italian dining table.
• An expensive, blue cotton dress.
• The large, broken wooden chair.
• Some delicious, 10-year old red wine.
• Her little, shiny, Russian cooking pot.
• These fascinating British stone castles.
• These tall, rectangular oil paintings.

In these examples, the words in italics can be regarded as adjective phrases, while the underlined words can be regarded as noun phrases. This means that the examples could be re-written as:

• The Italian dining table is lovely, old and square.
• Her cotton dress is expensive and blue.
• The wooden chair is large and broken
• The 10-year old red wine was delicious.
• Her Russian cooking pot was little and shiny.
• These British stone castles are fascinating.
• These oil paintings are tall and rectangular

There are exceptions of course. (There always are exceptions!) For example, the order might be changed just to change the meaning slightly. So, both these phrases are grammatically correct:

• Her little, shiny Russian cooking pot.
• Her shiny, little Russian cooking pot.

In the first example, the emphasis is on little. What is important about this shiny Russian cooking pot is that it is little, not large.

In the second example, the emphasis is on shiny. What is important about this little Russian cooking pot is that it is shiny, not dull.