In Spanish, adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in both number and gender. Here are the key points to understand how this works:
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Gender Agreement: Spanish nouns are categorized as either masculine or feminine. Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they modify. Typically, masculine nouns end in -o, while feminine nouns often end in -a. For instance, "el niño alto" (the tall boy) uses the masculine form "alto," while "la niña alta" (the tall girl) uses the feminine form "alta."
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Number Agreement: Adjectives also need to agree with the number of the nouns, meaning they must be singular or plural. In general, the masculine singular form of an adjective will end in -o, the feminine singular form in -a, the masculine plural form in -os, and the feminine plural form in -as. For example, "los niños altos" (the tall boys) is plural masculine, while "las niñas altas" (the tall girls) is plural feminine.
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Mixed Gender Groups: When referring to mixed-gender groups, the masculine plural form is used. For instance, if a group consists of boys and girls, the appropriate adjective would be the masculine plural, e.g., "los niños altos" for "the tall children."
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Exceptions and Irregular Forms: Some adjectives have irregular forms or do not follow the typical patterns. For example, "feliz" (happy) remains the same for both genders and does not change in the plural form, as in "los niños felices" (the happy boys) and "las niñas felices" (the happy girls).
Overall, understanding the rules of gender and number agreement is essential for proper adjective use in Spanish.