Adjectives & adverbs · CEFR B1 · Independent

Adjective order — English adjectives and adverbs

English fixes the order of adjectives. Native speakers never think about it.

The shape

opinion → size → age → colour → origin → material

Stack two adjectives without sounding foreign.

In Hindi

अंग्रेज़ी में विशेषणों का क्रम तय है — बोलने वाले इसे सोचते भी नहीं।

CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.

The mistake to fix first

The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.

Commonly said	Correct English
A red big bag.	A big red bag. Size comes before colour.

Commonly said

Correct English

A red big bag.

A big red bag.

Size comes before colour.

Questions people ask

What is the adjective order used for?: English fixes the order of adjectives. Native speakers never think about it. In practice: stack two adjectives without sounding foreign.
How do you form the adjective order?: opinion → size → age → colour → origin → material.
What is the most common mistake with the adjective order?: Saying “A red big bag.” instead of “A big red bag.”. Size comes before colour.

Where adjective order fits

Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.

Adjective order is a CEFR B1 structure — the independent band — and it belongs to adjectives & adverbs. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.

Reading it is not the same as saying it.

CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.

Practise the adjective order →

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