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Martin & Reza

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Today we are joined by Martin.

In this episode: The Order of Adjectives Before a Noun

This week’s feedback: Alfredo (audio feedback)

Alfredo asks how he can improve his accent. People say that when he speaks English he has a strong Italian accent. How can he improve this?

Don’t worry about your Italian accent, Alfredo. The most important thing is that people understand you when you speak.

It tickles my fancy = it appeals to me, I like it

The Order of Adjectives Before a Noun

Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun:

He’s a fat old man. (not Xold fatX)
She’s an attractive, French businesswoman.
Martin’s got an old, yellow bike.

colour blind – daltónico

We usually have one or two adjectives before a noun. Three is unusual:

This is a boring, expensive, thick English text book.

Adjectives usually (but not always) come in this order:

1. Opinion
2. Size
3. Age
4. Shape
5. Colour
6. Origin (nationality)
7. Material

(OSASHCORM)
Other Qualities could include, for example, thin (Thickness), light (Weight), warm (Clothes), etc.

A warm leather jacket.
A beautiful warm day.

bulky – voluminoso/a

A heavy, bulky Swiss suitcase
Numbers come first:

One lovely German woman.
six large eggs.
half a dozen free-range eggs.
My second big chance
Use commas when there’s more than one adjective: A wonderful, long, relaxing holiday. (but sometimes commas are not used with short, common adjectives: lovely blue eyes, a tall dark stranger.)
Occasionally, adjectives come AFTER nouns. for example in fixed expressions like ‘president elect’, ‘secretary general’, ‘God Almighty!’

All things/Everything/Anything/Anywhere etc

All things culinary excite me; Anything Greek interests Mike.

Some adjectives CAN’T come before a noun. They come after the verb. (Predicative)

The boy is asleep/afraid/awake/alone/alike/alright. (NOT “the asleep/alone/etc. boy”)

Most begin with letter “a______”

Practice

house (modern, attractive)
dog (black, huge)
day (lovely, sunny)
nose (red, large)
face (round, friendly)
phone (expensive, Japanese)
car (new, sports, red)
boots (leather, black, sexy)
table (modern, glass, ugly)

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Reza and I want to thank italki for sponsoring Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig. 

Discussion

Describe the following (using no more than 2 adjectives):

your flat
the clothes you’re wearing
one another! Martin/Craig/Reza
Valencia
the room we’re in
our favourite possession
your last holiday
your first girlfriend/boyfriend
your wife/husband/current partner (if different to above!!)
Inglespodcast.com…

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. We want you to tell us……Send us a voice message and describe something using our examples and the correct order of adjectives. speakpipe.com/inglespodcast.

Send us an email with a comment or question to [email protected] or [email protected].
On next week’s episode: Q & A – Answering the many questions you have sent us by email or speakpipe.

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’