There are 9 parts of speech or word classes in English language:
– nouns
– pronouns
– determiners
– verbs
– prepositions
– adjectives
– adverbs
– conjunctions
– interjections

We use adjectives to express:
– conditions,
– quality,
– characteristics,
– feelings/emotions
of someone or something.

John is sick.
Sick is a condition for someone.
Sick is an adjective.

That car is new.
New is a condition for something.
New is an adjective.

Jane is smart.
Smart is a quality for someone.
Smart is an adjective.

That movie is awesome.
Awesome is a quality for something.
Awesome is an adjective.

John is tall.
Tall is a physical characteristic for someone.
Tall is an adjective.

That car is red.
Red is a physical characteristic for something.
Red is an adjective.

Jane is brave.
Brave is a non-physical characteristic of someone.
Brave is an adjective.

That lesson is boring.
Boring is a non-physical characteristic of something.
Boring is an adjective.

James is happy.
Happy is a feeling.
Happy is an adjective.

How to Use Adjectives

(1) We can use adjectives after linking verbs

linking verb + adjective

Linking verbs:
am
is
are
was
were
feel
seem
look
sound
taste

– That house is big.
– Jane was worried.
– John looked happy.

(2) We can use adjectives in front of nouns:

adjective + noun

– That is a big house.
– John is a smart student.
– Those are expensive shoes.

(3) We can use adjective to describe pronouns.
Jane is beautiful.
She is beautiful.

Those students looked happy.
They looked happy.

We use superlative adjectives to express the highest quality or the most extreme of something in a group.

He is the oldest member at the club.
– the oldest = superlative adjective

Pavarotti was the most famous singer of the past century.
– the most famous = superlative adjective

How to Form Superlative Adjectives

(1) one-syllable adjectives:

the + adjective + est

old -> the oldest
fast -> the fastest
warm -> the warmest
quick -> the quickest
tall -> the tallest

(2) one-syllable adjectives ending with ‘e’:

the + adjective + st

nice -> the nicest
large -> the largest
brave -> the bravest

(3) one-syllable adjectives ending with consonant + vocal + consonant:

the + adjective + last consonant + est

big -> the biggest
sad -> the saddest
fat -> the fattest
wet -> the wettest

(4) two-syllable adjectives ending with ‘y’:

the + adjective -y + iest

busy -> the busiest
happy -> the happiest
lazy -> the laziest
easy -> the easiest
cozy -> the coziest

(5) two-syllable adjectives NOT ending with ‘y’:

the + most + adjective

modern -> the most modern
pleasant -> the most pleasant
nervous -> the most nervous
perfect -> the most perfect
awful -> the most awful

(6) adjectives with 3 syllables or more:

the + most + adjective

complicated -> the most complicated
comfortable -> the most comfortable
difficult -> the most difficult
expensive -> the most expensive
beautiful -> the most beautiful

(7) Exceptions:

There are some adjectives that can use BOTH the -est from dan the most form:

clever
– the cleverest (correct)
– the most clever (correct)

simple
– the simplest (correct)
– the most simple (correct)

common
– the commonest (correct)
– the most common (correct)

Irregular Superlative Adjectives

There are some adjectives with irregular superlative forms.

good -> the best
bad -> the worst
far -> the farthest/the furthest

1. We use superlative adjectives to express 1 thing that has the highest or the most extreme quality in a group of 3 things or more.

John is 1.75m, David is 1.80m and Chris is 1.85m. Chris is the tallest.
We are comparing 3 people: Jack, David, Chris.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
We are comparing more than 3 mountains in the world.

2. Common mistakes

Chris is the tallest among the three of them.
Chris is the most tallest among the three of them. (wrong)

Is French more difficult than English?
Is French the most difficult than English? (wrong)
We do not use superlative adjectives to compare 2 things.