Adjective

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun, giving more information about its qualities, state, or identity. Adjectives are one of the core parts of speech in English, and you use them constantly — to describe people, objects, feelings, and ideas.

What adjectives do

Adjectives typically answer questions like What kind?, Which one?, or How many? They can appear in two main positions:

• Before a noun (called attributive position): a tall building, fresh coffee, three students
• After a linking verb (called predicative position): The soup is hot, She seems tired

Some adjectives work in only one position. For example, main is almost always attributive (the main reason), while asleep is almost always predicative (The baby is asleep).

Examples

• ✅ She wore a red dress. (red modifies dress)
• ✅ The exam was difficult. (difficult follows the linking verb was)
• ❌ She wore a redly dress. (Adverbs like redly don't modify nouns.)
• ✅ He gave me useful advice. (useful modifies the uncountable noun advice)

Adjective order

When you stack multiple adjectives before a noun, English follows a conventional order: opinion → size → age → shape → colour → origin → material → purpose. For example, a lovely small old round brown French wooden serving table — though in real life you'd rarely pile up that many.

Self-check: If your sentence sounds awkward with two adjectives before a noun, try swapping their order. The version that "sounds right" usually follows the standard sequence.

Adjectives vs. determiners

Words like the, this, my, and some were historically grouped with adjectives, but modern grammar classifies them as determiners. Unlike true adjectives, determiners don't have comparative forms (bigger works, but *more the doesn't) and occupy a fixed slot before any adjectives.

Comparatives and superlatives

Most adjectives have comparative and superlative forms used to compare things:

• tall → taller → tallest
• expensive → more expensive → most expensive

To practice these, try Comparatives and Superlatives. You can also build a foundation with Basics. Adjectives and Adverbs. and Basics. Word Order..

A1 | Elementary | Beginners

CEFR A1 is the first level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely used standard for measuring language ability. If you're just starting to learn English — or rebuilding from scratch — this is where you begin.

What can an A1 learner do?

At A1, you can handle the most basic, everyday communication. Specifically, you're expected to:

• Understand and use familiar everyday expressions — greetings, simple questions, common signs and instructions.
• Introduce yourself and others — say where you live, talk about people you know, describe things you have.
• Ask and answer simple personal questions — "What's your name?", "Where are you from?", "Do you have a car?"
• Have short conversations — as long as the other person speaks slowly and clearly and is willing to help.

What grammar does A1 cover?

A1 focuses on the building blocks of English grammar. You'll work with:

• Basic verb forms — the present tense of be, have, and do, plus simple regular and irregular verbs
• Simple sentence structure — subject + verb + object word order
• Common determiners and pronouns — a, the, this, my, he, she, it
• Basic prepositions — in, on, at, to, from
• Simple questions — yes/no questions and wh- questions (what, where, who)
• Everyday vocabulary and collocations — phrases that naturally go together, like make breakfast or do homework

How do you know if you're A1?

If you can read a short text like a menu or a bus sign, fill out a simple form with your personal details, and ask someone basic questions in English — you're operating at A1. If most of that still feels challenging, you're in exactly the right place.

Self-check: Try introducing yourself in five sentences — your name, where you're from, what you do, something you like, and one question for the other person. If you can do that (even with mistakes), you're solidly at A1.

What's next?

Once you're comfortable with A1 basics, you'll move toward A2, where sentences get longer, tenses expand, and you start handling more real-world situations.

To start practising, try these challenges: Are you A1/Beginner? Test your English CEFR Level!, "To be" in Present Tense, and Basics. Word Order..

Difficulty: Easy

Easy difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.