English grammar
The order of adjectives 📕
We can use more than one adjective before a noun. English speakers put them in a fixed order. It sounds wrong if you change it.
The order
| Number | Type | Examples |
| 1 | Opinion | nice, beautiful, ugly |
| 2 | Size | big, small, long |
| 3 | Age | old, new, young |
| 4 | Shape | round, square |
| 5 | Colour | red, blue, green |
| 6 | Origin | Norwegian, Italian |
| 7 | Material | wooden, cotton, plastic |
| 8 | Purpose | running (shoes), sleeping (bag) |
Examples
a lovely old house (opinion + age)
a big red car (size + colour)
a small Italian restaurant (size + origin)
a beautiful long cotton dress (opinion + size + material)
✗ a red big car
✓ a big red car
💡 In everyday English we rarely use more than two or three adjectives before a noun.