The Order of Adjectives

When more than one adjective is used to modify a noun, or when nouns are used to modify another noun, the order of adjectives needs to follow a particular sequence. For example, we could say a delicious mature blue cheese but not a blue delicious mature cheese. This post defines the positions for different groups of adjectives with examples given.

• Origin, material and purpose

The order of adjectives of origin, material and purpose typically follow in this sequence.

article	origin	material	purpose	noun
	Italian	ceramic	pasta	dishes
a	Brazilian	wooden	river	canoe
an	English	aluminium	tennis	racquet

• Physical description

The order of adjectives for physical description is as follows: size, shape, age and colour (This group comes before the origin – material – purpose sequence mentioned above).

article	size	shape	age	colour	noun
a	large		modern	bronze	sculpture
	broad	winding	historical		streets
a	large	square	new	blue	printer

• Observations

Adjectives which describe opinions, judgements or attitudes come before all other adjectives.

article	observation	age	origin	noun
an	abandoned	1930s	British	motorbike
a	stunning		Renaissance	painting
an	athletic	young	high-school	footballer

• Numbers

Numbers usually go before all adjectives, in the same position as articles (a/an/the):

number	age	origin	noun
two	old	Dutch	bicycles
twelve	fresh	free-range	eggs
thirty-five	middle-aged	Chinese	tourists

• The complete order of adjectives table

determiner →	observation →	size →	shape →	age →
an	expensive			antique
several		large		young
three	unusual		rectangular
a	unique	micro
those	unattractive
colour →	origin →	material →	purpose →	NOUN
	Ming			vase
	English			sheepdogs
purple			decorative	drapes
		titanium	medical	toolkit
red		fabric	wedding	roses

•A final note on the use of commas

We generally use commas to separate three or more adjectives that are placed before a noun:
a delicious, spicy, Thai meal
a long, dark, leather jacket

But commas can be omitted when using common sets of adjectives such as trinomials:
a tall(,) dark(,) handsome visitor
a cool(,) calm(,) collected individual