# The hidden word order rules for English adjectives

Want to stack adjectives in English? There’s a rulebook—and we’ve got the cheat sheet.

You may know that [adjectives](https://blog.duolingo.com/kinds-of-adjectives) are words that help us describe nouns. They can include everything from [descriptive adjectives](https://blog.duolingo.com/types-of-descriptive-adjectives) to [possessive adjectives](https://blog.duolingo.com/possessive-adjectives-in-english/) and [demonstrative](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-demonstratives) ones, too. But what happens when you want to use more than one adjective to describe the same noun?

In English, adjectives follow **a specific order**, and this order might be different from what you’re used to in your first language. With this guide and a little practice, you’ll be ready in no time!

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### In this post:

- [Where to put adjectives in English sentences](https://blog.duolingo.com/adjective-order/#where-do-adjectives-go-in-english)
- [How to use multiple adjectives for one noun](https://blog.duolingo.com/adjective-order/#how-do-you-use-multiple-adjectives-in-english)
- [Rules for commas when using multiple adjectives](https://blog.duolingo.com/adjective-order/#do-you-need-commas-when-using-multiple-adjectives)
- [How to use multiple adjectives after verbs like _be_, _seem_, or _look_](https://blog.duolingo.com/adjective-order/#how-do-you-use-multiple-adjectives-after-a-verb)

## Where do adjectives go in English?

Before we dive into the details of adjective order, let’s review the typical [word order](https://blog.duolingo.com/how-to-make-sentences-in-spanish-french/) in English. A basic English sentence usually follows this pattern:

**Subject + Verb + Object**  
You can think of this as a sort of formula—with some flexibility. For example, both the subject and the object can be just a single word or multi-word phrases about a noun:

Little kids love cake.

The little kids in his class love cake.

I made two delicious cakes for the class.

Adjectives can also appear after certain verbs, even without a noun. If the sentence has a verb such as be, seem, look, or get, an adjective comes _after_ the verb:

Cake is delicious.

This cake your brother made looks delicious.

## How do you use multiple adjectives in English?

Sometimes, a single adjective just doesn’t cut it. Maybe the cake you’re eating is not only _round_ but also _delicious_. Whenever you want to use more than one adjective to modify a noun, they need to go **in a specific order**.

So, is it a _round delicious cake_ or a _delicious round cake_? To answer this question, you’ll need to know which order the different categories of adjectives go in:

Describing a cake as _delicious_ expresses an **opinion** (position **2**), while calling it _round_ describes its **shape** (position **5**). When we combine the two adjectives in the right order, we get:

He made a delicious square cake.

That’s because we order the adjectives according to the positions of the different categories mentioned above:

| POSITION | CATEGORY | ADJECTIVE |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | determiners | **a** |
| 2 | opinion | **delicious** |
| 5 | shape | **square** |

Once you know the correct order of adjective categories, you can use as many adjectives as you like:

We found these cute little blue buttons.

| POSITION | CATEGORY | ADJECTIVE |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | determiners | **these** |
| 2 | opinion | **cute** |
| 3 | size | **little** |
| 6 | color | **blue** |

I love your three beautiful huge new round green Japanese clay cooking pots.

| POSITION | CATEGORY | ADJECTIVE |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | determiners | **your** |
| 1 | determiners | **three** |
| 2 | opinion | **beautiful** |
| 3 | size | **huge** |
| 4 | age | **new** |
| 5 | shape | **round** |
| 6 | color | **green** |
| 7 | origin | **Japanese** |
| 8 | material | **clay** |
| 9 | purpose | **cooking** |

(Okay, this last example might not be the kind of sentence you would hear often, but isn’t it fun to see all those adjectives together?)

## Do you need commas when using multiple adjectives?

You may have noticed in the examples above that you typically do not use commas when using multiple adjectives. However, there is one exception:

If two adjectives come from the **same category**, a comma is generally used between them.

For example, _funny_ and _interesting_ are both opinion adjectives, so they are separated by a **comma**:

We saw a funny, interesting movie.

Another way to separate adjectives that belong to the same category is by using the word **_and_** between them. For example, the sentence above could also be written as:

We saw a funny and interesting movie.

## How do you use multiple adjectives after a verb?

When multiple adjectives appear after a verb such as _be_, _seem_, _look_, _smell_, etc. (and they are not part of a noun phrase), their order is more flexible. For example, both of the following sentences are correct:

Her shoes look old and dirty.

Her shoes look dirty and old.

If three or more adjectives follow the verb, _and_ is only used before the final adjective. Commas are generally placed between the others:

Their friend is funny, energetic, and kind.

(Sometimes, you won’t see a comma before _and_ in lists—this comma is called the Oxford comma, and it’s more common in the U.S. and less common in the U.K.)

## Adjectives galore!

Whether it’s an _adorable little puppy_ or an _enormous magnificent mountain_, there’s a whole world out there! Now you can describe it with as many adjectives as you need!

To learn more about adjectives:

- [How to use _-ed_ and _-ing_ adjectives in English](https://blog.duolingo.com/how-to-use-ed-and-ing-adjectives-in-english/)
- [What are comparatives and superlatives in English?](https://blog.duolingo.com/adjectives-with-more-and-most)
- [The most important demonstrative adjectives in English](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-demonstratives)
- [How to use possessive adjectives in English](https://blog.duolingo.com/possessive-adjectives-in-english/)
- [How to describe nouns with adjectives in English](https://blog.duolingo.com/types-of-descriptive-adjectives)
- [The difference between gradable and non-gradable adjectives in English](https://blog.duolingo.com/gradable-adjectives)
- [70+ of the most common English adjectives](https://blog.duolingo.com/adjectives-list)