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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me, Finn.
And me, Catherine.
And today's show is all about adjective order.
Adjectives.
Yes, those useful words we use to describe things.
We'll look at what adjective order is and how to use it.
There'll be a nice easy quiz.
And we'll leave you with a small but meaningful tip for learning vocabulary.
So, let's start off with Nicky and Joe who are talking in a furniture shop.
Here's a question to think about while you listen.
What did Nicky's grandparents have?
What did Nicky's grandparents have?
Let's find out.
Joe, come and sit on this sofa.
It's really uncomfortable.
I know, but I've always wanted a big old leather sofa.
My grandparents had one when I was little.
Well, that's not a good reason to buy a horrible sofa.
The one with the stripy blue cotton cushions looks a lot nicer.
Maybe.
Oh, what's this?
Look, a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim.
Kilim?
Oh, a little carpet.
Sofas first, Nicky.
MUSIC
So that's Joe and Nicky.
And we asked you, what did Nicky's grandparents have?
And the answer is, they had a big old leather sofa.
That's right.
And the phrase, a big old leather sofa, is our first example of adjective order.
Now, when we use two or more adjectives together to describe a noun, the order we put them in is important.
For example, we don't usually say an old leather big sofa.
So for our sofa example, first it's size, so big, and then age, old, then material, leather.
A big, old, leather sofa.
So that's size, age and material type.
And each new adjective in the list needs to go in the right place.
For example, colour goes between age and material type.
So we can say a big old red leather sofa.
Now, some people find it difficult to remember the adjective order.
But there's a good tip which is the adjective with the meaning most closely related to the noun goes nearest to it.
And in our example, the material type leather is most closely connected to the noun.
Big, old and red are more general.
So, big, old, red, leather sofa.
Another one please, Finn. blue stripey cotton cushions.
So colour – blue, quality – stripey and material type – cotton.
Blue stripey cotton cushions.
And Nicky got very excited about a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim.
Did she?
I can understand that.
Yes.
It's a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim.
There we had opinion, beautiful.
And then colours, green and blue.
We had two colours joined by and.
And then country, Turkish.
And we're talking about adjective order.
And you might have noticed that we used some adjectives at the beginning of the programme.
We had nice easy quiz with two opinion adjectives.
Easy has a closer connection to the noun quiz than nice.
So we put easy next to the noun.
A nice easy quiz.
A nice easy quiz.
And another one, a small but meaningful tip.
We can put, but between adjectives, when they seem a bit unusual next to each other, like small but meaningful.
Yeah.
Strange but true, eh, Catherine?
Indeed.
Nothing strange about vocabulary.
So, let's hear today's examples again.
First, size, age, colour and material.
Big, old, red, leather, sofa.
And leather has the strongest connection to the noun.
Next, colour, quality and material.
Blue, stripy, cotton cushions.
And opinion, colour and country.
Beautiful, green and blue, Turkish kilim.
Right, and now it's quiz time.
Put these adjectives in the right order.
Number one.
I love my old, smelly, big dog.
Right, I love my big, old, smelly dog.
Good.
Number two.
This is a Moroccan simple but delicious recipe.
This is a simple but delicious Moroccan recipe.
Very good.
And that brings us almost to the end of the programme.
But before we go, here's that tip we promised you.
And it's a game this time.
Now, this is a game to play with a friend to practice describing things.
Think of a noun, but don't tell your friend what it is.
Then give adjective clues to help them guess the noun.
Good game.
Do you want to play?
Let's give it a go.
Brilliant.
There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com.
Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Bye.
Bye.
