Quick Guide to Adjective Order

In English, there is a very specific order to follow when we are using adjectives. Often non-native speakers make mistakes with this and to a native person it sounds a little unusual.

Here is a quick guide to help you sound natural.

We normally use adjectives in this order:

1. Quantity or number
2. Quality or opinion
3. Size
4. Age
5. Shape
6. Color
7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
8. Purpose or qualifier

For example:

It was made of a strange, green, metallic material.

It’s a long, narrow, plastic brush.

Panettone is a round, Italian, bread-like Christmas cake.

This picture from VocabularyPage.com shows it perfectly.