Regardless of the language in which we are speaking, the human language has a great richness and variety . We possess words with a great many functions within the field of communication, such as nouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs or adjectives. The latter allow us to express or indicate the qualities of a stimulus or concept or to delimit what element is being talked about.

But the adjective category includes a large number of subcategories within it, there are different types of adjectives that can be used when communicating. That’s why we’re going to look at some of those types in this article.

The adjective

The concept of adjective refers to that set of words that allow to obtain more or less concrete or specific information of a noun, pointing out its qualities or the relations of the noun with other elements . Adjectives tend to have the same gender and number as the noun they accompany, although in some cases the adjective is a single word that does not vary regardless of the characteristics of the noun it refers to.

Main types of adjectives

There are different types of adjectives, which can be classified according to various criteria. Below we reflect some of the best known ones.

1. Qualifying adjectives

What most of us today consider to be adjectives per se, qualifying adjectives, are those which allow to identify a quality or express a characteristic of the noun to which they refer.

Within the qualifying adjectives, different subtypes can be found according to different criteria. Among them, the following stand out

1.1. Specific or restrictive adjectives

Specific adjectives are those that indicate a quality that differentiates the noun they refer to from others . Examples are those adjectives that point out the color or the form.

1.2. Non-restrictive adjectives

These are those adjectives whose meaning expresses a quality of the noun without restricting or manifesting a difference that makes it impossible for others to be so.

1.3. Explanatory adjectives

These types of adjectives refer to intrinsic qualities or directly associated with the concept they refer to . Their incorporation to the nominal syntagm is in fact redundant, and they can be eliminated without changing their meaning.

1.3. Deictic or modal adjective

Adjective that allows to delimit the context in which the noun is circumscribed or appears.

1.4. Graduated adjectives of positive degree

Adjectives that can be placed within a continuum and that merely provide information about a quality of the noun

are called as such

1.5. Comparative adjectives ( or comparative degree)

These are adjectives that establish a comparison between the noun they refer to and other concepts.

1.6. Elective (or superlative) adjectives

The use of elative adjectives allows to obtain information not only about a characteristic but also about its intensity . A subtype would be superlatives, in which the degree is marked by the incorporation of suffixes.

1.7. Relational adjectives

Relationals are those adjectives that inform about the relationship of the noun with some specific topic. They can be argumentative or classificatory (which in turn are restrictive when delimiting an excluding category).

1.8. Nounned adjectives

Noun adjectives are those adjectives that in a given context are used as nouns. They are used when the characteristic is the most distinctive element used to designate the object .

1.9. Adverbial adjectives

These are adjectives that are used as adverbs, having the same functions as these. In this case they do not indicate the properties of the noun but the way in which the adjective is applied rather to the action carried out by it . In a sentence they could be used as adverbs ending in -mind.

1.10. Intersective adjectives

Those adjectives that inform two qualities at the same time, appearing next to a noun adjective, are called as such.

1.11. Non-intersective adjectives

These are all those adjectives that simply express or indicate a quality even if they appear together with another particle that could be interpreted as qualitative .

2. The old determinative adjectives, now determinants

Although currently not applicable and considered as independent categories, in the past there was a classification that divided adjectives into qualifiers and determinants. Today they are not considered as adjectives.

Deterministic adjectives, now determinants, are those words used to determine or specify the scope of the noun they accompany. There are different types of determinants.

2.1. Numerals

Determining adjectives that provide information about the existing quantity of the concept being discussed. They can be cardinal or ordinal .

2.2. Possessions

These are the determinants that delimit the belonging or possession of the noun they accompany (me, yours, ours…).

2.3. Demonstratives

Words that accompany the name and refer to the distance between the sender of the sentence and the object , entity or concept to which it refers. Examples would be this or that.

2.4. Interrogatives

These are the determinants, or former determinant adjectives, used in the questions so that precede or even replace the noun and allow the identification of the noun. They are particles like what…? or how much…?

2.5. Exclamatives

These are those elements that accompany the noun and/or another adjective and serve to emphasize it .

2.6. Articles

Articles are used to indicate whether the noun is definite or indeterminate.

2.7. Indefinite

In a similar way to numerals they express an idea of quantity with respect to the noun they accompany, but in a less precise way (some, much, little…).