How to use adjectives as nouns in Spanish to grow your vocabulary
Published on March 18, 2024
Which way do you want to grow your Spanish vocabulary, the easy way or the hard way? (¿Cuál quieres, la manera fácil o la difícil?) If you’re like most of us, you’ll take the easy way. (La fácil.)
This exchange above is short in Spanish because you can use adjectives as nouns in Spanish by adding defined articles (lo, la, el, los, or las) rather than full phrases. These adjective-turned-nouns are known as adjetivos sustantivados or “noun-ed up” adjectives in Spanish grammar.
Using adjectives as nouns in Spanish is an essential language skill that you’ll use every day. Let’s look at all the ways you can do it.
Adjectives can be used as nouns in Spanish when the person, place, or thing is not in the sentence, yet the adjective refers to a specific characteristic of it that makes it distinguishable from others. You can also use adjectives as nouns when you discuss more abstract concepts like “the good thing” (lo bueno) or “the bad thing” (lo malo).
As a language learner, you already know that adjectives (adjetivos) typically follow the noun (sustantivo) in Spanish:
When the noun has been mentioned before in the conversation, it can be omitted and the adjective used as a noun:
To use these nouns as adjectives in Spanish, we must use the definite article (el, la, los, las) and the adjective. The article must match the gender of the noun and whether it is plural or singular:
These nouns-turned-adjectives can also have their own adjectives as well:
We also use the gender-neutral article lo to change adjectives to nouns in Spanish. Here, the lo + adjective format is used to talk about abstract concepts like “the good thing” (lo bueno), “the bad thing” (lo malo), “the best” (lo mejor), etc. This is a common usage of adjetivos sustantivados that you will hear every day in any Spanish-speaking country.
We can create nouns from adjectives in Spanish using demonstrative pronouns (that, those, these, etc.) As usual, the demonstrative pronoun and the adjective must match the gender and number (plural/singular) of the noun.
When a person is the direct object of a sentence in Spanish, we need to use the preposition a (to) after the verb:
We can replace Gloria or Nicolás with a characteristic that refers to them, but we still have to keep the a preposition:
The ability to use adjectives as nouns in Spanish is a convenient and common bit of grammar. It will help you expand your vocabulary with words you already know. Plus, when you’re at the market, you can point at una manzana (an apple) and ask for la más fresca (the freshest one). At the pharmacy, when the pharmacist asks if you want the brand-name medicine or generic one, you can simply say la sin marca (the generic one). With a little practice, you’ll be speaking more efficiently and sounding like a native speaker in no time.