An adjective is a word that describes or adds more detail to a noun (a person, place, thing, or idea). Think of it like a spotlight—it helps highlight or color in more information about something. For example, in the phrase a red apple, the word red is the adjective because it tells us more about the apple.

Let’s break it down with a simple example. Imagine you’re building a character in a game. You choose warrior as the character type (that’s your noun). Now you add strong, brave, and tall to describe the warrior. Those are adjectives. They don’t change who the character is, but they give you a clearer picture of what the character is like.

Adjectives can describe size (small dog), shape (round table), color (blue sky), age (old book), emotion (happy child), or even quantity (three cookies). They usually come before the noun they describe, but sometimes they can come after, like in “The sky is blue.”

Here’s another trick: if you can ask questions like What kind? How many? or Which one?, the answer is usually an adjective.

• What kind of car? A fast car.
• How many cookies? Five cookies.
• Which book? The first book.

Adjectives make our language richer and more precise. Without them, we’d just say “a house” instead of “a cozy, little house by the sea.”

As you get more comfortable with adjectives, you’ll notice how they can shape mood, tone, and even persuasion in writing. Want to sound more expressive or detailed? Master your adjectives.