Look at these adjectives and try to put them in the correct order to describe a bowl: French, glass, fruit, white, old, round, nice, big (bowl). You can check your answer by clicking “Answer Key” below. Were you correct? If so, good job! But do you understand why that order is considered correct? Is there any room for variation?

If you came up with an order different from the one in the answer key, this article will explain the logic behind it. So whether you nailed it or not, read on. Not only will we explain this, but we’ll also provide more practice opportunities toward the end.

Answer Key 🔑

nice, big, round, old, white, French glass fruit bowl

As a matter of fact, the most common order of adjectives in English—though the order of adjectives for size, shape, age, and color can sometimes vary—is as follows: 

opinion	size	shape	age	color	origin	material	purpose/type	noun
nice	big	round	old	white	French	glass	fruit	bowl

(📚 Source: Grammar and Vocabulary for First Certificate by L. Prodromou, 1999.)

Variation is possible when we focus on a particular feature. For example, we can say: a round black shape (normal order) or a black round shape (focus on color).

The Use of Comma

We use a comma when there are two or more adjectives of equal importance before a noun. For example: The room was full of cold, hungry children. In this sentence, cold and hungry are so-called coordinate adjectives—they independently modify children and could be separated with and. Therefore, they take a comma. More examples like this:

1. The cold, damp, musty basement gave me chills.
2. It was a long, exhausting, tedious meeting.
3. Sarah is wearing a bright, colorful dress.
4. They live in a small, cozy, quiet cottage.
5. He is a smart, ambitious, driven young man.

❗Note that in the fifth example above, there is no comma between driven and young. That’s no mistake. The adjectives smart, ambitious, and driven are coordinate adjectives—they describe qualities that are equal in importance and can be rearranged or joined with and. But young is not coordinate with the others. It describes a different kind of detail—his age, not a personality trait or quality.

❗Cumulative adjectives—those that build upon each other and are not interchangeable—do not take commas. Take the phrase about the bowl, for example. It contains both coordinate and cumulative adjectives: nice, big, round, old, white French glass fruit bowl. The adjectives describing opinion, size, shape, age, and color are coordinate and therefore take commas. The adjectives describing origin, material, and purpose/type are cumulative and do not take commas.

Practice

Alright, it’s time for practice. Below are phrases with jumbled adjectives. Your task is to reorder the adjectives correctly according to standard English adjective order:

1. leather / black / sleek / Italian / small / camera / stylish
2. handmade / beautiful / brown / leather / Spanish / rectangular / small / wallet
3. funny / old / square / green / Japanese / silk / theater / mask
4. huge / worn-out / grey / steel / round / industrial / storage / container
5. ugly / little / antique / oval / French / wooden / picture / frame
6. sleek / modern / white / German / electric / sports / car
7. adorable / young / tiny / white / Persian / cat / fluffy
8. traditional / large / circular / red / Chinese / ceramic / serving / plate
9. uncomfortable / heavy / brown / Victorian / wooden / office / chair
10. cheap / blue / plastic / school / small / lunch / box
11. elegant / floor-length / silk / crimson / Italian / evening / gown

Answer Key 🔑

1. (a) stylish small sleek black Italian leather camera
2. (a) beautiful small rectangular brown Spanish handmade leather wallet
3. (a) funny old square green Japanese silk theater mask
4. (a) huge worn-out round grey industrial steel storage container
5. (an) ugly little antique oval French wooden picture frame
6. (a) sleek modern white German electric sports car
7. (an) adorable tiny young fluffy white Persian cat
8. (a) traditional large circular red Chinese ceramic serving plate
9. (an) uncomfortable heavy brown Victorian wooden office chair
10. (a) cheap small blue plastic school lunch box
11. (an) elegant floor-length crimson Italian silk evening gown

Here’s a bonus challenge for you: write your own sentence using at least 5 adjectives (from different categories) in the correct order before a noun, and share it in the comments section below.

How Natural is That?

If you’re wondering, “Wait a minute, a phrase like a beautiful small rectangular brown Spanish handmade leather wallet doesn’t seem very natural,” your instinct is spot-on. Indeed, it’s not common in everyday spoken English 😮.

While it’s grammatically correct to stack many adjectives in the “right” order, this kind of long string is rare in natural speech for 3 main reasons:

1. It’s hard to process or produce that many adjectives fluently in real-time conversation.
2. Native speakers tend to simplify or restructure sentences to avoid sounding cluttered.
3. Many stacked adjectives aren’t needed because the context already makes some of the qualities clear.

So, it would be more natural to say something like:
🇪🇸 “It’s a beautiful wallet. Small, rectangular, and handmade in Spain.”
(Breaking one long sentence into smaller, more digestible chunks.)

So, why teach (and try to remember) the full order then?

Well, it’s useful for writing—especially in descriptive or literary contexts. It helps learners understand adjective types and patterns, and it also builds awareness of when things “sound right” in English.

We genuinely hope that’s what we’ve managed to do today. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below—we’ll be delighted to answer them.