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Using ser, estar and adjectives in the plural

If we want to make a Spanish sentence meaning we're tired or we're English, there are a couple of issues. Firstly, we need to know the relevant form of the verb, just as for the other forms we've been practising. But because we is plural ("more than one"), we need to know the plural form of the adjective. In other words, the adjective must agree with the subject not only for gender (masculine or feminine) but also for number (singular or plural). Number agreement hasn't been a problem so far, because the adjectives we've been using have all been singular.

The plural of Spanish adjectives

The general rules for forming the plural of Spanish adjectives are as follows. Note that we add the plural ending to the correct form of the adjective according to gender:

If the singular form of the adjective ends in a vowel, then you add -s to make the plural form. For example:
- cansado > cansados
- cansada > cansadas
- triste > tristes
- inglesa > inglesas.
Otherwise, you add -es:
- inglés > ingleses
- español > españoles.

This means that an adjective can have up to four forms, for all the possible combinations of (masculine/feminine) and (singular/plural):

Forms of **cansado**
Number	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	cansado	cansada
Plural	cansados	cansadas

Forms of **triste**
Number	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	triste	triste
Plural	tristes	tristes

Forms of **español**
Number	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	español	española
Plural	españoles	españolas

Forms of **inglés**
Number	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	inglés	inglesa
Plural	ingleses	inglesas

Note that adding -es to inglés also removes the accent in the spelling. (This also happens for other adjectives ending in -és, such as francés.)

Gender agreement in the plural

Gender agreement works as follows in the plural:

The masculine plural form of the adjective (ending in -os or -es depending on the adjective) is used if all the people referred to are male;
The feminine plural form of the adjective (ending in -as or -es depending on the adjective) is used if all the people referred to are feminine;
If the people referred to are a mixture of male and female, then masculine plural form is also used.

How to say we are in Spanish

Now to put these plural adjectives into a sentence. The forms of ser and estar that mean we are are as follows.

Verb	we form	Example
ser	somos	somos ingleses we're English (masc) somos inglesas we're English (fem)
estar	estamos	estamos cansados we're tired (masc) estamos cansadas we're tired (fem)

Notice that both of these forms end in -mos. In fact, every "we" form in Spanish, of every verb and in every tense, ends in -mos.

Exercise: make sentences with plural adjectives

Now we'll add plural adjectives and the verb forms somos and estamos to the forms for you to practise. So if you're asked to make a sentence meaning we're ..., you'll need one of the forms somos or estamos (depending on whether the adjective needs ser or estar) plus a plural form of the adjective. You'll also need the correct gender of the adjective (masculine for "we" referring to males or a mixture of males/females, and feminine for "we" referring to a group of females).

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Next...

Once you're happy with this exercise, you can move on and look at further plural subjects: saying they are in Spanish.

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