What is the order of adjectives in English?

The usual sequence before a noun is opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose, then the noun. A comfortable small old round brown Italian leather riding saddle would fill every slot, though you would never say that. Real phrases use two or three adjectives and still follow the same order: a small brown leather saddle.

What does OSASCOMP stand for?

Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose. It is a memory aid for the order of adjectives in front of a noun. Not every teacher uses the same letters (some split colour and origin differently), but they all put opinion first and purpose last. Learn it as a habit rather than as eight boxes to fill.

Do I need a comma between adjectives?

Only when the adjectives are equal, usually two opinions: a bright, cheerful kitchen, which you could also write a bright and cheerful kitchen. When the adjectives occupy different OSASCOMP slots, there is no comma and no and: a small old kitchen. If swapping the two adjectives sounds wrong, leave the comma out.

Why does a red nice car sound wrong?

Because nice is an opinion and red is a fact, and opinion has to come first: a nice red car. English speakers feel this even when they cannot name the rule. The same judgement-before-fact pattern explains a lovely old house, an awful plastic chair, and a delicious hot soup.

Can I put adjectives after the noun instead?

Yes, in a more formal or literary style, usually joined with and: the sea, grey and restless. After a linking verb they have to go after the noun because they are the complement: The sea was grey. Neither of those patterns replaces OSASCOMP for ordinary premodifying stacks, which remain the default in speech and in everyday writing.

English grammar · Intermediate

Adjective Order in English: Opinion, Size, Age, Colour, and More

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

When several adjectives sit in front of a noun, English puts them in a fairly fixed order: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose, then the noun. The mnemonic OSASCOMP captures that sequence. You do not need every slot, and native speakers can shuffle a pair for emphasis, but a stack that ignores the order (a French old little lovely desk) sounds wrong even when every word is right.

a lovely little old French writing desk

opinion, size, age, origin, purpose, then the noun

What it is

English is strict about the sequence of adjectives before a noun and relaxed about almost everything else in the phrase. Opinion comes first because it is the speaker's judgement (lovely, awful, comfortable). After that, the adjectives move from general physical facts toward the noun's identity: how big, how old, what shape, what colour, where from, what it is made of, and what it is for. Purpose sits nearest the noun because it is close to being part of the name (writing desk, walking boots). The order is a habit of the language, not a rule you apply after thinking; the way to learn it is to hear complete stacks and to notice where a new adjective wants to sit.

a beautiful long black silk evening dress (opinion, shape, colour, material, purpose, noun). Reverse any two neighbouring facts and it still works; reverse opinion and colour (a black beautiful dress) and it does not.

How to spot it

Build the phrase from the noun backwards. Put the purpose word, if there is one, against the noun, then material, origin, colour, shape, age, size, and finally the opinion at the front, just after the determiner.

those ugly big round plastic buttons (opinion, size, shape, material)
an expensive new Japanese sports car (opinion, age, origin, purpose)
a small square brown envelope (size, shape, colour: no opinion)
her favourite old leather satchel (opinion, age, material)

Determiners (a, the, my, those) and numbers (two, several) sit in front of the whole stack and are not part of OSASCOMP. Two small old cottages, never small two old cottages.

Adjective Order Quick Reference

OSASCOMP: the order of adjectives before a noun

Slot	Typical words	In a phrase
Opinion	lovely, ugly, comfortable, expensive, nice	a comfortable chair
Size	tiny, small, large, huge, long, short	a comfortable small chair
Age	new, old, young, ancient, two-year-old	a comfortable small old chair
Shape	round, square, flat, rectangular	a small round table
Colour	black, pale, bright red, dark green	a small round black table
Origin	French, Japanese, lunar, Victorian	a small black French table
Material	silk, wooden, plastic, metal, cotton	a small black wooden table
Purpose	writing, walking, sports, wedding	a small wooden writing table

Common Adjective Order Examples in English

Adjective stacks grouped by the kind of description you are building, because the same order applies whether you are praising, identifying, or specifying a type:

Giving a Judgement First

a gorgeous little Italian café: opinion, size, origin
that awful cheap plastic toy: opinion, then a quality close to material
some comfortable old wooden pews: opinion, age, material
a brilliant young Nigerian novelist: opinion, age, origin

Opinion adjectives are the ones you could disagree about. If two speakers might argue over the word, it belongs at the front of the stack.

Identifying a Physical Object

a tall thin blue vase: size, shape, colour
three large oval silver trays: number, then size, shape, material
a wide shallow ceramic bowl: size and shape before material
her short dark curly hair: length, colour, then a shape-like quality

Size before shape is the pair learners most often reverse. A round big table sounds like a translation; a big round table is the English order.

Naming Origin, Material, and Purpose

a Victorian iron garden bench: age (or origin-as-period), material, purpose
Chinese silk embroidery thread: origin, material, purpose, noun
a wool winter coat: material, then purpose against the noun
the steel suspension bridge: material, then a classifying purpose word

Purpose adjectives often come from nouns (garden, winter, sports, writing) and sit so close to the head that they feel like part of a compound.

Mixing Opinion With Facts

a beautiful long black silk dress: opinion, shape, colour, material
an elegant small antique brass lamp: opinion, size, age, material
those pretty little red paper lanterns: opinion, size, colour, material
a shabby old American pickup truck: opinion, age, origin, then a classifying noun

You rarely fill every OSASCOMP slot. Two or three adjectives is the usual spoken stack; four or five belongs in description and advertising.

How Adjective Order Works

Opinion first, identity last, and a few structural facts that are not about meaning at all.

Opinion Before Fact

Anything that is a judgement (nice, horrible, comfortable, stylish) comes before anything that could be checked (small, old, red, French, wooden). This is the rule that does most of the work. If you only remember one slot, remember this one: a nice red coat, never a red nice coat.

a horrible yellow jacket; a wonderful new restaurant

judgement, then a fact

Opinion, then everything you could measure.

Facts Follow OSASCOMP

After opinion, the factual adjectives line up as size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose. Neighbouring slots can swap for rhythm or emphasis (a square little box is possible), but skipping a long way backwards (a wooden old small box) sounds like a mistake. Learn the sequence as a habit by reading complete phrases aloud.

a small old rectangular brown Turkish rug

size, age, shape, colour, origin

Size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose.

Purpose Sits Against the Noun

The last adjective before the noun often says what the thing is for, and it is frequently a noun used as a modifier: walking boots, soup spoon, racing bike. Because it is so close to being part of the name, nothing factual is allowed between it and the head. A leather walking boot is fine; a walking leather boot reads as a boot made of walking.

a long cotton swimming costume; a heavy steel climbing axe

purpose (swimming, climbing) next to the noun

What it is for hugs the noun.

Determiners and Numbers Are Outside the Stack

Articles, possessives, demonstratives, and numbers come first, then the adjectives, then the noun: those two lovely old chairs. Comparative and superlative forms (smaller, the oldest) occupy the opinion or size slot they belong to, not a new one. Intensifiers (really, extremely, quite) attach to the adjective they modify and do not have a slot of their own.

my three really comfortable old armchairs

determiner, number, intensifier plus opinion, age, noun

Determiner and number, then OSASCOMP, then the noun.

Common Mistakes with Adjective Order

Incorrect: a red beautiful dress

Correct: a beautiful red dress

Opinion (beautiful) must precede colour (red). The reverse is the error English speakers notice first, because judgement always sits at the front of the stack.

Incorrect: a wooden old small box

Correct: a small old wooden box

Material has jumped in front of size and age. Size comes first among the facts, then age, then material next to the noun.

Incorrect: a walking leather boot

Correct: a leather walking boot

Purpose (walking) has to sit against the noun. Between leather and boot it classifies the type; before leather it sounds as if walking describes the material.

Incorrect: small two old cottages

Correct: two small old cottages

Numbers belong with the determiner, in front of every adjective. Two is not a size word in this order; it is a quantifier.

Commas, And, and When the Order Bends

The order is for stacked, unequal adjectives. Coordinated adjectives, and a few fixed phrases, play by a different rule.

Comma or and for equal adjectives

If two adjectives are of the same kind, usually two opinions, they are equal and you join them with and, or in writing with a comma: a bright and cheerful room, a cold, grey afternoon. You can swap them without damage. OSASCOMP adjectives are unequal, so they take neither a comma nor and: a small old cottage, not a small and old cottage.

a kind, patient teacher: two opinions: comma, and they can swap
a kind and patient teacher: the same two opinions joined with and
a tall young teacher: size then age: no comma, no and, and they cannot swap freely

The and-test is the quickest check: if and sounds natural, the adjectives are equal and OSASCOMP does not apply.

Fixed phrases and emphasis

A few combinations are stored as units and keep their own order: great big, little old, good old. You can also move an adjective after the noun for emphasis or in a more literary style: the sky, vast and empty. That post-noun pattern is not a substitute for OSASCOMP in ordinary description.

a great big dog: fixed pair: great big, not big great
good old George: a fixed affectionate pattern
the valley, green and silent: adjectives after the noun, joined with and

Participle adjectives (a locked steel gate, a smiling young child) take the slot their meaning suggests: locked is close to a state or purpose, smiling is close to opinion or age-related description.

Quick Check: Adjective Order

Put each set of words into a natural English order.

1. vase / blue / tall / a / thin

Answer: a tall thin blue vase

size, shape, colour

2. boots / walking / old / comfortable / those

Answer: those comfortable old walking boots

opinion, age, purpose, noun

3. jacket / silk / Chinese / beautiful / a

Answer: a beautiful Chinese silk jacket

opinion, origin, material

4. buttons / plastic / round / ugly / big / those

Answer: those ugly big round plastic buttons

opinion, size, shape, material

5. Add and or a comma if needed: a / cold / grey / sky

Answer: a cold, grey sky (or a cold grey sky; and is also possible)

two equal qualities of the weather, not OSASCOMP slots

Adjective Order FAQs

What is the order of adjectives in English?: The usual sequence before a noun is opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose, then the noun. A comfortable small old round brown Italian leather riding saddle would fill every slot, though you would never say that. Real phrases use two or three adjectives and still follow the same order: a small brown leather saddle.
What does OSASCOMP stand for?: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose. It is a memory aid for the order of adjectives in front of a noun. Not every teacher uses the same letters (some split colour and origin differently), but they all put opinion first and purpose last. Learn it as a habit rather than as eight boxes to fill.
Do I need a comma between adjectives?: Only when the adjectives are equal, usually two opinions: a bright, cheerful kitchen, which you could also write a bright and cheerful kitchen. When the adjectives occupy different OSASCOMP slots, there is no comma and no and: a small old kitchen. If swapping the two adjectives sounds wrong, leave the comma out.
Why does a red nice car sound wrong?: Because nice is an opinion and red is a fact, and opinion has to come first: a nice red car. English speakers feel this even when they cannot name the rule. The same judgement-before-fact pattern explains a lovely old house, an awful plastic chair, and a delicious hot soup.
Can I put adjectives after the noun instead?: Yes, in a more formal or literary style, usually joined with and: the sea, grey and restless. After a linking verb they have to go after the noun because they are the complement: The sea was grey. Neither of those patterns replaces OSASCOMP for ordinary premodifying stacks, which remain the default in speech and in everyday writing.