6 Minute Vocabulary - Adjective order

This is the BBC . This podcast is supported by advertising outside the . This is a download from BBC Learning English to find out more . Visit our website . Six minutes from BBC Learning English . Hello and welcome to Six Minute Vocabulary with me , and me , Catherine . And today's show is all about a. order A. . Yes , those useful words we use to describe things , we'll look at what a. . Order is and how to use it . be a nice , easy quiz . And we'll leave you with a small but meaningful tip for learning vocabulary . So let's start off with and Joe , who are talking in a furniture shop . Here's a question to think about while you listen . What did grandparents have on ? What did Nikki's grandparents have ? Let's find out . Joe , come on , sit on this sofa . It's really uncomfortable . I know , but I've always wanted a big old leather sofa . My grandparents had one when I was little . Well , that's not a good reason to buy a horrible sofa . The one with the stripy blue cotton cushions looks a lot nicer maybe . Oh , what's this look ? A beautiful green and blue Turkish . Kill him . Kill him . Oh , a little carpet first . So that's Jo and Nikki , and we asked you , what did Nikki's grandparents have and the answer is they had a big old leather sofa . That's right . And the phrase a big old leather sofa is our first example of a. order . Now , when we use two or more adjectives together to describe a noun , the order we put them in is important . For example , we don't usually say an old leather big sofa . So for our sofa example , first it's size so big and then age old , then material leather , a big old leather sofa . So that's size , age and material type . And each new adjective in the list needs to go in the right place . For example , color goes between age and material type so we can say a big old red leather sofa . Now some people find it difficult to remember the adjective older , but there's a good tip , which is the adjective with the meaning most closely related to the noun goes nearest to it . And in our example , the material type leather is most closely connected to the noun . Big , old and red are more general . So big old red leather sofa . Another one please . Then blue stripy cotton cushions , so color , blue quality , stripey and material type cotton blue stripy cotton cushions . And got very excited about a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim did see . I can understand that . Yes . It's such a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim there . We had opinion , beautiful and then colors green and blue . We had two colors joined by and and then country Turkish . Oh , you're listening to BBC Learning English . And we're talking about a. order , and you might have noticed that we used some adjectives at the beginning of the program , we had nice , easy quiz with two opinion adjectives . Easy has a closer connection to the noun quiz nice . So we put easy next to the noun a nice easy with a nice , easy quiz and another one , a small but meaningful tip we can put but between adjectives when they seem a bit unusual next to each other . Like small but meaningful . Yeah , strange but true , Catherine . Indeed , never . Nothing strange about vocabulary . So let's hear today's examples again . First size , age , color and material . Big old red leather , sofa and leather has the strongest connection to the noun . Next color , quality and material , blue stripy cotton cushions and opinion . Color and country . Beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim . Right . And now it's quiz time . Put these adjectives in the right order . Number one , I love my old smelly big dog , right ? I love my big old smelly dog . But this is a Moroccan simple but delicious recipe . This is a simple but delicious Moroccan recipe . Very good . And that brings us almost to the end of the program . But before we go , here's that tip we promised you . And it's a game this time . Now , this is a game to play with a friend , to practice describing things . Think of a noun , but don't tell your friend what it is . Then give a. . Clues to help them . Guess the end game . Yeah . You want to play . Let's give it a go . Brilliant . There's more about this ABC Learning English dot com . Join us again for more six minute vocabulary by .