Vocabulary · Lesson 15
Identify and describe everyday things with a color and a useful quality: a small black notebook or The notebook is small and black. Place the adjective correctly, keep it unchanged with plural nouns, and add another identifier when color alone is not enough.
A descriptive adjective does not change for a plural noun. Say one red car and two red cars. The noun changes to cars; the adjective stays red.
Use earlier lessons. Complete each full description, then say it aloud.
a red car · a car red | The phone is new. · The phone new.
The hint in brackets describes the color of a real object
These panels pair a representative color with its written name. Screens, lighting, and people can show or perceive a shade differently, so learn the word and not only the swatch.
For directions, safety, or finding an object, add another visible or spoken identifier. Say the red button on the right, the small blue bag, or the green folder labeled “Invoices.” This helps when a shade looks different on another screen or when a person does not distinguish the same colors.
This course uses the U.S. spelling gray. In other varieties of English, you may also see the alternative spelling with e before y.
Now add seven common quality words. Each one has an opposite:
| adjective | opposite | example |
|---|---|---|
| big | small | a big office · a small phone |
| new | old | a new car · an old jacket |
| hot | cold | hot coffee · cold water |
| good | bad | a good idea · a bad day |
| long | short | a long street · a short walk |
| cheap | expensive | a cheap bag · an expensive watch |
| fast | slow | a fast train · a slow bus |
Big, small, fast, slow, cheap, and expensive depend on the situation. A $900 watch is expensive for a buyer with a $100 budget, but the same price may not be expensive in every comparison.
Cheap means low in price, but it can also suggest low quality. Inexpensive is the more neutral choice when you mean only “not expensive.”
Short colors such as red, blue, and green have one beat. Longer words have one part that sounds stronger.
| word | say it in parts | what to notice |
|---|---|---|
| orange | OR-ange | two spoken parts; the first is strong |
| purple | PUR-ple | two spoken parts; the second is light |
| turquoise | TUR-quoise | the last part sounds like “koyz” |
| beige | “bayzh” | one syllable; it has the vowel in day and the soft final sound in vision |
| expensive | ex-PEN-sive | the middle part is strong |
In a neutral adjective-and-noun chunk, keep the words together and the noun often carries the clearest beat: a red CAR · a purple BAG · an expensive WATCH. Contrast can move the beat: a RED car, not a blue one.
English has a larger adjective-order system. For this A0 lesson, practice size, age, or opinion + color + noun: a small black notebook · a new blue phone · an expensive silver watch.
Keep the script closed while you listen. Your teacher reads each line once, then once more. Choose the exact adjective or color phrase you hear.
Tap a word, then tap the opposite that fits it
The hint in brackets points to one clear answer
For the combinations in this lesson, use size or quality + color + noun: a small black notebook, a big red car. Build these aloud after you finish each one.
A notebook on your desk: small, and black. Build the phrase, then say it.
The notebook has both qualities. Build the complete sentence, then say it.
Now put the adjective after be. The office is large. Build the sentence.
Use an invented phone: it is new. Build the sentence, then say it.
Tap the adjective that must move before the noun.
Tap the word that is wrong.
Say the correct phrase or sentence aloud first. Reveal only after you answer.
1 a bag blue → put the color in order
a blue bag
2 a watch expensive → put it in order
an expensive watch
3 The is car new. → fix the sentence
The car is new.
4 two whites shirts → remove the wrong -s
two white shirts
5 a notebook small black → size + color + noun
a small black notebook
“My new office is nice. The walls are white and the door is brown. I have a big black desk and two green chairs. My favorite thing is the small red lamp.”
1. What color are the walls?
2. How many green chairs are there?
3. What is red?
Games and a short reading that recycle this lesson. Use them as a warm-up, a fast finisher, or homework. Each one checks itself.
Read once for meaning. Then read again and do the tasks below.
Please ask at the front desk for your item. We have a small black notebook. It has a name inside. We also have a big blue umbrella.
There are two gray keys on a red ring. There is a new green water bottle. The white phone is old. Please describe your item to the staff.
Tap the 6 color words.
1. What color is the umbrella?
2. How many keys are there?
3. What is old?
Click a clue or a square, then type. Press Check when you finish.
Tap an item on the left, then its partner on the right.
Tap the words in order to build the sentence. Tap a placed word to send it back.
1. Size, then color, then the noun.
2. The color comes after be.
3. Age, then color, then the noun.
4. The adjective has no plural -s.
Use three fictional lost-and-found items: a small black notebook labeled “A,” a big blue bag by the window, and two old gray keys on the desk. Describe one item without naming it. Your partner identifies it and reads the full description back. Then switch.
Success criteria: use both adjective positions; keep adjectives unchanged with plural nouns; use size or age before color; connect two qualities after be with and; and include a label or location so color is not the only clue.
Complete this aloud: “For the words in this lesson, an adjective can go ______ the noun, like a ____ car. It can also come after ______, like The car is ____. A descriptive adjective does not change for a ______ noun, so I say two red cars.”
Then say one real or invented sentence about something near you using a color, and one using a quality word like big, new, or good.
1. Which phrase has the article, color adjective, and noun in standard order?
2. What is the opposite of new?
3. Which is correct?
4. My watch budget is $100, but this watch costs $900. For me, it is ___.
5. The coffee just came out of the machine. Which complete sentence places the adjective after be?
6. Which order is correct?
7. One notebook has both qualities: small and black. Which sentence reports exactly that?
8. For the same route, the express bus takes 20 minutes and the local bus takes 60. The local bus is ___.
Return tomorrow before rereading the lesson. Complete the five-minute next-day retrieval, then practice only the description patterns that still feel slow.
Keep the main lesson closed. Retrieve article choice, plural agreement, two-adjective order, and the pattern after be.
The cars is red. Tap the form of be that does not agree with the plural subject.
Describe one invented singular object before a noun, then after be. Make it plural and change only the article, noun, and form of be. Keep both adjectives unchanged.
Describe one fictional lost item with a size or age, a color, and a label or location. Ask your teacher to identify it, then confirm the complete noun phrase.
Choose the right amount of challenge
Learner production. Pick one starting point, then move up only if the learner is ready. True or invented details are equally acceptable.
Personal answer
Use the lesson’s earlier example or invent a similar situation. The details do not need to be personal.
A phone in a picture: Describe it with one color and one quality. The phone is black and new. It is a new black phone.
Next cuesGuided role play
A phone in a picture: Describe it with one color and one quality. The phone is black and new. It is a new black phone.
Role 1Learner: use Colors & basic adjectives to complete the situation in your own words.
Role 2Tutor: respond naturally, ask one follow-up question, and introduce one small change.
Real-world challenge
A phone in a picture: Describe it with one color and one quality. The phone is black and new. It is a new black phone.
A0 target: Give three complete, connected responses without reading a model.