Learn Spanish (Spain): Los árboles son verdes y viejos.

Los árboles son verdes y viejos.

The trees are green and old.

Breakdown of Los árboles son verdes y viejos.

Questions & Answers about Los árboles son verdes y viejos.

Why is it verdes instead of verdos if árboles is masculine?

Adjectives that end in -e in their singular form, like verde (green), don't change for gender. They look exactly the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. To make them plural, you just add -s, making it verdes to match the plural noun árboles.

Why does viejos end in -os in this sentence?

The adjective viejo (old) is a standard adjective ending in -o, which means it must change to match both the gender and number of the noun it describes. Since árboles (trees) is a masculine, plural noun, viejo becomes viejos.

Why do we use son instead of están for "are"?

We use son (from the verb ser) because we are describing defining characteristics of the trees. Their age and their green color are treated as inherent traits of these specific trees, rather than temporary conditions, which would require the verb estar.

Why is there an accent mark on árboles?

The singular word is árbol, and the spoken stress falls on the first syllable. When we add -es to make it plural, we add an extra spoken syllable. The written accent mark is added to guarantee that the spoken stress stays on the exact same ar- sound as in the singular form.