The Order of Adjectives

Sometimes you want to use more than one adjective to describe something (or someone). What happens if a hat is both brown AND old?

 Do we say… an old brown hat OR a brown old hat?

 An old brown hat is correct because a certain order for adjectives is expected.
A brown old hat sounds incorrect or not natural.

The order is NOT fixed

IMPORTANT: The order of adjectives before a noun is NOT 100% FIXED.

This chart is only a guide and is the order that is preferred.

You may see or hear slight variations of the order of adjectives in real life though what appears in the chart is the order that is expected the most.

Examples of the order of adjectives before a noun

A big fat dog.
An interesting old Indian rug.
A striped silk shirt
Some comfortable black sleeping bags
Four small round wooden tables
Those funny little old men

Ex 1               Ex 2