Hey guys, I just met this problem with adjectives. I know how to order the adjectives in most cases for example "a small delicious cake" or "a beautiful French woman". But for phrases like "black coffee", should I break them apart and say "black Italian coffee" or keep them together and say "Italian black coffee"? looking forward to your answers

2 Answers

0vote

Hey!

Let me try to help you out.

First of all, the grammatically correct way would be 'black Italian coffee'. This is because in the order of adjectives colour comes before origin.

Can you say 'Italian black coffee'? Unfortunately not, it doesn't sound right. The word 'black' is, in this case, a descriptive adjective and therefore 'black coffee' is not a compound noun for it refers to a way of drinking the coffee (coffee is per definition black so it isn't necessary to say 'black coffee' unless you are specifying how you like to drink your coffee.)

I hope this helps!

0vote

JaneB 300
black Italian coffee (also white Italian coffee)

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