 Compound adjectives in English, from espressoenglish.net. Have you ever noticed some English words with hyphens between them? Like a well-known author, an English-speaking country, a three-hour movie, a part-time job, and a middle-aged woman? These are called compound adjectives, meaning an adjective that has two or more words. In this lesson, you're going to learn some of the most common compound adjectives with example sentences. We often have compound adjectives with numbers, like three-second, ten-minute, and two-hour. There's a three-second delay. Let's take a ten-minute break. She attended a two-hour seminar. Five day. He went on a five-day trip. Six week. We took a six-week course. One month. The penalty for cheating is a one-month suspension. Two year. I have a two-year contract with my cell phone provider. Four-year-old. I have a four-year-old son. Twelve story. We live in a twelve-story apartment building. Twenty page. He handed me a twenty-page report. Don't use S at the end of compound adjectives with numbers. Don't say, let's take a ten-minute break. The correct sentence is, let's take a ten-minute break. Whenever the number is used as a compound adjective before the noun, we do not use S. Compound adjectives are often formed with an adjective or adverb plus the past participle of a verb. For example, narrow-minded, meaning not open to different ideas or thoughts. For example, I can't stand narrow-minded people who are intolerant of new ideas. Well-behaved. They have three well-behaved children. Old-fashioned. We had lunch in an old-fashioned restaurant with decor from the 1950s. Densely populated. This densely populated area has the highest crime rates in the country. Short-haired. He was dancing with a short-haired woman. Widely recognized. She's a widely recognized expert in technology. High spirited. This means with a lot of energy. The students gave a high spirited musical performance. Well-educated. A lot of well-educated people are still having trouble finding jobs. Highly respected. Our speaker tonight is a highly respected scholar. Brightly lit. We live on a brightly lit street in the city center. Absent-minded. This expression means forgetful, not thinking. For example, his absent-minded comment hurt his sister's feelings. Strong-willed. Someone who is strong-willed has strong desires, is stubborn and does not desist. For example, she's a strong-willed woman who won't stop until she gets what she wants. Quick-witted means intelligent, clever, fast at thinking and discovering things. For example, the quick-witted detective solved the crime before anyone else had a clue. Middle-aged describes people who are around 40 to 50 years old. A lot of middle-aged men are dissatisfied with their lives. Kind-hearted means friendly. A kind-hearted stranger helped us find the train station. Another way to form compound adjectives is with an adjective, adverb, or noun, plus the present participle, meaning the verb in the I-N-G form. For example, good-looking, which means attractive, beautiful, or handsome. Who's that good-looking guy over there? Long-lasting. This long-lasting makeup will keep you looking lovely day and night. Record-breaking. The athlete's record-breaking performance won him the gold medal. Never-ending. Learning a language seems to be a never-ending process. Mouth-watering. Describing food as mouth-watering means it looks delicious. There was a variety of mouth-watering desserts at the wedding reception. Thought-provoking means it makes you think. It was a thought-provoking novel. Slow-moving. I was stuck in slow-moving traffic for over an hour. Far-reaching. The new law will have far-reaching effects in the economy. Time-saving. These time-saving techniques will help you work more efficiently. Forward-thinking. Some forward-thinking politicians are proposing reforms to the educational system. And there are other compound adjectives which are formed with other combinations of words. For example, ice-cold. There's nothing better than drinking an ice-cold lemonade on a hot summer day. Last minute. I hate it when my boss wants to make last-minute changes to a publication. Full-length. The director produced his first full-length movie in 1998. World-famous. We had dinner at a world-famous Italian restaurant. Fat-free. These fat-free cookies are delicious. When should you use a hyphen? Use a hyphen when the compound adjective comes before the noun it modifies, but not when it comes after the noun. For example, this is a world-famous museum. World-famous comes before the noun museum, so we use a hyphen. But we don't use a hyphen if we say this museum is world-famous. We walked into a brightly lit room. Again, when the adjective comes first, we use the hyphen. But we don't in the sentence. We walked into a room that was brightly lit. It was quite a thought-provoking book. The book was quite thought-provoking. Click on the link in the video or in the description to learn more about my vocabulary course. This course will help you improve your English vocabulary so that you can express yourself more fluently in English. It has two levels, and you'll learn more than 500 words in each one.