Portál španělského jazyka



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Adjectives


The feminine gender for most adjectives is formed in the same way as it is for declinable nouns, although most adjectives ending in a consonant or "e" remain unchanged: hombre superior, mujer superior (compare with el superior/la superiora); hombre importante, mujer importante (compare with el jefe, la jefa).

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The superlative


Instead of putting muy, "very" before an adjective, one can use a special form called the superlative to intensify an idea. This consists of the suffix -ísimo.

Regular forms



  • muy rápidorapidísimo

  • muy guapasguapísimas

  • muy ricariquísima

  • muy lentolentísimo

  • muy durodurísimo

Irregular forms

  • muy antiguoantiquísimo

  • muy cursicursilísimo

  • muy inferiorínfimo

  • muy jovenjovencísimo

  • muy superiorsupremo

  • muy buenoóptimo

  • muy malopésimo

  • muy grandemáximo *

  • muy pequeñomínimo *

(*) These two forms keep the original meaning of the superlative: not "very" but "the most".

Forms that are irregular in high literary style, and regular normally



  • muy amigoamicísimo / amiguísimo

  • muy ásperoaspérrimo / asperísimo

  • muy benévolobenevolentísimo / not used

  • muy célebrecelebérrimo / not used

  • muy cruelcrudelísimo / cruelísimo

  • muy difícildificílimo / dificilísimo

  • muy fácilfacílimo / facilísimo

  • muy fielfidelísimo / fielísimo

  • muy fríofrigidísimo / friísimo

  • muy íntegrointegérrimo / integrísimo

  • muy librelibérrimo / librísimo (familiar)

  • muy magníficomagnificentísimo / not used

  • muy míseromisérrimo / not used

  • muy muníficomunificentísimo / not used

  • muy pobrepaupérrimo / pobrísimo

  • muy sabiosapientísimo / not used

  • muy sagradosacratísimo / not used

Forms that are not felt a superlative anymore

  • muy agrio ("very bitter") → acérrimo ("strong, zealous, fanatic")

Applying -ísimo to nouns is not frequent, but there is the famous case of Generalísimo.

As in English and other languages influenced by it, a teenspeak superlative can be formed by the prefix super-, or sometimes hiper-, ultra-, re- or requete-. They can also be written as adverbs separate from the word.



  • Superlargo or súper largo = "super-long", "way long"

  • Requeteguay = "totally cool"

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Determiners


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Demonstrative determiners


Spanish has three levels of demonstrative pronouns (see deixis):

  1. Closest to the speaker (proximal): este, esta, estos, estas

  2. Closest to the hearer (distal): ese, esa, esos, esas

  3. Far from both (distal): aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas

English also used to have a three-way system like this: this hill (here), that hill (there) or yon hill (yonder) — in Spanish, esta colina, esa colina, aquella colina. English lost the third level, so that the that, there series covers the ground of yon, yonder.

Este refers to something near the speaker (the first person). Ese refers to something nearer the hearer (the second person). Aquel refers to something away from both the speaker and the hearer.

A similar system is found in other Romance languages, as well as in Japanese.

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Articles


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Definite articles


The definite article in Spanish, corresponding to "the", is el. It agrees for gender and number as follows:

  • el hombre = "[the] man"

  • los hombres = "[the] men"

  • la mujer = "[the] woman"

  • las mujeres = "[the] women"

The usually masculine form el is used instead of la before feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a sound:

  • el águila (pequeña)

  • el agua (fresca)

  • el hacha (afilada)

Exceptions: la is used despite this when use of el would imply a man:

  • la ácrata (because el ácrata would be a male anarchist)

  • la árabe (because el árabe would be a male Arab, or the Arabic language)

Azúcar is a very special case. Its a is unstressed, and yet it usually takes el even when feminine:

  • el azúcar refinada (el azúcar refinado and la azúcar refinada are also possible)

N.B.: this feminine el does not have the same origin as the masculine el. The latter is from the Old Castilian ele, whereas the former is from ela, just as la is. This historic finesse is lost to those who use unstandard forms like los águilas.

There is also a "neuter article", used before adjectives:



  • lo bueno = "what is good, the good stuff"

  • lo importante = "the important thing"

  • lo indefinible = "the indefinable"

  • lo desconocido = "the unknown"

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Indefinite articles


  • un hombre = "a man"

  • una mujer = "a woman"

  • unos hombres = "some men"

  • unas mujeres = "some women"

Near synonyms of unos include: unos cuantos, algunos and unos pocos.

As in English, the plural indefinite article is not always required.



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Possessive determiners


These are often known as possessive or genitive determiners. They are used before the noun they possess (and before the rest of the whole noun phrase, for example when an adjective precedes the noun). They agree in number with the noun, and sometimes in gender too.

  • 1st person singular (yo): mi(s)

  • 2nd person singular (, vos): tu(s)

  • 3rd person singular (él, ella): su(s)

  • 1st person plural (nosotros/as): nuestro/a(s)

  • 2nd person plural, in Spain (vosotros/as): vuestro/a(s)

  • 3rd person plural (ellos/as): su(s)

Note the following:

  • There is no distinction in number for the third person possessives.

  • The second person singular possessive is the same (tu) regardless of whether the dialect in question uses or vos.

  • The possessive vuestro corresponds to vosotros, and as such it is only used in Spain. Elsewhere the second person pronoun is ustedes and there is no simple possessive — instead the phrase de ustedes is used (treating ustedes the same as a common noun).

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