July 10th, 2008
Here are a couple of questions about the Spanish Word order. They are about my course Shortcut to Spanish, however the answers apply to Spanish in general.
Firstly, in lesson 8b question 20 - (’ Tortuga Ninja Mutante Adolescente)’ the order of adjectives are back to front so am I right in saying if there is more than one adjective after the noun they are always put in reverse order.
Secondly, in lesson 9b question 1 - I am puzzled why we don’t say ‘La habitación nueva,’ instead of the correct answer being, ‘La nueva habitación’ as it is describing the room.
Hi
The adjective new is an exception to the rule. It’s meaning changes, here’s an example
Tengo un coche/carro nuevo ( I have a brand new car)
Tengo un nuevo coche/carro ( I have a new car - even though the car is second hand)
So, nueva habitación would be a room so new it was recently build.
Yes the Word order is often reversed, the turtles were a fun example. I like to make the examples as interesting as possible to give the course some extra life…
Here are a couple of other examples you may find helpful
UFO’s in Spanish are OVNIS
Objectos voladores no identificados (The Spanish word order Objects Flying Not Identified)
and
AIDS in Spanish is SIDA
Síndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida (the Spanish word order - Syndrome of Immune Deficiency Acquired)
Hope this helps.
Saludos
Marcus
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April 24th, 2007
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April 12th, 2007
When to use ti.
A student asked me this question about using ti in Spanish conversations.
I have one question. In Shortcut to Informal Spanish Conversations level 1, you began to use “ti” at the end of sentances, but i have not found any references to why it is used.
Carl
Hi Carl
Thanks for the question.
Without getting into grammar and making it confusion, you just use ti with a few propositions, mainly
por
para
de
in the case of con, it becomes contigo
These are the main ways you will use ti after prepositions;
1) por ti - because of you
Es por ti que brillan mis ojos.
It’s because of you that my eyes shine, borrowed from Colombian singer Juanes.
2) Para ti - for you
Tengo un sombrero para ti. -
I have a hat for you.
3) de ti - about you
Hablan de ti. -
They speak about you.
4) Contigo - with you
Quiero ir contigo. -
I want to go with you.
Hope this helps
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