Grande

The word of the day is: 'grande'= big.

The adjective  'grande' is used describe someone or something as being larger than normal. The adjective 'grande' can olso be used to describe tall people, older people/ children, powerful people/ institutions. When placed in front of a noun the adjective 'grande' is often used to describe someone or something as being great, grand, notable, more important, etc

Related nouns are 'el/ la grande', meaning the 'oldest' boy or girl and 'la grandeza' the (greatness).

Grammar.- In Spanish, when placed in front of a noun, the adjective  'grande', looses the ending 'e' and becomes 'gran'.

We also use 'grande' in expressions such as:

• Grandes almacenes (department stores)
• Gran premio (Grand Prix)
• Gran danés (Great Dane)
• Gran guerra (the great war)
• Gran ópera (Grand Opera)
• Gran público (general public)
• Gran Hermano (Big Brother)
• Grande de España (highest rank in Spanish nobility)

 
Examples of usage are:

• Tu casa es muy grande (your house is very big)
• Cuando sea grande quiero ser médico (when I grow up, I would you like to be a doctor )
• Antonio es un gran hombre (Antonio is a great man)
• Este es un gran vino (this is a great wine)
• ¡Primero los grandes! (older boys and girls first!)
• Viajábamos a gran velocidad (we were travelling at high speed)
• La gran mayoría (the vast majority)
• ¡Qué nariz más grande! (what a big nose!)

Love-Spanish.com loves the word 'grande' in the song 'El amor má grande del planeta' by Pipe Peláez: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBScYYaoeRc

More on 'grande', visit: http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=grande

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