Introduction
This
post is about the use of describing words/ adjectives in general, and
more specifically about the use of
masculine/
singular form
of a describing word/ adjective.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to someone who doesn't know you very well. You are
getting to know each other and at some point the other person ask
you: "where
is your father from?".
In Spanish, the other person could
choose to be less formal and ask you:
¿De
dónde es tu padre?
Alternatively, he/
she could choose to be more formal and say:
¿De
dónde es su padre?
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TIP
This
is a straightforward question about your father (a third person).
When saying something about a third person (that is, neither you nor
the person asking the question) you DO NOT need be concerned
about the degree of formality in the original question. You can just
concentrate on answering the question.
Questions
like this one are usually answered by indicating:
The
nationality of your father
The
country your father comes from
The
city/ town your father comes from
Assuming
your father is English, from London, you could say:
Mi
padre es inglés (my father is English).
Mi
padre es de Inglaterra (my father is from
England).
Mi
padre es de Londres (my father is from London).
Mi
padre es inglés, de
Londres
(my father is English, he is from London).
Now
you should practise answering the question:
¿De
dónde es tu padre?
*NB
See Grammar below
*Grammar-Adjectives
-
|
|
Gender
|
Number
|
Adjective
|
|
padre
|
masculine
|
singular
|
inglés
|
|
padres
|
masculine/
mixed
|
plural
|
ingleses
|
|
madre
|
feminine
|
singular
|
inglesa
|
|
madres
|
feminine
|
plural
|
inglesas
|
Noun-Adjective
Agreement
See
notes below on Noun-Adjective agreement
Noun-Adjective
Agreement
As
you can see above, in Spanish you can also use a describing word/
adjective to indicate where someone comes from. Below follow some
notes on how to choose the correct form of the adjective for a given
noun.
Adjectives
-Gender
When
you use Spanish describing words/ adjectives, you need to bear in
mind that for each describing word in English, there are often two
related but different describing words/ adjectives in Spanish. The
reason being that Spanish describing words/ adjectives have to
'agree' with the gender (masculine or feminine) of the noun they
describe. Most Spanish describing words have similar but separate
words for each of the two genders (for example, americano/
americana). A few,
however have one single form (for example, canadiense).
Thus
when you come to use a describing word to indicate where someone
comes from, you need to check whether the corresponding Spanish
describing word/ adjective has:
One
single form (for example , estadounidense)
Two
separate forms (for example, inglés/ inglesa).- If the
describing word/ adjective has two separate forms, then you need to
choose the form which matches the gender (masculine/
feminine) of the noun it describes.
Adjectives
-Number
When
you use Spanish describing words/ adjectives, you also need to bear
in mind that Spanish describing words/ adjectives have singular and
plural* forms the same as nouns. A Spanish describing word/ adjective
must also to 'agree' with the number (singular/
plural) of the noun it
describes. For example, padre inglés
(English father) or padres
ingleses
(English parents/ fathers).
Thus
when you come to use a describing word/ adjective to indicate where
someone comes from, you need to choose the form of the Spanish
describing word/ adjective which matches the noun's number (singular/
plural).
*NB
View posts with details about the plural of Spanish words here.
Adjectives
-Use
All
the practical examples in this post refer to parents (plural),
padres. Consequently,
they require the masculine/ plural form of a describing
word/ adjective, for example, ingleses.
Spelling
Please
note that in Spanish, the names of countries, towns, cities, etc.
(for example, “Inglaterra” or “Londres”) are
capitalised. However, the nationality describing words/ adjectives
(for example “italiana”) are not.
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