Hoy es el primer día del año.
Today is
the first day of the year.
From Living Language, Spanish, 2020, January 1.
From Living Language, Spanish, 2020, January 1.
My question: There is no -o or -a in primer. Why is primero/primera, an adjective, abbreviated here?
Some adjectives are shortened in certain situations.
The following
adjectives drop their final -o
before a masculine, singular noun:
uno (one)
|
un
coche (one car)
|
bueno (good)
|
un
buen viaje (a good trip)
|
malo (bad)
|
un
mal muchacho (a bad boy)
|
primero (first)
|
el
primer acto (the first act)
|
tercero (third)
|
el
tercer presidente (the third president)
|
alguno (some)
|
algún día (some day)
|
ninguno (no)
|
ningún hombre (no man)
|
When a preposition separates the adjective from its
noun, DON’T drop the -o/-a:
|
|
uno
de tus primos (one of your courses)
|
|
Grande becomes gran
(great, important, famous) before
a singular masculine or feminine noun.
|
|
un gran profesor (a great
teacher [male])
|
|
una gran profesora (a great
teacher [female])
|
|
But it remains grande
(large) after the noun.
|
|
un escritorio grande (a large desk)
|
|
una mesa grande (a large table)
|
|
Note
the change of its meaning, depending on where it’s placed.
|
|
Ciento (one hundred)
becomes cien before nouns and
before the numbers mil and millones:
|
|
cien hombres y cien mujeres (one hundred men and one hundred women)
|
|
cien millones de euros (one hundred million
euros)
From Spanish All-in-One for Dummies, 2009, page 238.
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment