posavasos - singular?

Question

Is this a singular noun in construction?

The coaster is on the desk.
El posavasos está encima del escritorio.

Is that right? What if you have two coasters?

Los dos posavasos-es están allá''?

P.S. My paper dictionary says a coaster is salvamanteles, but this dictionary says posavasos.

Answer 1

Lazarus, estás seguro de qué "parasoles" no es correcto? Tengo mis dudas. Por supuesto no significa que vamos a usarlo para protegernos de varios soles (a menos que viajemos a un sistema binario vía "Enterprise" (Star Trek). Pero si yo tengo dos sombrillas, por ejemplo, debo entonces decir que tengo dos parasol, o dos parasoles? La primera me suena bastante mal.

lazarus1907 said:

Thanks.You're right: "parasol" is singular, but how many Suns are you expecting to stop? Hehe. In plural we have "pararrayos", but that's different."Lavaplatos" and "lavavajillas" are very common in Spain, and "lavarropas" is extremely unusual. I don't know why I added it (it exists, though). I am sure I missed a lot anyway; it wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list.

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Answer 2

It is both singular and plural. The same applies to all words of this construction: sacapuntas, abrelatas, tocadiscos, portaaviones, etc.

los posavasos
el posavasos

Answer 3

James Santiago said:

It is both singular and plural. The same applies to all words of this construction: sacapuntas, abrelatas, tocadiscos, portaaviones, etc.

los posavasos

el posavasos

Gracias. ¿Se puede decir esto?

--Todos los paraguas deben ir en el contenedor al lado de la puerta. Favor de poner su paraguas allá, está mojado.

(I don't think "deben ir" is quite right. Maybe "deben estar"')

Answer 4

--Todos los paraguas deben ir en el contenedor al lado de la puerta. Favor de poner su paraguas allá, está mojado.

I would rewrite it as follows.

--Favor de meter su paraguas mojado en el recipiente al lado de la puerta.

I think contenedor is a shipping container. I wonder if bote could be used here.

Answer 5

There are many words formed with a verb and a noun in plural ("paraguas" being one of them). They don't change in plural, and they can be common to both genders if applied to a person.

parasol
guardaespaldas
matamoscas
lanzagranadas
portamonedas
paracaídas
salvavidas
tiralíneas
montacargas
quitamanchas
sacamuelas
rompeolas
pasamontañas
tirachinas
portaminas
limpiaúñas
pintaúñas
portalámparas
matasuegras
tragaperras
parabrisas
portamaletas
limpiabotas
reposacabezas
rompecabezas
lavacoches
portaequipajes
pisapapeles
salvamanteles
rompecorazones
mondadientes
quitanieves
cortafuegos
espantapájaros
chupatintas
etc.

Answer 6

matasuegras
tragaperras
tirachinas

I know what these mean, but I'd love to know how they came to be.

James @ imagining flying Chinese women, machines that swallow dogs, and party favors that kill mothers-in-law

Answer 7

"China" also means pebble or small stone.
Matasuegras suggests the idea of scaring your mother in law (for a laugh) with the party blower.
"Perra" is a slang used in Spain for money.

P.S. I've probably added more words since you wrote your last post. Check them.

Answer 8

lazarus1907 said:

There are many words formed with a verb and a noun in plural ("paraguas" being one of them). They don't change in plural, and they can be common to both genders if applied to a person. ...

matasuegras

...

matasuegras, that is very funny!

Answer 9

lazarus1907 said:

"China" also means pebble or small stone. Matasuegras suggests the idea of scaring your mother in law (for a laugh) with the party blower.

"Perra" is a slang used in Spain for money.

Ah. As we say in the US, Lazarus, you da man!

Thanks for teaching me china, a word I didn't know (in that meaning). I also hadn't heard perra used as slang for money. Now they all make sense. I love these words!

Parasol seems to be an exception to your definition, since the noun is singular. And all the words that begin with para- are exceptional in that they use a preposition rather than a verb. Are there such words that use other prepositions or non-verbs?

You missed one very common one: lavaplatos. Well, at least it's common here. And lavarropas seems unusual because it uses the infinitive form rather than the third-person singular.

Answer 10

Thanks.

You're right: "parasol" is singular, but how many Suns are you expecting to stop? Hehe. In plural we have "pararrayos", but that's different.

"Lavaplatos" and "lavavajillas" are very common in Spain, and "lavarropas" is extremely unusual. I don't know why I added it (it exists, though). I am sure I missed a lot anyway; it wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list.

Answer 11

James Santiago said:

lazarus1907 said:

"China" also means pebble or small stone. Matasuegras suggests the idea of scaring your mother in law (for a laugh) with the party blower. "Perra" is a slang used in Spain for money.

Ah. As we say in the US, Lazarus, you da man!

Thanks for teaching me china, a word I didn't know (in that meaning). I also hadn't heard perra used as slang for money. Now they all make sense. I love these words!

Parasol seems to be an exception to your definition, since the noun is singular. And all the words that begin with para- are exceptional in that they use a preposition rather than a verb. Are there such words that use other prepositions or non-verbs?

You missed one very common one: lavaplatos. Well, at least it's common here. And lavarropas seems unusual because it uses the infinitive form rather than the third-person singular.

I don't think lavarropas uses the infinitive. I think the "r" in ropa changed to "rr" because it's now in the middle of the word, and it had to change to keep the same (rolled) pronunciation. But that's just a guess.

Answer 12

Natasha said:

I don't think lavarropas uses the infinitive. I think the "r" in ropa changed to "rr" because it's now in the middle of the word, and it had to change to keep the same (rolled) pronunciation. But that's just a guess.

And a good guess it is! It doesn't use the infinitive.

Answer 13

I would say "cubo". For me "recipiente" is something smaller and intended to stand on a surface, not in the ground. "Bote" is similar to "recipiente".

Answer 14

Natasha wrote:
I don't think lavarropas uses the infinitive. I think the "r" in ropa changed to "rr" because it's now in the middle of the word, and it had to change to keep the same (rolled) pronunciation.

That was my first thought, too, but I don't understand the logic. The R in ropa does not sound like rropa (well, you couldpronounce it that way, but that's not the standard pronunciation) , so why is it necessary to use the RR when the R comes in the middle of the word'

Answer 15

When a "r" is between vowels, as is the case of "lavarropas", "perro".. it has to double in order to sound as an "r" at the beginning of a word ("ropa"), that is a strong "r".
If it wouldn't double it would sound as a weak "r" (the "r" in para").