Span¡shD!ct Velazquez dictionary entry for "cada"...can it be right? and cada be a pronoun?

Question

This is a question regarding the dictionary.

I have noticed that there are sometimes multiple dicitonaries referenced at the dictionary site. Recently, I was looking up "cada" to better understand what I have since learned from my own Gran Diccionario Oxford is the (2.a.in the dictionary) use of "cada" to indicate progression in this sentence: "Los caminos eran áridos y el calor se hacía cada vez más insoportable."

cada adjetivo invariable 2.a. (indicando progresión)

However, I found that the Valezquez

Here at the Span¡shD!ct dictionary site, I also found that usage described according to Chambers Harrap Publishers Limited (Copyright © 2006)

But Span¡shD!ct also includes an entry from Velazquez® (Spanish and English Dictionary. Copyright © 2007 by Velazquez® Press. All rights reserved.)

cada [cah’-dah] pronoun 1. Every, everyone, each.

Cada un -> or cada cual, every one, each

Cada vez -> every time

Cada día ->> every day

A cada palabra -> at every word

Dar a cada uno -> to give to every one

Cada vez que -> every time that

Cada y cuando -> whenever, as soon as

Cada cierto tiempo -> every so often

My Gran Diccionario Oxford has no entry for cada as a pronoun??? Can Velazquez be correct? Surely "cada" is not a pronoun.... Or am I to lose faith in my thus far ever trusted hard-cover source?

Answer 1

cada can act as a locución pronomial which means that when combined with certain words the words together act as pronoun.

For example, the RAE lists the following:

~ cual.

1. loc. pronom. Designa separadamente a una persona en relación a las otras.

i.e. cada cual when taken together signifies a person seprate and distinct in relation to other people.

obviously that fits the definition of pronoun (i.e. refers to that person/thing without naming the person/thing with a noun).

The RAE, however, does not list cada as a pronoun by itself.

Aha! - grammar is certainly more complicated than I remember it from the sixth grade! Thanks. - Janice, AGO 28, 2009

Answer 2

of course 'cada' can be a pronoun, the same way that 'each' can be a pronoun in english—when it refers to a previously mentioned noun, then the use of 'each' o 'cada' is IMPLIED.

por ejemplo: Da Hershey Kisses a todos los niños—sólo un beso por cada.

Give candy kisses to all of the children—but only one kiss to each. [child]

I'd say 'each' is a pronoun en este caso, no?

To each his own. - 0074b507, SEP 7, 2010

Answer 3

Thank you, machamaria. Very interesting thought. But I am still confused by those Velazquez examples, all of which indicate an "adjetivo invariable" use.

The other thought I have is that the "each" in "Give only one kiss to each!" cannot be considered to stand alone, but rather seems to modify the missing, but understood, "one" or "child".

I sense that this is somehow different from "Give only one kiss to him!" in which no word could follow him because of being "modified" or "described" by it.

Likewise if I write "I have lots of M&Ms;. Choose between the red and the green." Would I have to consider "red" nor "green" a pronoun in such a sentence? I have to think that there may be some other grammatical term for this use.