Adjective - noun order versus noun - adjective order
In the following sentence it appears that adjective first then noun order is used early in the sentence then noun first followed by adjective is used later.
Estas toallas son del mismo tamano pero de colores diferentes.
"mismo tamano" would be adjective then noun
"colores diferentes" would be noun adjective
Can anyone explain this to me.
3 Answers
Very generally speaking, adjectives that refer to quantity precede the noun, and adjectives that describe follow the noun. There are a few adjectives that change meaning depending on whether they precede or follow the noun; "mismo" is one of those adjectives. For example: "el mismo hombre" means "the same man", whereas "el hombre mismo" means "the man himself". In your example, "el mismo color" would be "the same color", but "el color mismo" would mean "the color itself.
Obviously, languages are not always logical; hopefully this has helped.
The article above augments mountaingirl's list of the adjectives groups that either precede or follow the noun. Pay particular attention to the ones described as being non-restrictive as they are the ones that trouble beginners the most.
la blanca nieve
la nieve blanca
subtle difference in meaning.
I'm not good at explaining technical stuff, especially since I'm not 100% sure about this, but this explanation may possibly help:
Mismo seems to be one of those tricky words, according to that site:
"Note that when used as an adjective to mean "same," mismo or its variations come before the noun it refers to."
