Should I use the feminine adjective? for example: Soy trabajadora?

Question

1. in Spanish, masculine and feminine adjectives go with masculine and feminine (pro)nouns respectively. for example: "Ella es trabajadora" and " Juan es trabajador". Now, when I'm talking about myself, which one should I use? I am a female. Should I use the feminine adjective? for example: Soy trabajadora?

2. We say that in possessive adjectives, it should have accordance with the noun it possesses. for example: coche (a singular masculine noun) + mi (a singular possessive adjective) = mi coche. And also we know that nuestros is used for plural masculine and nuestras for plural feminine. in translating the phrase: "our daughters", should I use nuestros or nuestras? daughters (or hijas) is plural feminine, so we are supposed to use nuestras, ok ? but if this "our" is consisted of say 5 MEN, can we use nuestros hijas or no?

thanks A LOT. I'm a little confused...

Answer 1

Because you are a woman, you should say, "Soy trabajadora."

Because hijas is feminine, then it is nuestras hijas...never nuestros hijas...even if they are, for some strange reason, the hijas of 5 men.

Neustro must agree with the noun it modifies (hijas in this case), thus nuestras (in this case).

thanks for clearing my mind :) - mini_coral, Feb 24, 2011

Answer 2

Yes

No

You're always so wordy, afowen. :-) - webdunce, Feb 23, 2011

What he said (Webdunce). - afowen, Feb 23, 2011

If Afowen had typed "sí" he could have saved one keystroke... ;o) - cristalino, Feb 23, 2011

Sí, for me, takes three, ¿now you see? - afowen, Feb 23, 2011

that was terse :) tnx - mini_coral, Feb 24, 2011

Terse: no, succinct: yes. :-p - afowen, Feb 24, 2011

Answer 3

Yes, but trabajadora is a noun, not an adjective.

It is actually an adjective, even though it can be a noun.

We would say in this case: trabaja en...

But in "Soy trabajadora" it's a noun, no? - pesta, Feb 23, 2011

Answer 4

Should I use the feminine adjective? for example: Soy trabajadora?

Yes, but trabajadora is a noun, not an adjective. Some nouns can take either gender, like this one, because it classifies persons in a role with either gender. Not all nouns do this.

On your second question, also consider that if you talk about children (boys and girls), it's hijos. One uses hijas only when all of the group are female.

thanks for your attention my friend. - mini_coral, Feb 24, 2011