“E” en lugar de “y”

Question

I was reading my spanish textbook and noticed that in one sentence they used as an example, the authors used a “e” instead of “y”, to represent the English word and:

“Conozco a un abogado que es honrado, justo e inteligente.”

¿Porque?

If you use more than a couple adjectives, is it a grammatical rule to replace y with e?

¡Gracias por la ayuda!

Answer 1

If you use more than a couple adjectives, is it a grammatical rule to replace y with e?

No. The change is made to keep the sounds from running together

Have a look at this: y?e

Good info. :) - Dakie, Feb 26, 2011

Ahh, entiendo. That makes sense. - renee83, Feb 26, 2011

Answer 2

Nope, you use "e" before a word that starts with the vowel "i" because if you use "y" it will sound strange, its like the "a" and "and" in English.

Also for the same reason you say "u" instead of "o", like in:

¿Quien lo hizo, Ricardo u Osvaldo?.

Agreed, but it´s a vowel sound rather a vowel, ie: Hilo - 005faa61, Feb 26, 2011

I think that you might have meant to say, "it's like the 'a' and 'an' in English." (Nice analogy, by the way) :) - Izanoni1, Feb 26, 2011

I see. I haven't run across any "u's" instead of "o's" so I'm glad you used that as an additional example! - renee83, Feb 26, 2011

You're welcome, thanks Izan. :) - Dakie, Feb 26, 2011

Answer 3

Like in English, there is correspondence between some grammar rules:

Justo y inteligente (WRONG as the conjunction sounds awkward) Justo e inteligente. (CORRECT)

Siete o ocho personas (WRONG as the conjunction sounds awkward) Siete u ocho personas (CORRECT)

Similar to:

An apple An eye An igloo An orchard An umbrella

Now, just for good measure:

Leaf - Leaves Knife - Knives Nuez - Nueces Tapiz - Tapices

Now, cogitate on this one.