Possessives - singular or plural

Question

For those who were following a recent discussion about the use of possessives vs definite articles and singular or plural agreement I found this podcast very helpful.

Using verbs with parts of the body

The question came up because of sentences like this:

They took their coats off.

now in English that's fine but in Spanish if you are talking about a number of people doing something to an item or a body part but each person only has one of those items or body parts then you use the singular definite article.

Eg

Se quitaron el abrigo.

Anyway I just thought I'd share the podcast in case anyone else might be interested. Dr Molly has lots of other podcasts which are free and they are awesome too especially if you're interested in grammatical explanations.

Gracias, Kiwi. Me encantan los podcasts de Dr.Molly! - MLucie, Sep 14, 2011

Gracias Kiwi. you are very thoughtful! - jennyo45, Sep 14, 2011

Thanks guys :) Hope you find it helpful! - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 14, 2011

Glad that you got that settled. - 0074b507, Sep 14, 2011

je je well having said that I seem to keep seeing the possessive used but if anyone wants to know the rule, apparently that's it :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

kiwi. That's awesome :) I wish I could vote you up 10 times for that. Great stuff!! - billygoat, Sep 15, 2011

Thanx Billy :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

Kiwi, I think you could discover the next 10 elements on the periodic table!! - territurtle, Sep 15, 2011

ja ja Terri yr a dag :) (ps that's a NZ compliment meaning you're a laugh!) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

Thank you Marie! :) Beeeesos - Jason7R, Sep 17, 2011

Answer 1

teñirse el pelo = to dye one's hair

They dyed their hair.

Se tiñeron el pelo.

They dyed each other's hair.

Se tiñeron unas a otras el pelo.

you're getting the idea - I'd probably go with se tiñieron in the preterite though :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 17, 2011

Yes,but the reciprocal is when it gets confusing. Try saying...They died each others hair. (rhetorical...I know how to do it) - 0074b507, Sep 17, 2011

wouldn't it be the same but with la una a la otra on the end? and I think that's dyed? je je - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 17, 2011

Right you are on the preterite, Kiwi. Should be ashamed of myself for cutting and pasting without proofreading! :- - territurtle, Sep 17, 2011

And I'm **sure** you're right about the "each other," but I'm hoping Q will give up the secret! ;) - territurtle, Sep 17, 2011

Answer 2

What a great podcast Marie! Thanks again for your dedication to the site. Have a great day chica...

you're very welcome J :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 17, 2011

Answer 3

Fine example of something I can do in writing but when the podcast was asking me to translate took me absolutely forever.

Hey Rabbit - I just did your 'to become' post but I hope you don't mind that I rephrased it to include a 'to become' part :) http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/163709/g-a-m-e-to-become/newest - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 17, 2011

Answer 4

En español; 1 Los niños se lavan las manos. 2 Les lavamos las manos. 3 Nos lavamos la cara. 4 Les lavo la cara. 5 Se quitan la camisa. 6 Le voy a quitar la bata. 7 Te quebraste la pierna. 8 Me quebró el brazo. 9 Me tuerzo el tobillo. 10 Me tuerces el brazo. 11 Te torciste el tobillo. 12 Le torcí el brazo. 13 Me quemé la lengua . 14¿Te quemó el brazo? 15 Te lastimaste la espalda. 16 Me lastimó el dedo. 17 Nos ponemos el abrigo. 18 Esta mañana les pusiste el abrigo. 19 Me abrocho el cinturón de seguridad. 20 Le abrocho el cinturón de seguridad. 21 Nos desabrochamos el cinturón de seguridad. 22 Le desabrocha el cinturón de seguridad. 23¿Te puedes amarrar los zapatos? 24 Mi mamá me amarra los zapatos. 25¿Te puedes desamarrar los zapatos? 26 Mi papá me desamarra los zapatos. 27 Se cepillan los dientes todos los días. 28 ¿Le cepillas los dientes todos los días? 29 Nos peinamos el pelo. 30 Nos peina el pelo. 31 Se rascan la cabeza por los piojos. 32 Le rascaste la espalda. 33 Te raspaste la rodilla. 34 ¿Te raspé la rodilla?

Well done, i think you're right, I think you're getting it je je :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 17, 2011

Awesome, Teasip!! - territurtle, Sep 17, 2011

Answer 5

This was great thanks for sharing. I think I am starting to get the hang of these indirect object pronouns. I turned it into a bit of a test for myself. Here is the English. I’ll post the Spanish too LAVAR (to wash) 1 (The children wash their hands.) 2 (We wash their hands.) 3 (We wash our faces.) 4 (I wash their faces) QUITAR - to take off/remove 5 (They take off their shirts.) 6 (I am going to remove your robe. - usted) QUEBRAR - to break 7 (You broke your leg.) 8 (He broke my arm.) TORCER - to twist 9 (I twist my ankle.) 10 (You twist my arm.) 11(You twisted your ankle.) 12(I twisted his arm.) QUEMAR - to burn 13 (I burnt my tongue.) 14 (Did she burn your arm? LASTIMAR - to hurt 15 (You hurt your back.) 16 (She hurt my finger.) PONER - to put on 17 (We put on our coats.) 18 (You put on their coats this morning.) ABROCHAR - to fasten 19 (I buckle my seat belt.) 20 (I buckle your seat belt. - usted) DESABROCHAR - to unfasten 21 (We unfasten our seat belts.) 22 (She unfastens his seat belts.) AMARRAR - to tie up 23 (Can you tie your shoes?) 24 (My mom ties my shoes.) DESAMARRAR - to untie 25 (Can you untie your shoes.) 26 (My father unties my shoes.) CEPILLAR - to brush 27 (They brush their teeth every day.) 28 (Do you brush his teeth every day.) PEINAR - to comb 29 (We comb our hair.) 30 (He combs our hair.) RASCAR - to scratch 31 (They scratch their heads because of the lice.) 32 (You scratched his back.) RASPAR - to scrape 33 (You scraped your knee.) 34 (Did I scrape your knee?)

Answer 6

Kewl bananas

Muchas gracias MC

je je :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

Answer 7

Thank you, Marie. That's really helpful.

no hay de que SP - ¡para servirte! - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

Answer 8

Wow...I would have never guess that "Se quitaron el abrigo" was correct!

Thanks, MC.

Yes I found it interesting too, thanks for leaving a post :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

Answer 9

Just to remove the big zero after this thread for having no replies:

Thank you for doing the follow-up research and sharing it with us.

lol no worries - thanx for the post je je :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011

Answer 10

Gracias . Tengo este ejemplo del sitio de Dr Molly: Los niños se lavan las manos. (The children wash their hands.) Lo comprendo pero entonces.. creo que no es equivalente y no es correcto para decir, como en Ingles, ... Los ninos lavan sus manos. Disculpame mi espanol basico.

¡Tiene razon, bien hecho! :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 15, 2011