Adjective positioning
A recent Word of the Day example was: " ¡Qué linda pintura has creado! Tienes un don artístico muy raro."
Why does the adjective linda not follow the noun pintura, as is common practice? Or at least that's what I have been taught? Thanks for anyone's insight.
3 Answers
Adjective placement is something that seems to come with instinct, really, more than following rules. However, there are a few basic guidelines I find handy:
Some adjectives will always come before the noun. Poco, mucho, todo etc. are adjectives of quantity. You will never have them following a noun.
For qualitative adjectives, you have a choice of post-position or pre-position. Post position adjectives are highly stressed. Imagine a post-position adjective as some sort of nametag that will separate it from all others of its kind, and possibly include it in some 'elite' or 'separate' class of items. Camisas negras are an elite/distinct class of camisas. You cannot look at a camisa negra and think of anything but negra.
Pre-position adjectives are usually emotion based or subjective. They are rarely distinguishing. A linda pintura won't necessarily be seen as linda by everyone. A linda pintura is beautiful, sure, from the speaker's point of view.
A classic example (I think) is brilliantes maestros and maestros briliantes. Brilliantes maestros seems to me like a subjective observation. All the teachers are characterized as brilliant, with no 'distinguishment'. ¡Qué brilliantes maestros tenemos! - We find our teachers so brilliant.
Maestros brilliantes are in a league of their own. They are brilliant, and it sets them apart. Un maestro brilliante es un tesero. One of the members of this caste of brilliant teachers is a treasure, a goldmine. You can also say 'un brilliante maestro es un tesero', but it seems a bit weird. 'Uno de nuestros brilliantes maestros ganó fama' makes more sense. We see our teachers as brilliant, but are they in the league of brilliant teachers?
Some adjectives are even stranger, like viejo and pobre (among others). A viejo amigo is a friend who's been by your side for years. An amigo viejo has entered a distinct class of his own, of age and oldness. He is old, but not necessarily with you longer than a viejo amigo. An hombre pobre needs money, but a pobre hombre would rather get some good luck.
Spanish adjectives are cool, mysterious to beginners like me and something that you will learn in much more detail as you experience Spanish writing.
You will find that certain commonly used adjectives (buen, mal, varios numeros) and others that could easily be subsitututed for them (linda for buena) are just used that way. They are exceptions to the over-generalization we initially learn about the adjective always being after noun, but completely valid.
Stick to the generalization as you learn, and then begin playing with the exceptions as you begin to hear them. In most cases, choosing the ¨wrong¨ one is not really a problem, because it´s not really wrong, just less common.
hth
I need some help on this too.
How do I say that "he is my oldest friend" ?
meaning he is older than the others
or
I have known him longer than the others.
"Él es mi amigo más viejo."
"Él es mi más viejo amigo"
Which one is which?
