Cortavidrios

Question

I understand that the article must agree with the noun in number and gender but I have seen the word "cortavidrios" (glass cutter) used with "un" or "el." So is this word actually singular even though it ends in an "s". Thanks.

Answer 1

There are a number of essentially combination words that combine something with the plural form of a noun to make a new word that ends in s, in the singular.

Examples:

parabrisas

limpiaparabrisas

paraguas

These words tend to end in s, have a plural that is the same and only signaled by change in article (el parabrisas, los parabrisas), and tend to be masculine.

Cortavidrios is not in the RAE, but is in oxford:

http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=cortavidrios

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/translate/spanish-english/cortavidrios

When used with un or el, it would indicate you are only talking about one of them.

Good answer! - Jubilado, Oct 15, 2014

Thanks, Jubilado. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 15, 2014

Answer 2

Gracias

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 15, 2014