Word order for multiple nouns with an adjective.

Question

I'm reading Harry Potter in Spanish and a couple of items in a list of books made me think about the importance of word order and adjective use. The two books were:

• Mil hierbas mágicas y hongos

• Filtros y pociones mágicas

In English we would use the word order as per the first book if we wished to associate the adjective with both nouns, so:

• A Thousand Magic Herbs and Fungi

However, we would use the word order of the second book if we only wished to associate the adjective with the second noun, so (assuming "filtro" translates to "philter" not "filter"):

• Philters and Magic Potions

So based on this example it seems as if Spanish, like English, attaches the adjective to the first noun to apply it to both, or attaches it to the second noun to apply it only to that noun. Is this a general rule in Spanish?

PS: As a side note, the English version of Harry Potter gives the title of the second book in the list as "Magical Drafts and Potions" but I'm assuming this is only because "Draft" requires an adjective to make it "Magical" whereas "Philter" does not.

Answer 1

The reason the "mil" comes before the nouns is because it is a number. Just like in English, numbers are placed before the noun (dos hermanos, cinco dedos, etc.) There are other instances in which the adjective is placed before the noun, notably because the adjective is not limiting the noun in any way. One classic example of this is:

los valientes soldados (to signify that all soldiers are essentially brave) vs. los soldados valientes (to indicate a subset of soldiers who are brave)

Then there are the adjectives that have different meanings depending on their placement:

un viejo amigo vs. un amigo viejo

un gran libro vs. un libro grande

el pobre hombre vs. el hombre pobre

Now, as for the question regarding modifying two or more nouns with one adjective, this is done by putting a plural adjective after the last noun. An example with singular nouns would be:

el gobierno y el ejército estadounidenses.

The gender of the adjective depends on the nouns. If they are all feminine, then the adjective is given in the feminine plural form. Otherwise, it is in the masculine plural form. (So, in your example of filtros y pociones mágicas, the adjective is only modifying pociones, because it would be masculine if it were modifying filtros as well.)

If the two nouns are taken to form a unit, then the adjective can be singular and still modify both nouns:

lengua y literatura española (though lengua y literatura españolas is also correct).

However, if the adjective is placed before the list of nouns, it agrees (in number and gender) with the one it is closest to:

tu apreciada amistad y consejos (meaning that both your friendship and advice are valued)

So, if you want to modify only one noun in a list, you can either place that one first:

las pociones mágicas y las hierbas

Or you can use a particle to isolate the noun that is not being modified:

su asombrosa inteligencia y su esfuerzo

Answer 2

Spanish adjectives agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. I do not know if you have one adjective modifying 2 or more nouns how that is said or written in Spanish if the genders are different. The masculine gender always takes preference in mixed groups of nouns, "hermanos" can mean "brothers and sisters" if some, but not all, are female or "brothers" if none is. For example if you wanted to say "Magical herbs and Fungi" meaning both are magical I don't know if it would be "Hierbas y hongos májicos" or something else.

What do you think, jellonz? And if anyone can clarify this, please post an answer.

I'm hoping Spanish will be the same as English (if the Harry Potter example holds as a rule) and an adjective attached to the first noun of two will apply to both, whereas one attached to the second noun will apply only to that noun. - jellonz, Jul 30, 2015