Poco vs. Poca with Feminine Adjectives

Question

This is somewhat similar to another pre-existing post, but is still different:

Would the sentence "Estoy una poca loca" make sense, or would the sentence "Estoy un poco loca" need to be used? In other words, would the gender of poco(a) change in this sentence?

*************Or with other feminine adjectives other than the aforementioned**************

¡Gracias!

Answer 1

When "poco" is used as an adverb (when it modifies an adjective, verb, or another adverb) it is invariable.

When it is used as an adjective---"tengo poca paciencia." "Tengo pocos enemigos." It will change to feminine or to plural--whichever is needed.

When you use the expression "un poco" or un poco de It means "a little bit" or "a little bit of" and it remains in the masculine singular.

Changing one of my examples, see what happens.

No tengo ni un poco de paciencia. I don't have even a little (bit) of patience. Contrast that with "Tengo poca paciencia" you can see there is a minute difference in the meaning.

I hope I haven't confused things further.

We do hear phrases like "una poca de gracia" -- technically incorrect but widely accepted, yes? - jtaniel, Jun 25, 2016

That's California Spanish. :) - Daniela2041, Jun 25, 2016

Made popular by the song "La Bamba" by Californian Richie Valens - Daniela2041, Jun 25, 2016

Perfect description. :) - bosquederoble, Jun 25, 2016

Gracias. - jtaniel, Jun 25, 2016

Thanks; this really helped! - KRavishankar19, Jun 26, 2016

Glad to help. - Daniela2041, Jun 27, 2016

Answer 2

Estoy un poco loca.

Estoy un poco loco. Estoy por una parte loco.

The usage is very similar to this from the RAE:

loc. adj. Con nombres no contables, denota cantidad pequeña. U. seguido de la preposición de. Un poco de pan. Un poco de seriedad.