Agreement/Matchment
By Os
You know the days of the week en español, don’t you? Nooo? Why am I not surprised? Joke….Ok, let’s learn them:
Domingo (Sunday) de Ramos, everybody gets a piece of palm to welcome Jesucristo. El lunes (Monday), el martes (Tuesday) and el mièrcoles everything is normal until midnight when some people of the municipalidades are working (hard to believe but it is true, jajaja) and closing the liquor cabinets and cantinas with tape because it is prohibido to sell booze during el Jueves (Thursday) Santo and el Viernes (Friday) Santo. Tranquil@, you can come back to your favorite bar el sábado (Saturday) at 11 a.m. and el Domingo de Resurrección you can eat red meat again in case your familia is very católica and they decided to do abstinencia during the Holy Week.
Here we go guys: this is serious, very serious:
EVERYTHING has to agree.
EVERYTHING has to match.
EVERYTHING has to agree and match.
EVERYTHING has to match and agree.
When we need to describe something we need to use words that describe things (just for the record, a word that describes things is called ADJECTIVE).
For example colors. Colors are adjectives when they describe Things. Things have gender. Things have gender and pluralSSS. Guess what?
Colors have to agree/match with the gender of the Things. Colors have to agree/match with the gender and the plural of the Things.
Question: ¿How do you say-Cómo se dice “white” en español?
There are 4 ways to say “white” en español. There are 4 “words” that equal “white” en español. They are NOT interchangeable, ok? “White” can be: blancO – blancA – blancOS – blancAS.
Ready to mingle? Ready to agree and to match everything? Remember that en español:
EVERYTHING has to agree.
EVERYTHING has to match.
EVERYTHING has to agree and match.
EVERYTHING has to match and agree.
And remember also that en español:
“The” can be: la – el – las – los.
Ok, let’s go!!!!
Book = Libro * The book = El libro.
The white book * El librO blancO.
BookS = LibroS * The bookS = LoS libroS.
The white bookS * Los librOS blancOS.
Table = Mesa * The table = La mesa.
The white table * La mesA blancA.
TableS = MesaS * The tableS = LaS mesaS.
The white tableS. * Las mesAS blancAS.
Do NOT say:
librO blancA * librO blancOS * librO blancAS
Match the “O”: librO blancO
EL librO blancO.
Do NOT say:
librOS blancO * librOS blancAS * librOS blancA
Match the “OS”: librOS blancOS
LOS librOS blancOS.
Do NOT say:
mesA blancO * mesA blancAS * mesA blancOS
Match the “A”: mesA blancA
LA mesA blancA.
Do NOT say:
mesAS blancA * mesAS blancOS * mesAS blancO
Match the “AS”: mesAS blancAS
LAS mesAS blancAS.
¡Buen trabajo people!
I suppose that you noticed that when you want to describe things, the Spanish word order is reversed. Think “backwards”: NOUNS (words that name things, people, animals or anything else) first; and then ADJECTIVES (words that describe things, people, animals or anything else),
I suppose that you noticed that the Days of the Week-Días de la Semana are masculinos and don’t need to be capitalized…and…
…I suppose that you noticed that “Matchment” is not a word. I made it up (my students always do).
Don’t forget to stock some booze. ¡Salud!
OS is a certified and experienced Spanish teacher. He gives One on One, Group, and Immersion Classes. He also offers a “Travel and Learn” program tailored for persons renewing their tourist visas.
¿Lost in Translation? (506) 88-222-936.