Spanish adjective clauses?
Yep, simply as you assume you’ve discovered every part there’s to find out about adjectives, we spring one other kind on you.
You’ll be able to describe personalities with adjectives, say what anybody seems to be like with bodily adjectives and even boost your on a regular basis speech.
However what should you want greater than a phrase or two to explain one thing?
That’s the place Spanish adjective clauses are available!
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What Is an Adjective Clause?
Adjective clauses are also known as relative clauses or adjectival clauses. An adjective clause works just about the identical as a daily adjective, but it surely makes use of extra phrases to precise its that means, together with a topic and verb.
Right here’s an necessary key to recollect whenever you’re coping with adjective clauses: they’re non-essential to the sentence.
They’re added to offer extra details about one thing and are sometimes positioned between commas to separate them from the remainder of the sentence.
Eradicating an adjective clause mustn’t change the that means of the sentence.
If this all sounds complicated, seeing it in motion will make clear every part! Listed below are some examples in English (the adjective clauses are in daring):
The Spanish ebook that was printed in 1904 was dusty.
Miguel Cervantes, who wrote “Don Quixote,” is a well-known Spanish creator.
Examples of Adjective Clauses in Spanish
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, quien escribió “Don Quixote,” es un autor español famoso. (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who wrote “Don Quixote,” is a famous Spanish author.)
Relative pronouns in English
Lucky for you, they also make it easier to identify adjective clauses.
Here are the same examples as above, except this time only the relative pronouns are in bold:
The Spanish book that was published in 1904 was dusty.
Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote “Don Quixote,” is a famous Spanish author.
Adjective Clauses in Spanish
That concludes our trip down English class memory lane.
Hopefully it didn’t stir up any horrendous nightmares of bad grades, mean English teachers or long hours spent struggling over homework. Oh wait, those are my nightmares!
Luckily, a Spanish adjective clause works the same as an English one—except it’s en español (in Spanish)!
Here are the examples from above, translated into Spanish with the adjective clauses bolded:
El libro de español que fue publicado en 1904 estaba cubierto de polvo. (The Spanish book that was published in 1904 was dusty.)
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, quien escribió “Don Quixote,” es un autor español famoso. (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who wrote “Don Quixote,” is a famous Spanish author.)
And here are a few more examples:
El perro que tiene las orejas grises corre más rápido que la tortuga. (The dog that has gray ears runs much faster than the turtle.)
La película, que ganó el premio a mejor película, se llevó también el premio a mejor director. (The movie, which won the best movie award, also took home the best director award.)
Creo que la tortuga que come toda la lechuga del jardín no esta aquí hoy. (I think the turtle who eats all the lettuce in the garden is not here today.)
Relative pronouns in Spanish
Like in English, Spanish relative pronouns are the key to forming proper Spanish adjective clauses.
Here are the pronombres relativos (relative pronouns) in Spanish:
quienes — whom (plural)
que — that
el que/la que — that (masculine)/that (feminine)
los que/las que — that (masculine plural)/that (feminine plural)
cual — which
cuales — which (plural)
el cual/la cual — which (masculine)/which (feminine)
los cuales/las cuales — which (masculine plural)/which (feminine plural)
cuyo/cuya — whose (masculine)/whose (feminine)
cuyos/cuyas — whose (masculine plural)/whose (feminine plural)
You might think the list above is way more complex than English relative pronouns. The masculine and feminine articles combined with the plural forms make it look much longer.
But don’t worry!
It’s not as complicated as it looks.
For the most part, you use the same pronoun in Spanish as you would in English: “who” for people, “that” for objects and so on.
In Spanish, you also have to pay attention to whether the noun that the pronoun refers to (the antecedent) is feminine or masculine and singular or plural, then choose your pronoun accordingly.
For example, take the sentence below:
Las personas, para quienes internet es muy importante, creen que las noticias son verdaderas sin cuestionárselas. (The people, for whom the internet is very important, believe that the news stories are true without a doubt.)
If the sentence had been about a single persona, the relative pronoun you would pair it with would be quien, not quienes.
El que and el cual aren’t used often in spoken speech—you’ll see them more often in written language.
To use el que and el cual correctly, they must also agree in number and gender to the antecedent. They’re mostly used when there are a lot of words between the relative pronoun and the antecedent.
Here are some examples using el que and el cual:
El pájaro rojo, el que vive en el campo, canta canciones hermosas. (The red bird, the one that lives in the countryside, sings beautiful songs.)
Las canciones del pájaro rojo, las cuales consisten en fuertes graznidos, son muy extrañas de oír. (The red bird’s songs use whistles and squawks which are very rare to hear.)
Nunca hablaré donde vive el pájaro rojo, el cual se siente muy perturbado si no siente paz. (I will never tell where the red bird lives, the one that feels disturbed without its peace.)
Everyone’s favorite online Spanish dictionary, SpanishDict.com, has a great Spanish relative pronoun quiz if you wish to get some follow.
Spanish Adjective Clauses within the Subjunctive and Indicative Tenses
Two extra necessary issues to think about when setting up Spanish adjective clauses are the subjunctive and indicative verb tenses.
You’ve in all probability already discovered in regards to the differences between indicative and subjunctive tenses.
Here’s a quick refresher: The indicative tense is used whenever you’re talking about particular details, whereas the subjunctive tense is used if you end up talking about ideas, beliefs, hopes and different indefinite matters.
What does all this must do with adjective clauses?
Effectively, the subjunctive is utilized in adjective clauses whenever you don’t know the adjective you’re referring to, or when the adjective doesn’t exist (as in a negation).
Listed below are just a few examples:
Queremos hablar con un profesor que pueda ayudarnos con este formulario. (We need to communicate to a professor who might help us with this formulation. [We do not have a particular professor in mind.])
No hay nadie que te pueda ayudar con eso. (There isn’t a one who might help you with this. [The antecedent is negative, and therefore nonexistent.])
Use the indicative if the primary adjective is one thing or somebody you realize. For instance:
Queremos hablar con el profesor que dio la clase de español de ayer. (We need to communicate with the professor who carried out yesterday’s Spanish class. [We want that specific teacher, not any other.])
Methods to Apply Spanish Adjective Clauses
Spanish adjective clauses are pretty easy however require somewhat research to know their intricacies.
A great way to follow is to create your individual Spanish clauses by your self or with a good friend.
Listed below are some enjoyable concepts for practising Spanish adjective clauses:
- Get a Spanish Mad Libs book. Write out whole adjective clauses as an alternative of filling in single adjectives when requested. In the event you don’t need to purchase a ebook, you are able to do this with any brief Spanish textual content—take away just a few phrases right here and there, noting their a part of speech (and ensuring to get loads of adjectives!).
- Apply adjective clauses in context with FluentU. FluentU offers 1000’s of real-life Spanish movies so you’ll be able to see precisely how and when native audio system use these adjective clauses. The movies are a part of a language studying system that comes with transcripts, interactive subtitles and phrase lists that seem earlier than the clip, so it’s straightforward to identify them.
- 123TeachMe has an ideal rundown of Spanish adjective clauses and a fun game.
And there you’ve it, nearly every part it’s essential to find out about Spanish adjective clauses!
These longer variations of the adjectives you already know will quickly develop into second nature with somewhat follow.
Obtain:
This weblog submit is offered as a handy and transportable PDF that you just
can take wherever.
Click on right here to get a replica. (Obtain)
