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Monday, March 27, 2023

Spanish Adjective Clauses: What They Are and The right way to Use Them


Spanish adjective clauses?

Yep, simply as you suppose you’ve discovered all the pieces there’s to study adjectives, we spring one other sort on you.

You’ll be able to describe personalities with adjectives, say what anybody appears to be like like with bodily adjectives and even boost your on a regular basis speech.

However what in case you want greater than a phrase or two to explain one thing?

That’s the place Spanish adjective clauses are available in!

Contents

What Is an Adjective Clause?

Adjective clauses are often known as relative clauses or adjectival clauses. An adjective clause works just about the identical as an everyday adjective, however it makes use of extra phrases to specific its that means, together with a topic and verb.

Right here’s an vital key to recollect if you’re coping with adjective clauses: they’re non-essential to the sentence.

They’re added to supply extra details about one thing and are sometimes positioned between commas to separate them from the remainder of the sentence.

Eradicating an adjective clause shouldn’t change the that means of the sentence.

If this all sounds complicated, seeing it in motion will make clear all the pieces! Listed below are some examples in English (the adjective clauses are in daring):

The Spanish e book that was revealed in 1904 was dusty.

Miguel Cervantes, who wrote “Don Quixote,” is a well-known Spanish writer.

Examples of Adjective Clauses in Spanish

El libro de español que fue publicado en 1904 estaba cubierto de polvo. (The Spanish e book that was revealed 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 well-known Spanish writer.)

Relative pronouns in English

Relative pronouns are main elements of adjective clauses as a result of they join a clause to the noun it modifies.

Fortunate for you, additionally they make it simpler to establish adjective clauses.

Listed below are the identical examples as above, besides this time solely the relative pronouns are in daring:

The Spanish e book that was revealed in 1904 was dusty.

Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote “Don Quixote,” is a well-known Spanish writer.

Adjective Clauses in Spanish

That concludes our journey down English class reminiscence lane.

Hopefully it didn’t fire up any horrendous nightmares of dangerous grades, imply English academics or lengthy hours spent struggling over homework. Oh wait, these are my nightmares!

Fortunately, a Spanish adjective clause works the identical as an English one—besides it’s en español (in Spanish)!

Listed below 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 e book that was revealed 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 well-known Spanish writer.)

And listed here are just a few extra examples:

El perro que tiene las orejas grises corre más rápido que la tortuga. (The canine that has grey ears runs a lot sooner than the turtle.)

La película, que ganó el premio a mejor película, se llevó también el premio a mejor director. (The film, which gained the most effective film award, additionally took house the most effective director award.)

Creo que la tortuga que come toda la lechuga del jardín no esta aquí hoy. (I believe the turtle who eats all of the lettuce within the backyard just isn’t right here right this moment.)

Relative pronouns in Spanish

Like in English, Spanish relative pronouns are the important thing to forming correct Spanish adjective clauses.

Listed below are the pronombres relativos (relative pronouns) in Spanish:

quien — whom

quienes — whom (plural)

que — that

el que/la que — that (masculine)/that (female)

los que/las que — that (masculine plural)/that (female plural)

cual — which

cuales — which (plural)

el cual/la cual — which (masculine)/which (female)

los cuales/las cuales — which (masculine plural)/which (female plural)

cuyo/cuya — whose (masculine)/whose (female)

cuyos/cuyas — whose (masculine plural)/whose (female plural)

You would possibly suppose the listing above is far more advanced than English relative pronouns. The masculine and female articles mixed with the plural kinds make it look for much longer.

However don’t fear!

It’s not as difficult because it appears to be like.

For probably the most half, you utilize the identical pronoun in Spanish as you’ll in English: “who” for individuals, “that” for objects and so forth.

In Spanish, you even have to concentrate as to whether the noun that the pronoun refers to (the antecedent) is female or masculine and singular or plural, then select your pronoun accordingly.

For instance, take the sentence under:

Las personas, para quienes web es muy importante, creen que las noticias son verdaderas sin cuestionárselas. (The individuals, for whom the web is essential, imagine that the information tales are true definitely.)

If the sentence had been a couple of single persona, the relative pronoun you’ll pair it with could be quien, not quienes.

El que and el cual aren’t used usually in spoken speech—you’ll see them extra usually in written language.

To make use of el que and el cual appropriately, they need to additionally agree in quantity and gender to the antecedent. They’re principally used when there are plenty of phrases between the relative pronoun and the antecedent.

Listed below are some examples utilizing el que and el cual:

El pájaro rojo, el que vive en el campo, canta canciones hermosas. (The pink chicken, the one which lives within the countryside, sings stunning songs.)

Las canciones del pájaro rojo, las cuales consisten en fuertes graznidos, son muy extrañas de oír. (The pink chicken’s songs use whistles and squawks that are very uncommon to listen to.)

Nunca hablaré donde vive el pájaro rojo, el cual se siente muy perturbado si no siente paz. (I’ll by no means inform the place the pink chicken lives, the one which feels disturbed with out its peace.)

Everybody’s favourite on-line Spanish dictionary, SpanishDict.com, has an awesome Spanish relative pronoun quiz if you wish to get some observe.

Spanish Adjective Clauses within the Subjunctive and Indicative Tenses

Two extra vital issues to think about when establishing Spanish adjective clauses are the subjunctive and indicative verb tenses.

You’ve in all probability already discovered in regards to the variations between indicative and subjunctive tenses.

Right here’s a fast refresher: The indicative tense is used if you’re talking about particular information, whereas the subjunctive tense is used if you find yourself talking about ideas, beliefs, hopes and different indefinite matters.

What does all this need to do with adjective clauses?

Effectively, the subjunctive is utilized in adjective clauses if 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 can assist us with this method. [We do not have a particular professor in mind.])

No hay nadie que te pueda ayudar con eso. (There isn’t any one who can assist you with this. [The antecedent is negative, and therefore nonexistent.])

Use the indicative if the principle adjective is one thing or somebody you already know. 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 Follow Spanish Adjective Clauses

Spanish adjective clauses are pretty simple however require a little bit examine to grasp their intricacies.

A great way to observe is to create your personal 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 e book. Write out total adjective clauses as a substitute of filling in single adjectives when requested. For those who don’t need to purchase a e book, you are able to do this with any quick 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!).
  • Follow adjective clauses in context with FluentU. FluentU supplies 1000’s of real-life Spanish movies so you may 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 awesome rundown of Spanish adjective clauses and a enjoyable recreation.

 

And there you’ve it, nearly all the pieces it’s essential to find out about Spanish adjective clauses!

These longer variations of the adjectives you already know will quickly change into second nature with a little bit observe.

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