Why is “buena” in different places depending on its use? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Significance of adjective placement

In these phrases below, why is the word "buena" in different places?

Are there good things? => ¿Hay cosas buenas?

Are there good beers? => ¿Hay buena cerveza?

Answer 1

You can translate them also like this:

Are there good things? => ¿Hay buenas cosas?

Are there good beers? => ¿Hay buena cerveza?

That way, "buena" is on the same place. :)

Note; however, that colors (red, white, etc.) usually go after the noun; for example:

Casa Blanca , pelo rojo, etc.

Colors preceding the noun are mostly used in literature (poetry(?)) but it's very uncommon on spoken Spanish:

Tu rojo pelo, tu fea cara, tus blancas manos (if you are a native Spanish speaker and you speak like this, people will likely think that you are a weirdo).

Also note that depending on whether the adjective preceeds the noun or not, the meaning could be quite different:

Ese pobre muchacho no ha parado de llorar --> That poor guy hasn't stopped crying. Clearly, pobre (poor) does not refer to the guy's wealth in this case.

Ese muchacho pobre no ha parado de llorar --> Here, pobre is refering to the guy's wealth - the guy is poor and hasn't stopped crying