10
votes
Accepted
Word order with pronouns and adverbs in Spanish
In modern Spanish, unstressed pronouns (that is, me, te, se, le, lo, la, nos, os, les, los, las) must always come either directly before (with a space) or directly after (without a space) a verb.
By ...
- 30k
8
votes
¿No es correcto decir "Al oso le ha siempre encantado la miel"?
Entre el verbo auxiliar y el participio se pueden insertar ciertos adverbios (como siempre y nunca y sobre todo cuantificadores como casi y medio). También se puede insertar el sujeto y pronombres de ...
- 39.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Does the order of words in "Eso es Sr. Gómez, tiene casada una hija" make sense?
It is perfectly understandable.
"Tiene casada una hija" is the same as "tiene una hija casada".
But "tiene una casada hija" is wrong, it is still understandable but not ...
- 423
7
votes
Accepted
¿Se dice "ahora estoy comiendo", "estoy ahora comiendo" o "estoy comiendo ahora"?
El orden de la oración afirmativa por defecto en castellano es sujeto-verbo-complementos. De ahí que así suelta, suene mejor:
Estoy comiendo ahora.
Sin embargo, el castellano no es tan ...
- 2,381
6
votes
How to translate "I'm sorry for trying"?
Another option that does not use the infinitive:
Perdona que lo intentara
In this case, as the verb is not in its infinitive form, the object pronoun goes before it. You can use the infinitive in ...
- 77.4k
6
votes
Accepted
How to translate "I'm sorry for trying"?
The correct form would be
Siento haberlo intentado.
In Spanish the object pronouns la, le, lo etc. are always enclitic (they follow the verb) if it's an infinitive, and they're written as one word ...
- 39.4k
6
votes
Does the order of words in "Eso es Sr. Gómez, tiene casada una hija" make sense?
I know Spanish is quite flexible when it comes to word order but this one just seems too bizarre to attribute to such flexibility.
The sentence is unquestionably grammatical, but I think you are ...
- 256
6
votes
¿Por qué se llama "Santa Fe", no "Fe Santa"?
Si hablas de la ciudad en Nuevo México, el nombre completo sí es de un santo — San Francisco de Asís. Pero bueno...
El adjetivo no siempre va después del sustantivo. Hay varias razones por las que ...
- 30k
6
votes
Which is it, "aquí mando yo" or "aquí yo mando"?
As Charlie notes in his answer, Spanish syntax is rather flexible and the habitual subject-verb-object order can almost always be changed. Sometimes the change has no real meaning; other times it has ...
- 39.4k
6
votes
Is it possible to use color adjectives before a noun (besides poetry)?
There are differences in connotation and meaning depending on whether you use the adjective before or after the noun, and sometimes these differences can be very subtle.
There are several types of ...
- 48k
6
votes
In this sentence, why does the verb come before the noun?
In Spanish, unlike in English, there is much more freedom as to where to place the subject.
The sentence:
A la gente mayor le encanta ver los tatuajes que lleva la gente joven hoy en día.
simply ...
- 29.3k
6
votes
¿Cómo se tratan los acentos en el orden alfabético?
No parece que haya una norma con carácter oficial pero segun la (RAE), la vocal sin acento precede normalmente a la vocal con acento :
amoniaco
amoníaco
...
jubilo
jubiló
júbilo
Convenciones más ...
- 1,220
5
votes
Accepted
When I see a reversal of word order involving an adverb in a sentence, does this mean it is being emphasized?
The first position in the sentence is, as you have already surmised, the one chosen for a certain kind of emphasis, the one given to the newly introduced topic or theme of the sentence. This topic ...
- 39.4k
5
votes
How do you specify/emphasize gender with third person reflexive verbs?
El pronombre reflexivo (en cualquier persona y número) carece de género (a diferencia de los que ocurre con alguna de las personas en los pronombres personales o posesivos). De hecho la partícula se ...
- 48k
5
votes
¿Por qué se llama "Santa Fe", no "Fe Santa"?
En este caso creo que se trata más de algo que se ha dicho así por tradición desde tiempos inmemoriales. Véanse los siguientes casos extraídos del CORDE (negritas mías):
E el dicho sennor rey ...
- 77.4k
5
votes
How do you say "x still has much support"?
I'd say:
Esto muestra que Jack aún tiene mucho apoyo.
Pure and simple. Don't complicate yourself on finding perfect translations.
Your last two attempts work fine.
We can use the present perfect ...
- 5,600
5
votes
Accepted
In Spanish, do time declarations have to follow a specific order?
Short answer: see @fedorqui's comment. ;-)
Long answer: The translations you saw in the books are not the only ones that can apply to each case. The following examples are all valid:
I usually ...
- 77.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What are some ways to word "La silla está debajo de la mesa"?
In Spanish, the order of the subject, verb, and associated objects or complements (such as adverbs) can be freely reordered.1 Modifiers to each of those elements, however, must remain where attached, ...
- 30k
5
votes
Accepted
Do all the following word orders sound natural? Is there a difference in meaning?
It is a matter of emphasis. Without context, the most natural option is
El hombre leía el libro a la niña
But you might want to emphasize "la niña", in which case you can mention her first....
wimi♦
- 12.1k
5
votes
Accepted
¿Cuál es el correcto orden que debe tener una oración con la palabra "por defecto"?
Resumen: el orden es muy libre, y todos los ejemplos proporcionados son correctos.
Usando la terminología de la Nueva gramática de la lengua española (NGLE), "por defecto" es un complemento ...
wimi♦
- 12.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is the order of the object and the action reversed in some cases?
This construction is often used.
Reversing the word order just wants to show which part of the sentence you'd like to put first. Nothing out the extraordinary.
Both sentences are equally used (don't ...
- 5,600
4
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 'buenos padres' and 'padres buenos'?
There is a subtle difference in meaning between buenos padres and padres buenos, which is common to other pairs where the adjective (some adjectives specifically) might come before or after the noun.
...
- 39.4k
4
votes
What is the difference among "Una persona buena", "Una buena persona" and "Es buena persona"?
In many cases the adjective can be placed before or after the noun. After the noun is preferred, and it is the most natural way to place an adjective and, in most cases, there is no difference or a ...
4
votes
What is the difference among "Una persona buena", "Una buena persona" and "Es buena persona"?
From La posición del adjetivo:
Normally, in Spanish the adjective is placed after the noun.
la mesa negra
En ciertas ocasiones, sin embargo, puede preceder al sustantivo. Se suele hacer para ...
- 34k
4
votes
¿Cuál es el lugar correcto de colocar el verbo: ¿Quién (eres) tú (eres)?
Ambas posiciones son perfectamente válidas.
No obstante, lo más común es simplemente ¿Quién eres?, ya que el verbo nos relata quién es el sujeto. En el caso de querer darle énfasis, la mayoría de ...
- 30k
4
votes
Which is it, "aquí mando yo" or "aquí yo mando"?
It is common in Spanish to invert the order of the words in the sentence when answering to direct questions:
—¿Quién está conduciendo el autobús?
—¡No lo está conduciendo nadie!
—¿Quién va a ...
- 77.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Adjectives order when two or more adjectives modify one noun
There is no rule that states that adjectives should come all before or all after the noun. There are some restrictions based on the type of adjective one uses, but these are not exclusive of phrases ...
- 39.4k
4
votes
¿Cómo se trata el guión en el orden alfabético?
Pues según la versión de 1992 del DLE, la última que se puede consultar en el NTLLE (y de la que por tanto podemos ver su versión el papel), diría que lo que hace es hacer como si el guion no ...
- 77.4k
3
votes
Accepted
What is the rule for word order when using Usted with second person verbs (and second person phrases)?
As explained in the comments, pronouns (usted included) can move around rather freely in Spanish, and can also often be dropped. All the following examples are gramatically OK and also natural (not ...
- 39.4k
3
votes
What is the difference between 'buenos padres' and 'padres buenos'?
There are two kinds of adjectives: "explicativos" (explanatory) and "especificativos" (restrictive).
The explanatory adjectives tell you the quality of the sustantive. They appear before the ...
- 51
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible