11
votes
Accepted
Why say "dame la mano" instead of "dame tu mano"?
"dar la mano" is an idiom. Although we can hear:
Dame tu mano.
it's more idiomatic, as well as more logical, to say:
Dame la mano. (Who else's hand would you give me if not yours? -- that is, ...
- 32.6k
6
votes
Possessive Pronouns- Are 'el'/'la' interchangeable with 'mi'?
The sentence:
Hago la cama.
is ambiguous, as it may mean "I make my bed" (in which case it is equivalent to: Hago mi cama) or may be used to mean that the person makes some other bed specified in ...
- 32.6k
6
votes
¿Qué tan válido es el doble posesivo?
Como el adjetivo posesivo su es ambiguo, en ocaciones es necesario especificar el poseedor. La partícula de es una preposición de pertenencia, la cual califica al adjetivo y así se elimina la ...
- 195
5
votes
Accepted
¿Por qué no se dice "de yo" o "de tú"?
El quid de la cuestión no es que no pueda usarse *de yo y *de tú. Lo particular es que la primera y segunda personas del singular tienen formas pronominales tónicas de objeto (mí y ti) especiales, ...
- 39.6k
5
votes
Using "he/she" and "usted's" possessive pronoun in a sentence
You don't. There is ambiguity. Without context or further clarification is impossible to know in whose notebook he was writing. Ambiguity is an intrinsic characteristic of human conversations and ...
- 48.2k
4
votes
Accepted
How does Spanish keep gender for 1st/2nd plural person possessive determiners, while dropping it elsewhere?
There is no mystery here.
1st person singular: the Latin forms meus, mea evolved somewhat irregularly to the Spanish emphatic forms mío, mía (it seems likely that there were for a while a competing ...
- 39.6k
3
votes
How can an Indirect Object Pronoun show possession?
TL;DR: It doesn't show possession.
You can start with a canonical sentence like "escribí una carta a mi abuela" where you have the direct object "una carta" and the indirect object ...
- 2,522
3
votes
¿Qué función tiene el «sus» en «Ya tiene sus años»?
Collins tiene una entrada bastante clara:
(uso enfático)
⇒ tendrá sus buenos 80 años | he must be a good 80 years old
⇒ su dinero le habrá costado | it must have cost her a pretty penny
⇒ una casa ...
- 10.7k
3
votes
Accepted
What is "his/her" in Spanish?
There is no need for a phrase like English “his/her” in Spanish, because there is only one third person singular possessive pronoun in Spanish, su, and it is not marked for gender.
If the need arises ...
- 39.6k
3
votes
¿Qué tan válido es el doble posesivo?
Se usa coloquialmente en México. "Su casa de Pepe es muy bonita ", en lugar de "la casa..." Y también en la situación presentada en la pregunta, donde se intenta evitar dudas de la relación entre ...
- 1,592
2
votes
Artículo + posesivo + sustantivo en "compré cojines para 'la mi cama'". ¿Un rasgo sociolingüístico?
El capítulo 18 de la Nueva Gramática habla sobre el tema largo y tendido a partir del párrafo 18.2i:
Los posesivos pronominales ocupan en español la posición de los determinantes, a diferencia de ...
- 77.8k
2
votes
Possessive adjective "Juan y Antonio viven con su hermano."
Juan and Antonio have a brother. We can talk about their brother (su hermano). "Brother" is a singular entity, so whatever modifier we put in front of "brother" / hermano (in this ...
- 10.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Possessive adjective "Juan y Antonio viven con su hermano."
The difference is the number of the possesive. The first (su) is singular and the second (sus) is plural. They (Juan y Antonio) live with their brother (only one brother). For that reason you have to ...
- 71
2
votes
Accepted
Possessive pronoun and definite article
The forms:
mío/a/s
tuyo/a/s
suyo/a/s
can be used with an article as follows:
1- Un bolso mío es rojo. (A bag of mine is red)
2- El bolso mío es rojo. (The bag that is mine is red) (This is more ...
- 32.6k
1
vote
Accepted
Plural possession of singular items
En castellano siempre tiene que concordar el accidente de la partícula gramatical—los artículos, determinantes, pronombres, etc.—con el de la palabra lexical—sustantivo, adjetivo, verbo, etc. La ...
- 3,168
1
vote
Accepted
¿Cuál es el pronombre posesivo de "vos"?
Información obtenida de las páginas que aparecen más abajo;
En ellas podrás encontrar todas las dudas respecto al "voseo", al ser un tema con bastantes matices te dejo estas dos páginas, que ...
- 6,263
1
vote
Accepted
How can an Indirect Object Pronoun show possession?
Corté su pelo.
I seem to remember someone saying "Le corte su pelito," but in a more playful way. If you say "su pelo" without providing any additional information, then that ...
- 2,067
1
vote
Accepted
How to refer to body parts
En español, el artículo adquiere valor posesivo cuando determina a sustantivos que denotan partes o posesiones inherentes o inalienables, como son las partes del cuerpo; así, se dice «Me duele la ...
- 5,678
1
vote
Accepted
word order and using definite articles instead of possessives
There is a difference between:
(1) Tengo el pasaporte.
and
(2) Tengo mi pasaporte.
In (1), the passport will most likely belong to the subject but can also belong to somebody else.
With parts of ...
- 32.6k
1
vote
Accepted
Possessive adjectives grammar error
So the possesive constructions goes like this:
Verb "ser" , possesive pronoun, subject
Possesive pronuns are
My
Mi, Mis,
Singuar Your
Tu, Tus
Their and formal and plural Your
su, sus
...
- 3,294
1
vote
Possessive adjectives grammar error
The confusion you are experiencing revolves around what the subject actually is for the sentence. The word "grabadora" is the noun in your sentence, and "su" is a possessive adjective. The possessive ...
- 11
1
vote
Possessive adjectives grammar error
There is only one grabadora, hence you use the singular form.
- 30k
1
vote
Accepted
Pronoun agreement
It's good that you're aware of the concept of agreement.
Agreement of noun and adjective means that a noun and the adjective modifying it have to match, in both gender and in number. Since "perro" ...
- 10.7k
1
vote
¿Qué tan válido es el doble posesivo?
Sin descartar la posibilidad de que exista como forma dialectal, yo lo leí, incluso a la segunda y tercera vez, como si hubiese dos comas, con las cuales lo de «de usted» sirve para aclarar:
… su ...
- 30k
1
vote
Accepted
[Im]proper use of possessive in Spanish?
First things first: to convey the meaning you intended, you should have said:
Voy a lo de mis padres.
And to your side-question: a native Spanish speaker would not understand your original message,...
- 39.6k
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