Previous Index of A Spanish Reference Grammar Next

 

48 A SPANISH REFERENCE GRAMMAR

cuanto, all that, los demas, the others, the rest, mismo, same, very, mucho, much, muchos, many, ninguno, no, otro, another, poco, little (in amount), or pocos, few, tal, such a, tanto, as or so much, tantos, as or so many, todo, all, every, uno, one, unos, some, unos pocos, a few, unos cuantos, some, several. 228.

I. Uno, alguno, and ninguno are shortened before a masculine singular noun to un, ningim (see 164). 229.

  1. After a negative preposition or verb, alguno is used for style after the noun instead of emphatic ninguno before the noun: sin razOn alguna, without any reason; no veo ningtin pijaro, I see no bird at all. 230.

  2. The usual position of tal is before the noun and unaccompanied by any article (but see 149). It takes on an emphatic force when it follows the noun: tiene una habilidad tal que podri hacerlo, he has such (marked) skill that he will be able to do it. 231.

For indefinite pronouns, see 309-317.

0. INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVES. The common ones

are j, que ? what? zcual? cuales? what? which? j.cuyo (-a, -os, -as)? whose? and z cuanto (-a, -os, -as)? how much? how many? 232.

I. Note that these bear written accents for the purpose of distinguishing them from relatives of the same spellings. See 292. 233.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS   49

  1. z Que? is invariable: zque noticias trae Vd.? what news do you bring? 234.

  2.  Cual ? denotes selection or choice: ecuales "bros prefiere Vd.? Which books do you prefer? 235.

  3.  Que tal? is a somewhat common interrogative asking for degree of quality: zque tal es su hotel? how is your hotel? Es muy bueno, it is very good. See 684. 236.

  4.  C-Clyo? is a possessive interrogative found as a predicate adjective: z ctlya es la pluma que Vd. tiene? whose pen have you? But this interrogation is most commonly expressed by z de quien(es)? j, de quien es la pluma que Vd. tiene? 237.

For interrogative pronouns, see 332-339.

VII. THE PRONOUN

A. PERSONAL.

Subject   Indirect object   Direct object
Singular

yo, I   me, to, for, me me, me

til, thou, you   te, to, for, thee, te, thee, you
you

el, he   le, to him, it   le, lo, him, it

ella, she   le, (la), to her, it la, her, it

ello, it   le, to it   lo, it

usted, you   le, to you   le or lo, la, you

Previous Index of A Spanish Reference Grammar Next