POST: Week 2, Day 1, Friday, September 5, 2008

More Information on Noun Phrases

I. Most noun phrases are "marked" (that is "headed") by determiners. The obvious determiners are the articles (la/las; el/los; un/unos; una; unas). But there are other classes of determiners to consider:

The possessives: See this link for a chart.

mi(s) -- my / mis zapatos nuevos (my new shoes)
tu(s) -- your /tu abuela consada (your tired grandmother)
su(s) -- his her, its, their (depending on the context)/ su cara amable (his/her friendly face)
nuestro(a)(s) -- our / nuestro partido (our party)

The demonstratives: See this link for a chart.

esta(s)
este(estos) -- this/these

Esta mujer es mi amiga (this woman is my friend).
Estos hombres son muy inteligentes (these men are very intelligent).

esa(s)
ese(esos) -- that/those

Esas mujeres son mis amigas (those women are my friends).
Ese hombre es muy inteligente (that man is very intelligent).

aquella (s)
aquel (aquellos) -- that/those over there

Aquella mujer es mi amiga (that woman over there is my friend).
Aquellos hombres son muy inteligentes (those men over there are very intelligent).

Quantifiers of various types including

otro(a)(s) -- another, other

Otro asunto interesante es el partido nacional (another interesting matter is the national party).

II. Noun phrases can be replaced by relative pronouns such as:

lo que -- what. Yo se lo que voy a hacer (I know what I am going to do).
la/las que; el/los que -- that/those which. Hay tres cuadernos. Voy a escriber mi nombre en el que me gusta. There are three notebooks. I am going to write my name in that which (the one which) I like.

III. Noun phrases are never stacked next to each other. If you have a noun phrase next to another noun phrase, you need a preposition to connect them.

Example: la puerta de mi edificio (the door of my building).

Some common prepositions are:

de: of/from/by
a: to

These can be contracted with "el" to form: del/al

Example: La puerta del edificio.

IV. Prepositional phrases are formed by a preposition followed by (usually) a noun phrase:

Example: la puerta de mi casa (the door of my house) (de + NP: mi casa/ of + NP: my house)

Prepositional phrases often serve as modifiers of nouns. In this sense, they function as adjectivals.

Which door? The door of my house. La puerta de mi casa.

V. Occasionally, a noun phrase can be broken up by taking some of the modifiers and sticking them on the other side of the verb "to be." The verb "to be" is important to note.

In English the forms of the verb "to be" are as follows. See this link for more information.

I am
You are
She/he/it is
We are
They are

In Spanish there are are two forms of the verb "to be": ser and estar

The forms of "ser" are:

yo soy
tu eres
el/ella/uested es
nosotros/ as somos
ellos/ellas/ustedes son

The forms of "estar" are:

yo estoy
tu estas
el/ella/usted esta
nosotros/as estamos
ellos/ellas/ustedes estan

In noun phrases one common pattern is:

Determiner + (Optional Modifiers) + Noun + form of TO BE + (Optional Adverb) + Adjective

The young woman is very rich. La mujer joven es muy rica.

HW: Finish working on the paragraph on "visual thinking" that we did previously. I'll collect that on Friday.

To prepare for class on Friday: Identify/translate the noun phrases in the first three paragraphs in this article. DO NOT identify or translate anything except the noun phrases. Bring your work with you to class. We'll review this in class, but I won't collect it!