1. Other noun markers to be aware of:
A. Cuyo(a)(s). This means "whose." What comes after it is a noun. It generally marks a complete clause (a noun phrase acting as subject and a finite verb).
Example in English: That is the man whose wife speaks Spanish.
Example in Spanish: Ese es el hombre cuya esposa habla espanol.
2. We started in to an interesting area: the use of past participle verb forms to make adjectives.
Let us review some essentials here:
Spanish has three types of verb infinitives: -ar, -er, and -ir verbs.
All Spanish verbs, like all English verbs, have a past participle form. In English, this form often, though not always, looks like the past tense. It often ends in -ed in English. This useful form can be used as an adjective, as part of a post-noun modifying phrase, a part of the passive, or as part of what is called a "compound tense."
Here is a regular example in English:
to cook
past tense: cooked. I cooked dinner last night.
past participle: cooked.
-- as an adjective: My totally cooked roast beef tasted horrible.
-- as a phrase: My roast beef, cooked in its own juice, was still too dry.
-- as a piece of the passive. The roast beef was cooked by my husband.
-- as a part of a compound tense: My daughter has cooked dinner for us.
Here is an irregular example in English:
to sing
past tense: sang. I sang a song.
past participle: sung.
-- as an adjective: The well sung song filled the choir loft.
-- as a phrase: The song, sung acapella, sounded lovely.
-- as a piece of the passive: The song was sung by a gospel group.
-- as a part of a compound tense: The choir has sung the chorale.
Now let's look at Spanish.
Each Spanish verb infinitive form can be made into a past participle form as well.
- ar verbs: -ado (hablar>> hablado)
- er verbs: -ido (comer>> comido)
- ir verbs: - ido (decidir>>> decidido)
And Spanish -- like English -- has many irregular forms.
abrir (to open) - abierto (open)
cubrir (to cover) - cubierto (covered)
decir (to say) - dicho (said)
describir (to describe) - descrito (described)
escribir (to write) - escrito (written)
freír (to fry) - frito (fried)
hacer (to do) - hecho (done)
morir (to die) - muerto (dead)
poner (to put) - puesto (put)
resolver (to resolve) - resuelto (resolved)
romper (to break) - roto (broken)
ver (to see) - visto (seen)
volver (to return) - vuelto (returned)
Everything an English past participle can do, a Spanish part participle can do as well. BUT REMEMBER -- the Spanish past participle AGREES in gender and number with the noun it modifies (when it is used as an adjective or in a modifying phrase).
La palabra hablada nos distingue de los monos. (The spoken word distinguishes us from the monkeys).
Hablamos un poco sobre las dichas peliculas. (We spoke a little about the said movies).
No hay que hablar sobre la alternativa escojida. (It's not necessary to speak about the chosen alternative).
Note: We can use the spelling of a Spanish past participle to decide how the infinitive is probably spelled. For example, if we see:
Los periodicos ya mandados . . . (the already sent newspapers. . .)
we can focus on the -ad -- and we know the infinitive is an "ar" verb: mandar.
If we see:
Las semillas difundidas . . . (the dispersed seeds)
we can fcus on the -id and we know the infinitive is either an "er" or "ir" verb: difundir or difunder (it's difundir). This helps us narrow our choices when searching for the meaning of a word.
HW: Continue translating the noun phrases (and prepositional phrases) in the next three paragraphs of the article on Andean music. We'll do this as preparatory work -- we'll review it in class.
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