Page:Dictionary of spoken Spanish (1945).djvu/25

 3.A possessive adjective: mi viejo amigo "my old friend".

4.A demonstrative adjective: estos cinco libros "these five books"

2.2Adjective phrases are of the following types:

2.21The modifier in this type of phrase is normally an adverb muy bonito "very pretty". A special formation of this type is the comparative and superlative of adjectives: más "more" or menos "less" placed before an adjective makes a phrase with comparative meaning: más interesante "more interesting"; menos útil "less useful". The definite article placed before a phrase containing a comparative adjective gives it the meaning of a superlative: el más interesante "the most interesting"; el menos útil "the least useful".

2.22The modifier may be one of the following:

1.A phrase introduced by a preposition: esta agua es buena para beber "this water's good to drink".

2.A clause introduced by que or de "than" or como "as" (often elliptical) after a comparative phrase (§2.21): más habladora que su madre "more talkative than her mother"; tiene tantas tarjetas como ella "he has as many cards as she".

2.3Pronoun phrases have the structure The modifier may be:

1.An adjective: yo solo "I alone".

2.A phrase introduced by a preposition: el de mi padre "the one of my father, my father's".

3.A clause: lo que me gusta "that which pleases me, what I like".

2.4Verb phrases are of the following types:

2.41These may be classified according to the form of the second verb in the phrase:

1.Past participle. The first verb may be:

a)haber "have", which forms perfect tenses with the past participle of other verbs. In such phrases, the past participle is always in the masculine singular: ha enviado los libros "he's sent the books"; los libros que ha enviado "the books he's sent"; los ha enviado "he's sent them".

b)ser "be", which forms passive tenses with the past participle of other verbs. This type of phrase is chiefly literary in use; the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject: este libro fué escrito por Pérez Galdós "this book was written by Pérez Galdós".

c)estar "be", tener "have", quedarse "remain", and similar verbs. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the noun to which it refers: la puerta está abierta "the door's open"; los niños estaban sentados en el suelo "the children were sitting on the floor"; tengo escrita la carta "I have the letter written".

2.Gerund, with estar "be", seguir "keep on", etc, as the first verb. This construction is equivalent to the English present progressive, which consists of a form of verb form in "-ing": está hablando "he's talking".

3.Infinitive. The first verb is one which indicates desire, ability, obligation, cause, intention, or emotion: debo irme "I have to go away"; creía haberla