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- Topic: Spanish >
- "I have a great job."
"I have a great job."
Translation:Yo tengo un gran trabajo.
19 Comments
Why does the adjective "gran" come before the noun "trabajo" when it usually comes after the noun? (As in yo tengo zapatos rojos.)
2115
Grande after the noun can mean big, large: Tengo una casa grande.
Before a singular noun it gets shortened to gran and can mean great. Ella es una gran mujer.
I still do not understand when adjectives should go before nouns in general.
- 1442
'grande' is one of the meaning changing adjectives. When placed before a noun it is shortened to 'gran' and means 'great'. When placed after it means 'big'.
un gran trabajo = a great job
un trabajo grande = a big job
Not only masculine nouns, though. Grande is a non-gendered adjective.
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"una gran mujer" — a great woman
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"una mujer grande" — a large woman
- 1442
Correct. Not sure why I added that extra bit... habit probably. Thanks for catching that.
this totally makes sense. I have just started this subject and I wonder how it can be transferred to other sentences i.e. un buen maestro or un maestro bueno, what would be the difference, to try and understand the uses better? me ayudas?
after some research I found this on spanishdict.com (for anyone else struggling)
Some adjectives can mean different things depending on their placement.
When placed after the noun, the adjective has a fairly objective, descriptive meaning.
When placed before the noun, the adjective has a more subjective meaning.
Check out these examples of meaning-change adjectives.
Gabriel García Márquez es un gran autor - Gabriel García Márquez is a great author Yo tengo una casa grande - I have a big house.
Pablo es mi viejo amigo - Pablo is my long-time friend. Juanita es mi amiga vieja - Juanita is my elderly friend.
When does a describer come before the object? In every other case I can think of the desciber comes after the object being described except for this case.
Why don't you say Yo tengo un trabajo gran. Instead of Yo tengo un gran trabajo?
