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- Topic: Spanish >
- "Tú eres una mujer."
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Tú
and usted
both translate to "you" in English.
Tú
is called the familiar form of address. It is used for addressing peers, family (in most but not all locations), people who are younger than you, pets, and God.
Usted
is used for formal address. At home, my kid calls me tú
, but in the classroom, he calls me usted
.
In Spanish, nouns and adjectives have gender. The gender is attached to the word itself, and has nothing to do with sex. "Un" is the masculine form, and "una" is the feminine form. Since the nouns rule Spanish, you have to match the gender of the adjectives to the noun. These are adjectives, so you choose "un" for a masculine noun and "una" for a feminine noun.
Interestingly enough, its English equivalent is the adjective that changes its spelling to agree with the noun it modifies. ("A" most of the time, but it is spelled "an" when it modifies a noun that starts with a vowel sound.)
"Erar" isn't a Spanish word. Maybe you are thinking of estar. Both estar and ser translate as "to be" (am, are, is) in English. In Spanish they are used under different circumstances. Think of estar as more for temporary conditions and location, while ser is used more to deal with characteristics. Remember this jingle -- How you feel and where you are, Always use the verb estar.
"Erar", do you mean estar
? Both estar
and ser
translate as "to be" (am, are, is) in English. In Spanish they are used under different circumstances. Think of estar
as more for temporary conditions and location, while ser is used more
to deal with characteristics. Remember this jingle -- How you feel and where you are, Always use the verb estar.
Actually, in English women means more than one adult female, and woman means only one adult female. Number affects more words in Spanish than perhaps it does in your language, but all of those words are singular in the original sentence, so you can see how a good English translation needs to use a singular word, too.