Now is the time to see what material is made out of a thing; can be glass, metal, wood… Eventually can also be important in order to describe a thing. The structure of the sentence is a bit different than English, but in general terms, it is the same. First let’s the translation of material nouns.
Materiales (Materials):
|
INGLÉS |
ESPAÑOL |
|
WOOD |
MADERA |
|
METAL |
METAL |
|
GLASS |
CRISTAL |
|
PLASTIC |
PLÁSTICO |
Once we have those nouns, we can already build the answer:
¿CÓMO ES LA MESA DE LA CLASE?
HOW IS THE TABLE OF THE CLASS?
- LA MESA DE LA CLASE ES DE MADERA
- THE TABLE OF THE CLASS IS OF WOOD
(The table’s class is made out of wood)
♣ Note:
- LA MESA DE LA CLASE; this structure requires a unique section to explain the difference from English. So far, we have not explained it because the structures that we were using were very basic but it is time to step on in our expression and see those things; as you probably already guessed: LA MESA DE LA CLASE ⇒ is ⇒ THE TABLE’S CLASS. We will see it in the following section.
- MESA, is the subject of the sentence; The verb SER refers to it, and, it is, of course, the thing that we are describing. We are saying so, because we have seen that people eventually can be confused about the subject of the sentence when we are giving more information and adding other nouns to it. As we said previously: We will see it in the following section.
- ES; as mesa is a 3rd thing and singular (we have only one), the verb will be also 3rd person/singular of SER: ES. And of course verbo SER, because the material belongs to the thing, so is clearly permanent.
- DE; as we already know is the preposition FROM and also in depends on the context is the preposition OF. This preposition is used to express type. In this sentence, the type of material.
- MADERA, is a feminine/singular noun in this case.
¿Cómo es la mesa de la clase? This question refers to your table’s class in a description in general terms; the material of course is part of it, but is not specifically asking what material is made out of. If we want to do that, there is of course a way of doing it, and this is what we are going to see next:
¿DE QUÉ MATERIAL ES LA MESA?
OF WHAT MATERIAL IS THE TABLE?
♣ Note:
- DE; as we already know is the preposition FROM, and also, depends on the context is the preposition OF. This preposition is used to express type. In this sentence, the type of material.
- MATERIAL, is a masculine noun as we well know, and singular in this case.
The answer will be the same:
¿DE QUÉ MATERIAL ES LA MESA?
OF WHAT MATERIAL IS THE TABLE?
(Of what material is made out the table?)
- LA MESA DE LA CLASE ES DE MADERA
- THE TABLE OF THE CLASS IS OF WOOD
(The table’s class is made out of wood)
Order of words in Spanish
As we said in the previous section, LA MESA DE LA CLASE, this structure requires a unique lesson to explain the difference from English. So far, we have not explained it because the structures that we were using were very basic but it is time to step on our expression and see those things.
First of all, as you already know, unlike English, remember that in Spanish the adjective takes place always after the noun:
THE RED TABLE ⇔ LA MESA ROJA
Now is time to see two different nouns that are coming along together, and, are part of the same grammar section of a sentence. Let’s see it more clear on an example:
THE CLASS TABLE ⇔ LA MESA DE LA CLASE
◊ What is the main thing that we are referring to? The class or to the table? Clearly in this expression we are referring to the table and we are using the noun class to add information about the table.
In Spanish, unlike English, the main thing that we refer to, will always come first. Let’s see it very clear using numbers under the nouns to see the difference:
THE CLASS TABLE
1 2
LA MESA DE LA CLASE
2 1
As we said, it is completely the way around. In many other languages also they follow the same structure and the thing that we refer to, comes first; But not in English.
Also, as you are seeing, and, as we have told you continuously, the noun always will come along with an article, a possessive adjective…so on.
One last very important thing. In Spanish, again, unlike English, when we are using two nouns that are part of the same grammar section, we will link that grammar structure with the preposition DE. As we have explained, DE can be used as the preposition from or the preposition of, as in this case. Remember that when a noun adds information of another noun, it will always be linked with the preposition DE.
Let’s see it again:
THE CLASS TABLE
1 2
LA MESA DE LA CLASE
2 1
One more example:
SARA’S BROTHER
1 2
EL HERMANO DE SARA
2 1
♣ Note:
Very important! Proper people’s names, countries and cities DO NOT have an article, possessive adjective, so on…
LA SARA ⇒ WRONG (With article LA)
SARA ⇒ CORRECT (Without article)
