Ch 26 · Lesson 18

Cuyo: whose, agreeing with the thing owned

: takes the gender and number of the thing owned, never of the owner.

The short version

agrees with the thing owned

.

The author whose novels I read is Spanish.
Why?

means 'whose' and behaves like a possessive adjective, so it matches the thing possessed and ignores the owner entirely. In , is feminine plural because is, even though the author is a man. Getting that agreement right is the classic .

Cuyo: whose

masculine, like the thing ownedfeminine, like the thing ownedWhat do the colours mean?

means "whose". It sits right in front of the thing owned and agrees with that thing, never with the owner:

cuyo takes its gender from coche, not from la mujer
OwnerSpanishEnglish
the author whose novels I read
the woman whose car we saw
médicathe boy whose mother is a doctor
the writer whose books I admire

No article follows it: , never " ". is mostly written Spanish. In speech, people often rephrase: .

Mistakes English speakers make

agrees with a masculine nounagrees with a feminine nounneuter lo, a whole ideaWhat do the colours mean?
WrongRightWhy
con the preposition goes in front
the article agrees with
no preposition, no comma:
, ... , ...a whole idea needs
only means what
agrees with the thing owned
is not standard

Going further: The advanced relatives on one screen and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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Lesson 18 of 27 in this chapter

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What do the colours mean?