Lesson Introduction
Comments
To comment, please login.
Comments Policy
Allowed comments do not necessarily represent the views of SpanishPod.com. We also reserve the right to reject personal attacks, false/unsubstantiated allegations, spamming of any kind, and comments that include vulgar language or libelous statements.
New lesson idea? Please let us know at spanishpod@praxislanguage.com.


jpvillanueva says
August 1, 2008
So the way I wiggled out of that Jedi question was by saying "if Latinos consider it a noun, use an article; if Latinos consider it an adjective, no article."
So now the question is this: which kinds of predicates are considered nouns, and which are adjectives in Spanish, where the line is blurry anyway?
Here's the scoop: nationalities and professions are considered adjectives.
As for the Jedi/un Jedi question... actually, we are still trying to figure it out here in the office... actually, Lili is now delivering a monologue on the absurdity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....
kikuyu says
August 1, 2008
¡Guau! muchas muchas gracias "Spanishpod Team" por explicando el doble significado de "dale una mordidita" (Ahora, podré dormir mucho mejor)
stevestrv says
August 1, 2008
Spanishpod team
Thanks for another great Pa' Que Sepas. Is the verb spelled googlear?
JP
Thank you for answering the question on the phrase “soy un jedi”
donperigo says
August 1, 2008
JP
so leo could googeleo leo. is that what you were after with "google yourself" or were you curious as to whether there is a googelearse reflexive form?
how do you say the emperor isnt wearing any clothes or more specifically where is the stuff about articles predicates and jedis referred to above? cos it definitely isnt in the online version i just listened to(several times) :-)
roborob says
August 1, 2008
¿Es correcto ,< ¡ Voy a freakearme! >,......(solo es una broma.....no se necesita una respuesta..ja! ja!)☺☺
jpvillanueva says
August 1, 2008
donperigo, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
Well, after theorizing, debunking my theories, deciding and changing our minds.... Soy Jedi, Soy un Jedi... meh. Still no conclusion. After all of this, it might be a lexical choice (which is a linguists way of saying I can't come up with a good grammatical explanation, so I blame the words themselves).
It's clear that nationalities and professions are analized as adjectives, but members of clubs and societies seem to be living in both the adjective and noun world... that is to say, you can say it with or without the article. With the article may sound a little more common, but that might just be force of habit, because without the article is not wrong.
Then the question is this: Is "Jedi" a profession? Some people say yes, some people say no (but I suspect they haven't seen all six movies, but that's neither here nor there).
stevestrv says
August 1, 2008
JP & the rest of the Spanishpod team Thank you for putting so much thought into my questions.
When you add an adjective after a profession do you think that the profession converts into a noun? For example
Soy ingeniero (here ingeniero is an adjectives describing myself.)
Soy un ingeniero malo – we added an adjective (malo) which describes ingeniero ,so ingeniero becomes a noun.
I know that I should no think so much about the technical points of the grammar and just understand how it is used, but I find this very interesting.
jpvillanueva says
August 1, 2008
stevestrv,
you may notice that as an academic I have to avoid saying things like "x changes to y" or "x becomes y in the presence of z." Labels like "adjective" and "noun" are just descriptive labels; saying that "x changes to y" might be describing something that only happens theoretically. So that's why you'll see me avoid that language sometimes.
However, I know what you're getting at, and your analysis is correct: if it's modified by an adjective or adjective phrase, and it's preceded by an article, it's probably a noun!
fabrizio says
August 2, 2008
A mi, jedi me parece mas un título que una profesión. No sé cual es la regla por los títulos, pero si se dice "soy un marqués" o "soy un duque", yo diría "soy un jedi", si en vez se dice "soy marqués" o "soy duque" yo diría "soy jedi".
cobre says
August 2, 2008
It's a hard dazed knight.
El caballero andante y el maestro.
¿Es jedi un rango por el escafalón o es uno por del cuadro de expertos, comó "Rangers" y "Seals" ?
No sé pero me piense la búsqueda es el premio.
donperigo says
August 2, 2008
perhaps Lili could have a chihuahua instead of a cat.
under340 says
August 2, 2008
Hi Spanish Pod!
I'm a bit confused. The Pa'que sepas that is available to me is 6:15 long. It doesn't talk about Jedis, definite articles, or spelling Mexico. What am I missing please?
Thanks!
donperigo says
August 2, 2008
whatever it is, i'm missing it as well
cobre says
August 2, 2008
Donperiego,
¡Qué Diva!
Lili no necesito tendría un gato a menos que es un tigre, pero si en vez habría sido un perrito, que debe ser uno de esos pequeños con demasiado mucho más pelo blanco, no un chihuahua.
donperigo says
August 2, 2008
pomeranian?, pug? chow?, bichon frieze?
todos son buenas para las divas pero sentía que un chihuahua seria el mejor para una diva mexicana
jpvillanueva says
August 2, 2008
Hi folks,
I just now understood the nature of your comment, under 340 and donperigo! It seems we have some missing segments! I will get to the bottom of that on Monday when I get to the studio. Gracias!
donperigo says
August 3, 2008
I come down on the side of jedi being a profession not a society. there is formal apprenticeship. its a full time occupation, yoda and windu are not local councilors who put on their robes and do good works at weekends and public holidays. they are living embodiments of the force
is the force something you have or something you are in espanol? if one considers the mediclorians as being separate from you then you have the force wheras if they are indeed the spark of life then you are the force.
does dark vader say le fuerza es fuerte en él or él tiene mucha fuerza?
even though they are known as los caballeros jedi i think the knight bit is misleading. I dont see them as knights or samurai ie part of a ruling heirarchy but more as fighting monks primarily a religious order that has the ear of the galactic council
were jedi a heirarchical position, one would not be able to claim it as a religious affiliation on the national census.
i may be wrong but i dont think priests bishops and monks etc require articles other than those of faith.
lilianamata says
August 3, 2008
Hola!
No me gustan los chihuahueños a pesar de ser de Chihuahua! Me gustan los perros grandes! Como los pastor belga o si no un hurón jajajaja!
donperigo says
August 4, 2008
un hurón, muy estilsosa
Sredni Vashtar adelantó,
Sus pensamientos eran pensamientos rojos y las dientes eran blancos.
Sus enemigos llamaron por la paz, pero los trajo la muerte.
Sredni Vashtar el lindo
cobre says
August 4, 2008
Otoo
stevestrv says
August 4, 2008
Quick question please
If you say "darle una mordida" , could that be interrupted as both to give him a bite of your food and to bite him?
Thanks
donperigo says
October 8, 2008
JP
Are the missing sections lost for ever?
jpvillanueva says
October 8, 2008
donperigo, our trusty sound engineers keep a backup of our raw soundfiles, for when the clowns like me screw things up. I will give the raw sound files a listen when I have a moment.
However, I should let you know that I cut those sections because they weren't that good... kind of clunky and unhelpful, if I remember correctly. I have no idea what posessed me to include those things in the intro!
Like I said, I will have a listen, and if I can rescue those sections, I will publish them in the future! But I shouldn't make any promises at this point....