Is That Gentleman Your Father?

Introduction

This post is about the use of describing words/ adjectives in general, and more specifically about the use of the masculine/ singular form of demonstrative adjectives -demostrativos.

SCENARIO

Imagine you talking to a friend or a work colleague. You are talking about family/ relatives. Looking at a picture, the other person who doesn't know your parents says: "is that gentleman your father?".

In Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:

¿Ese señor es tu padre?

Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be a little bit more formal and say:

¿Ese señor es su padre?

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OUR TIP

The answer to this question is quite straightforward. You should pay particular attention to noun-adjective agreement -see grammar notes below^*.

Here are some sample replies:

• Sí, ese^* señor es mi padre (yes, that gentleman is my father);
• No, ese^* señor no es mi padre (no, that gentleman is not my father);
• No, ese^* señor es mi tío (no, that gentleman is my uncle);

Now you should practise answering the question:

¿Ese señor es tu padre?

*NB See Grammar below

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^*Grammar-Adjectives

	Gender	Number	Adjective
señor	masculine	singular	ese
señores	masculine/ mixed	plural	esos
señora	feminine	singular	esa
señoras	feminine	plural	esas

Noun-Adjective Agreement

See notes below on Noun-Adjective agreement

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Noun-Adjective Agreement

In Spanish describing words/ adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun(s) they describe.

Adjectives -Gender

Many Spanish describing words/ adjectives have two forms:

• A masculine gender form (for example, alto)
• A similar, but different feminine gender (for example, alta).

A few Spanish describing words/ adjectives have one single form for both masculine and feminine (for example, inteligente).

Every time you use a describing word which has two separate forms (for example, alto/ alta), you need to choose the form which matches the gender (masculine/ feminine) of what you are describing.

Adjectives -Number

In contrast with English, Spanish describing words/ adjectives have also plural^* forms. Every time you use a describing word with a plural noun (for example, señoras), you must use the plural form of the corresponding describing word/ adjective (for example, esas).

You should use the masculine/ plural form of a describing word/ adjective when it describes multiple persons/ things of different grammatical genders.

*NB View posts with details about the plural of Spanish words here.

Adjectives -Use

All the practical examples in this post refer to one person, señor (gentleman). Consequently, they require the masculine/ singular form of a describing word/ adjective, for example, ese.

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