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Spanish verbal complements
Thread poster: zabrowa
zabrowa
zabrowa
Local time: 19:36
Aug 21, 2008

Can you think of any examples in which a certain verb in Spanish can take an adjective phrase complement and a noun phrase complement?

Here's an English example:

John remained [very tired].
John remained [an idiot].

So how about Spanish?
 
Neil Coffey
Neil Coffey  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:36
French to English
+ ...
Situation similar to English? Aug 22, 2008

Matt, I believe in principle Spanish allows a similar "small clause" structure with a few verbs as in English-- ser, creer, considerar, llamar..:

la creen una buena mujer
"they think her a good woman"
la creen muy capaz
"they think her very capable"

lo considero un buen amigo
"I consider him a good friend"
lo considero muy capaz
"I consider him very capable"

If the "first" NP is not a clitic, it's generall... See more
Matt, I believe in principle Spanish allows a similar "small clause" structure with a few verbs as in English-- ser, creer, considerar, llamar..:

la creen una buena mujer
"they think her a good woman"
la creen muy capaz
"they think her very capable"

lo considero un buen amigo
"I consider him a good friend"
lo considero muy capaz
"I consider him very capable"

If the "first" NP is not a clitic, it's generally marked with 'a'. Zagona cites the example:

¿a eso llamaban libertad?
"is that what they used to call freedom?"

There are also cases where arguably it's not clear that the noun/adjective distinction is even relevant:

me llaman mentiroso
"they're calling me [a] liar"

Neil ▲ Collapse
 
Alfredo Fernández Martínez
Alfredo Fernández Martínez  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:36
English to Spanish
+ ...
I'll give it a try... Aug 22, 2008

How about this one:

John quedó contento.
John quedó muy cansado.
John quedó mudo después del accidente.

Is this what you meant?


Alfredo
 
zabrowa
zabrowa
Local time: 19:36
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks a lot Aug 23, 2008

Thanks a lot - these are really helpful contributions. I appreciate it!
 


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Spanish verbal complements






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