We explain what numeral adjectives are, their function and how they are classified. In addition, the characteristics and examples of each type.
What are numeral adjectives?
In grammar, the adjectives Numerals are a class of quantifying adjectives, that is, words that act as qualifiers of nouns or noun phrases, adding information regarding quantities or proportions. But unlike indefinite adjectives, which do so in an imprecise or vague way, numeral adjectives provide a precise and determined numerical meaning.
Like all adjectives in Spanish, numerals usually precede the element they qualify, and must agree grammatically (in gender and number) with it, and can also appear after verbs copulatives like "ser" and "estar". On the other hand, they should not be confused with pronouns Numerals that, instead of accompanying and qualifying the noun or the name, serve to substitute it.
For example, in "two European dogs", the word "two" works as a numeral adjective that accompanies the noun "dogs" and they tell us that there are only two. While in "Do you sell empanadas? Give me two ", the same word is a numeral pronoun that replaces" empanadas "and avoids us having to repeat it (" Do you sell empanadas? Give me two empanadas ").
Types of numeral adjectives
Numeral adjectives can be classified into five different types, depending on their specific meaning. We refer to:
- Cardinal numeral adjectives, which express an exact quantity and always come before the noun. In Spanish, these adjectives consist of a single word until reaching the number thirty, since from then on they resort to the coordination or juxtaposition of the words (as in “thirty-four” or “two hundred fifteen”).
- Ordinal numeral adjectives, which do not refer to quantity but rather to order, that is, to the sequence of the elements that they characterize. Like the previous ones, they usually always go before the noun they qualify, and as the numbering progresses, more complex words are used made up of prefixes of Latin origin (as in "eightieth" or "hundredth first").
- Partitive numeral adjectives, which refer to the divisions of a noun, that is, to the fractions into which it can be divided. This category has some terms of its own such as "middle" or "third", but in general it is expressed through the use of ordinal adjectives ("fourth", "fifth") or cardinal adjectives adding to the root the suffix -avo ("sixteenth "Or" twentieth ").
- Multiplicative numeral adjectives, referring to the multiplication of the referent, that is, so many times x (as in "double" or "quadruple").
Examples of numeral adjectives
Here are some prayers as an example of the use of each type of numeral adjective:
Examples of cardinal numeral adjectives:
- Three sad tigers swallow wheat in a wheat field.
- I went to the bookstore and bought two books.
- The war left millions of dead.
- I've told you hundreds of times!
- We received six hundred and twenty job applications.
- Have you turned thirty-nine already?
Examples of ordinal numeral adjectives:
- This is the first year I have been without smoking.
- My favorite runner came in third.
- Today we celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the company.
- The second goal took us by surprise.
- This is the fifth time I have visited you.
- Today we celebrate your eighteenth birthday.
Examples of partitive numeral adjectives:
- They are going to pay us half a salary until the company recovers.
- A fifth of the attendees were asleep.
- You get an eighth slice of the pizza.
- We did the tour in a thousandth of a second.
- They gave us a third of what was established.
Examples of multiplicative numeral adjectives:
- I'd like a double portion, please.
- We receive a triple bonus as an incentive.
- In the end we work four times what was agreed.
- Do you want a double room or a single room?
- That play is worth a triple goal.