Herman Ebbinghaus was the first psychologist to investigate the ability to retain information after learning it. In 1885 he derived his so-called forgetting curves from the results of his experimental work. These curves plot the amount of information remembered against the time elapsed since learning it.

This relationship can be approximately modelled as an exponential decay. With this type of curve the rate at which items are forgotten is initially relatively high, but as time progresses this rate decreases. The steepness of the curve is inversely related to the strength of memory, which is very low (giving a steep curve) for meaningless material, such as random series of letters, and very high (giving a much flatter curve) for vivid memories.

On subsequent reviews of the material being learned, the strength of memory increases and so the forgetting curve starts off again but with its slope reduced. This means that after each review the material will be retained for a longer period. This is the basis of the learning technique known as spaced repetition, in which initially material is reviewed frequently, but after each review the time until the next review is increased.

An effective way of memorising facts is to use flashcards. A question is written on one side of a card, and the answer on the other. Armed with a deck of such cards you can then review your material by looking at the front of each card in turn, mentally answering the question, then turning the card over to reveal the answer. This can be a useful approach for learning vocabulary, where words or phrases in your first language are written on one side of the cards and their counterparts in your target language on the other. Looking at the target-language side of the cards first lets you practise recognition; looking at the opposite side first lets you practise production.

Time spent learning in this way can be made much more efficient by adopting the spaced repetition approach. This strategy is aimed at optimising your learning effort by increasing the amount of time between subsequent reviews of the items with which you are familiar. A very popular flashcard-based learning system that incorporates this concept is the Leitner System, developed by Sebastian Leitner and described in his 1972 book So lernt man lernen (How to learn to learn).

In the Leitner system you have a series of groups, or card boxes, and the very process of reviewing your cards sorts them into these boxes according to how easy or difficult you find the material.

Initially all the cards in your deck are placed in box 1. When you review these if you get a card right, you promote it to box 2; if you get it wrong, it stays in box 1. And when you review the cards in box 2, correctly answered ones are promoted to box 3 and incorrectly answered ones are demoted back down to box 1. This process continues for however many boxes you have. When a card is placed in a box after being reviewed it is always added to the bottom of the pile of cards in that box.

The higher the box number, the longer the period of time you can allow between reviews. The material you know best ends up towards the far end of the series of boxes and consequently requires least time to be spent on it; whereas, the material that you need to devote most time to stays in the boxes near the start of the series, which are reviewed more frequently. You therefore do not waste time reviewing material you already know well and more time is spent on the harder to learn cases. New cards can be added into the learning system at any time. These are always initially added into box 1 and will work their way through the box set as your periodic reviews progress.

Today the Leitner system is widely used in electronic flashcard software applications. Over 200 flashcard-based-learning titles, many of which incorporate the Leitner System, are compared at the site Memorization Software Reviewed. The reviews on this site are based on comprehensive and rigorous educational principles and their top recommendation is Paul Rädle’s excellent Windows shareware product, VTrain.

At first sight this software might seem a little daunting to use, but with a prior understanding of the Leitner system and after a perusal of its built-in tutorial (Help / Tutorial), VTrain is actually very straightforward to use and it has a clean, well organised user interface giving access to its comprehensive set of features. Cards can be created and updated using the built-in editor, which supports rich text, images and voice recording. The set of boxes to be used is defined in a cardfile. When a new cardfile is created it defaults to having five boxes. The cardfile can then be filled with one or more decks of cards. New cards can be created at any time. And VTrain’s scheduling feature gives a visual indication of when cards in a box become due for review. The default review periods for boxes 2, 3, 4, and 5 are every 1 day, 2 days, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks, respectively. The cards in any given box can, however, be reviewed at any time.

VTrain provides a very flexible solution for learning virtually any subject by means of flashcards — which are, of course, an ideal method of reviewing vocabulary when learning another language.

The list below provides an initial selection to get you started. All of the resources mentioned below are free. Additional material, such as transcripts and supplementary premium-content podcasts, can also be purchased for some of these.

Language learning podcasts

Coffee Break Spanish

http://www.radiolinguamedia.com/cbs/www/lessons/library.html

Scots Mark, the teacher, and Kara, the student, host this series of podcasts teaching beginners’ Spanish in manageable 15-20 minute lessons. The series is organised into units of 10 lessons each, and is currently on Unit 6. Some of the units feature dialogues recorded with native speakers from Spain, and there is also a companion series of occasional podcasts, Café Cortado (http://www.thecafecortado.com/), dealing specifically with listeners’ queries (although the latter not been updated since August 2007). Last year Coffee Break Spanish won a European Award for Languages and has recently hit #2 in the iTunes US chart of all podcasts.

Notes in Spanish

http://www.notesinspanish.com/

Ben, an Englishman living in Madrid, and native speaker Marina present these podcasts featuring discussions and interviews in Spanish on a wide range of topics. There are three separate series available: Inspired Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced.

Voces en español

http://spanish-podcast.com/es/

Eleena, an American living and teaching English in Spain, hosts this excellent conversational series aimed at intermediate to advanced learners. Each podcast features a guest, usually a native speaker. Recent topics have included: extracts from novels, an interview with a teacher of Spanish pronunciation from Buenos Aires, yerba mate, and intercambios, to name just a few.

Argot Tango

http://www.briteach.com.ar/

This is a weekly series of short, bilingual podcasts from Briteach, a company providing English classes in Argentina. This podcast explains various terms and expressions used in the region, such as che, bondi, and subte. The latest edition was produced at the end of January.

Desde el baño

http://desdeelbano.blogspot.com/

In another interesting podcast series from Argentina, Sofía discusses, entirely in Spanish, a variety of features of the Rioplatense dialect. Although this series seems to have stopped (the last episode was in September 2007), there is an archive of around 40 previous episodes available to download.

SSL4YOU

http://ssl4you.blogspot.com/

Teresa Sánchez, a teacher from Zamora in Spain, produces these Spanish-only podcasts. In each show she presents a short monologue and then follows this up with a discussion of some of the language points inherent in the first part. A transcript of the monologue in both Spanish and English is also freely available on the site. Language learning opportunities aside, these vignettes not only provide an insight into Spanish culture, they also contain some delightful observations on life in general. In 2006 SSL4YOU won a Castilla y León prize for the promotion of Spanish in the Information Society.

Podcasts in Spanish

The following list provides some suggestions from just a few of the very many genres available, namely podcasts devoted to current affairs, travel, cinema and photography. A good place to start for finding more is the directory of Spanish language podcasts at http://www.hispanocast.com/.

Hispanorama

http://www.rtve.es/programas/intercambios
(click on ‘Podcast’ at the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar)

Radio Exterior de España produces this weekly show, which lasts around an hour and is split into about 10 individual reports. Each of these covers a topical subject from the realms of culture and current affairs relevant to the Spanish-speaking world.

Viajes a tu aire

http://www.viajesatuaire.com/wp/

Viajes a tu aire is a travel guide series with reports on trips to places such as Helsinki, Athens, Orlando, London and New York. Although the latest episode is dated September 2007 there are 27 podcasts available to download.

Pasajeros con destino

http://www.frecuenciacero.com.mx/pasajeroscondestino/

This is another travelogue series and comes from Frecuencia Cero in Mexico and is hosted by Marco Ávalos. As well as describing places and experiences, these reports also provide advice and information for prospective travellers. Recent destinations have included Rome, Bratislava, Cadiz and Naples.

Hablemos de cine

http://hablemosdecine.com/

With the help of a team of contributors, hosts Jordi Mariscal and Ricardo Cárdenas present this fusión de cine y actualidad. Through discussion of international cinema, Hablemos de cine examines a wide range of topical subjects. It also explores the contrasts and similarities in the way these themes are depicted by film makers from around the world.

Podcast fotografía digital

http://www.memoflores.com/podcast/

This podcast from professional photographer Guillermo Flores from Guadalajara in Mexico is aimed at owners of digital SLR cameras. If, however, you are interested in photography and want to practise your aural comprehension then this is an ideal way to learn a bit more about photography and to pick up some specialist vocabulary along the way. You’ll soon know your diafragma from your disparador.

Vocal apparatus

The diagram below illustrates the major components of the human vocal apparatus. This will be useful to refer to when the production of various sounds is described below.

Distinción, seseo and ceceo

The sound [θ] occurs in English as, for example, the th in thin and is described in phonetic terms as a voiceless interdental fricative¹. This means that it is produced by restricting the flow of air with the tongue between the teeth and with no sound produced by the vocal folds. (Compare this with its voiced counterpart [ð]², occurring as the th in the.)

The sound [s] occurs as the s in sun and is described as a voiceless alveolar fricative³, which means that the air flow is restricted between the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge (the gum ridge behind the upper teeth).

In some varieties of Spanish these two distinct sounds both occur, with [θ] corresponding to the letter z, or c before an e or an i. This is termed distinción. In other dialects the two sounds have merged together, giving seseo where they have become [s] and ceceo where they have become [θ].

Broadly speaking, distinción is found in northern and central Spain, seseo in the Canaries, parts of southern Spain and virtually all of Latin America, and ceceo in certain areas of southern Spain⁴.

In accents exhibiting distinción, cien and sien, for example, are pronounced differently, whereas in seseante and ceceante accents they are not.

Lleísmo and yeísmo

The sound [ʎ], which does not naturally occur in English, is termed a palatal lateral approximant⁵. This means that it is produced by air escaping sideways over the tongue when the middle (lamina) or back (dorsum) is brought close to the hard palate. Traditionally this sound corresponded to the letter elle, or doble l, (ll) in Spanish: a pronunciation known as lleísmo. Replacing the sound with that associated with the letter y, however, is known as yeísmo, and this is prevalent in most of Latin America and parts of Spain. In Spain yeísmo is widespread among the younger generation, even in traditionally lleísta areas.

Note that in Spanish [ʎ] should not be pronounced as [li]⁶. There is some regional variation in the way that y (and ll in yeísta accents) is pronounced in Spanish:

• [ʝ]  voiced palatal fricative⁷. Produced by a restricted airflow down the centre of the tongue with its middle or back raised against the hard palate and the vocal folds vibrating.
• [j]  palatal approximant⁸ — y in yes. Produced by an airflow down the centre of the tongue with its middle or back raised against the hard palate and the vocal folds vibrating. The airflow is not restricted to the same extent as it is with [ʝ].
• [ʃ]  voiceless postalveolar fricative⁹ — sh in shirt. Produced with the tip (apex) of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge directing the airflow over the edge of the teeth without the vocal folds vibrating.
• [ʒ]  voiced postalveolar fricative¹⁰ — s in treasure. Produced in a similar manner to that of [ʃ] but with the vocal folds vibrating.

Pronunciation of y / ll as [ʃ] or [ʒ] is known as sheísmo and zheísmo, respectively, and is characteristic of Rioplatense Spanish¹¹ (spoken mainly in the River Plate regions of Argentina and Uruguay).

Aspirated ‘s’

Another feature characteristic of certain accents is where the letter s at the end of a syllable is pronounced as [h] or even dropped completely. [h] is known as the voiceless glottal fricative¹², and corresponds to the h in hat. In Spanish this pronunciation of s is called the ese aspirada, and the phenomenon ‘comer las eses’. This is common, for example, in Caribbean, Rioplatense and Southern Spanish accents.

‘x’

When the letter x occurs at the start of word (e.g. xilofón) it is normally pronounced as [s]. In other positions it is pronounced as [ks] in Latin America, but in informal speech in Spain this is usually softened to become [s].

Note that in certain Mexican place names, such as México and Oaxaca, the letter x represents a voiceless velar fricative¹³, [x]. This is the sound now associated in Spanish with the letter j (although in certain dialects, such as Caribbean Spanish and those of parts of southern Spain, for example, this is pronounced as [h]). This spelling comes from Spanish transcription of the Náhuatl language at a time when the letter x represented the sound [ʃ]. During the sixteenth century, however, this sound shifted to [x] and later revisions to Spanish spelling introduced the rules that the latter be represented by j and [ks] by x. Nevertheless, the original spelling was retained in certain proper nouns. And in fact the original [ʃ] sound is still present in a number of Central American place names, such as Xela, Xetulul and Xocomil in Guatemala.

‘b’ and ‘v’

In English the letter v is pronounced as a voiced labiodental fricative¹⁴, [v] (e.g. the v in vet). This means that it is formed with the bottom lip under the upper teeth. It is normally stated that this sound does not exist in Spanish and also that the letters b and v are pronounced identically, a phenomenon known in Spanish as betacismo. Their pronunciation depends on the position of the letter: after a pause or after m or n (the latter then being pronounced as an m), the pronunciation is [b], which is a voiced bilabial plosive¹⁵ (b in bad, for example, in English); otherwise the pronunciation is [β], which is a voiced bilabial fricative¹⁶. (Note that in some dialects it is only pronounced as a fricative when it occurs between vowels.) This sound does not occur in English and is made in a similar manner to [v] but with the both lips in front of the teeth and brought close together but not quite touching.

The standard pronunciation is therefore [b] in words such as también and enviar, and [β] in words such as abeja and llave.

This is, however, an area where there is some debate, as the sound [v] does occur in certain dialects of Spanish (a pronunciation known as labiodentalismo). The reasons for its existence are said to include:

• Survival in certain areas of pronunciation from old Spanish
• Influences of other languages, such as Catalan, French and English
• Hypercorrection as a reaction against popular styles of speech
• Teaching children that [v] is the ‘correct’ pronunciation of v in order to make spelling easier.

It has been noted, for example, that in the Dominican Republic there is no distinction made in popular speech between the pronunciation of the letters b and v, whereas in formal speech, such as that employed in the media, there is¹⁷.

One study¹⁸, analysing the speech of a number of Cuban students, found occurrences of [v] (together with [β] and [b]) corresponding to the letter v and also occasionally the letter b. Another more recent study¹⁹ involved a group of native speaking instructors of Spanish from a variety of countries at the University of Southern California. In that study it was found that in the speech samples analysed b was never pronounced [v], but overall the letter v was pronounced as [v] 40% of the time. This pronunciation was not systematic, and, among other factors, a correlation was found between its prevalence and the speakers’ number of years of residence in an English-speaking country.

Speech samples

Audio clips of a number of native Spanish speakers all reading the same piece of text are provided below for comparison. Listen carefully and see how many of the features described above you can detect. Note, however, that as the recordings are of a text being read, the speech is very likely to be more formal than that used in everyday conversation. One contributor commented, for example, that she was conscious of forcing the s at the end of words that in spontaneous speech she would have dropped.

Sample text

El cazador de libros se sentía feliz al encontrar en una casa señorial de Zaragoza una colección de cien publicaciones científicas insólitas.

—Yo no veo ningún caballo —le dije a ella al llegar a la llanura lluviosa. Yo sé que viajar instruye mucho pero ayer en la calle de Nueva York, con el billete en el bolsillo, nunca me lo habría imaginado así.

Todos los tesoros oscuros de las islas estaban en la sala de subastas. En el primer lote había dos cisnes negros, unos sigilosos gatos de dimensiones gigantescas y tres muñecos enmascarados.

El boxeador extraño se exasperó al tomar el examen exigente en Extremadura. Se consideraba un excelente experto, pero a su parecer fueron muy ortodoxos y exudaron una exquisita inflexibilidad.

Veintinueve vacas hambrientas vuelven a comer hierba, mientras las abejas zumban por todas partes. Bebiendo un vaso de vino y sentado en un banco cercano, el hombre descubre la clave. Desde ahora sabe qué hacer en verano y en invierno también.

Audio clips

Instructions: use the map below to navigate the audio clip collection. You can click and drag to pan the map and use the control on the left to zoom. Clicking on a map marker will bring the list of associated recordings into view in the panel below the map. You can then click on a link to open the audio clip or right click on it to download it as an MP3 file.

Further resources

International Phonetic Association
Downloadable PDF chart of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/fullchart.html

Paul Meier Dialect Services
Interactive IPA chart with audio samples for all of the sounds.
http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html

Spanish Pronunciation 101
A blog on Spanish pronunciation, aimed primarily at native English speakers and written by Martín Ventola, a teacher of Spanish Pronunciation from Buenos Aires.
http://www.spanishpronunciation101.com

Université de Lausanne — Introduction to Phonetics
Introductory online course on phonetics. Includes comprehensive descriptions of how all sounds in the IPA are produced together with accompanying audio clips.
http://www.unil.ch/ling/page30184.html

The University of Iowa — Fónetica: Los sonidos del Español
Animated anatomical diagram showing production of the various sounds in Spanish by the vocal apparatus, with accompanying sound samples and descriptions of how the sounds are articulated.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/spanish/frameset.html

The University of Iowa — Dialectoteca del Español
Audiovisual library with speech samples from a diverse range of native Spanish speakers.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/dialects/

Ceceo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceceo

Yeísmo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye%C3%ADsmo

Spanish dialects and varieties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dialects

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all those who very kindly provided voice recordings for this project:

Physical	Físico
paper	papel  m
page	página f
sheet / leaf	hoja f
quire (1/20th of a ream)	mano (de papel) f (vigésima parte de la resma)
ream (500 sheets of paper)	resma f (500 hojas de papel)
lined paper	papel m con líneas
graph paper	papel m cuadriculado / milimetrado
leaflet / flier	hoja f / folleto m / volante m
brochure / booklet / pamphlet	librito m / folleto m / panfleto m
book	libro m
paperback	libro m en rústica
hardback	libro m de tapa/pasta dura
ink	tinta f
toner	toner m
cartridge	cartucho m
printer	impresora f
laser printer	impresora f (de) láser
ink jet printer	impresora f (de) chorro (de) tinta / impresora f de inyección de tinta

Textual organisation	Organización del texto
letter	letra f
word	palabra f, voz f, vocablo m
phrase	frase f, sintagma m
sentence	oración f
paragraph	párrafo m
section	apartado m
subsection	inciso m
chapter	capítulo m
volume	tomo m, volumen f
line	línea f, renglón m, verso m
stanza	estrofa f
verse	verso m
title page / front page / cover	portada f
right-hand page (recto)	página f impar, recto m
left-hand page (verso)	página f par, verso m
back (of a sheet of paper)	dorso m

Typographic	Tipográfico
font	tipo m de letra, fuente f
lower case	caja f baja, minúscula f
UPPER CASE	CAJA f ALTA, MAYÚSCULA f, VERSAL f
SMALL CAPS	VERSALITAS f
boldface	negrita f
Roman type	redonda f
italics	cursiva f, itálica f
underlined	(texto) subrayado
strikethrough	(texto) tachado
superscript	superíndice m, (texto) volado, letra voladita
subscript	subíndice m
font size1 (e.g. 12pt)	cuerpo1 m (tamaño del tipo)
x height2	altura f x2
shoulder3	hombro3 m, rebaba f
serif4	remate4 m, gracia f, serifa f
ascender5	(asta f) ascendente5
descender6	(asta f) descendente6
base line7	línea f de base7
point (1/72 inch)	punto m tipográfico (1/72 de pulgada)
stroke	trazo m
sans serif font	tipo m (de letra) paloseco
serif font	tipo m (de letra) romano, con serifas
fixed pitch, monospaced, non-proportional font	tipo m de espaciado fijo
proportional font	tipo m de espaciado proporcional
leading (spacing between lines)	interlineado m
tracking (space between characters)	prosa f (espaciado interletrado)
kerning (adjustments in spacing between letters in certain pairs)	interletraje m (ajustes visual sobre ciertos pares de carácteres)
left aligned	alineado a la izquierda
right aligned	alineado a la derecha
justified	justificado
centred	centrado
margin	margen m
indent	sangrado m
to indent a line	sagrar una línea
blockquote	metido m
footnote	nota f al pie
text figuresa	números m elzevirianosa, cifras f de estilo antiguo

^a In text figures 0, 1, 2 have x-height size; 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 have descenders; 6, 8 have ascenders.
  En los números elzevirianos el tamaño de las cifras 0, 1, 2 es la altura x; 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 tienen astas descendentes; 6, 8 tienen astas ascendentes.

This article looks at one particular example that appears to run counter to the above: namely the use of the subjunctive following el hecho de que where the phrase is used to state an objective fact and where no emotional reaction is involved.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at some typical descriptions of the general rules involved in the use of the subjunctive mood. We will then go on to take a look at so-called factive clauses and follow this up by examining the choice of mood in such clauses. This mentions previous investigation in this area and presents some observations based on a statistical analysis undertaken for this article.

Read more…

Contents
• That makes two of us
• And while we’re at it…
• He/she doesn’t lift a finger
• You don’t say!
• So far, so good

That makes two of us

This expression is used when one is in the same position or holds the same opinion as the previous speaker. In other words, “I agree with you” or “I understand what you feel”. In Spanish, we say “Ya somos dos”. For example, “I have no idea” - “That makes two of us” –> “No tengo idea” - “Ya somos dos”. Another example, “I wish I didn’t have to take the final exam today” - “That makes two of us!” –> “Desearía no tener que tomar el examen final hoy” - “¡Ya somos dos!”

And while we’re at it…

This is something you say when you’re talking about something and you want to add something else related to it. In Spanish we say, “Y ya que estamos en esto…”. For example, “…and this is a very common mistake. And while we’re at it, let me show you a way to avoid…” –> “Y este es un error muy común. Y ya que estamos en esto, permítanme mostrarles una manera de evitar…”

He/she doesn’t lift a finger

This means a person does not make the slightest effort to do something, esp. to help someone (usually because he/she is lazy). In Spanish, we say either “No mueve (ni) un dedo” or “No levanta (ni) un dedo”. In both cases, “ni” is optional. For example, “He can see that I’m busy, but he doesn’t lift a finger.” –> “Puede ver que estoy ocupada, pero no mueve un dedo”.

You don’t say!

This expression is used to express amazement or disbelief. In Spanish, we say “¡No me digas!”. For example, “My sister met David Beckham while she was in Spain” - “You don’t say!” –> “Mi hermana conoció a David Beckham cuando estuvo en España” - “¡No me digas!”.

So far, so good

This is said when the progress has been satisfactory up to now. In Spanish, you can say “Hasta ahora todo bien”. For example, “How’s your new job going?” - “So far, so good.” –> “¿Qué tal tu nuevo empleo?” - “Hasta ahora, todo bien”.

Contents
• A hair
• The Cream
• As if by magic
• You don’t say!
• Behind someone’s back

A hair

A very small quantity or extent. In Spanish, we say “un pelo”. If you want to be more emphatic, you can use diminutives like “un pelito” or “un pelín”. For example, “Move it just a hair… Perfect!” –> “Muévelo un pelito… ¡Perfecto!”.

The Cream

The very best of a group of people or thing. In Spanish, we say “la crema y nata”. For example, “They are the cream of American society.” –> “Ellos son la crema y nata de la sociedad estadounidense”.

As if by magic

As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain; magically. In Spanish, we say “como por arte de magia”. For example, “…and when you add those numbers, you’ll get your age as if by magic!” –> “… y cuando sumas esos números, ¡obtendrás tu edad como por arte de magia!”

You don’t say!

This phrase is used to express amazement or disbelief. In Spanish, we say “¡No me digas!”. It may be used straightforwardly (meaning “Really? I can I find that interesting, keep talking.”) or ironically (meaning either “I don’t believe you” or “You have just stated the obvious.”). For example, A:”Have you heard the news? Jessica got married!” B: “You don’t say!” –> A: “¿Ya te enteraste? ¡Jessica se casó!” B:“¡No me digas!”. | Another example: A: “…and that’s why I couldn’t finish my homework” B: (ironically)”You don’t say!” –> A: “…y por eso no pude terminar mi tarea.” B: “¡No me digas!”.

Behind someone’s back

Without a person’s knowledge and in an unfair or dishonorable way. In Spanish, “a sus espaldas”. For example, “Carla made fun of him behind his back.” –> “Carla se burló de él a sus espaldas.”

En inglés el uso de un adjetivo puede ser atributivo (‘attributive’) — califica al sustantivo directamente sin un verbo intermediario — o predicativo (‘predicative’) — es parte del predicado y hay un verbo entre éste y el sujeto. En el primer caso para modificar el sentido del sustantivo se coloca el adjetivo en una posición adyacente al mismo, y en el segundo aparece el adjetivo como complemento de una cópula, es decir, va después de un verbo tal como ‘is’. Por ejemplo, en la frase the green door (la puerta verde), green es un adjetivo atributivo (‘attributive adjective’); y en the door is green (la puerta es verde), es un adjetivo predicativo (‘predicative adjective’). La mayoría de los adjetivos ingleses pueden funcionar de ambos modos, aunque hay unos cuantos que sólo se pueden usar de una de las dos maneras. Por ejemplo, se dice the lone ranger (el llanero solitario) y the ranger is alone (el llanero está solo), pero nunca *the alone ranger o *the ranger is lone.

En cuanto a los adjetivos con función de atributo, hay ciertas ocasiones en las cuales se pone el adjetivo después del sustantivo, es decir cuando es un adjetivo pospositivo (‘postpositive’ o ‘post-positioned adjective’). Primero, tenemos el caso en que un adjetivo califica un pronombre, así como someone (alguien), something (algo), those (éstos), etcétera. Ejemplos:

• someone clever (alguien listo)
• something unexpected (algo inesperado)
• those eligible (los que reúnen los requisitos necesarios)

Luego, muchas veces se usa un adjetivo pospositivo junto con un superlativo o un cuantificador.

• the latest date possible (la última fecha posible)
• the most awkward position imaginable (la posición más incómoda que se puede imaginar)
• the only seat available (la única plaza disponible)
• the first letter opened (la primera carta que se abra)

Toma nota que normalmente es también posible poner el adjetivo antes del sustantivo en tales casos, donde recibe un poco más énfasis, por ejemplo the latest possible date.

Hay unos cuantos adjetivos que suelen ser pospositivos, tales como: aplenty (en abundancia), elect (electo), emeritus (emérito), extraordinaire (sin igual), y galore (en abundancia). Hay asimismo ciertos sustantivos compuestos y frases hechas que emplean este orden de vocablos. Ejemplos:

• court martial (consejo de guerra)
• knight errant (caballero errante)
• Attorney General (= Ministro de Justicia)
• Princess Royal (título otorgado a la hija mayor de un monarca británico)
• heir apparent (heredero forzoso)

Y por fin también encontramos adjetivos pospositivos en muchos nombres de productos. He aquí unos pocos ejemplos:

• Carrera Cabriolet
• Pepsi Max
• Outlook Express
• Windows XP Professional
• iPod Mini

Estos tipos de caso, esbozados arriba, son las excepciones; lo normal es que un adjetivo atributivo va antes del sustantivo.

Un sustantivo junto con las otras palabras adyacentes que lo califican forman una frase o sintagma nominal¹, es decir una frase que funciona como un sustantivo — puede ser el sujeto o el complemento de un verbo, por ejemplo. Cuando tenemos una frase nominal que cuenta con más de un adjetivo solo delante del sustantivo, puedes separarlos con comas cuando modifican independientemente el sustantivo. Por ejemplo, the big, green door se refiere a una puerta que es grande y que también es verde. No obstante, si hay dos puertas verdes, una de gran tamaño y la otra pequeña, en the big green door, la frase nominal green door funciona más como una unidad y big restringe el ámbito de las puertas verdes, o en otras palabras, sirve para identificar cuál de las dos se trata. En este caso no ponemos una coma entre los adjetivos. Sin embargo, parece que eso de la coma es algo estilístico y no todos los escritores siguen las mismas normas.

Ahora estamos frente al punto central de este artículo: en una frase nominal con múltiples adjetivos, ¿cuál es el orden en el que deberíamos ponerlos? La verdad es que los angloparlantes nativos no tienen presente ninguna regla al conjuntar varios adjetivos; es que sencillamente un orden sonará natural mientras otros sonarán mal. No obstante, sí se han analizado las reglas subyacentes, y aunque existen varias opiniones distintas entre los estudiosos de la gramática², a continuación presentamos una jerarquía de los componentes de una frase nominal³ con algunos ejemplos de cada categoría de palabra.

Determinante

Artículo

a/an, the
(un, una, el, la)

Demostrativo

this, that, these, those
(este, ese, estos, esos)

Posesivo

my, your, his, her, its, our, their, Bob’s
(mi, tu, vuestro, su, nuestro, de Bob)

Cuantificador extensivo

any, some, few, enough, much, other, another, each, every
(algún, pocos, bastante, mucho, otro, cada, todo)

Cuantificador ‘ordinal’

first, second, last, initial, final, next, middle
(primer, segundo, último, inicial, final, siguiente, medio)

Cuantificador ‘cardinal’

five, twenty-three, many
(cinco, veintitrés, muchos)

Opinión o juicio (sobre calidad o condición)

nice, happy, interesting, beautiful, sad, soft
(agradable, feliz, interesante, hermoso, triste, blando)

Tamaño / Peso

big, short, wide, heavy, light
(grande, corto, ancho, pesado, ligero)

Edad

old, young, new, antique
(viejo, joven, nuevo, antiguo)

Forma

spherical, square, pentagonal, triangular
(esférico, cuadrado, pentagonal, triangular)

Color

red, green, blue, black, white, golden
(rojo, verde, azul, negro, blanco, dorado)

Nacionalidad

Australian, Scottish, Spanish, Japanese
(australiano, escocés, español, japonés)

Religión

Muslim, Christian, Jewish
(musulmán, cristiano, judío)

Materia

wooden, metallic, glass, stone, cardboard
(de madera, metálico, de vidrio, de piedra, de cartón)

Propósito

swimming (swimming costume), walking (walking boots), racing (racing car)
(traje de baño, botas para caminar, coche de carrera)

Sustantivo en función de adjetivo

university (university course), home (home cooking), newspaper (newspaper headline)
(carrera universitaria, cocina casera, titular de periódico)

Sustantivo (núcleo del sintagma)

Ejemplos:

• the big new Islamic Geometry book
  (el nuevo gran libro de geometría islámica)
  
• a few interesting, heavy, antique, spherical, blue, metallic bowling balls
  (literalmente: unas cuantas bochas metálicas, antiguas, interesantes, esféricas, azules y pesadas)
  
• my first five delightful, small, golden, Japanese, wooden pencil boxes
  (en este caso se trata de ‘mis primeras cinco cajas de madera
  para lapiceros’, y además las cajas las califican también los siguientes adjetivos atributivos: preciosas, pequeñas, doradas y japonesas)

Aunque sí es posible concatenar muchos adjetivos así, no se considera buen estilo agrupar demasiados juntos. A menos que quieras conseguir cierto efecto raro, es recomendable que separes una descripción larga en frases distintas.

Y por fin, cabe decir que, desde luego, hay excepciones — cuando se trata por ejemplo de combinaciones de palabras muy comunes, sobre todo los sustantivos compuestos, así como fast food (comida rápida), black box (caja negra), compact disc (disco compacto, CD). Según lo anterior, parecería que la frase *short new story, verbigracia, fuera correcta, pero el hecho de que el cuento corto sea un género literario y por eso haya pasado a ser un sustantivo compuesto supone que más bien tenemos que decir new short story para evitar introducir otras palabras en medio de las que forman el sustantivo compuesto.