Business Spanish - The Noun

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LESSON XXXII.
(Lección trigéima segunda.)

THE NOUN.

1. The gender of names of countries, provinces, and towns is according
to their termination (Lesson III), but those ending in _d_ are generally
masculine.

Exceptions are found, the names "ciudad" or "pueblo" being then
understood.

2. Names of trees are masculine, those of fruits are feminine.

EXCEPTIONS--

+--------------------------------+----------------------------+
|La higuera (the fig-tree) |El melocotón (the peach) |
|La palma (the palm-tree) |El albérchigo (the peach) |
|La viña (the vine-tree) |El durazno (the apricot) |
|El dátil (the date) |El albaricoque (the apricot)|
|El pistacho (the pistachio-nut) |El mango (the mango) |
|El higo (the fig) | |
+--------------------------------+----------------------------+

And a few more.

3. A masculine article is used with other parts of speech whole
sentences used substantively, as--

Quiero un sí ó un no claro: I want a clear (decisive) yes or no.

El aprender es útil: Learning is useful.

El que lo haya hecho sin consultarme no puede serme de grande gusto:
That he did it without consulting me is certainly not pleasing to me.

A list of principal exceptions to the rule given on Spanish gender by
termination is given in Appendix I.

To the rules for the formation of the plural (Lesson III) we shall add--

1. Family names ending in _z_ unstressed do not change--

Juan Fernández But--El Sr. Ruiz
Los Señores Fernández Los Señores Ruices

2. The names of the vowels pluralize in _es_--
Las aes, las ees, las íes, las oes, las úes.

3. Some Latin words used in Spanish, as--Accessit, déficit, fiat,
ultimatum, agnus dei, etc., do not change for the plural,
except--Album--álbumes.

For other peculiarities of number see Appendix II. Collective nouns in
Spanish are generally followed by the verb in the singular, as--La gente
piensa: People think.

But after a collective noun, indefinite in its meaning, the verb may
follow in the plural, as--Una cantidad de géneros se vendió, _or_
vendieron en subasta: A quantity of goods was or were sold by auction.

N.B.--The tendency of the language is in favour of the singular.

=Poner= (to put, to place).

_Past Part.,_ Puesto.
_Pres. Indic.,_ Pongo.[174]
_Imper. Mood,_ Pon ... poned ...[175]
_Past Def.,_ Puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron.
_Future Indic.,_ Pondré, pondras, pondrá, pondremos, pondéis, pondrán.

=Querer= (to want a thing or person, to love a person, to be willing).

_Pres. Indic.,_ Quiero, quieres, quiere,--,--, quieren. [176]
_Past Def.,_ Quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron.
_Fut. Indic., _Querré, querrás, querrá, querremos, querréis, querrán.

[Footnote 174: Verbs which are irregular in the Pres. Indic. 1st person
singular only, have the same irregularity in the present subj. all
through.]

[Footnote 175: The 1st person pi. and 3rd pers. sing. and pl. of the
Imperative Mood are taken from the Subj. Mood.]

[Footnote 176: Verbs which in the pres. indic. are irregular in the 1st,
2nd and 3rd pers. sing. and 3rd pers. pl. have the same irregularities in
the pres. subj. in the same persons.]

=Saber= (to know).

_Pres. Indic., _Sé, . . .
_Pres. Subj., _Sepa, sepas, sepa, sepamos, sepáis, sepan.
_Past Def., _Supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supisteis, supieron.
_Fut. Indic., _Sabré, sabrás, sabrá, sabremos, sabréis, sabrán.

VOCABULARY.

=apuro=, straits, embarrassment
=armas blancas=, side arms
=armas de fuego=, fire-arms
=*atravesar=, to traverse, to cross
=campos=, fields
=cierre=, lock-out
=compensar=, to compensate, to make good
=*darse a partido=, to yield, to submit
=disturbio=, disturbance
=enfurecido, furioso=, furious (enfuriated)
=enseñanza=, teaching
=*escarmentar=, to take warning
=fracaso=, failure
=la fuente=, the fountain, source
=fuerza motriz=, motive power
=fundarse en=, to base upon
=huelga=, strike (of workmen)
=huerta=, orchard
=infinidad (una)=, an infinite number
=interior=, interior, inland
=limitar=, to confine, to limit
=mejorar=, to improve
=minero=, miner
=obrero=, workman
=orillas=, banks of a river
=palmera=, date palm
=población=, villa, town
=póliza de seguro=, insurance policy
=prescindir de=, to dispense with
=regadío=, irrigation
=rieles=, rails
=tal cual= (of goods), as they are, as they were
=tomar en consideración=, to take into consideration, to entertain
=turba=, crowd (motley)
=virtualmente=, practically, virtually

EXERCISE 1 (63).

Translate into English--

1. La palmera., el pistacho, y la higuera crecen en Andalucía pero los
dátiles, los pistachos y los higos que se venden en el mercado inglés
provienen principalmente de Berberia, de Grecia y Esmirna (Smyrna).

2. En los recientes disturbios en la provincia de Champaña muchas viñas
se han destruido por las turbas enfurecidas.

3. Explíqueme V. el cómo y el cuando del asunto (all about the affair) y
luego (then) considerare yo el pro y el contra.

4. Á mi no me importa el que dirán (what people will say).

5. La industria del hierro es una de las principales fuentes de riqueza
del Reino Unido.

6. Las máquinas de toda especie, los buques de vapor, los rieles de
ferrocarriles, las herramientas mecánicas y agrícolas, las armas
blancas y de fuego y una infinidad de otros objetos se deben á esa
industria.

7. En el norte de Espana, especialmente en Bilbao se trabaja el hierro
en grande escala.

8. El río que atraviesa dicha población presta (gives) fuerza motriz á
varias fábricas situadas en sus orillas, y sirve también al regadío de
los campos y huertas.

9. Escarmentados por el fracaso de la huelga de los mineros, los obreros
hiladores se dieron á partido admitiendo las condiciones ofrecidas por
los patronos, evitando así el cierre.

10. Patronos y obreros deberían trabajar armoniosamente y fundados en la
justicia; el capital y el trabajo no pueden prescindir el uno del otro.

EXERCISE 2 (64).

Translate into Spanish--

1. The steamer ran aground on the Spanish coast but the crew were saved.

2. People are apt to forget (se olvida facilmente de) the teachings of
history (historia).

3. His action has put me in a serious embarrassment.

4. I put it as a condition that the bills be drawn against delivery of
B/L and insurance policy.

5. They placed all their trust in their agent.

6. I do not mean to say that they wanted to deceive him.

7. When prices improve we shall be willing (estaremos dispuestos) to
sell.

8. I do not know what effect this had on the market.

9. If I knew, I should be able to act accordingly (de conformidad).

10. I do not think he knows (_subj._) what suits him best.

11. The Directors are not in the least (absolutamente) disposed to
launch upon (lanzarse a) a large foreign trade, so that the operations
of the concern (compañía _or_ casa) remain confined practically to the
inland market.

12. We received a claim on our last shipment but we refused to
(rehusamos de) entertain it as the goods were jobs (géneros imperfectos)
and were sold as they were with all faults (imperfecciones).

13. We are sorry our customers should have suffered any loss, but we
cannot make it good, and we shall stand our ground (insistiremos en
eso).