In front or in back?
 

OK, I'm sure this has been discussed many times, but humor me, K?

I write a little bit in Spanish everyday and my friend reviews it for errors. She told me the following sentence is incorrect and I would like to know why.

Ella está en el piso segundo.

She said it should be el segund piso. Why? Isn't this just like "la camisa roja"?

In case you don't remember, I'm the one who doesn't understand the "preterite", "subjunctive" explanations. Keep it simple for stupid (me).

Thanks!

Your friend is right the adjective rule (which is not a law) in which the adjective is most commonly used after the noun does not apply to building floors except the ground floor which is piso bajo (PB in elavators).
Come to think of it there may be an exception to the adjective rule for all
numbered nouns. For example: Fifth Avenue is La Quinta Avenida much like
el segundo piso. The meaning is completely different with the adjective after the numbered object. I would like to hear what other people have to say about this.

666 Road: Autopista 666, Ruta 666
Chicago Airpot: Aeropuerto de Chicago
Eiffel Tower: Torre Eiffel
5th Avenue: Quinta Avenida
second floor. Segundo piso
The fifth street on the left: la quinta calle a la derecha.
Sometimes works, sometimes not.
Like Poli says, it´s
sótano
planta baja
primera planta/primer piso
segunda planta/ segundo piso
tercera planta/tercer piso
.....
décima planta/ décimo piso
an so on.
ordinals in RAE
"ella está en el piso segundo" sound simply odd.
more info http://faculty.washington.edu/petersen/adjrules.htm


Some adjectives are curious enough, and they have different meanings depending on the position
Un pobre hombre (desgraciado) - Un hombre pobre (sin dinero)
Una cosa cierta (verdadera) - Una cierta cosa (alguna)
una catedral grande (tamaño) -una gran catedral (famosa)
un negocio grande (tamaño) - un gran negocio(importante)
un colega viejo (viejo de edad) - un viejo colega (conocido desde hace tiempo)
una muchacha sola (solitaria) -una sola muchacha(única)
un coche nuevo (moderno) - un nuevo coche(otro)
un hombre mismo (él solo) - el mismo hombre (misma persona)
las ideas diferentes (no son iguales) - las diferentes ideas (varias)
extracted from http://teachers.sduhsd.net/nneeb/doc.../Adjetivos.ppt
more examples here
http://culturitalia.uibk.ac.at/hispanoteca/ ... significado.htm

greetings :D

After thinking about this for awhile, I realized that things change after the tenth floor (décimo piso). For the eleventh floor up its better to say piso once, piso doce instead of el décimo segundo piso, décimo tercer piso which is much too cumbersome.

but you're right, people (and I) sometimes says "piso 35" when it'a s very tall building
Example
¿en que piso vives? "en el segundo piso", "en el décimo"
¿en que piso trabajas? "en el (piso) quince" (it should be "décimoquinto piso")
saludos :D

While the general rule for adjectives in Spanish is that they go after the noun they modify, it doesn't always apply.


1. Adjectives can go before the noun in poetic situations, poems, song lyrics etc.

El abrumador sondio me despertó en la madrugada.

2. Some adjectives take on a different meaning when they come before the noun. There are some more good examples in sosia's post (#3).

Ahí viene mi antiguo jefe.
There comes my former boss.

Ahí viene mi jefe antiguo.
There comes my ancient boss.

3. Some adjectives by custom are used before the noun they modify:

A. este, ese, aquel, aquella, (demonstrative adjectives)

Este coche y aquel autobús.
This car and that bus.

B. primer/o, segundo, tercer/o (ordinal numbers)

4. The emphasis of some adjectives changes when used in front/behind nouns.

Perdí la pequeña moneda.
I lost the little coin.

Just a statement of fact, not implying anything else

Perdí la moneda pequeña.
I lost the little coin.

Notice that the English translation is the same, but in the Spanish, this wording implies that there were other coins and you only lost the small one. Depending on context, another good translation would be:
I lost the small one.

Ok, that's all I can think of right now. :) Hope it helps.