Abrelatas

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Rusty

There are a lot of meanings for trabar, but I think it's loosely translated as 'something that holds back (impedes the movement of) the tongue'.
Trabarse actually means to get jammed, or stuck. Se me traba la lengua. = I get tongue-tied.

Okay - I definitely get the sense of the word now. And ... that it is a compound noun, taking a singular article even though it looks plural: el trabalenguas.

Oh - and another question about compound words ... although this isn't a noun. But is "pelirrojo" (adjective) a compound word related to "pelo" and "rojo"?

[CrOtALiTo]

Pelirrojo is a word used to describe persons or animals.

Yes. it's an adjective.

[laepelba]

Actually, I'm asking if "pelirrojo" is a compound word related to "pelo" and "rojo". I already know that it's an adjective and I know what it means.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Yes, Lou Ann. "Pelirrojo" means "redhaired" ("Tiene el pelo rojo").

[laepelba]

Right. I know what it means. And I know that it's an adjective. I'm asking if it's a compound word - if the "peli" refers to "pelo", or is it just a coincidence that the spellings are similar?

[Rusty]

Yes, it is considered a compound adjective. These are some examples of compound adjectives:
hispanohablante (Spanish-speaking)
angloparlante (English-speaking)
blanquinegro (black-and-white)
verdiblanco (green-and-white)
pelirrojo (red-haired)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: it's not a coincidence. Letter "i" often substitutes another vocal to make compound words, as you can see in Rusty's examples.
You can also "invent" some other adjectives using "peli" as a prefix: "pelinegro", "pelilargo"...

[laepelba]

So I could say something like "Antaño, fui pelinegro."?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by laepelba

So I could say something like "Antaño, fui pelinegro."?

Era pelinegra.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Era pelinegra.

Okay - so I absolutely must work on imperfect vs. preterite. I haven't really looked at those at all. The former student of mine told me something like imperfect has to do with something that happened a LONG time ago and preterite is more recent past. But I also have the impression that imperfect is something that was more ongoing in the past, vs. preterite being about something that had a well-defined ending to the occurrance. Anyway - don't answer that as a question ... I'm just pointing out that I don't know the difference well enough yet, and should probably not be using the tenses that I don't know.

AND ... I am constantly making mistakes in agreement. DOH! I KNEW it should be "pelinegrA". Doh!!