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Old September 18, 2009, 12:11 AM
beaudoin leblanc beaudoin leblanc is offline
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Hermosa o belleza

In bobjenkins' sentence 'la vida puede ser hermosa si lo intentas' why is hermosa used for beautiful instead of using the word belleza. Does belleza refer only to a female person?
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Old September 18, 2009, 02:03 AM
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"Belleza" is "beauty" (noun); the cognate adjectivo is "bell[o|a|os|as]".

To me, "hermoso" feels like a peninsular word: I think a lot of Latin American Spanish speakers would favour "lindo". However, you're better off getting that kind of connotation from a native speaker.
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Old September 18, 2009, 02:12 AM
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Hermoso is not too common over here either, at least not in everyday speech. It sounds quite formal, even literary. We tend to say guapo or bonito.
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Old September 18, 2009, 06:13 AM
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"La vida es bella" can be used, too. In fact, this is the tittle of a film.
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Old September 18, 2009, 06:31 AM
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Hermoso/a bello/a lindo/a bonita/o are all commonly used among Latin Americans.
Bonito is also a fish like tuna
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Old September 18, 2009, 08:19 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poli View Post
Hermoso/a bello/a lindo/a bonita/o are all commonly used among Latin Americans.
Bonito is also a fish like tuna
You can also use belleza o hermosura when referring to somebody or something...

Ese (someone, something) es una belleza o hermosura (beautiful)

Ese edificio es una belleza/hermosura.

Esa muchacha es una hermosura/belleza.

Etc.
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Old September 18, 2009, 10:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beaudoin leblanc View Post
In bobjenkins' sentence 'la vida puede ser hermosa si lo intentas' why is hermosa used for beautiful instead of using the word belleza. Does belleza refer only to a female person?
"Hermosa(o)" (beautiful) is an adjective and "belleza" (beauty) a noun. As pjt, said, "bella(o)" is the adjective the derived adjective.
The noun for "hermoso" is "hermosura".

"Belleza" refers to anything about which you can perceive beauty.

Una mujer bella = a beautiful woman.
Ella es una belleza = she's a beauty.
Admirar la belleza masculina = to admire masculine beauty

"Un hombre bello" (a beautiful man) is rarely heard, but there are people who use those expressions. But "guapo" is the most common adjective I've heard for a handsome man.
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Old September 18, 2009, 11:32 AM
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I think there is a difference between
una bella persona -- a person beautiful for their deeds (like Mother Teresa
and
una persona bella (Salma Hayek)

Am I right?
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Old September 18, 2009, 12:46 PM
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Right. (At least something along those lines)

mi bella hermana = my beautiful sister (more intrinsic beauty? no comparisons being made)
mi hermana bella = my sister, the beautiful one, not the ugly one
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Old September 18, 2009, 02:09 PM
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For me it's the same, maybe in some cases it can depend a little on the context. If you say first bella, you are giving it more importance: first you think about bella, and then you add to it the person; vice versa.

Era una bella persona
Era una persona bella.
Synonyms.

Iré con mi hermana bella a caminar. -> this seems a little strange in this situation
Iré con mi bella hermana a caminar. -> this is the common one
But they mean the same.

If I have to say that a girl is beautiful I use, in order of usage: Linda - Hermosa - Bella/Preciosa
Anothers expressions: "Buen mozo/a" "Es un churro/a" "Guapo/a" but I don't like them.
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Last edited by ookami; September 18, 2009 at 02:11 PM.
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