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  #31  
Old February 18, 2011, 12:21 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brute View Post
Oh no it weren't! (This is colloquial, but incorrect usage)
I thought it was clear now.
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  #32  
Old April 30, 2011, 04:40 AM
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Okay, so I am going to re-visit this thread..... with the same questions.... because I'm still stuck on this. This week I was reading a commentary comparing the work of an attorney to that of a pastor of a church. In one sentence, he writes the following:

"Nuestra grey son nuestros clientes."

Is "grey" the subject here? If so, then why does it not agree in number with the verb? I asked a friend who is a native Spanish speaker about this, and she insisted that there is no way to say this sentence with "es". Only "son".

So how do I know, in a situation like this, that I am supposed to use a plural verb instead of a singular?
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  #33  
Old April 30, 2011, 07:17 AM
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I think that nuestros clientes are the subject. Similar examples of inversion of word order can be found with lo que. E.g. taking one of the 54 hits for lo que [v] son from the Corpus del español:

Lo que tenemos son actores mediocres.
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  #34  
Old April 30, 2011, 07:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
Okay, so I am going to re-visit this thread..... with the same questions.... because I'm still stuck on this. This week I was reading a commentary comparing the work of an attorney to that of a pastor of a church. In one sentence, he writes the following:

"Nuestra grey son nuestros clientes."

Is "grey" the subject here? If so, then why does it not agree in number with the verb? I asked a friend who is a native Spanish speaker about this, and she insisted that there is no way to say this sentence with "es". Only "son".

So how do I know, in a situation like this, that I am supposed to use a plural verb instead of a singular?
There is a way using "es"

Nuestra grey es nuestra clientela.

And since I don't recall any of my grammar, I'll leave it here.
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  #35  
Old April 30, 2011, 12:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pjt33 View Post
I think that nuestros clientes are the subject. Similar examples of inversion of word order can be found with lo que. E.g. taking one of the 54 hits for lo que [v] son from the Corpus del español:

Lo que tenemos son actores mediocres.
The entire sentence goes like this: Nuestro púlpito es nuestro escritorio, nuestra grey son nuestros clientes y nuestro mensaje es la honestidad, la paz, la reconciliación, la justicia, la rectitud y la verdad.

Wouldn't there be some sort of parallel construction there? Or all they not all inverted word orders?
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  #36  
Old April 30, 2011, 02:47 PM
Luna Azul Luna Azul is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
Okay, so I am going to re-visit this thread..... with the same questions.... because I'm still stuck on this. This week I was reading a commentary comparing the work of an attorney to that of a pastor of a church. In one sentence, he writes the following:

"Nuestra grey son nuestros clientes."

Is "grey" the subject here? If so, then why does it not agree in number with the verb? I asked a friend who is a native Spanish speaker about this, and she insisted that there is no way to say this sentence with "es". Only "son".

So how do I know, in a situation like this, that I am supposed to use a plural verb instead of a singular?
This is a very interesting thread.

In your sentence "Nuestra grey son nuestros clientes" the subject of the sentence is "nuestros clientes". It's like saying "Nuestros clientes son nuestra grey" (Ellos son nuestra grey). Just turn the sentence around. if it makes sense, use the verb in plural. You'll be right most of the time.

It's a difficult subject to explain. I still have problems figuring out if I should say "Police are coming" or "Police is coming". I've heard both.

But in Spanish there's no confusion: "La policía ya viene" - "La policía está en camino".

Just think, in English "people" is plural, in Spanish "gente" is singular.

"People is..."
is another frequent mistake many English learning people make.



Adding:
Quote:
The entire sentence goes like this: Nuestro púlpito es nuestro escritorio, nuestra grey son nuestros clientes y nuestro mensaje es la honestidad, la paz, la reconciliación, la justicia, la rectitud y la verdad.

Wouldn't there be some sort of parallel construction there? Or all they not all inverted word orders?
You can invert it this way:

Nuestro escritorio es nuestro púlpito (this could change the meaning a little, not much, but maybe you should leave it alone), nuestros clientes son nuestra grey y
la honestidad, la paz, la reconciliación, la justicia, la rectitud y la verdad SON nuestro mensaje.

In my opinion the intended meaning of the sentence is not changed at all.



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Last edited by Luna Azul; April 30, 2011 at 02:56 PM.
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