Nouns modifying nouns are common in English, but in Spanish we normally use adjectives to modify them. As a general rule, nouns modify other nouns in Spanish only by means of the preposition de. Examples: hoja de papel, sheet of paper, mesa de madera, wooden table, collar de perlas, pearl necklace. Still, we can find many examples of nouns modifying nouns in Spanish that don’t need this preposition. Some of these examples come from English. We can observe this pattern largely in animal and material names. The article agrees with the first noun; the second noun acts as if it were an adjective: el mono araña, spider monkey (not: la mono araña), because la araña. It’s not either El Hombre de Araña.
el tiburón ballena, whale shark (not: la tiburón ballena)
el tiburón gata, nurse shark
el rata canguro, kangaroo rat
el pez martillo, tiburón martillo, hammer shark
el pez espada, sword fish
el pez gato, (aka bagre) catfish
el pez globo, balloon fish
el pez piedra, stone fish
el hombre lobo, werewolf
el hombre mono, (lit: ape man) aka Tarzan
el hombre rana, (aka buzo) (lit: frog man) scuba diver
el papel aluminio, aluminum foil
el hule espuma, foam rubber
el papel terciopelo, velvet paper
la palabra clave, keyword
el papel tapiz, wallpaper
el plástico cristal, crystal plastic
el chicle bomba, bubblegum
la fruta bomba, Cuban Spanish for papaya
el coche bomba, car bomb
la ciudad estado, city-state
el camión cisterna, tanker (truck)
las cartas credenciales, credential letters
el barco escuela, buque escuela, training ship
el barco hospital, hospital ship
el reloj pulsera, wrist watch
la ciencia ficción, science fiction
el niño genio, boy genius, wonder kid
el niño prodigio, child prodigy
la hora pico, peak time, rush hour
la mujer maravilla, wonder woman (the TV character)
la fiesta sorpresa, surprise party
El Hombre Araña, Spiderman
First published on 20060928. Update: 20070911. Last updated on 20210328 (spanishNY.com) top