noun or adjective?

papi p.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

noun or adjective?

Sorry, Im a little confussed.

Before I attempt to answer this, isn't patience an adjective (modifying Victor, the noun).  Or is it referring to "few patients (pacientes)- not little patience" as a quantity?  

In otherwords, I believe paciencia is an adjective (quality - not quantity), and I think the poco would be a modifier and not be changed.  It would stay poco. Right?

But if the word was patients (pacientes- quantitiy of patients), then the poco would change to poca, because paciente is a feminine noun.

Asked 6 years ago
papi p.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
I was sent a note that said it has already been answered.  then refered me back to the lesson.  I do not see the answer.  Poco/a/os/as is used with nouns in the lesson, not adjectives. I think that paciencia (adjective-quality) should be changed to pacientes(noun-quantity) in the question. Please be more specific. Thank you.
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Papi

We are sorry we missed this extra question you sent, following your previous question. It didn't show up in the system.

Going back to the sentence, "Víctor tiene poca paciencia." (Victor has little patience.)

Here you need adjective poco/poca/pocos/pocas to agree with the noun, paciencia. 

This sentence would change if we said "Victor has few patients" (as in "not many"). Imagine Victor is a doctor and we are talking about the amount of patients he has.

"Victor tiene pocos pacientes"

Here you still need to make poco agree with the noun: paciente. Paciente is a masculine noun, and we are using the plural so "pocos pacientes".

Hope this extra explanation helps.

Saludos

Inma

FRANCINE D.M. L.B2Kwiziq community member

Noun: patience vs. Adjective: patient...both referring to the characteristic. You might be confused with the person who is being treated at a hospital is a patient. ( person not adjective in this case)

noun or adjective?

Sorry, Im a little confussed.

Before I attempt to answer this, isn't patience an adjective (modifying Victor, the noun).  Or is it referring to "few patients (pacientes)- not little patience" as a quantity?  

In otherwords, I believe paciencia is an adjective (quality - not quantity), and I think the poco would be a modifier and not be changed.  It would stay poco. Right?

But if the word was patients (pacientes- quantitiy of patients), then the poco would change to poca, because paciente is a feminine noun.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Let me take a look at that...