Re: Negation?
From: | Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...> |
Date: | Thursday, July 8, 1999, 21:23 |
On Thu, 8 Jul 1999, John Cowan wrote:
> FFlores wrote:
>
> > Most hispanohablantes will be probably laugh at me if I told
> > them it was the separate word _mente_ in an idiomatic phrase.
>
> In that case, ask sweetly why the preceding adjective is always
> in the feminine form.... The stress pattern is also a good
> clue.
>
Hrmm? Explain this to me, please? My Spanish is rusty. I know adverbs
can be made by casting the adjective into the feminine form and adding
"-mente," but what was "-mente" originally, then, and why feminine form?
--Patrick