(una niña de diez años)
You will often meet compound adjectives in written English, e.g.:
| a ten-year-old girl (una niña de diez años) |
| up-to-date information (información al día) |
| an on-line chat (un chat en línea) |
| a well-known singer (un conocido cantante) |
| a 12-metre fence (una valla de doce metros) |
| hand-made toys (juguetes hechos a mano) |
| hard-working students (estudiantes que trabajan mucho) |
It is not usually necessary for you to use these expressions; normally you can write, for example:
| The girl was ten years old. (La niña tenía diez años.) |
| The information was up to date. (La información estaba al día.) |
| We sometimes chat on line. (A veces hacemos chats en línea.) |
| That singer is well known. (Aquel cantante es conocido.) |
| The fence is 12 metres high. (La valla tiene doce metros de altura.) |
| These toys were made by hand. (Estos juguetes fueron hechos a mano.) |
| Those students work hard. (Aquellos estudiantes trabajan mucho.) |
Note that in these cases (and many others), the expression before the noun has hyphens (-), but not the expression after the verb.
Here are some important exceptions to this general rule. If the compound adjective before the verb consists of an adverb ending in –ly, there is no hyphen, e.g.:
| some poorly built houses (algunas casas mal construidas) |
| a newly formed political party (un partido político recién fundado) |
Some common compounds have a hyphen both before a noun and after a verb, e.g.: X-free, part-time, full-time, long-term, short-term, user-friendly
| a trouble-free system (un sistema libre de problemas) |
| The system is designed to be trouble-free. (El sistema es diseñado para ser libre de problemas.) |
| a part-time job (un trabajo a tiempo parcial) |
| He works part-time. (Trabaja a tiempo parcial.) |
| a user-friendly programme (un programa fácil para los usuarios) |
| The programme is intended to be user-friendly. (Se pretende que el programa sea fácil para los usuarios.) |
