El artista invitado firma el tomo recopilatorio.

The guest artist signs the collected volume.

Breakdown of El artista invitado firma el tomo recopilatorio.

• firmar: to sign
• el tomo recopilatorio: the collected volume
• el artista invitado: the guest artist

Questions & Answers about El artista invitado firma el tomo recopilatorio.

Why is it el artista and not la artista if artista can refer to a woman too?

Artista is a noun of common gender in Spanish. That means the noun form stays the same for both men and women, and the article usually shows the gender:

• el artista = the male artist
• la artista = the female artist

In your sentence, el artista invitado tells you the artist is male, and the adjective invitado also agrees in masculine form. If it were a woman, it would be:

• la artista invitada

Why does invitado come after artista?

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun, unlike in English. So:

• artista invitado = guest artist

This is the normal word order. Putting the adjective after the noun is one of the most common patterns in Spanish:

• libro interesante = interesting book
• actor famoso = famous actor
• artista invitado = guest artist

What exactly does invitado mean here?

Here invitado means guest or invited. In the phrase artista invitado, it means someone appearing as a special guest artist.

It is the past participle of invitar (to invite), but in this sentence it works as an adjective describing artista.