Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.

My older brother works in the city.

Breakdown of Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.

• en: in
• mi: my
• trabajar: to work
• el hermano: the brother
• la ciudad: the city
• mayor: older

Questions & Answers about Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.

Why is it mi hermano mayor and not mi mayor hermano?

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives normally come after the noun, not before it.

• hermano mayor = literally “brother older” → “older brother”
• Saying mi mayor hermano sounds unnatural and can even be misunderstood as something like “my greatest brother” in some contexts.

There are a few adjectives that often go before the noun (e.g. buen, mal, gran), but mayor in the sense of “older” or “elder” almost always goes after the noun:

• mi hijo mayor – my oldest/elder son
• mi hermana mayor – my older/elder sister

Does mayor mean “older” or “oldest” here?

Mayor can mean either “older” (comparative) or “oldest / eldest” (superlative), depending on context.

• If you have only two brothers:
  
  • Mi hermano mayor = my older brother (the one who is older than me).
• If you have several brothers:
  
  • Mi hermano mayor often means my oldest / eldest brother.

Spanish usually relies on context instead of changing the word. If you need to be crystal clear, you can say:

• el mayor de todos mis hermanos – the oldest of all my brothers

Why is it mi hermano mayor and not el hermano de mí or something similar?

Spanish prefers possessive adjectives like mi, tu, su, nuestro… before the noun:

• mi hermano – my brother
• tu hermana – your sister
• su padre – his/her/their father

You can say el hermano de mí grammatically, but it’s almost never used that way. The natural way is:

• mi hermano = my brother
• el hermano de Ana = Ana’s brother

So:

• mi hermano mayor = my older brother
• el hermano mayor de Ana = Ana’s older brother

Why isn’t there an article before mi hermano mayor? Why not el mi hermano mayor?

In Spanish, you don’t normally use a definite article (el, la, los, las) in front of a noun that already has a short possessive adjective (mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro).

Correct:

• mi hermano – my brother
• tu casa – your house
• nuestra madre – our mother

Incorrect in standard Spanish:

• el mi hermano
• la tu casa

The possessive itself already gives enough information, so the article is unnecessary and sounds wrong in normal modern Spanish.

Why is it en la ciudad and not en ciudad or a la ciudad?

Three points:

1. The preposition:

   • en = in / inside / at (location)
   • a = to (direction, movement)

   Since the sentence is about where he works (location), en is correct:

   • trabaja en la ciudad – he works in the city
   • va a la ciudad – he goes to the city

2. The article:

   • Spanish normally uses an article with singular countable nouns:
     • la ciudad – the city
   • Saying en ciudad without an article sounds incomplete or very unusual.

3. Meaning:

   • en la ciudad = in the (specific or understood) city, often “in town” in English.

Could trabaja mean both “works” and “is working” in English?

Yes. The Spanish present tense (trabaja) usually covers both English forms:

• Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.
  Can mean:
  • “My older brother works in the city” (a regular job, general fact)
  • “My older brother is working in the city” (at this period of time)

If you need to emphasize “is working right now”, you can use the progressive:

• Mi hermano mayor está trabajando en la ciudad. – My older brother is working in the city (right now / these days).

Can I change the word order and say En la ciudad trabaja mi hermano mayor?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct. Spanish word order is more flexible than English.

• Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.
  Neutral, straightforward statement.

• En la ciudad trabaja mi hermano mayor.
  Still correct, but the focus shifts slightly to “in the city”. It can sound more like:

  • “In the city, it’s my older brother who works (there).”

In everyday speech, the original order (subject + verb + complements) is the most common:

• Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.

Why is it hermano and not hermana? How does gender agreement work here?

Spanish nouns have grammatical gender, and related words often have to agree with them:

• hermano = brother (masculine)
• hermana = sister (feminine)

The adjective mayor doesn’t change form for masculine/feminine, so it can be:

• mi hermano mayor – my older brother
• mi hermana mayor – my older sister

If you talk about more than one:

• mis hermanos mayores – my older brothers / my older siblings
• mis hermanas mayores – my older sisters

Note how both the possessive (mi → mis) and the adjective (mayor → mayores) change in the plural.

How is ciudad pronounced in Spain, and is the “d” at the end strong?

In most of Spain:

• ciu = [θju] (like English “thyoo”, with a th sound as in “think”)
• dad = [ˈðað] (the d is a soft sound, like the th in “this,” and often very weak at the end)

Roughly: thyu-THAD (with both d sounds very soft; the last one may sound almost like “thah”).

Important sounds:

• c before i (ci) → [θ] (th sound) in Spain: ciu = thyu
• Final -d in many accents of Spain is very soft or partially dropped.

So ciudad is quite different from an English-type hard /d/ at the end.

Does la ciudad refer to a specific city or just “the city” in general?

La ciudad can be either, depending on context:

1. Specific city (already known from context):

   • If both speakers know which city they are talking about:
     • Mi hermano mayor trabaja en la ciudad.
       → “My older brother works in the city (that we both know about).”

2. General idea of “the city / in town” (contrasting with countryside):

   • Vivo en un pueblo, pero trabajo en la ciudad.
     I live in a village, but I work in the city / in town.

Spanish frequently uses la ciudad where English might say “the city” or just “in town.”