Breakdown of El juez le da una recompensa a un campeón nuestro.
un
a, an (masculine)
una
a, an (feminine)
nuestro
our
a
to
Questions & Answers about El juez le da una recompensa a un campeón nuestro.
Why is it un campeón nuestro instead of nuestro campeón?
Placing the possessive adjective after the noun changes the meaning from "our champion" (a specific one) to "a champion of ours" (an indefinite reference). Using un plus the noun followed by nuestro is the standard way to express that it is one out of potentially several champions belonging to us.
Why do we need the pronoun le if the sentence already says a un campeón nuestro?
In Spanish, it is incredibly common and often required to include the indirect object pronoun (le) even when you explicitly name the indirect object later in the sentence (a un campeón nuestro). Think of le as a required grammatical tag alerting you that someone is receiving the action.
Does nuestro change if the champion is female?
Yes! Just like other adjectives, post-posed possessive adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. If the judge were giving a reward to a female champion, the phrase would be una campeona nuestra.