Learn Spanish (Latin America): Compramos dos sacacorchos nuevos.

Compramos dos sacacorchos nuevos.

We bought two new corkscrews.

Breakdown of Compramos dos sacacorchos nuevos.

Questions & Answers about Compramos dos sacacorchos nuevos.

Wait, why isn't sacacorchos pluralized as "sacacorchoses"?

Sacacorchos is a compound noun made from a verb (saca, meaning "pulls out") and a plural noun (corchos, meaning "corks"). When a compound noun is formed this way, its spelling stays exactly the same in the plural. Instead of changing the noun itself, you show it is plural by changing the words around it, as we did here with dos and nuevos.

Why is the adjective nuevos masculine? How do I know the gender of a compound noun?

Almost all Spanish compound nouns made by combining a verb and a noun are masculine. So, a single corkscrew is el sacacorchos, and multiple are los sacacorchos. That is why the adjective must be the masculine plural nuevos.

Are there other common words built the exact same way as sacacorchos?

Yes, this "verb + plural noun" formula is everywhere in Spanish! Some common examples are el abrelatas (can opener, from abre + latas), el lavaplatos (dishwasher, from lava + platos), and el paraguas (umbrella, from para + aguas). Just like sacacorchos, they are all masculine and their spelling doesn't change when pluralized.

I noticed compramos is translated as "we bought". Doesn't it also mean "we buy"?