Learn Spanish (Latin America): El lunes, aquel pobre vecino empezó un conflicto. - On Monday, that poor neighbor started a conflict.

El lunes, aquel pobre vecino empezó un conflicto.

On Monday, that poor neighbor started a conflict.

Breakdown of El lunes, aquel pobre vecino empezó un conflicto.

Questions & Answers about El lunes, aquel pobre vecino empezó un conflicto.

Why is pobre placed before the noun vecino?

When pobre is placed before the noun, its meaning changes to "unfortunate" or "pitiable". The speaker is expressing sympathy for the neighbor (like saying "that poor guy!"), rather than talking about his financial situation.

What would it mean if the sentence said aquel vecino pobre instead?

Placed after the noun, adjectives usually keep their literal, objective meaning. So, aquel vecino pobre would specifically mean a neighbor who is financially destitute or has very little money.

Why use the demonstrative aquel instead of ese for "that" neighbor?

Both translate to "that," but aquel implies a greater distance in either space or time. By using aquel instead of ese, the speaker suggests the neighbor lives far away, or more likely, that this Monday happened quite a while ago and the memory feels distant.

Why do we say el lunes and not en lunes for "on Monday"?

Just a quick refresher: Spanish doesn't use a preposition for days of the week like English does with "on." To say something happened on a certain day, you only need the definite article (el for a single day, or los for recurring days). Therefore, "on Monday" is simply el lunes.