Adjectives can be tricky. First, because their very nature is to specify characteristics of nouns. It allows you to give more information about a noun (person, place or thing), and there is so much to possibly say about nouns, right?

Basically, a lack of rich adjectives to describe things, persons or places confront us with a sense of limited vocabulary. I think that’s why we read so many ‘greats’ and ‘bigs’ and ‘goods’. Our vocabulary for adjectives tends to be quite poor but made up for with verys or reallys or quites, that make them sound more sophisticated.

In Spanish, MEDIO is usually that type of word. It doesn’t bring much to the table, but it delivers that extra that you sometimes need to grade an adjective.

You can hear it in combinations where you’re trying to soften a negative adjective, such as:

• Medio caro
• Medio aburrido
• Medio peligroso
• Medio antipático
• Medio desubicado
• Medio berreta (this one means of bad quality)

I think with these examples you can get the basic idea, and be ready when you next hear it.

Until next time, and thanks for reading!

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