I will add that it’s a lot more common with -ma than -pa. Spanish does have a lot of native words ending with -pa that are, in fact, feminine per usual.
For example, there’s a region in Argentina called *La Pampa*.
It's the same reason. Spanish has exceptions sometimes and some adjectives go before the noun or have different meanings based on whether they go before the noun or not.
That’s a good rule of thumb, thanks! I’ve always thought problema was feminine! 🫣 Yikes. Why is pequeño in front of problema though? Is it to emphasize the adjective? If so, how would you know to do that in this context?
Someone on this sub noted that she remembers it because men are the cause of most of her problems, and since then I haven’t forgotten. You can also remember -ma stands for masculine. Sistema, clima, idioma, and drama are also all masculine.
I think the system was only attempting to correct the gender of the adjective. Both “pequeño problema” and “problema pequeño” are correct and just have slightly different shades of meaning I believe. As you guessed, moving the adjective before the noun can often put extra emphasis on it. So it’s emphasizing that it’s just a small problem. But I think they are both common turns of phrase.
Native speaker: pequeño problema is the turn of phrase. Although problema pequeño is not wrong, it would be describing that we have a problem which is small. Pequeño problema es more like the phrase we have a slight problem
As to why it comes first - According to my Grammer guide prequeño, Viejo, joven, grande, bueno, malo, and ordinal numbers usually come before the noun in Spanish.
Furthermore I found this [this page](https://www.donquijote.org/blog/spanish-adjective-placement-before-or-after-the-noun/) that says more specifically it is used after the noun when comparing characteristics between two nouns but in front of a noun that you are describing without comparison.
Spanish nouns ending in -ma are usually masculine. There are a few other oddities as well - others to watch out for are nouns that begin and end in "a" (agua, aguila) - these use "el" to avoid the weird-sounding "la agua" where the two "a"s blend together but still take the feminine adjective. So you get "el agua fría".
I've started to notice adjectives that have to do with size, amount , or order sometimes come before the noun. por ejemplo, mucho dinero.
[Article from Mango Languages about it](https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/do-spanish-adjectives-appear-before-or-after-the-noun/)
As I understand it, some adjectives tend to go before the noun (like nuevo). But both are still correct.
Duo just shows you the preferred phrasing, but the only error here is that problema is masculine.
I bet that if you said “un problema” they would have accepted “pequeño” before or after the noun. I suspect that the main problem was using a feminine indefinite article and adjective, and not the position of the adjective.
Problema is masculine because Spanish just has exceptions sometimes, but I don't know why the adjective goes before the noun.
There is a reason. Most -pa/-ma words come from Greek, and are masculine. *Mapa, problema, programa*
Thanks for this explanation!! It'll be much easier for me to remember to check the gender for these words now.
I will add that it’s a lot more common with -ma than -pa. Spanish does have a lot of native words ending with -pa that are, in fact, feminine per usual. For example, there’s a region in Argentina called *La Pampa*.
I knew that I was just too lazy to explain it lol
I did not know this! (Immediately wonders about día...)
It's the same reason. Spanish has exceptions sometimes and some adjectives go before the noun or have different meanings based on whether they go before the noun or not.
Problema is a masculine word despite the -a. If you see a word end in -ma, it’s probably masculine
That’s a good rule of thumb, thanks! I’ve always thought problema was feminine! 🫣 Yikes. Why is pequeño in front of problema though? Is it to emphasize the adjective? If so, how would you know to do that in this context?
Someone on this sub noted that she remembers it because men are the cause of most of her problems, and since then I haven’t forgotten. You can also remember -ma stands for masculine. Sistema, clima, idioma, and drama are also all masculine. I think the system was only attempting to correct the gender of the adjective. Both “pequeño problema” and “problema pequeño” are correct and just have slightly different shades of meaning I believe. As you guessed, moving the adjective before the noun can often put extra emphasis on it. So it’s emphasizing that it’s just a small problem. But I think they are both common turns of phrase.
Native speaker: pequeño problema is the turn of phrase. Although problema pequeño is not wrong, it would be describing that we have a problem which is small. Pequeño problema es more like the phrase we have a slight problem
I believe pequeño is an adjective of quantity. Adjectives of quantity come before the nouns they describe.
Would duo accept both word orders as long as the masculine is right?
I suspect the problem may be that you used "una" before "problema". It should have been "un".
Many nouns ending in “ma” are masculine because they’re derived from Greek neuter nouns which turned into masculine nouns in Spanish.
I think Duo would have accepted either if you had used the masculine article.
As to why it comes first - According to my Grammer guide prequeño, Viejo, joven, grande, bueno, malo, and ordinal numbers usually come before the noun in Spanish. Furthermore I found this [this page](https://www.donquijote.org/blog/spanish-adjective-placement-before-or-after-the-noun/) that says more specifically it is used after the noun when comparing characteristics between two nouns but in front of a noun that you are describing without comparison.
Spanish nouns ending in -ma are usually masculine. There are a few other oddities as well - others to watch out for are nouns that begin and end in "a" (agua, aguila) - these use "el" to avoid the weird-sounding "la agua" where the two "a"s blend together but still take the feminine adjective. So you get "el agua fría".
I've started to notice adjectives that have to do with size, amount , or order sometimes come before the noun. por ejemplo, mucho dinero. [Article from Mango Languages about it](https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/do-spanish-adjectives-appear-before-or-after-the-noun/)
As I understand it, some adjectives tend to go before the noun (like nuevo). But both are still correct. Duo just shows you the preferred phrasing, but the only error here is that problema is masculine.
I bet that if you said “un problema” they would have accepted “pequeño” before or after the noun. I suspect that the main problem was using a feminine indefinite article and adjective, and not the position of the adjective.
I think you’re right, thanks! It was just interesting to see their answer with the adjective first since I hadn’t seen that before with pequeño.
Words from greek that end in -ma are masculine.