Two words, one adjective
English compresses a whole description into a two-word adjective joined by a hyphen: a hotel that welcomes families → a family-friendly hotel. Five patterns do most of the work in travel writing. (Cinco patrones productivos; el guion une las dos piezas.)
Tap a compound, then tap its pattern
Tap to select, then tap the pattern box. No dragging — it works with a mouse and with your finger. Compounds are shown in the form they take before a noun. (Tocar para seleccionar, tocar el destino para colocar.)
Build the compound, piece by piece
Choose a description; the machine compresses it and shows you exactly what goes between the pieces — a hyphen, a space, or nothing at all. (Mira dónde aparece el guion… y dónde no.)
The singular rule — never “two-hours”
In a number compound the number already says how many, so the noun inside stays singular. (El sustantivo dentro del compuesto va en singular.)
Outside the compound the plural comes back: The delay lasted two hours. · More: a five-star resort · a ten-hour flight · an 18-year-old traveler
Position matters: before the noun vs after be
Pick a compound, then move it. Before a noun you hyphenate; after be an adverb + past participle compound usually drops the hyphen, while a noun + adjective compound keeps it. (La posición decide el guion.)
And never over-hyphenate: compounds that dictionaries list as one word stay solid — shortsighted, sunburned, waterproof.
Five things that decide the hyphen
Errors Spanish speakers make
Read the phrase, find the problem, then tap Fix to check. (Adivina la corrección antes de verla.)
👩🏫 For the teacher — how this page maps to the manual
- Explore is Structure 3 in three moves: the tap-to-sort classifier covers the five productive patterns of the manual's table (noun + -ing, adverb + past participle, noun + adjective, adjective + past participle, adjective/number + noun) with the manual's own examples and its glossary of meanings; the hyphen machine assembles each compound piece by piece and shows the three joins (hyphen, space, one word) plus the singular-noun rule; the position card is hyphen rules 1–2, and the special-cases and errors cards are rules 3–5.
- Build is productive: students assemble a compound by choosing the second piece and the join (exercise 3 of the manual), then transform descriptions into compounds and repair badly hyphenated sentences (exercises 3 and 4, plus Task set 13).
- Drill merges the quizzes into one graded engine (★ identify the pattern and the hyphen · ★★ fix the error and compress · ★★★ after be, number compounds, solid words) with a score and streak.
- Works offline. Reading/writing only — no audio.
Build a compound adjective
Read the description, then choose the second piece and the join. The machine writes the phrase — guess before you check.
Drill — one flow, three levels
★ the pattern & the hyphen · ★★ fix the error & compress · ★★★ after be, numbers and one-word compounds. Keep your streak alive. (Igual escalera que tu Cuaderno de tareas.)