Spanish to Czech: grande can keep one gender form while its translation changes
A stable source ending does not mean absent target agreement
Spanish un edificio grande and una ciudad grande both use grande. The adjective has the same form with masculine and feminine singular nouns. Czech has its own gender and agreement patterns, including neuter nouns, so the target adjective cannot remain unchanged merely because Spanish grande did.
The Spanish Universal Dependencies overview explicitly identifies grande among adjectives with one gender form. Its Czech counterpart documents three noun genders and agreement on adjectives and other modifiers. The comparison concerns the grammar of each selected noun, not whether the building or city is naturally male or female.
The target noun determines the descriptive form
Useful original Czech examples are velký dům, a big house, velká škola, a big school, and velké město, a big town or city. The adjective’s forms differ with masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. These examples show a target distinction that cannot be predicted from the unchanged final vowel of Spanish grande.
An original Spanish contrast is una escuela grande versus una ciudad grande. Both nouns are feminine and use the same source adjective. Their Czech equivalents need not belong to the same target gender class: škola is feminine, while město is neuter. Copying the Spanish agreement category would fail even though the Spanish source phrases look closely parallel.
This is useful in a property or study-location description. A large school located in a large city contains two descriptions with the same source adjective but potentially different target endings. Making the Czech phrases visually identical for consistency would overlook the separate nouns controlling them.
Size and importance are separate readings
The RAE’s grande entry also distinguishes uses involving size, importance, intensity, and ability. Spanish una gran persona can praise somebody rather than measure their body. The target must select the intended descriptive meaning before deciding how the chosen Czech adjective agrees. Correct endings cannot repair a wrong interpretation of the source praise.
Even with physical size established, number matters. A Spanish plural grandes changes from grande, but that source plural ending does not supply the Czech plural paradigm. The target noun’s gender, number, and case together determine its modifier pattern; a universal replacement of Spanish -s with one Czech ending would not work.
Case can also change the form when a description moves from a heading into a sentence. A dictionary or label uses a citation-like phrase, whereas a sentence locating something in a large city introduces a grammatical relationship through its target preposition and case. The noun and adjective must be formed as part of that complete Czech phrase.
The practical sequence for this pair is to establish what grande means in the sentence, choose the Czech noun and adjective, and then follow the target agreement. The three short examples above are descriptions of size. They are not a claim that velký is the correct translation of every evaluative, idiomatic, or pre-nominal use of Spanish grande.
Language references