El/la/los/las + muy + adjective

Spanish definite article + muy + adjective

In Spanish we sometimes use the following structure with a negative connotation:

El/la/los/las + muy + adjective...

Let's look at some examples to see it in context:

Carmen, la muy idiota, ha dejado el curso cuando solo faltaba un mes para acabar.Carmen, she's such an idiot, she left the course when there was only a month left to finish.

Ayer me encontré con Ramón y el muy grosero me insultó en medio de la calle.Yesterday I bumped into Ramón and, he, very rudely, insulted me in the middle of the street.

Javier y Antonio, los muy despistados, se olvidaron de sacar las entradas ayer, y era el último día de ventas.Javier and Antonio, they are so clueless, they forgot to buy the tickets yesterday, and it was the last day they were on sale.

Tengo dos vecinas terribles. Las muy cotillas están todo el día asomadas a sus ventanas vigilando a todo el que pasa.I have two horrible neighbours. They are so nosy and spend their days leaning out of their windows observing everyone who passes by.

As you can see, the article must match the person/people it is referring to; muy is invariable and the adjective agrees with the person in gender and number. 

This conscruction is very rarely used in sentences to describe something or someone in a positive way. It is generally used to highlight something negative.

 

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Examples and resources

Ayer me encontré con Ramón y el muy grosero me insultó en medio de la calle.Yesterday I bumped into Ramón and, he, very rudely, insulted me in the middle of the street.
Carmen, la muy idiota, ha dejado el curso cuando solo faltaba un mes para acabar.Carmen, she's such an idiot, she left the course when there was only a month left to finish.
Javier y Antonio, los muy despistados, se olvidaron de sacar las entradas ayer, y era el último día de ventas.Javier and Antonio, they are so clueless, they forgot to buy the tickets yesterday, and it was the last day they were on sale.
Tengo dos vecinas terribles. Las muy cotillas están todo el día asomadas a sus ventanas vigilando a todo el que pasa.I have two horrible neighbours. They are so nosy and spend their days leaning out of their windows observing everyone who passes by.
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