The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol (Everything®) (4 page)

Remember that a pronoun must represent—and not describe!—a noun or noun phrase. In the phrase, “this sentence,” “this” is not a demonstrative pronoun, because it describes the noun “sentence.” In the phrase, “I like this,” “this” replaces the
thing
I like, and is therefore a pronoun.

Fun and Easy Adjectives

Pronouns replace nouns, and adjectives describe or modify them. Take a look at the following phrases. Can you tell which ones are adjectives?

I’m always glad to see the pretty flowers.

A healthy child is a happy child.

That house has been empty for many years.

In these examples, “pretty,” “healthy,” “happy,” “that,” and “many” are all adjectives. As you can see, in English an adjective generally comes before the noun it describes.

Verb: Action

At their simplest, verbs are words that signal action or being (think of it as inaction). Action verbs describe what someone or something does, whether it’s in the past, present, or future:

I
walked
all the way home.

We
talk
often.

She
will finish
her homework later.

Verbs that show a state of being are known as linking verbs: They link or show the relationship between the subject and the object:

Jenny is a student.

That place looks homey.

It feels right.

One sub-group of linking verbs are modal verbs—verbs that express mood (can, may, must ought, shall, should) or verb tense (will and would). Modal verbs behave very irregularly. For example, verbs like “can” only exist in the present tense.

Adverb

It’s no coincidence that the word “adverb” has the root “verb”—one of the adverb’s main roles is modifying or describing the verb. Here are a few examples of adverbs:

You walk quickly.

I often see you.

Do it carefully.

In these examples, “quickly,” “often,” and “carefully” are adverbs. Note that many of the adverbs in English are formed by adding the suffix “-ly” to an adjective. In addition to modifying a verb, an adverb may modify an adjective or another adverb:

Do it very carefully.

It’s a wonderfully calm night.

In the first sentence, the adverb “very” modifies another adverb, “carefully.” In the second, “wonderfully” is an adverb that modifies the adjective “calm,” which in turn describes the noun “night.”

In Position: Prepositions

Think of prepositions as words that signal position (physical or otherwise) of a noun or pronoun:

I was looking for you.

She is at work.

The box was inside the house.

Here, the prepositions “for,” “at,” and “inside” explain where the noun is or how it’s related to another noun (in the case of the first example). Together with the noun and article, a preposition makes up the prepositional phrases, “for you,” “at work,” and “inside the house.” The entire prepositional phrase functions as a complement of the verb. Without the prepositional phrase, the sentences serving as examples would not have been complete.

Conjunctions and Interjections

Conjunctions and interjections play a secondary role in sentences. Conjunctions are words “at a junction”—words that join or relate words or phrases. In English, conjunctions are divided into three groups:

•
Coordinating conjunctions:
and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

•
Correlative conjunctions:
conjunctions that work in pairs, like either/or and if/then.

•
Subordinating conjunctions:
conjunctions that connect a subordinate clause to the rest of the sentence. There are quite a few of these in English; a few examples are: however, since, because, and whether.

In Agreement

Because grammar governs the role of words in a sentence, it also covers agreement (or correspondence) between words in gender, number, case, and person. In English, agreement is rarely an issue because our language doesn’t rely on a whole lot of word endings to communicate information about gender (male, female, or neuter), number (singular or plural), case (role of a noun in a sentence, like whether it’s a subject or an object), and person (first, second, or third). For instance, English nouns don’t have gender, which means they don’t have to agree in gender with articles, adjectives, or any other words. And even in plural form, adjectives and articles do not change:

The red pen.

The red pens.

In Spanish, agreement will require more of your attention. Nouns and pronouns have a particular gender (each one is either feminine or masculine) as well as number, and when paired with articles and adjectives, the endings will change accordingly:

El coche rojo
(the red car)

Los coches rojos
(the red cars)

La manzana roja
(the red apple)

Las manzanas rojas
(the red apples)

FACT

In English, the verb does not need to agree in person or number with its subject (one exception is adding “-s” to verbs in third person singular of present tense). In Spanish, the verb must be conjugated according to the person and number of its subject:

Yo camino
(I walk)

Tú caminas
(you walk)

José camina
(José walks)

Nosotros caminamos
(we walk)

Tenses and Moods

Spanish verbs are conjugated not only according to person and number, but also according to tense and mood. Whereas English verbs only have four forms—present (take), past (took), present participle (taking), and past participle (taken)—Spanish verbs have quite a lot more, as evidenced by the hefty verb books available for purchase. To keep track of all the different endings, it helps to be sure you understand how tenses and moods work.

Speaking of Time

Languages rely on verb tenses to indicate when the action is taking place, whether the action is ongoing or finite, and whether it’s concrete or conditional (something that “would” be done). In English, as well as in Spanish, the tenses include the present, past, future, and conditional, and each category might have more than one tense. For example, the Spanish language has two simple past tenses, preterite and imperfect.

In addition, both English and Spanish employ compound tenses. In English, compound tenses are formed by the verb “to have” and the past participle form of another verb:

I
had gone
there yesterday.

I
have taken
the test already.

I probably
will have lost
it by tomorrow.

In Spanish, the equivalent tenses are formed with the verb
haber
and the past participle
.

ESSENTIAL

No Need for Mood Rings

In addition to tenses, verbs are also conjugated according to mood. English and Spanish both have three moods:

Indicative mood:
Used to express objective statements. This is the most commonly used mood, particularly in English.

Subjunctive mood:
Used to express statements that are in doubt or hypothetical. In the following sentence, the verb “were” is in the subjunctive mood: “If I were younger, I would be able to run quickly.” The subjunctive mood is rarely used in English, but is common in Spanish.

Imperative mood:
The mood of command. Examples are: Take this one! Give me the rest! Don’t put it there! Notice that in giving commands, you drop the subject “you.” The same is true in Spanish, but the verb is conjugated differently.

Practice Makes Perfect

Break down the following sentences into subject and predicate:

1. The cars I saw parked outside were not very clean.

2. I wanted to buy a jacket that would fit me well.

3. Students and their parents eagerly waited their turn.

4. It rained frequently.

5. Everybody in the audience clapped.

What part of speech is each of the following words?

To check your answers, refer to the answer key in Appendix D.

C
HAPTER
3
Start with
the Basics

NOW THAT YOU’VE GOT THE GRAMMAR essentials down, let’s begin learning Spanish! This chapter is a review of the basics: the alphabet, standard pronunciation, using the accent mark, and numbers. Even if you’re already familiar with these topics, it won’t hurt to review them so that you are ready to move on to other concepts.

Learn Your ABCs

If you remember the English alphabet, learning the Spanish version will be a snap: Because the Spanish alphabet is almost identical, all you have to do is memorize the pronunciation of each letter.

FACT