Spanish Grammar
Subject Pronouns
Unlike English, the subject
pronouns are often not used in Spanish. As
Spanish is a highly inflected language, the endings of the
verbs often make it clear who the speaker is. In those
cases where there could be confusion, however, it is always
appropriate to use them. The familiar forms for "you,"
both singular and plural, tu and vosotros,
are roughly equivalent to the English words "thee" and "thou"
which have fallen out of usage. Their equivalents in
Spanish, are used extensively, particularly the tu
form. It is recommended, that persons with limited
knowledge of Spanish always use the formal "you" in Spanish in
order to avoid unintenionally giving offense.
|
yo
|
l
|
nosotros
nosotras
|
we (m.)
we (f.)
|
|
el
|
he
|
ellos
|
they (m.)
|
|
ella
|
she
|
ellas
|
they (f.)
|
|
usted
|
you (for.)
|
ustedes
|
you (pl.)
|
Regular-ar Verbs
Regular verbs in Spanish are those that
follow consistent patterns throughout all their tenses.
They fall into three categories. The infinitives all end
in either -ar, -er or -ir. The infinitives are those
forms of verbs that are equivalent to "to" plus the verb in
English as in "claim" which in Spanish is reclamar.
|
yo reclamo
|
I claim
|
|
el/ella/usted
reclama
|
he/she/you (for.)
claim(s)
|
|
nosotros/-as
reclamamos
|
we claim
|
|
ellos/ellas/ustedes
reclaman
|
they (m. and f.)/you
(pl.) claim
|
Gender of Nouns
In Spanish, every noun including inanimate objects is
either masculine or feminine. Usually nouns ending in
o are masculine and nouns ending a are
feminine. The gender of nouns that end in some other
letter simply must be learned as vocabulary acquistion
progresses. Physical gender generally does apply to
animate beings regardless of word ending when the gender is
obvious.
|
el
hombre
|
the man
|
|
el
mujer
|
the
woman
|
|
el
muchacho
|
the boy
|
|
el
muchacha
|
the
girl
|
Plural of Nouns
The Pluralization of nouns in Spanish is a simple
matter. You simply add -s to nouns in a vowel and
-es to nouns ending in a consonant.
|
aeropuerto
|
hotel
|
|
aeropuertos
|
hotels
|
One small deviation to this rule is when a noun ends in
z, the z changes to a c and is then followed by -es.
When an -es is added to a noun, a written accent may no
longer be neccessary. Review the rules on stress
and you will see how the addition of a syllable may
eliminate the need for a written accent.
More on Learning
Spanish...
|