Tiscali: Spanish Phrase Finder - Grammar

GRAMMAR

nouns

Unlike English, Spanish nouns have a gender: they are either masculine ( el ) or feminine ( la ). Therefore words for the and a(n) must agree with the noun they accompany &endash; whether masculine, feminine or plural:

The ending of the noun will usually indicate whether it is masculine or feminine:

-o or -or are generally masculine

-a, -dad, -ión, -tud, -umbre are generally feminine

note: feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a- or ha- take the masculine article el, though the noun is still feminine.

plurals

The articles el and la become los and las. Nouns ending with a vowel become plural by adding s:

el gato * los gatos
la plaza * las plazas
la calle * las calles

Where the noun ends in a consonant, then -es is added:

el color * los colores
la ciudad * las ciudades

Nouns ending in -z change their ending to -ces in the plural.

el lápiz * los lápices
la voz * las voces

adjectives

Adjectives normally follow the noun they describe in Spanish,

e.g. la manzana roja (the red apple)

Some common exceptions which go before the noun are:

buen good; gran great; ningún no, not any; mucho much, many; poco little, few; primer first; tanto so much, so many,

e.g. el último tren (the last train)

Spanish adjectives also reflect the gender of the noun they describe. To make an adjective feminine, the masculine -o ending is changed to -a ; and the endings -án, -ón, -or, -és change to -ana, -ona, -ora, -esa:

To make an adjective plural an -s is added to the singular form if it ends in a vowel. If the adjective ends in a consonant, -es is added:

masc. los libros rojos fem las manzanas rojas
(the red books) (the red apples)

masc. los hombres habladores fem las mujeres habladoras
(the talkative men) (the talkative women)

my, your, his, her

These words also depend on the gender and number of the noun they accompany and not on the sex of the 'owner'.

with masc. with fem. with plural
sing. noun sing. noun nouns

my mi mi mis
your (familiar sing.) tu tu tus
your (polite sing.) su su sus
his/her/its su su sus
our nuestro nuestra nuestros/nuestras
your (familiar pl.) vuestro vuestra vuestros/vuestras
their su su sus
your (polite pl.) su su sus

There is no distinction between his and her in Spanish:

su billete can mean either his or her ticket.

pronouns

Subject pronouns (I, you, he, etc.) are generally omitted in Spanish, since the verb ending distinguishes the subject:

hablo I speak
hablamos we speak

However, they are used for emphasis or to avoid confusion:

yo voy a Mallorca y él va a Alicante
I am going to Mallorca and he is going to Alicante

Object pronouns are placed before the verb in Spanish:

la veo I see her
los conocemos we know them

However, in commands or requests they follow the verb:

¡ayúdame! help me!
escúchale listen to him

except when they are expressed in the negative:

¡no me ayudes! don't help me
no le escuches don't listen to him

The object pronouns shown above can be used to mean to me, to us, etc., but to him/to her is le and to them is les. If le and les occur in combinations with lo/la/las/los then le/les change to se, e.g. se lo doy (I give it to him)

verbs

There are three main patterns of endings for Spanish verbs &endash; those ending -ar, -er and -ir in the dictionary.

cantar to sing

canto I sing
cantas you sing
(usted) canta (s)he sings/you sing
cantamos we sing
cantaís you sing
(ustedes) cantan they sing/you sing

vivir to live

vivo I live
vives you live
(usted) vive (s)he lives/you live
vivimos we live
vivís you live
(ustedes) viven they live/you live

comer to eat

como I eat
comes you eat
(usted) come (s)he eats/you eat
comemos we eat
coméis you eat
(ustedes) comen they eat/you eat

Like French, in Spanish there are two ways of addressing people: the polite form (for people you don't know well or who are older) and the familiar form (for friends, family and children). The polite you is usted in the singular, and ustedes in the plural. You can see from above that usted uses the same verb ending as for he and she; ustedes the same ending as for they. Often the words usted and ustedes are omitted, but the verb ending itself indicates that you are using the polite form.The informal words for you are tú (singular) and vosotros (plural).

the verb "to be"

There are two different Spanish verbs for to be &endash; ser and estar.

Ser is used to describe a permanent state:
soy inglés I am English
es una playa it is a beach

Estar is used to describe a temporary state or where something is located:
how are you? ¿cómo está?
where is the beach? ¿dónde está la playa?

SER estar to be

soy estoy I am
eres estás you are
(usted) es está (s)he is/you are
somos estamos we are
sois estáis you are
(ustedes) son están they are/you are

Other common irregular verbs include:

past tense

To form the simple past tense, I gave/I have given, I finished/I have finished, combine the present tense of the verb haber &endash; to have with the past participle of the verb (cantado, comido, vivido):

haber to have

he I have
has you have
(usted) ha (s)he has/you have
hemos we have
habéis you have
(ustedes) han they have/you have

e.g. he cantado I sang/I have sung
ha comido he ate/he has eaten
hemos vivido we lived/we have lived

To form a negative no is placed before all of the verb:

e.g. no he cantado I haven't sung
no ha comido he hasn't eaten
no hemos vivido we haven't lived