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Spanish Grammar
Spanish is a relatively inflected language, with a two-gender system and about fifty conjugated forms per verb, but no noun declension and limited pronominal declension.
The Real Academia Española traditionally dictated the rules of the Spanish language, but since the 1960s its prestige has declined. Its decisions are taken as suggestions by the educated and ignored by the uneducated. This article first describes the most formal and standard rules that modern Spanish works by, and then goes on to detail deviations from these that one might encounter in local or colloquial varieties of the language, such as pienso de que... or la dije que....
Nouns
Gender
All Spanish nouns have one of two genders: masculine or feminine. Most adjectives and pronouns, and all articles indicate the gender of the noun they reference.
General Guidelines:
- Nouns referring to males and/or ending in -o are masculine. (el hombre, el amante, el teléfono)
- Referring to females and/or ending in -a -ción -sión -tad -dad -tud are feminine. (la mujer, la amante, la risa, la nación, la tensión, la libertad, la ciudad, la actitud)
- To refer to females, many nouns change the last vowel or add -a to the last consonant. (el compañero, la compañera, un profesor, la profesora)
- Many nouns, particularly those ending in -ista, have the same form and differ only by the article. (el / la estudiante, el / la indígena, el / la artista, deportista, turista, etc.)
- The names of days, colors, languages and cardinal points are masculine. (el lunes, el azul, el francés, el norte)
- Compound nouns, formed by combining a verb and a noun, are also masculine: el salvavidas (life saver), un paracaídas (parachute), los limpiaparabrisas (windshield wiper), el abrelatas (can opener), etc.
Diminutives and suffixes
Spanish nouns can be made by adding a set of suffixes to existing nouns and adjectives. This usually just slightly modifies the meaning, but sometimes it creates something new entirely.
The most common subset of such suffixes are the diminutives. The most common Spanish diminutive are -ito and -cito along with their feminine equivalents, -ita and -cita. In theory, these suffixes can be added to almost any noun, and they are sometimes used with adjectives and adverbs as well. Words ending in -a, -o or -te form the diminutive by dropping the final vowel and adding -ito or -ita, while -cito or -ecito is added to other words.
planta --- plantita ("plant"---"little plant")
vaso --- vasito ("glass"---"little glass")
niño --- niñito ("small boy"---"little tiny boy")
Spanish speakers frequently use the diminutive suffixes such as -ito not only to indicate size but also to make a word less harsh or to indicate affection. The suffix also has the proper agreement for gender and number.
Number
Number identifies words as singular or plural. Plural is indicated adding "s" or "es". To make a noun, plural follow the rules below:
1. Add -s to a noun ending in a vowel. (huevo-huevos)
2. Add -es to a noun ending in a consonant. (examen-exámenes)
3. For the nouns that end in -z, change the z to ces. (arroz-arroces)
4. Nouns ending in -es and -is do NOT change in the plural. (el lunes-los lunes)
5. Compound nouns have the same form in the singular and plural forms. (el abrelatas-los abrelatas)
Adjectives
The principal function of adjectives is to modify or otherwise describe nouns. Therefore, the number (singular or plural) and the gender (masculine or feminine) of an adjective depends on the noun involved. As you know, the gender of a noun often has nothing to do with the concept of male vs. female but is rather the result of centuries of grammatical and spelling conventions.
The superlative
There are two types of superlative: relative and absolute.
The relative superlative construction is similar to the comparative.
definite article + noun + más (menos) + adjective + de: Juan es el chico más inteligente de la clase.
The absolute superlative for adjectives has three possible forms.
- muy + adjective: Muy guapo
- sumamente + adjective: Sumamente guapo
- adjective + ísimo (-a, -os, -as): Guapísimo
Determiners
Determiners are words that makes specific the denotation of a noun phrase. In Spanish they agree in gender with the noun. Types of determiners include articles, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives and quantifier.
Articles
Definite articles
An article that makes a noun refer to a particular item or items of its class.
el hombre = "[the] man"
los hombres = "[the] men"
la mujer = "[the] woman"
las mujeres = "[the] women"
h4>Indefinite articles
An article that makes a noun refer to a nonspecific item (or items) of its class.
un hombre = "a man"
una mujer = "a woman"
unos hombres = "some men"
unas mujeres = "some women"
Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives agree with the nouns they modify. There are five possessive adjectives. mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro
Demonstrative adjectives
Are those adjectives whose function is to point at something. Spanish has three sets of demonstrative adjectives, which vary by number and gender, so there are 12 in all.
este, esta, estos, estas
ese, esa, esos, esas
aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Subject: yo, tú, él/ella, nosotros/nosotras, vosotros/vosotras, ellos/ellas
Direct object: me, te, lo/le/la/se, nos, os, los/las/se
Indirect object: me, te, le/se, nos, os, les/se
Object of a preposition: mí, ti, él/ella/sí, nosotros/nosotras, vosotros/vosotras, ellos/ellas/sí
Possessive: el mío / la mía / los míos / las mías
el tuyo / la tuya / los tuyos / las tuyas,
el suyo / la suya / los suyos / las suyas
el nuestro / la nuestra / los nuestros / las nuestras
el vuestro / la vuestra / los vuestros / las vuestras
el suyo / la suya / los suyos / las suyas
Demonstrative pronouns
They serve basically the same purpose of demostrative adjectives. The main difference is that they (like other pronouns) stand for nouns rather than modify them. Notice also that they are identical to the adjectives, except that most use accent marks and that there is a neuter form (adjectives don't have a neuter form).
éste, ésta, esto, éstos, éstas
ése, ésa, eso, ésos, ésas
aquél, aquélla, aquello, aquéllos, aquéllas
Relative pronouns
The main relative pronoun in Spanish que. Others include que, quien, el cual, cuyo, and donde.
que: Espero que venga. (I hope that he comes.)
quien, quienes: Es el médico de quien le dije. (He is the doctor whom I told you about.) Conozco a Sofía, quien tiene dos coches. (I know Sophia, who has two cars.)
el cual, la cual, lo cual, los cuales, las cuales: Rebeca es la mujer con la cual vas a viajar. (Rebeca is the woman with whom you are going to travel.)
el que, la que, lo que, los que, las que: Rebeca es la mujer con la que vas a viajar. (Rebeca is the woman with whom you are going to travel.)
cuyo, cuya, cuyos, cuyas: Es la profesora cuyo hijo tiene el coche. (She is the teacher whose son has the car.)
donde: Voy al mercado donde se venden manzanas. (I'm going to the market where they sell apples.)
Prepositions
the most common Spanish prepositions are: a, ante, bajo, cabe, con, contra, de, desde, durante, en, entre, hacia, hasta, mediante, para, por, según, sin, so, sobre, tras.
Contrasting por and para
In general, "por" indicates cause or reason, while "para" indicates purpose or destination. Common instances of para and por are indicated below.
para:
Purpose (intended for)
Destination (towards)
Until, by (a certain time)
por:
Refers to time or place in a general sense
In exchange for, in place of
Per (day, hour, mile, etc.)
By means of
Cause (on account of)
For the sake or benefit of
In favor of