GRAMÁTICA TENSE

PARA ESTUDIANTES DE ESPAÑOL modify a or adjective. In The tense is the time in which the verb English they usually end in –ly while in happens. In Spanish this difference in time Spanish they usually end in –mente. is usually shown by distinct verb forms. NOUN ADJECTIVE To form an adverb, make the adjective e.g. canto I sing () feminine and add –mente. cantaré I will sing (future tense) Nouns are the name of a person, place, Adjectives are “describing words”. They cantaba I was singing ( tense) thing or idea. They are used after describe nouns and make the meaning of e.g. actualmente precisamente canté I sang ( tense) determiners . those nouns more specific. gramáticamente alegremente e.g. un tomate la silla They need to agree in gender and number mi madre alguna cosa (singular or ) with the noun that they describe. ADVERBIAL There are two , present and past. e.g. un gato negro An adverbial is a word or phrase that is used The present participle in English ends in the GENDER una vaca blanca y negra like an adverb to modify a verb or clause. suffix –ing. unos calcetines negros All nouns in Spanish belong to one of two The past participle in English often ends with - unas mesas negras Time phrases such as “in five minutes” and – groups masculine or feminine. These two “last night” fall into this category. the suffix ed. groups are called genders. The majority of need to In Spanish we form the present participle by come AFTER the noun that they describe. adding the suffix –ando (AR ) or –iendo In Spanish, masculine nouns often end in Some adjectives are allowed to go before – – (ER/IR verbs). o and feminine words often end in a. the noun. VERB e.g. andar (to walk) -> andando (walking) Any determiner or adjective needs to A verb is a “doing word”, which shows an agree with, or match, the gender of the action that something or someone does as We form the past participle by adding the noun. – – PLURAL well as a state. It can be transitive (requires suffix ado (AR verbs) or ido (ER/IR verbs). an ) or intransitive (does not have an e.g. jugar (to play) -> jugado (played) DETERMINER singular = one, plural = more than one object). Participles are used in progressive tenses A determiner helps to specify a noun . In Spanish we add the suffixes –s or –es to with auxiliary verbs. For example: show that there is more than one. INFINITIVE indefinite articles: Nouns ending in a vowel: add –s. – The infinitive is the basic “name” of the verb , un / una / unos / unas (a / some) Nouns ending in a consonant: add es. which is used as a head word in the Nouns ending in –z: change the A pronoun replaces a noun in a sentence dictionary. definite articles: –z to –c and add –es. and often enables us to avoid repetition. el / la / los / las (the) In English the infinitive is always preceded e.g. perro -> perros show us which person the by “to”. possessive adjectives: ratón -> ratones verb form belongs to, e.g. I, she, they. e.g. mi (my), nuestro (our) pez -> peces In Spanish, infinitives comprise one word Spanish verbs do not require subject quantifiers: only. They end in –ar, -er or –ir. pronouns as the verb forms are all different e.g. alguna (some), cada (every) and the people to whom they refer are easily identifiable. CONJUNCTION Object pronouns replace the object of the PREPOSITION Conjunctions join two words or phrases. sentence. An auxiliary verb helps us to build com- e.g. I saw the dog. -> I saw it. Co -ordinating conjunctions link two words Prepositions are placed before a noun , pound tenses such as the present progres- or phrases as equal pairs. Interrogative pronouns are also known as pronoun or noun phrase to link them to sive (a.k.a. present continuous) along with another word in the sentence. They often e.g. y (and), pero (but), o (or) participles . question words. Examples are Who? Which? and How?. In Spanish they require show physical location or location in time. Subordinating conjunctions In Spanish the verb estar (to be) is used as accents to differentiate them from the introduce a subordinate clause. For example: auxiliary in the progressive tenses and haber relative pronouns. e.g. si (if), cuando (when), ya que (since), al lado de (next to) detrás de (behind) (to have) in the tense. e.g. ¿quién? = who? ...quien… = ...who... aunque (even though) a las tres (at 3pm) en otoño (in autumn) © Light Bulb Languages 2017 CS http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk