tayi^éii^:]. 1. V- C/\{ V A GRAMMAR OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE, FOR THE USE OF THE STUDENTS IN KING'S COLLEGE; IN WHICH » THE PECULIAR QUALITIES AND ACCIDENTAL DIFFER- ENCES OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH ARE ACCURATELY ANALYSED, AND THE SYNTAX FULLY EXPLAINED, EXEMPLIFIED, AND COMPARED WITH THE ENGLISH CONSTRUCTION: WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES OF GENDERS, AND TABLES OF THE SPANISH ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS OF A DIFFERENT ETYMOLOGY FROM THE SAME IN ENGLISH. By J. DE ALCALÁ, LL.B. PROFESSOR OF SPANISH LITERATURE IN KINO's COLLEGE. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: DULAU AND CO., 37 SOHO SQUARE; LONGMAN AND CO.; ROLANDI, 20 BERNF.RS STREET; AND ACKERMANN AND CO., 96 STRAND, 1838. PRINTED BY RICHAKD AXD JOHK E. TAYLOR, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. This Grammar has been submitted to the judge- ment of the public for four years, and the author is happy to state he has received with gratitude the approbation of many persons who, from thei: ac- quaintance with the Spanish language, are well qualified to pass their opinion on its merits, with regard to the accuracy of its rules, and the perspi- cuity of the examples therein given. The author avails himself of the opportunity which a new edi- tion presents, to correct an omission which had escaped him at page 51, Rule II. there given: ought to have been accompanied by the obser- vation that in certain cases it is now fallen into disuse. That page, therefore, as well as the fol- lowing, have been in this edition entirely altered. Another important alteration is made at pages 69 and 70, where the English translation of some ex- amples taken from Cervantes's Don Quixote is omitted, to leave ample room for some chosen ex- ercises in the Pronouns, a part of speech somewhat intricate in the grammar of every language. The whole has been carefully revised, particularly the typographical part ; and some mistakes of the press have been corrected, unavoidable in a work of this nature, in which the writer's attention is more fixed on the meaning and arrangement of the words than on orthography. King's College, March 1838. PREFACE. The expediency of an identical grammar for an academical class must be felt, not only by the Professor, but by the Students, it being necessary every moment, during the class, to refer to some rule or other, in order to show the reason why a certain construction ought to be used j and this cannot be done with effect unless the Professor is enabled to quote immediately the page, and the Student to look at the rule therein contained. All grammars of a foreign language, though es- sentially the same both in definitions and in the syntax, yet differ materially in the explanation of the rules, as every new compiler aims at making some fresh changes in the arrangement, in order to entitle him to call the work his own ; changes which, being always arbitrary and often useless, render some Spanish grammars defective. The author, therefore, when he had the honour of being ap- pointed to the Professorship of Spanish litera- ture in King's College, formed for his class the grammar now offered to the public. The analyti- cal part is here illustrated by tables, whenever the subject has required or permitted it ; and the syntax, which is the science of language, is ex- plained after the principles established by the Spanish Royal Academy, in conformity witii the practice of the most eminent Spanish writers : the rules of the Spanish syntax are compared with those ; of the English, the difference in the construction is shown, and the reason for such difference stated, because the peculiar idioms of every language are founded on some leading principles by which that language is characterized. The endeavour of the Author has been to explain, with perspicuity and accuracy, whatever his experience has convinced him to be essentially necessary for the acquisition of this most copious and majestic language. It is a general practice to annex to foreign grammars a vocabulary, some dialogues, letters, fables, a treatise on versification and other matters, which, indeed, have no relation to the syntax ; and as the Author has not followed such a practice, it will be proper to allege his reasons for the ex- clusion of such subjects. ]Vo vocabulary —because the substantives in a language are exceedingly numerous, and there is no more necessity to know the days of the week, the names of animals, the pieces of furniture or the utensils of a kitchen, than the name of every- thing created for or manufactured by man. A concise vocabulary, therefore, would be very im- perfect in itself, insufficient for an illiterate per- son, and of little use to those who are versed in other languages. At all events, learners will be better judges of what they want to know; and by consulting the dictionary, they may easily compile, in a few hours, precise lists of those words which they most need to learn, according to their situa- tion in life or their favourite study. But adjectives being comparatively few, and those of a common derivation easily rendered from one language into another by the Table of Analogy, page 43, a list of all Spanish adjectives of a different origin must be very useful to the student ; and these will be found alphabetically placed in the Appendix, oc- cupying only eight pages, and which learners are recommended to commit to memory as soon as possible. The Author is so convinced of the im- portance of knowing these dissimilar words, that he has willingly taken the labour of turning over the leaves of the voluminous Dictionary of the Spanish Academy in order to select those com- posing the list of adjectives ; and for the same reason another list of adverbs of a diiferent origin will be found in continuation. No extracts ; —because no selected chapter of Don Quixote, or other fragments from Spanish writers, can be of any real vise to those who begin to learn the language, as the parts thus chosen are always imperfect pieces, and generally the most difficult. The student surely must have some Spanish books to read, and the book he begins with will certainly be the best to continue reading, as he will by degrees become more acquainted with both the subject of the work and the style of the writer. No treatise on versification', —because those who never dreamt of Mount Parnassus will not care much about the Spanish Iambic, Trochaic or Anapaestic verses; and the lofty minds of the few favoured by Apollo will not stoop to look at some obscure pages of a foreign grammar on rhythmical measure, but will ascend to the Helicon and Cy- theron, at the summits of which real poetry in every language can only be understood and valued. No opinion of Spanish poetry can be formed but by the study of Spanish poets. No dialogues or letters-, —because they will not teach those to speak or to write in a foreign lan- guage who cannot speak politely or write correctly in their maternal tongue; while those who can think will certainly speak and write in any language PREFACE. by means only of the syntax, the elucidation of which is the scope of the present grammar. In polite expression as well as in costume the nations of Europe and America, particularly in the capitals and sea-ports, are become so much alike that they form almost one same society with respect to civilities and epistolary corre- spondence either on political affairs, mercantile business, or friendly intercourse ; and if any dif- ference is sometimes observed, it is not the effect of a particular language, but the result of individual education and talents. A few phrases, it is true, are found peculiar to each language, the use of which, although not always necessary, is however so frequent that they must be mentioned, and such are stated in the last chapter of this grammar. All the Spanish idioms used in conversation or employed in reciprocal intelligence are there stated, so that students will obtain, reduced to a few pages, more elements for making their way in Spanish intercourse than they could by reading or learning a whole volume of dialogues, every expression in which may be altered in twenty different ways. Finally, on perusing the contents of this vo- hime, the Author hopes it will be perceived that the arrangement is simple, the connexion of its parts carefully observed, and the explanation, with the examples to the rules, accurate and perspicu- ous. Whether this grammar have really a claim to these qualities, must be decided by those only who are acquainted with the Spanish language, and by the impartial critics to whose judgement it is humbly submitted. CONTENTS. PART I. ON THE NUMBER, VALUE, AND USE OF THE LETTERS IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. Page Chapter I. Alphabet and Pronunciation 1 Diphthongs and Triphthongs 4, 5 Chapter II. Orthography of the Spanish Language 6 Punctuation 8 Abbreviations 10 PART II. PARTS OF SPEECH. Chapter I. Of the Article 12 Sect. 1. Analysis of the Spanish Article .... 13 Sect. 2. Syntax of the Article 14 Chapter II. Of the Substantive Noun 18 Sect. 1. Analysis of the Substantive Noun ,. 20 Sect. 2. Syntax of the Substantive Noun ... 23 Chapter III. Of the Adjective. Sect. 1. Of Nominal Adjectives 26 Sect. 2. Degrees of Comparison » . 23 Table of Comparisons 29 Sect. 3. Of Numeral Adjectives 34 Sect. 4. Syntax of the Adjectives 36 Concord of the Adjective 37 Sect.