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About the Spanish language - Oxford Dictionaries
About the Spanish language
Throughout the Middle Ages a variety of Spanish dialects were spoken in the Iberian
Peninsula. The dialect of Castile, or Castilian Spanish, eventually became the official
language in the 13th century.
Although the majority of words in Spanish come from Latin, many come from other
sources which reflect Spain's rich and colourful history. These sources include:
Greek, Basque, and Celtic from the pre-Latin times; Germanic words from the
Visigoths after the fall of the Roman Empire, Arabic from the Muslim occupation
after 711, French beginning with the 11th century pilgrimages to Santiago de
Compostela in northwestern Spain and continuing to the present day, Italian from
the 15th and 16th centuries, American Indian languages from colonial times, to
name but a few, and in more recent decades, English.
Each country in Central and Latin America has its own slight variations in
pronunciation, vocabulary, and, in some cases, structure, but whether you speak to
people from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, or any of the other Spanishspeaking countries in the Americas, you will be able to communicate effectively in
Spanish.
Spanish was introduced to Central America by European colonists in the 16th
century. The indigenous ancient civilizations, such as the Maya (who were based
predominantly in Central America), the Aztecs (who lived mainly in what is now
Mexico), and the Inca (based along the west coast of South America), together with
the Hispanic traditions of the colonists, have contributed to a rich and varied culture
which is reflected in the language spoken today throughout the continent.
Presiding over the Spanish language is the Real Academia de la Lengua Española,
which as well as giving guidance on grammar and preferred usage throughout the
Spanish-speaking world, supervises the editing of the authoritative Diccionario de la
lengua española. With the twenty-third edition now in preparation, it is preeminently the dictionary of record of the Spanish language.
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Varieties of present-day Spanish - Oxford Dictionaries
Varieties of present-day Spanish
It is estimated that around 360 million people speak Spanish as their mother
tongue, which places it among the top four languages in the world in terms of
numbers of speakers. Less than 12% of Spanish speakers live in Spain, the rest are
spread from the United States in the north (where forty million people have Spanish
as their native language) to Tierra del Fuego in the south. Whilst the Spanish spoken
in Spain is by no means uniformly homogenous, regional differences within the
European country pale into insignificance when compared to the extraordinary
variety of Latin American dialects of Spanish.
“Unidad en la diversidad” was the main theme of the 4th international conference
on the Spanish language. This slogan reflects the rich diversity of Spanish but also
the fact that it is one language, with a strong basic common core supported by a
common cultural and literary tradition. There is a kind of neutral, standard Spanish
which is used and understood by all educated Spanish speakers and ensures that
people throughout the Spanish-speaking world can communicate with each other as
easily as people from Britain and the United States can. Spanish is rich in regional
terms to refer to an urban bus: you may hear colectivo in Argentina and Venezuela,
ómnibus in Perú and Uruguay, micro in Chile, camión in Mexico and parts of Central
America and guagua in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, but every
Spanish speaker knows what an autobús is. In the same way, there are many
colloquial terms to refer to a boy: pibe in Argentina, cabro in Chile, chaval in Spain
and chavo in Mexico and Venezuela, but the words chico and muchacho are
understood throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Dialects differ more widely in
the more colloquial registers but even at this level of language the popularity of
Latin American music and TV soap operas has helped to familiarize speakers with
other varieties of their language. This does not prevent the occasional
misinterpretation – a Spaniard would be very surprised to get a black coffee and a
piece of guava jelly from a Colombian speaker who had offered him un tinto y un
bocadillo, in the same way as an Argentinian might get the wrong impression on
hearing the European currar (a colloquial word meaning “to work” and not “to rip
somebody off”) – but these misunderstandings are rare.
Differences between the various linguistic regions in the Spanish-speaking world
occur in three main areas:
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pronunciation
vocabulary and
grammar
Spain vs Latin America
Some uses distinguish the American continent as a whole from the European norm.
These are just a few examples:
Type
Spain
Latin America
pronunciation • use of the interdental fricative/ • use of /s/ throughout
∆/ (as in English anks) in apato,
ócalo, graias, ena, igarro, etc.
vocabulary
grammar
• patata
• papa
• competición (deportiva)
• competencia (deportiva)
• nata
• crema
• hora punta
• hora pico
• cualificado (obrero,
• calificado (obrero,
profesional, etc.)
profesional, etc.)
• use of vosotros and
• use of ustedes for the
corresponding verb endings for
second person plural,
the second person plural (familiar) regardless of whether formal
or familiar
• use of le as the masculine
• use of lo as the masculine
direct object pronoun (Le vi ayer).
direct object pronoun (Lo vi
ayer).
Vocabulary continues to diverge in some areas, as Latin American tends to borrow
new technical terms from American English (celular, computadora/computador),
while European Spanish tends to borrow them from British English (móvil) or French
(ordenador).
Sometimes it is more a question of regional preferences rather than mutually
exclusive uses:
EnglishEuropean Spanish
Latin American Spanish
to
enojar
enfadar (with enojar used far less
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anger frequently and in more formal
contexts)
to
conducir
manejar (with conducir generally
drive
reserved for more formal contexts)
Some differences can also be observed in the use of certain idiomatic phrases:
English
European Spanish
Latin American Spanish
to announce sth with
great fanfare
anunciar algo a bombo y anunciar algo con bombos y
platillo
platillos
it makes my mouth water
se me hace la boca agua
se me hace agua la boca
Differences within Latin America
Latin American varieties of Spanish resist classification and contemporary national
boundaries do not coincide with the boundaries between the different linguistic
areas. We can, however, talk about certain characteristics common to the countries
of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) and within this
group distinguish the dialect of the River Plate (Buenos Aires, Montevideo and the
surrounding area) as having its own particular distinguishing features. In the same
way, Andean Spanish exhibits certain common characteristics, while many Mexican
uses extend into its neighbouring Central American countries.
The influence of the indigenous languages on dialect differentiation has been
relatively modest (the influence of Nahuatl on Mexican Spanish being perhaps one
of the strongest) and can be seen mainly in the area of the flora and fauna of the
region. For example, the word for avocado is aguacate (from Nahuatl, the language of
the Aztecs) in Mexico, Central America and the north of South America but aguacate
is replaced by palta as one travels south into the area of influence of Quechua, the
language of the Inca Empire. But many of the differences are hard to explain, as for
instance in the following examples. The basic every-day term light bulb in English is
bombilla in Spain, but can be foco in Ecuador, Mexico and Peru; bombillo in Central
America and Colombia; bombita in the River Plate countries; ampolleta in Chile; and,
as another alternative, bujía in Central America. Similarly, depending on where you
find yourself in Latin America a variety of terms are used to refer to the humble green
bean: judía verde in Spain, but habichuela, ejote, chaucha, poroto verde or vainita in
different parts of Latin America.
It is interesting to note that certain “general Latin American” uses have not been
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adopted in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay), where the European
or universal term is used. This is the case with pena meaning ‘shame’ (SC uses
vergüenza), jalar de (= to pull, SC uses tirar de), directorio (= telephone directory, SC
uses guía) and the use of radio as a masculine noun (it is feminine in SC, as it is in
Spain). In other cases Chile aligns itself with the rest of Latin America while the
River Plate keeps to the European norm and uses carne picada instead of carne
molida (ground beef), atar instead of amarrar (to tie), tirar instead of botar (to throw
away), son las cinco menos cuarto instead of son cuarto para las cinco (it's quarter of
five/to five).
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Calendar of traditions, festivals, and holidays in Spanish-speaking countries - Oxford Dictionaries
Calendar of traditions, festivals, and holidays
in Spanish-speaking countries
1 January
Año Nuevo (New Year´s Day). A public holiday in all Spanish-speaking countries.
6 January
Día de Reyes (Epiphany/Twelfth Night). In many Spanish-speaking countries, this is
when presents are given, rather than on Christmas Day.
20 January
San Sebastián (Saint Sebastian´s Day). Celebrated in Spain with parades, sporting
events, and bullfights, it is also a day of celebration and dancing for the people of
the Basque city that bears the name of the saint.
2 February
La Candelaria (Candlemas). An occasion for celebrations and parades in many
Spanish-speaking countries.
3 February
Fiesta de San Blas (patron saint of Paraguay). A public holiday.
5 February (Mexico)
Día de la Constitución (Constitution Day). A public holiday.
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21 February (Mexico)
Anniversary of the birth of Benito Juárez. A famous nineteenth-century
statesman, who was twice president. A public holiday.
26 February
Aberri Eguna Basque national day and a public holiday in the Basque country of
Spain.
12-19 March
Las Fallas One of the best known fiestas in Spain. They are held in Valencia in
eastern Spain. The high point of the celebration is on the last night, when the
cabezudos (carnival figures with large heads), which have been carefully prepared by
the falleros, are paraded through the streets and then burned, all this to the
accompaniment of an enormous fireworks display.
23 April
San Jordi The feast day of Catalonia´s patron saint. According to custom, women
give men books and men give women roses on this Catalan version of St Valentine´s
Day.
Día del Trabajo (Labor Day). A public holiday in all Spanish-speaking countries.
5 May (Mexico)
Cinco de mayo. The anniversary of the victory of the state of Puebla against the
French invasion of 1862. A public holiday.
15 May (Paraguay)
Día de la Independencia. A public holiday.
25 May (Argentina)
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The anniversary of the May revolution of 1810.
20 June (Argentina)
Día de la Bandera (Argentinian National Day). A public holiday.
(Colombia)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
24 June
San Juan (Feast of St John). Traditionally fires are lit on the night of San Juan in
order to keep away the cold of winter. In some places, people jump over the fires and
in others the faithful will try to walk through them barefoot. The custom is slowly
dying out, but continues in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world.
5 July (Venezuela)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
6-14 July
Sanfermines The festival of el encierro (the 'running of the bulls'), takes place in
Pamplona in northern Spain. The animals are released into the barricaded streets
and people run in front of them, in honor of the town´s patron saint, San Fermín,
who was put to death by being dragged by bulls.
9 July (Argentina)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
25 July
Fiesta de Santiago (Feast of St James). The famous Camino de Santiago, the
pilgrimage of thousands of people from all over Spain and many other parts of
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Europe to the holy city of Santiago de Compostela, takes place in the week leading
up to St James' Day, 25 July. The city also has its fiestas around this time. The streets
are full of musicians and performers for two weeks of celebrations culminating in the
Festival del Apóstol.
28 July (Peru)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
6 August (Bolivia)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
10 August (Ecuador)
Primer Grito de Independencia A public holiday commemorating the first cry of
independence in 1809.
17 August (Argentina)
A public holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the death of the San Martín who
liberated Argentina from Spanish rule in 1816.
25 August (Uruguay)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
11 September
Día Nacional de Cataluña Calendar of traditions, festivals, and holidays Catalonian
National Day and a public holiday in Catalonia.
13 September (Mexico)
Commemoration of the Niños Héroes (child heroes) who fell while defending the
castle of Chapultepec against European invaders in 1847.
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15 September (Mexico)
Conmemoración de la Proclamación de la Independencia Throughout the
country, at 11 o'clock at night, there is a communal shout, El Grito, in memory of
Padre Hidalgo's cry of independence from the Spanish in the town of Dolores.
18 September (Chile)
Día de la Independencia A public holiday.
12 October
Día de la Hispanidad A public holiday, this is also Columbus Day, which is
celebrated in all Spanish-speaking countries, as well as the US, in commemoration
of the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. In Spanishspeaking countries of the Americas, it is also called the Día de la Raza (literally, Day
of the Race) in celebration of the mestizaje, the mingling of races, which gave birth
to the populations of today.
31 October
Todos los Santos (All Saints). People all over the Spanish-speaking world flock to
the cemeteries on this and the following day el día de los Difuntos/Muertos to put
flowers on the graves of relatives and friends and to remember the dead. In Mexico
this is an important festival in which Catholic traditions are mixed with those of
pre-Hispanic religions.
10 November (Argentina)
Fiesta de la Tradición This festival takes place throughout the country but is
especially important in the town of San Antonio de Areco, near Buenos Aires. The
capital also holds a festival in November, the Semana de Buenos Aires, in honor of
its patron saint San Martín de Tours.
20 November (Mexico)
Día de la Revolución de 1910 A public holiday to celebrate the revolution of 1910.
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2 December (Mexico)
Virgen de Guadalupe Celebrations are held in honor of the patron saint of the
country, with music and dancers, in particular the concheros, who dance, wearing
bells around their ankles, to the sound of stringed instruments and conches.
25 December
Navidad (Christmas Day) A time of great religious celebration in all Spanishspeaking countries. In many places, re-enactments of the nativity are held, with a
variety of traditions, parades, and costumes.
28 December
Día de los Inocentes This is the equivalent to April Fool's Day. In most Spanishspeaking countries it is a day for playing tricks on people. And if you trick someone
into lending you money for that day, you keep it and tell them que te lo paguen los
Santos Inocentes (let the Holy Innocents pay you back).
31 December
La noche de Fin de Año This is often the occasion for parties, and at midnight the
New Year is welcomed with much noise and merrymaking. In Spain and in many
other Spanish-speaking countries, the families gather together twelve seconds
before midnight para tomar las uvas (to see the New Year in by eating one grape on
each chime of the clock) for good luck.
Movable feasts
Martes de Carnaval (Shrove Tuesday). The last Tuesday before the beginning of
Cuaresma (Lent). Carnaval is celebrated in many Spanish-speaking countries just
before this date. In many places, there are masked balls and parades. The biggest in
Spain are those of Cádiz, on the south coast, and Madrid, where a strange ceremony
called el entierro de la sardina (literally the burial of the sardine) takes place. In
Mexico, the best-known are in Veracruz and Mazatlán.
Pascua (Easter) - Semana Santa (Holy Week). The week leading up to Easter Sunday
is the most important time of religious celebration throughout the Spanish-speaking
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world. In many places, there are processions in which statues of Christ or the Virgin
Mary, often covered in jewels and flowers, are carried to the church.
Feria de abril Seville's famous Feria de abril (April festival) takes place in the week
following Easter. The site of the feria is decked out with hundreds of casetas or small
marquees, hired by companies or private individuals, in which people entertain, eat
tapas, drink manzanilla (a pale dry sherry), play music, and dance sevillanas, the
popular dances of Andalucía. Many people dress up in colourful traditional costumes,
some of them on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages.
Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, 9 weeks after Easter is celebrated in most Spanishspeaking countries with religious parades.
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Useful phrases - Oxford Dictionaries
Useful phrases
Here is a selection of useful words and phrases you will need in real-life situations
while you're visiting Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.
Useful phrases / Expresiones útiles
sí, por favor
yes, please
no, gracias
no, thank you
perdone
sorry
disculpe
excuse me
¡de nada!/¡no hay de qué!
you're welcome
perdone, pero no le entiendo I'm sorry, I don't understand
Meeting people / Saludos
hola
hello
adiós
goodbye
¿cómo está?
how are you? (formal)
¿qué tal (estás)? how are you? (informal)
Asking questions / Preguntas
¿habla usted inglés/español? do you speak English/Spanish?
¿cómo se llama?
what's your name?
¿de dónde es?
where are you from?
¿cuánto es?
how much is it?
¿dónde está...?
where is...?
¿me da...?
can I have...?
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¿quiere usted...?
would you like...?
Statements about yourself / Información personal
me llamo
my name is
soy americano/-a/mexicano/-a I'm American/I'm Mexican
no hablo español/inglés
I don't speak Spanish/English
vivo cerca de Sevilla/Chester
I live near Seville/Chester
soy estudiante
I'm a student
trabajo en una oficina
I work in an office
Emergencies / Emergencias
¿me ayuda, por favor?
can you help me, please?
me he perdido
I'm lost
no me encuentro bien
I'm ill
llamen a una ambulancia call an ambulance
Directions
¿cuánto tiempo se tarda en llegar?
how long will it take to get there?
¿a qué distancia está?
how far is it from here?
¿qué autobús debo tomar para ir a la catedral?
which bus do I take for the
cathedral?
¿podría decirme dónde me tengo que bajar?
can you tell me where to get off?
¿a qué hora sale el último autobús?
what time is the last bus?
¿cómo se llega al aeropuerto?
how do I get to the airport?
¿dónde está la estación de metro más cercana? where's the nearest underground
station?
¿me puede pedir un taxi?
can you call me a taxi?
gire por la primera (calle) a la derecha
take the first turning right
gire a la izquierda al llegar al semáforo/después turn left at the traffic lights/just
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de pasar la iglesia
past the church
tomaré un taxi
I'll take a taxi
Telling the time / La hora
¿qué hora es?
what time is it?
son las 2
it's 2 o'clock
hacia las 8
at about 8 o'clock
a partir de las 10
from 10 o'clock onwards
a las cinco de la mañana/tarde
at 5 o'clock in the morning/afternoon
es la una y cinco/y cuarto/y media
it's five past/quarter past/half past one
es la una menos veinticinco/menos cuarto it's twenty-five to/quarter to one
un cuarto/tres cuartos de hora
a quarter/three quarters of an hour
Days and dates / Dí​
as y fechas
domingo, lunes, martes, miércoles,
jueves, viernes, sábado
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo,
January, February, March, April, May,
junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, June, July, August, September, October,
noviembre, diciembre
November, December
Numbers / Números
uno
one
dos
two
tres
three
cuatro
four
cinco
five
seis
six
siete
seven
ocho
eight
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nueve
nine
diez
ten
once
eleven
doce
twelve
trece
thirteen
catorce
fourteen
quince
fifteen
dieciséis
sixteen
diecisiete
seventeen
dieciocho
eighteen
diecinueve
nineteen
veinte
twenty
veintiuno
twenty-one
veintidós
twenty-two
veintitrés
twenty-three
veinticuatro
twenty-four
veinticinco
twenty-five
veintiséis
twenty-six
veintisiete
twenty-seven
veintiocho
twenty-eight
veintinueve
twenty-nine
treinta
thirty
treinta y uno thirty-one
treinta y dos thirty-two
cuarenta
forty
cincuenta
fifty
sesenta
sixty
setenta
seventy
ochenta
eighty
noventa
ninety
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cien
one hundred
doscientos
two hundred
mil
one thousand
un millón
one million
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Writing letters in Spanish - Oxford Dictionaries
Writing letters in Spanish
The following information about writing letters in Spanish is not exhaustive, but
should be regarded as information which will make your letters more "Spanish" and
very importantly may avoid misunderstandings or misinterpretations. Being familiar
with some of the conventions of Spanish letter writing will also be of interest when
you receive letters in Spanish or English from Spanish native speakers.
Laying out the letter
In formal letters if you are writing on a plain sheet of paper, it is normal to write
your name, without title, above your address at the top of the page, either on the left
or the right–hand side of the sheet. When writing your own address, it is of course
quite correct to place commas at the ends of lines, if you wish. However, when
writing the address of your Hispanic addressee in a formal letter or on the envelope,
it is worth remembering that end–of–line punctuation is not the norm in Spanish
letters and may even be regarded as a mistake or something which may cause a letter
to be misdirected. The addressee’s name and address should be inserted on the left–
hand side of the sheet above the opening greeting. In a letter to someone with a
title, in a business for instance, this is placed after the addressee’s full name. Note
some of the courtesy titles that may be used to men and women.
To a man:
Sr. D. full form Señor Don = Mr (Level: formal)<br > Sr. full form Señor = Mr (Level:
formal)
To a woman:
Sra. Dña. full form Señora Doña = Ms or Mrs (Level: formal)<br > Sra. full form Señora
= Ms or Mrs (Level: formal)
Note the use of points above. The full forms are given for information only and are
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not normally used in ordinary correspondence.
In many Spanish–speaking countries addresses may have what appear to be
somewhat complicated combinations of numbers and even letters. These are very
important and usually refer to the number of the building in the street, followed by
the number of the floor on which the person lives. More numbers and letters refer to
apartment numbers on a shared landing. For example:
Sra. Laura López Hernández<br >c/ Francisco de Silvela, 14, 4º<br >28077 Madrid
This means that the addressee lives at number 14 Francisco de Silvela Street on the
fourth floor. You can key the raised º by typing Alt and 167, using the number
keypad on your keyboard.
When writing an informal letter it is customary not to include either your own or the
addressee’s address. In this type of letter it is sufficient to write the name of the
place you are in, followed by the date at the top of the page. The place is the town,
city, village or other recognizable location.
Medina, 11 de octubre de 2002
Note that in writing the date, the day number is followed by de, which again follows
the name of the month. The convention is to write dates: day–month–year. More
informally you can write this information in numerals: 11–10–02.
In formal letters when you have included the addressee’s address, the date would be
written: 11 de octubre de 2002.
Greetings
In formal letters when you do not know the person to whom you are writing:
Muy señor mío:<br >Muy señora mía:<br >Muy señores míos:
Rather less formal is the greeting using the word estimado–da:
Estimado señor:<br >Estimada señora:<br >Estimados señores:
This opening appears on the left–hand side. Note the use of the colon.
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A very formal and impersonal opening is: De mi consideración:
If you know the name of the addressee, the following greetings are appropriate:
Estimado Señor Pérez:<br >Estimada Señora González:
In a business letter when you have established a good relationship with the
addressee, estimado–da followed by the addressee’s given name is appropriate:
Estimado José:<br >Estimada María:
In informal letters or when you know the addressee well, an opening following
querido–da is appropriate:
Querido Rafael:<br >Querida Beatriz:<br >Queridos Beatriz y Rafael:<br >Querido
Papá:
Closing the letter
If you read correspondence manuals in Spanish you will probably be surprised at
how many potential letter endings there are for formal correspondence. Modern
practice, particularly in Spain, is to use a limited number of endings and to keep
them shorter and less formal than was formerly the case. The following are should
be adequate for most situations.Your signature should follow directly below, as it
would in English.
Formal endings
A la espera de sus prontas noticias, le saluda atentamente,
Sin otro particular, le saluda atentamente,
Le saluda atentamente,
Atentamente,
Less formal endings
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Un cordial saludo,
Cordialmente,
In friendly personal letters, the following are often used:
Un abrazo,
Un fuerte abrazo,
Un fuerte abrazo de tu amigo,
The ending Un abrazo is often used in business correspondence and even in internal
company memos or e–mails, where a friendly relationship exists between the
parties.
In letters to family members endings are obviously freer, but some typical ones are:
Un afectuoso [or cariñoso] saludo,
Afectuosamente,
Un beso,
Besos,
Con todo mi cariño,
Addressing the envelope
The address should be carefully written taking account of the comments made above.
If you want to include your return address on the envelope, this should be written
on the back of the envelope after the word: Remite. An example would be along the
lines of:
Remite: Mary O’Reilly, 867 Fifth Avenue, New York NY10022.
Street names
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In many Spanish–speaking countries the full street name is often abbreviated in
correspondence, so that a name like:
Avenida de la Independencia,350
could be written:
Avda. Independencia,350
or even,
Independencia,350
This is something to be aware of when you are given what may look like a very
abbreviated street address. Abbreviations appearing in addresses such as Avda., c/,
Apdo. etc are given alphabetically in the Oxford Spanish Dictionary. The shortened
form of the street address may be used with confidence.
Spanish surnames:
These can appear to be long and complex. There is an explanation of the
conventions regarding surnames in Spanish–speaking countries in the vocabularybuilding note "Spanish surnames" under Vocabulary-building notes about the
Spanish language (in English).
Married and unmarried women
Married women often use their unmarried surnames in Hispanic countries, see the
surnames information above. The equivalent of Miss, Señorita abbreviated to Srta., is
used less and less. The trend is for Señora abbreviated to Sra., to be used for all
women regardless of marital status.
Download specimen letters of formal and informal correspondence[1]
1. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/spanish-sample-letters
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Capital and lower case letters - Oxford Dictionaries
Capital and lower case letters in Spanish
There are parallels and important differences in the conventions regarding
capitalization in Spanish and English.
Proper names in both languages take a capital, for example geographical names:
Barcelona, Madrid, Londres, París, Italia, Andalucía, Canarias
el Nilo – the Nile, el Ebro – the Ebro, el Támesis – the Thames, la Sena – the Seine
But whereas the names of countries in both languages take a capital letter, the
names of their inhabitants, their language and adjectives derived from them all take
lower case initial letters in Spanish:
Francia
France
un francés
a Frenchman
una francesa a Frenchwoman
los franceses the French
el francés
French (the language)
francés,
francesa
French (the adjective: un futbolista francés, a French fooball-player; a
French word, una palabra francesa)
franceses,
French (plural adjective futbolistas franceses, palabras francesas)
francesas
Other nouns and adjectives, which in English would be spelt with a capital, take a
small letter in Spanish:
adjectives and nouns derived from place names:
madrileño – ña
derived from Madrid
barcelonés – lonesa derived from Barcelona
limeño – ña
derived from Lima
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neoyorquino – na
derived from Nueva York
londinense
derived from Londres (London)
adjectives and nouns derived from names of founders of movements, schools of
thought, etc.
estalinista
Stalinist
maoismo
Maoism
peronismo
Peronism
cristiano –na Christian
cristiandad
Christianity
Names of days of the week and months take a small letter in Spanish.
lunes, martes Monday, Tuesday
marzo, abril
March, April
Personal names, including nicknames, take a capital letter:
Pedro – Peter,
Juan – John,
Juana – Joan,
Cristina – Christine,
Pepe – Joe (roughly)
Note that titles of political post-holders are spelled with small letters:
el canciller alemán, Gerhard Schröder the German Chancellor
el primer ministro chino
the Chinese Prime Minister
It is by no means unusual to see these conventions broken, especially in advertising,
but it is not safe to use such texts as models for your writing. Frequently advertising
copy-writers are aiming to produce subtle effects, which will just appear to be a
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mistake in a different context.
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General advice on writing genders in Spanish - Oxford Dictionaries
Writing help: genders in Spanish
It is easy to determine the genders of some Spanish nouns, but it is very important
to be aware of the common exceptions, and to learn them.
Nouns ending in –o or –dor are generally masculine: but note that foto, mano, moto,
and radio are feminine.
Nouns ending in
–dora
–ción
–sión
–umbre
are always feminine.
Nouns ending in –a are almost always feminine, but the following common words
are masculine: el día, el mapa, el planeta
It is well worth getting into the habit of using the right gender with these words,
and using the masculine form of the adjective with them, as soon as possible.
There is also a group of nouns ending in –ma which is masculine. The commonest
among them are probably el problema and el programa.
clima
diploma
emblema
esquema
fantasma
idioma
panorama
problema
programa
síntoma
sistema
telegrama
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Note that if a suffix is used with any of these words, it retains the gender of the root
word, thus you may hear:
Tengo un problemita con el ordenador
– I have a little problem with the computer.
Words ending in –ista can be masculine or feminine according to the person
concerned:
or
la (taxista, tenista, artista)
There are some nouns which look masculine, but are in fact feminine. Their
common feature is that they have a stressed initial a–, or a– sound. They all take el
in the singular.
el agua tibia
el águila
el hacha
But in the plural they take las: las aguas del Nilo the waters of the Nile. In the
singular it is important to remember that if they are accompanied by an adjective,
then that adjective takes a feminine ending: el agua tibia.
Nouns ending in –e can be masculine or feminine and it is important to look them
up if in doubt. Verb forms you are unsure about should also be checked
systematically.
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Useful expressions in Spanish - Oxford Dictionaries
Useful expressions in Spanish
It is considered good style in Spanish not to repeat words and expressions
when an alternative can be used. The following list of linking expressions
contains some synonyms for this purpose as well as expressions which are
useful generally in one's writing.
es decir = that is to say
a saber = that is to say
en otras palabras = in other words
dicho de otra manera = in other words
primero = first, firstly, in the first place
primeramente = first, firstly, in the first place
en primer lugar = first, firstly, in the first place
en segundo lugar = second, secondly, in the second place
por último = finally
finalmente = finally
en comparación con = by comparison with
comparado –da con = compared with
hoy en día = nowadays
actualmente = at present, currently
en la actualidad = at present, currently
respecto a = regarding, with regard to
en cuanto a = regarding, with regard to
por otra parte = on the other hand
porque = because
a causa de = because of
en resumidas cuentas = briefly
en efecto = in fact
efectivamente = in fact
por lo menos = at least
la gran mayoría de = the great majority of
no obstante = nevertheless
sin embargo = nevertheless
a pesar de = in spite of
ahora bien = however, now
recalcar = to emphasize
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enfatizar = to emphasize
hacer hincapié en = to emphasize
subrayar = to underline
señalar = to point out
dar algo por sentado = to assume something, take something for granted
asumir = to assume
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Spanish punctuation - Oxford Dictionaries
Spanish punctuation
As a general rule the punctuation of Spanish and English is very similar. However,
there are a number of conventions which are well worth bearing in mind. The first
thing that most people would recognise is that Spanish direct questions always
begin with an inverted question mark, ¿ . You can find this under Symbol in the
Insert drop-down menu on the Word toolbar. Similarly exclamations in Spanish are
always preceded by the inverted exclamation mark, ¡ . This symbol is also to be
found in Symbol under Insert in the Word drop-down menu. It may also be worth
remembering that if you press Number Lock on your keyboard; Alt + 168 gives ¿ and
Alt + 173 gives ¡.
Abbreviations
Spanish, like English, uses many abbreviations. However, contemporary English
writing tends to omit the point, or full stop, in many cases. The convention in
Spanish is to use the point with abbreviations, so write etc. instead of etc in all cases.
Other common abbreviations are p.ej. (= por ejemplo), apdo. (apartado de Correos),
Avda. (=Avenida). However, not all apparent abbreviations have points. Many are
acronyms, the initials of an organization, product etc, and are pronounced as the
sum of their letters like a word, examples are AVE for the high speed train, OTAN
the Spanish for Nato and Renfe for the Spanish state railway company.
Direct speech
The most common way of indicating dialogue in Spanish is the use of the long dash:
— ¿Es Ud el nuevo empleado? — le pregunté.
— Sí — respondió.
Quotations
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When quoting word for word what someone has said the use of double angle
brackets is common: << >>. However, it is worth noting that the use of inverted
commas is becoming increasingly common. As in English with inverted commas, <<
>> are also used to highlight a word within a text, where you may want to draw
attention to it because it is strange or remarkable in some way.
The colon
The colon is used in Spanish in much the same way as in English. There is an
important instance where conventions in Spanish differ from those of British
English. When starting a letter with the equivalent of Dear Mr Smith, a colon must be
used:
Estimado Sr Smith:
Estimada Sra González:
Querida Marta:
(In American English, of course a colon is used in exactly the same way as in
Spanish.)
The comma
The use of the comma is similar in Spanish and English usage. But as in other
European languages, there is an important difference in its use in numbers and
decimals. (Mexico follows the American use of the point and comma in numbers.)
A point is used to indicate thousands; for example one thousand is written:
British and US Spanish
1,000
1.000
A comma is used to show a decimal:
British and US Spanish
1.275
1,275
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Spanish spelling - Oxford Dictionaries
Spanish spelling
One of the virtues of Spanish is its simplicity of spelling. To avoid making mistakes
influenced by English or French, it is worth remembering that the only Spanish
consonants which can be doubled up are those which appear in the word CaRoLiNe.
–cc– in words like acción, dirección, reacción
–rr– in words like barra, borracho, borrasca
–ll– in words like castellano, llano, valle
–nn– is relatively rare but note innecesario, innumerable
Castilian pronunciation will help to avoid spelling mistakes with —ll– and —y–
because it distinguishes the –ll– of castellano. In parts of southern Spain and in
many parts of Latin America —ll– is pronounced as —y– which can cause difficulties
in spelling, even for native speakers.
A genuine problem is b and v, which are pronounced the same. Spaniards distinguish
them by calling them b de Barcelona and v de Valencia. (Both b and v are pronounced
be, without any attempt to differentiate them; the names of the two cities provide
the clue to the spelling.)
If you have access to a computer with a Spanish spellchecker installed, it will help
you overcome some of the problems you might encounter with Spanish spellings.
But just as an English spellchecker cannot sort out whether you need their or there or
for or four in a particular context, so it is in Spanish. It is worth remembering that
some words in Spanish depend on an accent to distinguish their meanings from
other words otherwise spelt identically. So, for example:
sí
yes andthe third person reflexive pronoun: herself, himself, itself and
themselves
solo alone
mí
me (para mí)
té
tea
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Spanish spelling - Oxford Dictionaries
Note that many people, including Spanish native speakers, write tí, influenced by mí.
This is incorrect and the proof is that there is no other word with which ti can be
confused.
A second group of words differentiated by accent are those corresponding to English,
who, where, which, why, when and how in direct and indirect questions. In both these
cases the accent is used.
¿Quién la acompaña?
Who is accompanying her?
¿Por qué no lo compras?
Why don’t you buy it?
Note the indirect use:
She asked me what your name was.
Me preguntó cómo te llamabas.
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Spanish verbs - Oxford Dictionaries
Spanish verbs
The following verb tables show to conjugate the three types of regular verbs in
Spanish:
To form other tenses, remember:
The perfect tenses are formed with the relevant tense of the auxiliary verb haber
and the past partciple:
Le he hablado de ti
Lamento que se haya ofendido
El profesor nos había visto
Cuando hubo terminado de habar, …
Para entonces ya habremos terminado
Si lo hubiera sabido, habría llamado
The continuous tenses are formed with the relevant tense of the auxiliary estar and
the present participle:
Estoy estudiano el problema
Cuando llegó, estábamos cerrando
Estuvieron esperando mucho tiempo
¿Han estado hablando de mí?
Other verbs such as andar, ir, and venir, can also be used as auxiliaries to express
different nuances of meaning:
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Andaba diciendo que…
A medida que lo fui conociendo…
¿Por qué no te vas vistiendo?
Hace mucho tiempo que te lo vengo diciendo
You can find verb tables for many Spanish irregular verbs in the dictionary entry for
those verbs. Here are links to some of the most common irregular verbs:
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Spanish grammar glossary for English speakers - Oxford Dictionaries
Glossary of grammatical terms
Abbreviation
A shortened form of a word or phrase: c/c = cuenta corriente
(current account), pág. = página (page), Bs. As. = Buenos Aires,
FF AA = Fuerzas Armadas (Armed Forces).
Accent
In Spanish the written accent (always an acute accent) is only
used when the stress falls unpredictably in a word. Stress
normally falls on the last syllable when the word ends in a
consonant other than n or s (as in comer, reloj, delantal, complot)
or on the penultimate syllable if the word ends in a vowel, n or s
(as in gato, virgen, atlas). If the word is stressed unpredictably (i.e.
not following these rules), it has a written accent: difícil, álbum,
parchís, espléndido, prepáremelo. See also Stress.
Active
In the active form the subject of the verb performs the action:
la policía halló el vehículo en la localidad de San Roque ( the
police found the vehicle in the town of San Roque).
Adjectival
phrase
A phrase that functions as an adjective: a ultranza = out-and-out,
fanatical; es nacionalista a ultranza = he's a fanatical o out-andout nationalist, he's a nationalist through-and-through.
Adjective
A word describing a noun or pronoun: un lápiz
rojo (a red pencil), los míos están sucios (mine are dirty).
Adverb
A word that modifies a verb, and adjective, another adverb or a
sentence: lo leyó
rápidamente (she read it quickly), muy respetado (highly
respected), habla español bastante bien (she speaks Spanish quite
o pretty well), honestamente , no sé qué puedes hacer (to be
honest, I don’t know what you can do).
Adverbial
phrase
A phrase that functions as an adverb: motu proprio: lo hizo (de)
motu proprio = he did it on his own initiative
Agent
The person or thing performing the action of the verb:
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la bala le atravesó el corazón ( the bullet went through her heart),
fue armado caballero por el Rey (he was knighted by the King ).
See Active and Passive.
Agreement
Morphological correspondence between an adjective and the
noun it modifies, a verb and the subject of the sentence, etc. In
Spanish most adjectives agree with the noun they modify in
gender and number: un abrigo negro (a black coat), una falda
negra (a black skirt), pantalones negros (black trousers), botas
negras (black boots). Verbs agree with the subject of the
sentence: Pedro habla japonés (Pedro speaks Japanese), mi
marido y yo hablamos japonés (my husband and I speak
Japanese), tú tenías frío (you were cold), los niños tenían frío (the
children were cold).
Aguda
See Stress
Apocope
The omission of the final sound or sounds of a word in certain
contexts; malo becomes mal before a noun: llegas en mal
momento (you’ve come at an awkward o a bad moment), tanto
becomes tan before an adjective or an adverb: vamos, no es tan
difícil (come on, it’s not that difficult).
Article
Word that precedes a noun or noun phrase and indicates whether
the referent is already known (definite article: el, la, los, las = the)
or not (indefinite article: un, una = a/an). In Spanish the article
agrees with the noun in gender and number.
Attributive
An adjective is attributive when it is used to describe a noun: a
black coat (un abrigo negro). Nouns are often used attributively in
English: age difference (diferencia de edad), kitchen unit (módulo
de cocina). In English grammar ‘attributive’ implies that the
adjective or noun precedes the noun it modifies. See Predicative.
Augmentative The most common augmentative suffixes in Spanish are -ón, suffixes
azo, -ote and -udo. These are sometimes used to indicate large
size, as in perrazo (huge dog), but very often express things other
than size, such as a pejorative attitude, as in ricachón (stinking
rich person), simplón (sucker, dope) or admiration as in ¡vaya
cochazo se ha comprado! (that’s some car he’s bought himself!).
Another common use of augmentative suffixes in Spanish is in
nouns meaning “a blow with something”: paraguazo (blow with
an umbrella), darle un codazo a alguien (to nudge somebody/to
elbow somebody). See Diminutive suffixes.
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Auxiliary verb In Spanish grammar, a verb used with another verb to form the
compound tenses, the Passive voice and other verbal
constructions. Haber is an auxiliary verb in no
he terminado (I haven’t finished), ser is an auxiliary verb in el
vehículo fue hallado (the vehicle was found), estar is an auxiliary
verb in estaba trabajando (he was working), ir is an auxiliary verb
in ¡te vas a caer! (you are going to fall!).
Cardinal
A whole number representing a quantity: uno, veinte, ciento
number
cuarenta (one, twenty, a hundred and forty). See Ordinal number.
Clause
A self-contained section of a sentence that contains a subject
(which can be omitted in Spanish) and a verb: sería una pena
que
(tú) no pudieses venir (it would be a pity if you couldn’t come ).
Collective
A noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of individual
noun
persons or things: realeza (royalty), gente (people).
Collocate
A word that regularly occurs with another. In English the the
noun success is a frequent collocate of the adjective resounding.
In Spanish the adjective clamoroso -a often accompanies nouns
like éxito (success) and ovación (applause). In the Oxford Spanish
Dictionary, subject collocates are shown in double angled brackets
and object collocates are shown in single angled brackets.
Comparative
The form of an adjective or adverb that expresses more or less in
amount, degree or quality. Mejor (better) is the comparative of
bueno -a (good), más/menos claramente (more/less clearly) are
comparative forms of claramente (clearly). See Superlative.
Compound
A unit of two or more words with its own specific meaning: zona
cero (ground zero), cirugía estética (cosmetic surgery).
Compound
tense
In Spanish grammar, a tense made up of the auxiliary verb haber
and the past participle of the main verb in the sentence: no
han/habían llegado (they haven’t/hadn’t arrived).
Conditional
tense
A tense that tells us what would happen if a certain condition was
fulfilled: lo
compraría si tuviera dinero (I’d buy it if I had the money) or
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expresses the future in reported speech sentences: dijo que me
llamaría apenas llegara (she said she would phone me as soon as
she arrived). (What she actually said was “Te llamaré apenas
llegue.”).
Conjugation
1. Group of the different forms of a verb that show person, tense
and mood: canto, cantas…, canté, cantaste…cantaba,
cantabas… are part of the conjugation of the verb cantar. 2.
Group of verbs that conjugate in the same way. In Spanish there
are three conjugations, distinguished by the vowel in the final
syllable of the infinitive: -ar, -er and -ir. Cantar belongs to the
first conjugation, comer to the second one and vivir to the third.
Conjunction
A word used to join words, phrases or sentences together or to
introduce a clause: azul
y blanco (blue and white), en coche o en tren (by car or by train),
me gustaría ir pero creo que no voy a poder (I would like to go
but I don’t think I’ll be able to), ¿puede demostrar que estuvo
allí? (can you prove that you were there?).
Consonant
1. A speech sound made by completely or partly stopping the flow
of air being breathed out through the mouth. 2. Any of the letters
of the alphabet used to represent this type of sound. See Vowel.
Contraction
A shortened form of a word or words: in Spanish al is the
contraction of a + el, del is the contraction of de + el. The only
exception to the use of these contractions is when ‘el’ is part of a
proper name: un artículo de El País, su viaje a El Cairo. In
English we’ve is a contraction of we have, I’m is a contraction
of I am.
Copula or
A verb such as ser, estar (to be) or parecer (to seem, to look, etc.)
Linking verb
that connects the subject with the adjective or noun that
describes it:
estoy cansado (I’m tired), parece mucho mayor de lo que es (she
looks much older than she is).
Countable
(count) noun
A noun that can take the indefinite article or be preceded by a
number and has a plural: un barco (a ship), tres manzanas (three
apples). Nouns can be countable in Spanish and uncountable in
English: un mueble (a piece of furniture), un consejo (a piece of
advice). See Uncountable (uncount) noun.
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Definite
article
Spanish grammar glossary for English speakers - Oxford Dictionaries
See Article
Demonstrative An adjective used to identify the person or thing that is being
adjective
referred to:
este chico ( this boy), esta gente ( these people), por esa época (at
around that time), en aquellos tiempos (in those days).
Demonstrative A pronoun used to identify the person or thing that is being
pronoun
referred to: esta o ésta es mi hermana (this is my sister), ese o ése
es el tuyo (that one is yours), aquellos o aquéllos fueron
momentos difíciles (those were difficult times)
Diéresis
(diaeresis mark) Mark placed over the letter u in the sequences
güe and güi to indicate that the u must be pronounced, as in
nicaragüense or pingüino (as opposed to guerra or águila,
where the u is not pronounced).
Diminutive
suffixes
The most common diminutive suffixes in Spanish are -ito and illo. There many regional variations, however, with diminutives
in general being more common in Latin America than in Spain.
Diminutives are sometimes used to indicate small size, as in
vasito (little glass) and cajita (small box), but very often express an
affectionate attitude: pobrecito, tiene hambre (poor little thing,
he’s hungry), dame un beso, Raquelita (Raquel, darling; give me a
kiss). Sometimes they are used to make a statement less harsh: es
más bien gordita (she’s quite plump), to minimise the importance
of something: cualquier problemita la agobia (the slightest
problem overwhelms her), etc. See Augmentative suffixes.
Direct object
The noun, noun phrase or pronoun that refers to the person,
people or thing(s) directly affected by the action of the verb:
estando allí conoció a
Micaela (he met Micaela while he was there), dejó a los niños en
el colegio (she dropped the children off at school), estudiaba inglés
en una academia (I used to study English at a language school). In
Spanish the direct object is preceded by a when it designates a
particular person or people. See Indirect object.
Direct speech
A speaker’s actual words or the use of these in writing: –estoy de
acuerdo –terció Andrés (I agree, Andrés interjected). (“Estoy de
acuerdo” was what Andrés actually said.) See Indirect Speech.
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Elliptical
Spanish grammar glossary for English speakers - Oxford Dictionaries
Having a word or words omitted, especially where the sense can
be guessed from the context.
Ending
Letters added to the stem of a word to show a change. In the form
cantábamos -ábamos is the ending added to the stem of the
verb cantar (cant) to form the first person plural of the imperfect
indicative tense; a is the feminine ending in profesora.
Esdrújula
See Stress
Feminine
One of the genders in Spanish grammar. See Gender.
Future tense
The future tense is used to refer to things that will happen in the
future: seremos diez comensales (there will be ten of us for
dinner). In colloquial language, however, the present tense and
the form ‘ir a + infinitive’ are very often used instead: empiezo a
trabajar mañana (I start work tomorrow), se lo voy a comprar
para su cumpleaños (I’m going to buy it for his birthday). In
Spanish the future tense is very frequently used to express
conjecture or supposition: tendrá unos 35 años o por ahí (he
must be 35 or so), ¿este pescado estará bueno? (do you think this
fish is all right?).
Gender
Each of the classes into which nouns, pronouns, adjectives and
articles are divided. In Spanish grammar nouns are either
feminine (casa, moto, frente) or masculine (periódico, actor,
puente). In addition, Spanish uses the neuter pronouns esto, eso
and aquello and the neuter article lo.
Gerund
In English grammar a gerund is a noun in the form of the present
participle of a verb (i.e. the form ending in -ing):
drinking wrecked her health (la bebida le arruinó la salud), her
love of reading (su amor por la lectura). In Spanish grammar “el
gerundio” is the present participle of the verb (the impersonal
form ending in -ando, -iendo or -yendo): sigo pensando que
deberíamos haber ido (I still think we ought to have gone), estaba
sufriendo tanto (he was in such pain), se pasa horas enteras
leyendo (she reads for hours on end). It can also be used as an
adverb: bajó la cuesta corriendo (she ran down the hill).
Grave
See Stress
Imperative
See Mood
Imperfect
The imperfect tense in Spanish is used to refer to uncompleted
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actions in the past, often in descriptions: brillaba el sol (the sun
was shining), tenía cinco años (she was five years old). It is also
used to refer to habitual actions in the past: a las nueve nos
mandaban a la cama (they used to send us to bed at nine o’clock),
si hacía sol salíamos a pasear (if it was sunny we used to go for a
walk). Another use of the imperfect is in polite requests or
questions:, sólo quería darle las gracias (I just wanted to thank
you), ¿qué deseaba? (may I help you?).
Impersonal
verb
In Spanish grammar, a verb used without a subject, present or
elliptical: está nevando (it’s snowing). The Spanish sentence
llaman a la puerta (there’s someone at the door) contains an
impersonal use of the verb llamar.
Indefinite
article
See Article
Indefinite
pronoun
A pronoun that does not identify a specific person or object: uno,
alguien = one, someone
Indicative
See Mood
Indirect object The noun, noun phrase or pronoun that refers to the person,
people or thing(s) indirectly affected by the action of the verb: le
escribió una carta a
su padre (he wrote a letter to his father , he wrote his father a letter),
les compré caramelos a los niños (I bought the children some
candy, I bought some candy for the children ). Una carta and
caramelos are the direct objects of the verbs in the above
sentences. See Direct object.
Indirect
speech
A report of what someone has said which does not reproduce his
or her exact words: Andrés dijo que estaba de acuerdo (Andrés
said that he agreed). (Andrés’s exact words were: “Estoy de
acuerdo.”) See Direct Speech.
Infinitive
The base form of a verb: cantar (to sing), saber (to know), vivir (to
live).
Inflection
Variation in the form of a word, particularly the ending, according
to its grammatical function in a sentence. Inflections of the verb
express person, number, time, etc.: canto, cantábamos,
cantarán, etc. are inflections of the verb cantar. Inflections of
the noun and adjective show number and gender in Spanish:
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maestro, maestra, maestros, maestras (teacher/teachers); rojo,
roja, rojos, rojas (red).
Interjection
A sound, word or phrase spoken suddenly to express an emotion,
attract attention, etc.: ¡ay! (ow!, ouch!, etc.), ¡eh! (hey!, etc.).
Interrogative
That asks a question: ¿adónde vamos? (where are we going?) is an
interrogative sentence, ¿quién? (who?) is an interrogative
pronoun, ¿cuánto? (how much?) is an interrogative adverb.
Intransitive
verb
A verb used without a direct object: buscar is intransitive in
busca en el cajón (look in the drawer). See Transitive verb.
Invariable
adjective
An adjective that has the same form regardless of whether it
modifies a singular, plural, masculine or feminine noun.
Adjectives are invariable in English but Spanish adjectives
normally agree with the noun they modify both in gender and
number: un lápiz roj
o (a red pencil) una mancha roj a (a red stain), pantalones roj os
(red pants), luces roj as (red lights). Pastel (pastel) and tabú
(taboo) are invariable adjectives in Spanish: colores pastel (pastel
colors), temas tabú (taboo subjects).
Invariable
noun
A noun that has the same form in the singular and the plural.
Crisis (crisis) is an invariable noun in Spanish: una de las peores
crisis que ha conocido el país (one of the worst crises the country
has known). Sheep (oveja) is an invariable noun in English: to
count sheep (contar ovejas).
Irregular verb
A verb that does not follow the set pattern in some of its forms
and has to be learnt individually: ser (to be), saber (to know) and
salir (to go out, etc.) are irregular verbs in Spanish. To sing
(cantar) and to buy (comprar) are irregular verbs in English. See
Regular verb.
Linking verb
See Copula
Llana
See Stress
Masculine
One of the genders in Spanish grammar. See Gender.
Modal verb
In English grammar, a verb used with another verb to express
possibility, permission, intention, etc., like can, may, will, must,
etc.
Mood
One of the sets of verb forms used to express the attitude of the
speaker with respect to what is stated by the verb in a sentence.
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The imperative mood expresses orders:
quédate aquí (stay here), the indicative mood expresses facts:
quedó viuda muy joven (she was widowed when she was very
young) the subjunctive mood expresses, among other things,
wishes: prefiero que te quedes aquí (I’d rather you stayed here),
conditionality: si fuera más barato vendría más gente (if it was
o were cheaper, more people would come), emotional reactions:
siento que no sea de su agrado (I’m sorry that it’s not to your
liking), hope: espero que hayan disfrutado de la travesía (I hope
you have enjoyed the crossing), etc.
Negative
That expresses denial or refusal: no sabe cuidar el dinero (he’s
not good at looking after his money).
Neuter
One of the genders in Spanish grammar, limited to the pronouns
esto, eso and aquello and the article lo. See Gender.
Noun
A word that refers to a person, a place, a thing, an animal, a
quality or an activity: dentista (dentist), parque (park), vaso
(glass), pato (duck), inteligencia (intelligence), surf (surfing). See
also Proper noun.
Number
The form of a word showing whether one (singular) or more than
one (plural) person or thing is being talked about. The word
mujer (woman) is singular in number, its plural is mujeres
(women).
Object
The word or words naming the person or thing acted on by a verb:
John estudia geografía = John studies geography. Object
collocates are shown in single angled brackets.
Ordinal
number
A number that refers to the position of something or somebody in
a series: el quinto aniversario (the fifth anniversary), su tercera
película (his third movie). See Cardinal number.
Part of speech One of the classes into which words are divided according to their
grammatical function such as noun, verb, adjective, etc.
Passive
In the passive form the subject of the verb does not perform the
action. Instead, it is affected by it:
el vehículo fue hallado en la localidad de San Roque ( the
vehicle was found in the town of San Roque). (See Active). The
passive voice constructed with the verb ‘ser’, as in the previous
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example, is used mostly in formal language in Spanish. In less
formal language the English passive is translated using either the
impersonal construction with ‘se’ (la pasiva refleja): the motion
was defeated (no se aprobó la moción), it was published under a
different title (se publicó con otro título) or an active sentence with
the verb in the third person plural: the baby was found
abandoned (encontraron al bebé abandonado), he was pulled
from the rubble alive (lo sacaron vivo de entre los escombros).
Pasiva refleja
See Passive.
Past participle The impersonal form of the verb used in compound tenses and in
the passive: no lo he
visto en todo el día (I haven’t seen him all day), los heridos
fueron trasladados al hospital (the injured were taken to hospital).
Past participles can also function as adjectives: examen escrito (
written exam).
Perfect tense
In Spanish the perfect tense or pretérito perfecto is used, like the
English present perfect, to refer to events that have happened in a
period of time which extends into the present or events which
have consequences in the present: este año
ha faltado a clase diez veces (this year he’s missed ten classes),
hoy no me ha favorecido la suerte (luck hasn’t been on my side
today), este mes he tenido muchos gastos (this has been an
expensive month for me). However, there are regional variations in
the use of the perfect, which is often replaced by the preterite in
many areas of Latin America.
Person
Any of the three groups of personal pronouns and forms taken by
verbs. In Spanish each person has a singular and a plural form.
The first person singular (yo, I) refers to the person speaking, the
first person plural to a group which includes the person speaking
(nosotros -as, we). The second person singular refers to the
person spoken to (the formal usted and the colloquial tú and, in
some areas of Latin America, also vos, all you [sing] in English),
the second person plural to a group which includes the person(s)
spoken to (ustedes and, in Spain, also the colloquial vosotros, all
you [pl] in English). The third person singular refers to the person
or thing spoken about (él, ella, ello, he, she, it), the third person
plural to the people or things spoken about (ellos, ellas, they).
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The verb forms used with usted and ustedes are the same as the
forms used for the third persons: él tiene (he has), usted tiene
(you [sing] have), ellas tienen (they have), ustedes tienen (you [pl]
have).
Personal
A word that refers to a person or thing. In Spanish the subject
pronoun
pronouns are the ones listed above under Person. These are often
omitted. The object pronouns are me, te, lo, la, le, nos, os (used
only in Spain), los, las, les and se. The third person object
pronouns (lo, la, le, los, las, les and se) are used for usted and
ustedes. In addition, there is a partial set of pronouns used after
prepositions: mí, ti and sí.
Phrasal verb
In English grammar, a verb combined with an adverb or a
preposition, or both, to give a new meaning: to give
up , to go in for , to put up with .
Phrase
A group of words that form a unit with a particular syntactical
function. An adjectival phrase functions as an adjective: de rigor
(usual); los saludos de rigor (the usual greetings), an adverbial
phrase functions as an adverb: motu proprio: lo hizo (de) motu
proprio (he did it on his own initiative), etc.
Pluperfect
tense
The tense that refers to something that happened before a
particular point in the past: a esas alturas ya
había perdido las esperanzas (by that stage he had already lost all
hope).
Plural
See Number
Possessive
adjective
An adjective that shows possession, belonging to someone or
something. In Spanish possessive adjectives agree with the noun
possessed in number. The forms ending in o also agree in gender:
mi casa (my house), mis padres (my parents), nuestro coche (our
car), nuestras cosas (our things).
Possessive
pronoun
A pronoun that shows possession, belonging to someone or
something. In Spanish possessive pronouns agree with the noun
possessed in number and gender: el mío refers to a masculine
singular noun, las nuestras refers to a feminine plural noun.
Predicate
A part of a sentence containing a verb that makes a statement
about the subject of the verb. In the sentence la bala le rozó el
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brazo (the bullet grazed his arm), ‘le rozó el brazo’ is the predicate
making a statement about the subject ‘la bala’.
Predicative
In English grammar an adjective is predicative when it comes after
a verb like be, seem, etc.: they are not
comparable (no se los puede comparar), she seems friendly
(parece simpática). See Attributive.
Prefix
A letter or letters added at the beginning of a word to change its
meaning:
im posible (impossible), a moral (amoral).
Preposition
Invariable word used before a noun or pronoun to show place,
position, time or method. Con (with), en (in) and of (de) are
prepositions.
Prepositional
phrase
A phrase that consists of a preposition and a complement: acerca
de = about
Present
In English grammar, the form of the verb ending in -ing: reading
participle
(leyendo). In Spanish grammar the equivalent form is generally
called gerundio. See Gerund.
Present tense
In Spanish the present tense is used to refer to habitual actions:
por lo general los domingos nos levantamos tarde (we usually
get up late on Sundays), timeless events: no lleva acento (it
doesn’t have an accent on it), states: vas muy desabrigado (you’re
not wearing warm enough clothes), present events which are not
necessarily in progress: opino igual que tú (I agree with you),
events which will happen in the future: dentro de un ratito te
llamo (I’ll call you in a little while), ¿qué hago ahora? (what shall I
do now?), events which are happening at the moment of speaking:
¿llueve? (is it raining?), and familiar imperatives: tú te vienes
conmigo (you’re coming with me). In addition, the present tense
has some stylistic uses in literary and journalistic language.
Preterite tense The preterite tense normally describes completed actions in the
past: me rompí el tobillo (I broke my ankle), no pudo asistir a la
reunión (he was unable to attend the meeting). In some areas in
Latin America, the preterite replaces the perfect in certain
contexts and sentences like ya llegó (he’s already arrived) can
sometimes be heard instead of ya ha llegado.
Pronominal
A verb which is accompanied by an object pronoun (me, te, se,
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nos and, in European Spanish, os) which is of the same person as
the subject. In some pronominal verbs the pronoun does not
have a specific syntactical function: the verb just happens to be
pronominal in Spanish. This is the case of arrepentirse, as in no
me arrepiento de nada (I don’t regret a thing) and caerse as in se
cayó de la cama (she fell out of bed). Some pronominal verbs
express a reciprocal action, like escribirse in nos escribimos
desde hace años (we’ve been writing to each other for years) or
mirarse in se miraron extrañados (they looked at each other in
surprise). In other cases, the use of a pronominal verb instead of
the non-pronominal form emphasizes the surprising quality of an
action, its completeness, etc. like beberse in nos bebimos la
botella entre los dos (we drank the whole bottle between the two of
us), leerse in ¿te lo has leído todo entero? (have you read it all?),
or comerse in cómetelo todo (eat it all up). Others have a
causative value: the action is performed by someone other than
the subject, as in the case of peinarse in siempre me peino en la
misma peluquería (I always have my hair done at the same salon).
Finally, some pronominal verbs are reflexive. See Reflexive verb.
Pronoun
A word used instead of a noun or a noun phrase. See also
Demonstrative pronoun, Personal pronoun, Possessive pronoun,
Relative pronoun.
Proper noun
The name of a person, place, organization, etc. usually written
with a capital letter: San Mateo (St Matthew), Londres (London),
Naciones Unidas (United Nations).
Reflexive
A pronoun that refers back to the subject of the clause in which it
pronoun
is used: myself = me; themselves = se
Reflexive verb A verb whose object is the same as its subject. The subject
performs the action to or for himself or herself:
se lavó (he washed, he had a wash), me hice un tajo en el dedo (I
cut my finger), ponte un delantal para no mancharte (put an
apron on so you don’t get dirty). The verbs in the previous
examples are lavarse, hacerse, ponerse and mancharse .
Reflexive verbs are a relatively small subset of Pronominal verbs.
Regular verb
A verb that follows a set pattern in all its forms and does not
present irregularities: cantar (to sing), comer (to eat) and vivir (to
live) are regular verbs in Spanish. To act (actuar) and to live (vivir)
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are regular verbs in English. See Irregular verb.
Relative
A pronoun that introduces a subordinate clause relating to
pronoun
something or someone mentioned in the main clause: el disco
que le regalé (the record ( which o that ) I gave her); no conozco a
nadie que tenga piscina (I don’t know anyone who has a swimming
pool), la ciudad donde se conocieron (the city where they met).
Reported
speech
Another name for Indirect Speech
Sentence
A set of words expressing a statement, a question or an order,
usually containing a subject and a verb (which can be elliptical in
Spanish). In written Spanish and English sentences usually begin
with a capital letter and end with a full stop, a question mark or
an exclamation mark.
Singular
See Number
Sobresdrújula
See Stress
Stem
The base form of a word to which endings, prefixes or suffixes are
added: habl- is the stem in hablar, am- in amante, alt- in
altísimo.
Stress
Words stressed on the last syllable are called palabras agudas in
Spanish. Unless there is a written accent, all words ending in a
consonant other than n or s or are agudas: comer, reloj, delantal,
complot. Words stressed on the penultimate syllable are called
palabras llanas or graves. All words ending in a vowel, n or s are
llanas or graves: gato, virgen, atlas. Words stressed on the
antepenultimate syllable are called palabras esdrújulas. These
always have a written accent: tíralo, sarcófago, luciérnaga.
Words stressed on the syllable before the antepenultimate one
are called sobresdrújulas. These also need a written accent:
tíramelo, esporádicamente. See also Accent.
Subject
The noun, noun phrase or pronoun representing the person,
people or thing(s) that perform(s) the action of the verb:
la lluvia interrumpió el juego ( rain stopped play), su cambio de
actitud hizo posible el diálogo ( his change of attitude made the
talks possible), él no lo va a hacer y yo tampoco ( he ’s not going
to do it and neither am I ). The subject is often omitted in Spanish:
anoche soñé contigo (I dreamed about you last night). Here the
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subject, as made clear by the form of the verb, is yo. Subject
collocates are shown in double angled brackets.
Subjunctive
See Mood
Subordinate
clause
A clause which adds information to the main clause of a sentence
but cannot be used as a sentence by itself: no quiero que
me compadezcan (I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me ).
Suffix
A group of letters added to the stem of a word to make another
word: -mente is added to the adjective claro (clear) to form the
adverb claramente (clearly), -ito is added to the noun gato (cat)
to form the diminutive gatito (kitten, little cat), -ísimo is added to
the adjective caro (expensive) to form the absolute superlative
carísimo (extremely expensive).
Superlative
The form of an adjective or adverb that expresses the most or the
least in amount, degree or quality. El peor (the worst) is the
superlative of malo -a (bad), la más/menos interesante (the
most/least interesting) are superlative forms of interesante
(interesting). In Spanish the suffix -ísimo -a often expresses an
absolute superlative: pobrísimo -a (extremely poor), temperaturas
altísimas (extremely high temperatures). See Comparative.
Syllable
A sequence of speech sounds pronounced as a single unit, usually
with a vowel as its nucleus. The Spanish word espléndido is
made up of four syllables: es-plén-di-do.
Tense
The verb form that can be used to express when an action takes
place (in the present, the past or the future) in relation to the
moment of speaking or to another action. In
hablaba consigo misma (she was talking to herself) the imperfect
tense is used to describe something that was happening at a
certain moment in the past. In ya había anochecido cuando
volvió (it was already dark when he returned) the pluperfect tense
is used to express an action that had already taken place when
something else happened (when he returned). Tenses are also used
to express things other than time. In Spanish, for example, the
future tense can be used to express conjecture, as in tendrá unos
35 años o por ahí (he must be 35 or so, he must be around 35).
Transitive
A verb used with a direct object: buscar is transitive in la policía
verb
lo está buscando (the police are looking for him). Lo (him) is the
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direct object of the verb. See Intransitive verb.
Uncountable
(uncount)
A noun that cannot be preceded by the indefinite article or a
number and does not have a plural: dinero (money), aire (air). See
noun
Countable (count) noun.
Verb
A word or group of words that expresses an action: recoger (to
pick up), an event: suceder (to happen) or a state: existir (to exist).
Vowel
1. A speech sound in which the mouth is open and there is no
closure or constriction at any point in the vocal tract. 2. A letter
that represents a vowel sound: a, e, i, o and u in many languages.
See Consonant.
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