Español IV 1
Grammar
Alphabet
Pronunciation
Word Order
Accents and Punctuation
Articles
Nouns
Adjectives
Adverbs
*Pronouns
*Verbs
Prepositions
Por vs. Para
Conjunctions
*Separate packet
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1
1
2
3
3
4-5
6-7
8
8
8
Español IV 2
Grammar
Alphabet
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
These letters are no longer singleton letters: Ch, Ll, N, Rr; you will likely find these letters in the older
dictionaries alphabetically after the letters C, L, N, and R
Pronunciation Spanish is a phonetic language; therefore, you pronounce nearly all the letters in the
word; some letters have different sounds depending on the letters that follow them.
Vowels:
A
E
I
O
U
ah (on)
e (stay)
e (eat)
o (hello)
oo (you); silent after the letter g, q
Consonants:
B
Ca,Co, Cu
Ce, Ci
Ch
D
D
Ga, Go, Gu
Ge, Gi
H
Ll
Ñ
P
Q
R
R
Rr
S
S
V
W
X
X
Y
Y
Z
Z
Zz
quicker and no puff of air b sound (born)
hard c/k sound (cauliflower)
s sound (sea)
ch sound (chocolate)
hard d sound at the beginning of a stressed syllable (done)
softer t –like sound in an unstressed syllable (little)
hard g sound (gift)
h sound (hi)
silent
y sound (yes)
nyu sound (onion)
quicker and no puff of air p sound (prefer)
k sound (kind)
d sound in an unstressed syllable (steady), and at the end of a word
heavily trilled r at the beginning of a word
heavily trilled r
s sound (Spanish) at the beginning of a word, and before vowels and silent consonants
z sound (rose) before a voiced consonant
b sound (bright)
u/v sound (wish)
ks sound (English pronunciation of Mexico) in all words with x except for Mexico
hee sound (Spanish pronunciation of Mexico= Me hee co)
y sound (yes) in the beginning of a word
e sound (we) at the end of a word and for the word, and= y
s sound (Spanish)
th sound (think) in Castillian Spanish, used mainly in Spain, and Argentina
ts sound with the tongue placed in the t position, but not pronouncing the t (pizza)
Word order in Spanish, the word order, syntax, is most often subject, verb, object- SVO. There are some
examples which change the word order to subject, object, verb. For negative statements: put the “no” in
front of the verb, or in front of the I.O.P/Reflexive pronoun. Positive statements put “si” in the same
manner.
Español IV 3
Accent Marks 11 rules
Rule1: Words that end in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), n, or s and stress the next-to-the last syllable, do not require
a written accent (graves/llanas)
Ex: casa, mano, bonito, señoritas, americano
Rule 2: Words that end in a consonant, except n or s, and stress the last syllable, do not require a written
accent (agudas)
Ex: color, azul, hospital, felicidad, universidad
Regla 3: Words that end in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), n, or s and stress the last syllable require a written
accent (agudas)
Ex: mamá, inglés, capitán, autobús, estudiaré
Regla 4: Words that end in a consonant except n or s and stress the next-to-the last syllable,
require a written accent (graves)
Ex: lápiz, fácil, azúcar
Regla 5: Words that stress the 3rd syllable from the end of the word require a written accent
(esdrujulas)
Ex: lápices, teléfono, automático
Regla 6: Words that end in “ion” require a written accent on the vowel o (agudas)
Ex: nación, religión, televisión
Regla 7: Words that have a diphthong such as “tio” produce two separate sounds and require a
written accent (graves)
Ex: tío, tenía, mayoría
Regla 8: Diacritic words are words that are spelled the same. One word has an accent to distinguish
certain function (diacriticas)
Ex: él/el
Regla 9: Interrogative and exclamatory phrases (palabras interrogativas)
Ex: qué/que
Regla 10: Words that combine with direct object pronouns and indirect object pronouns and
require a written accent (esdrujulas/sobreesdrujulas)
Ex: háblame, vendéselo
Regla 11: Words that combine with the suffixes “isimo” and “mente” with accents
(esdrujulas/sobreesdrujulas)
Ex: rápida, fácil
Punctuation In Spanish, there are two upside down punctuation marks, the upside down question mark
and the upside down exclamation point. These are used when the statement that is written is for a
question or exclamation. At the end of the statement, the punctuation is right-side up/normally written.
There are no apostrophes in Spanish to show possession or contractions. The decimal point in money in
English is not used in Spanish, but a comma instead.
Computer Accents and Punctuation Holding down the Alt key, type in the following numbers only:
á
é
í
ó
ú
0225
0233
0237
0243
0250
Á
É
Í
Ó
Ú
0193
0201
0205
0211
0218
ñ 0241
ü 0252
Ñ 0209
Ü 0220
¿ 0191
¡
0161
Español IV 4
*Definite and Indefinite Articles Indicate masculine, feminine, singular, or plural aspects of nouns
El/La/Los/Las
Un/Uno/Una/Unas
The
A/An/Some
Nouns Name people, places, or things- In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine, or feminine. Nouns
affect adjectives, articles, I.O.P’s and D.O.P’s, and to an extent, the verbs. The nouns affect the verbs
when you are conjugating the verbs for the subject of the sentence. The following masculine and feminine
endings of nouns:
Masculine: -o
Feminine: - a, -ción, -sión, -eza, -dad, -tad, -tud, -dez, -ie, -itis, and -umbre.
Algo/Nada
Alguien/Nadie
El intento
El interés
El parrafo
El problema
El trabajo
La causa
La frase
La maravilla
La mentira
La palabra
La razón
La solución
La verdad
Something/Nothing
Someone/No one
The purpose
The interest
The paragraph
The problem
The work/job
The cause
The phrase/sentence
The wonder/marvel
The lie
The word
The reason
The solution
The truth
Español IV 5
Adjectives Describe nouns; -o/-a/ change their endings to match the gender and –s/-es/-os/-as for the
number and gender of the noun; adjectives ending in an r/n add -a at the end for feminine. In Spanish,
the following different kinds of adjectives can be placed before, after, or in either place of the noun being
described:
Before
Demonstrative
Short form possessive
Indefinite
After
Long form possessive
Descriptive
Before/After
Numbers
Character
When using two or more adjectives together to describe a noun, the conjunction word, y is used in
between the two adjectives, and then they usually both go after the noun. If the adjective after the
conjunction word also begins with the vowel, i, then the y changes to an e, as seen here:
El hombre fuerte e inteligente
Izquierda
Derecha/Derecho
Antiguo
Bueno/Malo (these are used with the verb, ser)
Cierto
Enorme
Estupendo
Fenomenal
Inexplicable
Pronto
Siguiente
Tanto como
Tipico
Todo el mundo
Trabajador
Ultimo/Ultima
Vario
Left
Right/Straight
Ancient/Old
Good/Bad
Certain
Enormous
Stupendous
Phenomenal
Inexplainable
Prompt, quick
Continuing/Following/Next
As much as
Typical/Characteristic
Everyone
Hard working
Ultimate/Last
Various
*Demonstrative (describe nouns)
este/esta/estos/estas
ese/esa/esos/esas
aquel/aquella/aquellos/aquellas
This/These
That/Those
Those over there
Indefinite (do not specify an amount)
Algun/Ningun
Ambos
Cada
Cierto
Cualquiera (plural)
Demasiado
Mismo
Mucho/Poco
Otro
Solo
Tal
Varios
Some/Not any
Both
Each/Every
Certain
Any
Too much/Too many
Same
A lot/A little
Another/Other
Alone/By oneself/On one’s own
Such
Several
Español IV 6
Adjectives (cont’d.)
*Possessive, short form (tell what belongs to someone or show relationships; go before the noun)
Mi(s)
Tu(s)
Su(s)
Nuestro/a, Nuestros/as
Vuestro/a, Vuestros/as
Su(s)
My
Your
His/Her
Our
Y’all’s
Their
*Possessive, long form (ownership/relationships; used without nouns or go after the noun)
Mío(s)/Mía(s)
Tuyo(s)/Tuya(s)
Suyo(s)/Suya(s)
Nuestro(s)/Nuestra(s)
Vuestro(s)/Vuestra(s)
Suyo(s)/Suya(s)
Mine
Yours
His/Hers/Its/Yours
Ours
Y’alls’
Theirs
Descriptive Size, Shape, Color, or Character adjectives are placed after the nounsee Functional Language Packet for Size and Shape
Colors
Amarillo
Anaranjado
Azul/Azulado
Blanco
Café/Marrón
Dorado
Gris
Negro
Plateado
Púrpura/Violeta/Morado
Rojo
Rosa/Rosado
Turquesa
Verde/Verdemar
Numbers
Refer to Functional Language Packet
Yellow
Orange
Blue/Bluish
White
Brown
Gold
Gray
Black
Silver
Purple
Red
Pink
Turquoise
Green/Seagreen
Español IV 7
Adverbs Describe verbs; can also describe adjectives or other adverbs; usually go before an adjective or
other adverb; before or after haber+verb, never in between them; normally go first in a sentence; -mente
is the Spanish ending for its English counterpart, -ly
Ademas
Afortunadamente
Ahi
Al final
Al lado de
Algo/Nada
Allá
Allí
Alrededor de
Antes de/Despues de
Arriba
Aquí
Ayer
Bien/Mal (these are used with the estar verb)
Casi
Cerca de
Como
Cuando
Debajo de
Delante de
Demasiado
Derecho
Desafortunadamente
Despacio
Detrás de
En frente de
En que
Encima de
Entonces
Felizmente
Fuertemente
Finalmente
Frecuentemente
Moreover
Fortunately
There in that place
At the end
Next to
Something/Nothing
Over there
There
Around
Before/After
Up(stairs)
Here
Yesterday
Good/Bad
Almost
Near
As
When…
Underneath
In front of
Too (quantity)
Straight
Unfortunately
Slowly
Behind
In front of/Facing/Before
When
On/Upon/Above
Then/So
Happily
Strongly
Finally
Frequently
Español IV 8
Adverbs (cont’d.) Usually describe verbs; can also describe adjectives or other adverbs; usually go
before an adjective or other adverb; before or after haber+verb, never in between them; normally go first
in a sentence; -mente is the Spanish ending for its English counterpart, -ly
Habilmente
Honradamente
Hoy
Inmediatamente
Lejos de
Lentamente
Luego
Mañana
Más/Menos
Más que
Menos que
Mientras
Mucho/poco
Muy
Pronto
Quízas
Rara vez
Recientemente
Sí/No
Siempre/Nunca
Tal vez
También/Tampoco
Tan como
Tarde
Temprano
Todavía/Todavía no
Ya/Ya no
Skillfully
Honestly
Today
Immediately
Far from
Slowly
Later/Afterwards
Tomorrow
More/Less
More than
Less than
While/During
A lot/A little
Very
Soon
Perhaps/Maybe
Rarely
Recently
Yes/No
Always/Never
Perhaps
Also/Too
As….as
Late
Early
Still/Yet/Not…yet
Already/No longer
Español IV 9
Prepositions Show relationship between their objects and another word in the sentence
A
Con/Sin
De
Durante
En
Entre
Para
Por
Según
Sobre
To
With/Without
Of/From
During
In
Between/Among
For/In order to/By
By/For
According to
On/Upon
Por vs. Para These two prepositions can both mean for;
Por (looking back)
Time/Place
Exchange/Equivalence
Prices/Measures/Rates
Show how something is done
By
Something that has not yet happened
Cause
Purpose
Por la mañana; Por España
Gracias por la información
Por mil dolares
Por teléfono
Hecho por la mano
Por descubrir
No hablo por el bebé
Por ti estoy feliz
Please
In general
For that/Because of that
For example
Because
Of course
Por favor
Por lo general
Por eso
Por ejemplo
Porque
Por supuesto
Para (looking forward) Purpose/Destination
Time
Taking into account/For
Something’s going to happen
In order to/To begin….
In order to/To feel….
For one day
For me
In order to/To be good…
Educación es buena para ti
Para el año escolar, somos serios
Para septiembre, hace fresco
Voy para viajar
Para empezar
Para sentir
Para un día
Para mí
Para ser bueno
Conjunctions Join/Connect words or groups of words
Mientras
Lo que
O/*U
Pero
Porque
Pues
Si
Y/*E
While/During
That/Which/Who/Whom
Or (*changes when the word after it begins with an o/ho)
But
Because
Well/So
If
And (*changes when the word after it begins with an i/hi)