The document provides information about the Spanish language, including its origins in Castile, Spain and its status as an internationally significant language. It then details the Spanish alphabet by listing each letter and its associated sound. The rest of the document discusses various grammatical aspects of Spanish such as nouns, articles, adjectives, pronouns, verbs and their conjugations.

1. ELAINE ANTONETTE P. GUNSI
2 AB ENGLISH A

2. Spanish (español), also
called Castilian (castellano -
listen), is a Roman language that
originated in CASTILE, a region
of Spain. Largely due to its
popularity as a second language,
Spanish is the only other language
that has a comparable
international significance.

3. 30 letters
5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u)
25 consonants (b, c, ch, d, e, f,
g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q,
r, rr, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z)

4. A-[a] anagrama
B-[be] balsa
C-[ce]; [k] casa; [s] cena
CH- [che] cha-cha
D-[de] Madrid
E-[e] merece

5. F-[efe] falta
G-[ge] gala
H-[hache] hora
I-[i] pita
J-[jota] migaja
K-[ka] kilo

6. L- [ele] Lima
LL- [elle] collado
M-[eme] memo
N- [ene] Nene
Ñ- [enye] España
O- [o] locomotor

7. P-[pe] Pedro
Q-[cu] saque
R-[ere] agrio
RR-[erre] carro
S-[ese] sesenta
T-[te] tetera

8. U- [u] pluma
V- [uve] vino
W- [uve doble] whisky
X- [equis] exito
Y- [i griega] mayoria
Z- [zeta] mazorca


9. *single vowel or the consonants n or s, the stress
normally falls on the next to last syllable:
Ex. (verde muchacho noches volumen)
*consonants other than n or s, the stress normally falls
on the last syllable:
Ex. (Madrid hospital tenaz)
*When words are stressed in ways that do not conform to
the above rules, the stress is indicated by a written acute
accent:
Ex. (cámara chacolí)

10. *Vowels in Spanish are divided into two groups:
Strong vowels (a, e, and o)
Weak vowels (i and u)
* Two strong vowels are combined, they form two
separate syllables:
Ex. (ta-re-a ; ca-er)
*Two weak vowels are combined, they constitute a
single syllable (a diphthong).
Ex. (bui-tre ; rui-dos)

11. *A combination of a strong vowel and one or two
weak vowels, they constitute a single syllable (a
diphthong or triphthong).
Ex. (far-ma-cia ; in-tem-pe-rie)
*Written acute accents are used to distinguish
between the meanings of words with the same
spelling:
Ex. si if ; sí yes
mi my ; mí me (after prepositions)

12. MASCULINE FEMININE
Singular Plural Singular Plural
DEFINITE
ARTICLE
EL LOS LA LAS
INDEFINITE
ARTICLE
UN UNOS UNA UNAS

13. *El used with a and de
*When preceded by a or de, the e of the masculine singular
form el is usually dropped:
a + el > al and de + el > del:
Ex. al banco (to the bank)
del puerto (from the port)
*Immediately before singular feminine nouns beginning
with a stressed a or ha, the forms el and un are used. This
does not change the gender of the noun and the plural
form of the noun still demands las or unas:
Ex. el ancla oxidada (the rusty anchor)
un águila blanca (a white eagle)

14.  Restrictions:
*El and un are not used if the article is not immediately before
the noun.
Ex. el arpa (the harp)
la bella arpa del siglo XVI
(the beautiful sixteenth-century harp)
*El and un are not used if initial a or ha are not stressed:
Ex. una alerta (alert)
la hamburguesa (hamburger)

15. *El and un are not used before other words such as
adjectives or women’s names beginning with stressed a:
Ex. la Ana que conozco (the Ana I know)
*The definite article occurs before adjectives, past
participles, prepositions and relative clauses, to
refer to a noun understood from the context. It
agrees with the unexpressed noun in number and
gender. The article translates English ‘the one(s)’ or
‘that’, ‘those’:
Ex. El rubio me cae mal. (I don’t like the blond one.)

16. *Unlike in English, the definite article is required
in fixed combinations of noun and preposition:
Ex. el espacio (in space)
The Indefinite Article
*The use of the singular indefinite article (un/una)
to refer to someone or something not yet known or
not specifically identified.
Ex. Un niño se me acercó.
(A boy came up to me.)

17. *The plural forms unos and unas are used with
plural nouns in a similar way (often translating
English ‘some’).
Ex. He comprado unos libros.
(I’ve bought some books.)
*The plural forms must also be used with nouns
which only exist in plural form, sometimes
meaning ‘a’ or ‘a pair’.
Ex. unas tijeras
(a pair of scissors)

18. The neuter article LO is used to refer to beliefs,
concepts, thoughts, opinions or ideas that have no
gender.
*Lo may be used before a masculine singular adjective or
past participle, to state briefly what is sometimes
expressed in English by the use of an adjective followed by
a noun such as ‘thing’ or ‘matter’.
Ex. Lo más importante es informar al banco.
(The most important thing is to inform the bank.)

19. *Lo + de + noun
This succinctly approximates to English ‘the matter
of’, ‘the business about’:
Ex. Lo del agua es un problema grave.
(The water situation is a serious problem.)

20. *The Three Main Groups of Nouns in
Spanish:
-Nouns that end in -o
Ex. (libro ‘book’, vino ‘wine’).
-Nouns that end in –a
Ex. (casa ‘house’, patata ‘potato’).
-Nouns that end in -e or a consonant
Ex. (nube ‘cloud’, tacon ‘heel’)

21. *The plural of nouns ending in an unstressed
vowel is obtained by adding -s to the singular
form:
Ex. la casa (the house) las casas (the houses)
*The plural of nouns ending in a consonant.
This is usually obtained by adding -es. This
includes words of one syllable or a final
stressed syllable ending in -s.
Ex. el olor ; los olores (smell/s)

22. *The plural of nouns ending in a stressed vowel.
This is usually obtained by adding -s, except when
the singular form ends in -i:
Ex. el sofá los sofás (sofa/s)
*When the ending is -i, most common words
create the plural by adding -es, although some add
only -s:
Ex. el israelí los israelíes (Israeli/s)

23. *Nouns with a final unstressed syllable ending in -
s, and those which end in -x do not change in the
plural. The article used indicates the plurality.
Ex. la crisis las crisis (crisis/crises)
el fax los fax (fax/faxes)
*Nouns which end in -z change this to -c before the
plural ending -es:
Ex. voz > voces (voice/s)

24.  *Nouns which end in -en will require a
written accent to maintain the correct stress
in the plural.
Ex. imagen > imagines (image/s)
resumen > resumenes (résumé/s)

25. *Nouns in Spanish are generally
assigned either to the
masculine or feminine gender.
Except in the case of nouns
referring to persons or animals,
the gender of a noun is
unrelated to biological gender.

26. • If a masculine noun ends in -o, often its feminine
equivalent is derived by changing the -o into –a;
alongside with the gender of article.
Ex. el abuelo (grandfather)
la abuela (grandmother)
* For many masculine nouns ending in a
consonant, especially -or, -on, -es and -in, the
feminine equivalent is formed by adding –a.
Ex. el locutor la locutora (announcer)

27. * A few nouns add the feminine endings -esa or -
isa after removing any final vowel from the
masculine form.
Ex. el alcalde (mayor)
la alcaldesa (mayor’s wife/mayoress)
* Other nouns form the feminine gender by the use
of other typically feminine endings.
Ex. el actor (actor) la actriz (actress)
el héroe (hero) la heroína (heroine)

28. * In some instances the same word is used
irrespective of gender, the definite or indefinite
articles alone makes the distinction.
Ex. el/la espía (spy)
*The masculine plural form of a noun bearing
biological gender is used in reference to groups
containing at least one male.
Ex. los niños (the children)
los esposos (husband and wife)

29. *Feminine endings other than –a.
Nouns with the following endings are usually
feminine: -ad, -tud, -cion, -sion, -umbre and -ie.
Many of them are abstract nouns relating to
concepts rather than persons or physical objects.
Ex. la caridad (charity)
la solicitud (application)

30. *Masculine endings other than –o.
Nouns with the following endings are usually
masculine:
-aje, -ambre, -an, -en, -or and a stressed vowel.
Ex. el tatuaje [tattoo(ing)]
el fiambre (cold meat)

32. Person Subject Direct Object Indirect Object Prepositional object
SINGULAR
1st yo (I) me (me) me (to me) mí (me)
2nd tu (you) familiar te (you) te (to you) ti (you)
usted (you) polite lo (masc.)
la (fem.)
le (to you) usted (you)
vos (you) familiar *LA te (you) te (to you) vos (you) *LA
3rd él (he) lo (him, it masc.) le (to him/it) él (him)
ella (she) la (her, it fem.) le (to her/it) ella (her)
ello (it neuter) lo (it neuter) le (to it, neuter) ello (it neuter)
PLURAL
1st nosotros (we) masc. nos (us) nos (to us) nosotros (us)
nosotras (we) fem. nos (us) nos (to us) nosotras (us)
2nd vosotros (you) masc.
familiar [SP]
os (you) [SP] os (to you) [SP] vosotros (you) [SP]
vosotras (you) fem. familiar
[SP]
os (you) [SP] os (to you) [SP] vosotras (you) [SP]
ustedes (you) polite [SP and
*LA] *familiar
los (masc.)
las (fem.) (you)
les (to you) ustedes (you)
3rd ellos (they) masc. los (them) les (to them) ellos (them)
ellas (they) fem. las (them) les (to them) ellas (them)

33. *Subject pronouns in Spanish may be required for
emphasis, to indicate a change in reference, or for
clarity (e.g. where verb forms are not person
specific)
Ex. yo/el queria (I/he wanted)
*An appropriate form of mismo ‘myself’, ‘yourself’
etc. can be added as appropriate for extra
emphasis.
Ex. Usted mismo lo firmó.
(You yourself signed it.)

34. *Subject pronouns can also be used on their own
without a verb.
Ex. –¿Quién abrió la puerta?
(Who opened the door?)
–‘Yo’. (Me.)
*The use of subject pronouns in Spanish
is less frequent than in English. Native
speakers of English should take care not
to overuse them.

35. *Ello is a neuter pronoun (translated as ‘it’, ‘this’ or
‘that’) which refers back to something to which no
gender can be ascribed, such as a statement or
concept. As a subject pronoun it is rarely used in
speech, being replaced normally by esto ‘this’ or
eso ‘that’.
Ex.
Ello/Esto dio paso a un largo periodo de
inestabilidad.
(This gave rise to a long period of instability.)

36. *Indirect object pronouns are most commonly used
to indicate to whom something is given, directed or
said:
Ex.
Les trajo un regalo.
(She brought them a present.)

37. *As in English, adjectives assign a property or characteristic to a
noun. They can appear next to a noun, as in un nino listo ‘a
clever boy’, or after verbs such as ser/estar ‘to be’.
Ex. El nino es listo. (The boy is clever.)
*If the masculine form ends in -o, the feminine form ends in –
a.
Ex. blanco (masc.) blanca (fem.) white
*Usually an -a is added to the masculine form to create the
feminine.
Ex. holgazán holgazana (lazy)

38. *A common group of exceptions ending in -or, without a
distinct feminine form, is that comprising words which
have a comparative sense.
Ex. anterior previous
mayor greater
posterior later, older
*Those masculine forms ending in -o follow the pattern
while those ending in a consonant add an –a.
Ex. chino (Masc.) china (Fem.) (Chinese)

39. *Other nationality adjectives (those that end in -a, -ense,
-i or -u) have the same form for both genders.
Ex. belga (Belgian)
canadiense (Canadian)
marroquí (Moroccan)
hindú (Hindu/Indian)
*Colours that are true adjectives usually follow the above
guidelines:
Ex. una flor roja (a red flower)
una hoja verde (a green leaf)

40. *When two or more nouns are considered to be a single
item, the adjective qualifying them may be singular and in
that case it agrees with the nearest noun:
Ex. Estudia lengua y cultura francesa.
(He studies French language and culture.)
*When an adjective precedes two or more nouns, it usually
adopts the gender and number of the first.
Ex. La extraña vida y aventuras de don Miguel.
(The strange life and adventures of don Miguel.)

41. Position of Adjectives
*Adjectives that substitute for a noun phrase
always follow their accompanying noun:
Ex. giro bancario giro del banco
(bank transfer)
*Adjectives that indicate nationality, regional
origin, religious, ideological and political beliefs
also usually follow their noun.
Ex. comida gallega (Galician cuisine)

42. *Some sequences of a noun with an adjective
have developed a more or less fixed word
order.
Ex. sentido común (common sense)

43. Adverbs both in English and Spanish may
be divided into four broad categories,
relating to manner, place, time, and
degree or quantity.
They do not adopt distinct masculine and
feminine forms or distinct singular and
plural forms.

44. Adverbs of Manner:
Ex. lenta + mente = lentamente (slowly)
Adverbs of Place:
Ex. Saltó por encima. (He jumped on top.)
Adverbs of Time:
Ex. Ya no vive aquí. (He doesn’t live here anymore.)
Adverbs of Degree or Quantity:
Ex. Casi hemos terminado. (We have almost finished.)
Apenas come. (He hardly eats anything.)

45. Spanish verbs are organized into three
main classes or conjugations depending on
whether the infinitive form ends in -ar, -er or
-ir.
Each verb form can be divided into a
stem, which often remains the same, and an
ending which changes.
Ex. hablamos (we speak)
habl- stem
amos-ending

46. Changes to the ending express
distinctions of tense (such as past,
present, future), person (1st, 2nd or
3rd), number (singular or plural) and
mood (indicative or subjunctive).

47. -AR AND -ER CONJUGATIONS.
Radical changing verbs in the -ar and -er conjugations undergo
a change in their final stem vowel in the present indicative and
present subjunctive, whenever the spoken stress falls on the
stem rather than the ending.
Person Pensar (think) Volver (return)
Singular
1 (yo) pienso vuelvo
2 (tú) piensas vuelves
(vos) pensás [LA] volvés [LA]
3 (él etc.) piensa vuelve
Plural
1 (nosotros) pensamos volvemos
2 (vosotros) pensáis [SP] volvéis [SP]
3 (ellos etc.) piensan vuelven

48. -IR CONJUGATION
Two Obvious Patterns of Conjugation:
 Pattern I – In the present indicative and subjunctive, the
occurrence of the changes from e > ie (and in the cases of
morir ‘die’ and dormir ‘sleep’ from o > ue) is the same as for -
ar and -er verbs. In addition, in the present subjunctive there
are changes in the 1st and 2nd persons plural from e > i as
shown in Table 10.5, and in the cases of morir and dormir
from o > u.

49. Sentir (feel)
Person Indicative Subjunctive
Singular
1 (yo) siento sienta
2 (tú) sientes sientas
(vos) sientas [LA] sientas
3 (él etc.) siente sienta
Plural
1 (nosotros) sentimos sintamos
2 (vosotros) sentís [SP] sintáis [SP]
3 (ellos etc.) sienten sientan

50.  Pattern II – In the present indicative some verbs have a
change from e > I whenever the stress falls on the stem, and
make the same change in all persons of the present
subjunctive.
Medir (measure)
Person Indicative Subjunctive
Singular
1 (yo) mido mida
2 (tú) mides midas
(vos) mides [LA] midas
3 (él etc.) mide mida
Plural
1 (nosotros) medimos midamos
2 (vosotros) medís [SP] midáis [SP]
3 (ellos etc.) miden midan

51. Like the English words ‘to’, ‘from’, ‘after’, ‘with’,
Spanish prepositions are used to link words and
express a relationship between them.
*A- it is required when the direct object of the verb
is a noun referring to a specific, known person.
Ex.
No conozco a Yolanda.
(I don’t know Yolanda.)

52. *A usually translates ‘at’ and ‘on’.
Ex.
Vino a las once y se fue al mediodía.
(He came at 11 o’clock and went at midday.)
*Con- is to express the equivalent of English ‘with’.
This embraces uses such as ‘accompanied by’, con + the
instrument ‘with’ which, or the means ‘by’ which, something is
done, and con + noun to form adverbial phrases.
Ex.
Maribel sale con Paco.
(Maribel is going out with Paco.)

53. *De frequently indicates origin or source. It also expresses ‘of’
with regard to ownership and relationship, and in the sense of
‘made of’.
Ex.
el mejor hotel de Río de Janeiro
(The best hotel in Rio de Janeiro)
*Desde translates ‘from’, especially to emphasize distance and
range (e.g. in prices), or to avoid any possible confusion
between ‘from’ and ‘of’ that de might cause.
Ex.
camisas desde diez hasta cien dólares
(shirts from ten to a hundred dollars)

54. *Entre generally is equivalent to ‘between’, ‘among(st)’.
Ex.
No pude decidir entre protestar y callarme.
(I could not decide between protesting and keeping quiet.)

55. *No-the most common negative word in Spanish. It may be
used with themmeaning of ‘no’ to give a negative answer to a
question, or with verbs and other words with the sense of ‘not’,
or ‘don’t’, ‘doesn’t’, ‘didn’t’.
Ex.
No has puesto tu edad.
(You haven’t filled in your age.)
*The word no is commonly used to negate adjectives or the
adverb muy ‘very’.
Ex. una casa no muy grande (not a very big house)

56. *Nunca (never) and jamas (not ever) are frequently used
before the verb but can also be positioned after it in the
double-negative construction. Jamas is considered to be
more emphatic and is less common.
Ex.
Rocío nunca viene a cenar a nuestra casa.
(Rocío never comes to dinner at our house.)

57. When a suffix is added to a word, the
ending of this word is often modified in
some way.
*A number of suffixes create abstract nouns that are
feminine in gender. Some such as -ancia, -dad, -dumbre,
-encia, -ez, -eza, and -ura typically transform adjectives,
whereas -anza changes verbs into abstract nouns.

58. Base Word New Word
arrogante arrogant arrogancia arrogance
Curioso curious curiosidad curiosity
manso gentle mansedumbre gentleness
inocente innocent inocencia innocence
rígido rigid rigidez rigidity
limpio clean limpieza cleanliness
largo long largura length
desconfiar distrust desconfianza mistrust

59. *The forms -al and -ar denote a grouping or
abundance of whatever the base noun denotes, or
the place where this is found. These suffixes are
frequently applied to names of plants and trees.
Ex. chaparro (dwarf oak)
chaparral (dwarf oak thicket)

60. The use of prefixes is less common than
that of suffixes as a means of forming
words.
*Probably the most common prefix in Spanish, it is
frequently used to indicate a negative or opposite
meaning.
Ex.
animar (to encourage)
desanimar (to discourage)

61. *En- This generally denotes the idea of ‘placing inside’ or
‘covering’. It occurs as em- before b and p.
Ex. cárcel (prison) encarcelar (imprison)
paquete (package) empaquetar (to package)
Pairs of Nouns
English: adjective+noun
Generally in Spanish this word order is reversed.
Ex. satélite espía (spy satellite)
placa madre (motherboard)


62. *More common in Spanish is the practice of
using a preposition to link nouns to other
parts of speech (mainly other nouns or
infinitives). The commonest link is de, but
others are used such as para to express the
use for which something is intended.
Ex. jugo de piña (pineapple juice)
jarra para cerveza (beer mug or tankard)

63. Word order in Spanish is S-V-O; very flexible
in comparison to English.
*In a sentence given in response to a question
asking .quien? or .que?, if the subject supplies
the answer it will usually come after the verb.
Ex.
–¿Quien fue a la cena?
(Who went to the dinner?)
–Fueron Ana, Lole y Miguel.
(Ana, Lole and Miguel went.)

64. *Subjects with no article must follow the verb.
When the subject is a noun on its own, it must be
placed after the verb.
Ex.
Entra luz por la persiana.
(Light is coming in through the blinds.)

65. (THANK YOU)
SOURCE:
SPANISH: AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR