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Published: Friday, 28 July 2023 01:38
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Nouns: Nouns are names of things, place, people, etc. So, they mostly remain same with some alterations for singular/plural form. Nouns also have a fixed gender, and almost all nouns are either male or female.
Gender (feminine and masculine) of nouns:
In spanish, every noun has a gender and are masculine or feminine (just like in hindi language = cat is female (Hindi=billi aati hai), dog is male (Hindi=kutta khaa raha hai).
Quick gender hack: Most nouns that end in “-a”, “-dad” or "ción/sión" are feminine. Almost all nouns that end in “o” are masculine. Nouns ending in -e or -ista or in a consonant can be either masculine or feminine (these have to be memorized). Nouns that refer to people have both masculine and feminine forms. For nouns that end in a consonant, we can get feminine form by adding -a. Gender is intermediate level language concept, so it's ok to use words as gender neutral, and go with the wrong gender. You will still get the meaning across.
NOTE: Good way to remember for feminine endings is this => most Indian names of females end in "a": i.e lalita, priya, geeta, sarita, etc => So "a" implies feminine.
Ex:
- niño => boy, niña => girl,
- profesor is male, while profesora is female
Singular and plural form of nouns:
Just as in English, nouns change based on for plural we just add a "s" (for nouns ending in vowel) or "es" (for nouns ending in consonant) at the end of the noun. ex: chicos => boys.
Ex:
- edifico => building, edificios => buildings
- ascensor => elevator, ascensores => elevators
NOTE: For all discussion from now on, we will use (m) for masculine, (f) for feminine, (s) for singular and (p) for plural.
More ex of nouns:
- sun => el sol, moon => la luna
Determiners: Determiners specify a noun. Ex: a, the, this, that, etc. They are grouped into several types:
- Articles: They are articles as a, an, the, etc. Explained later.
- Demonstrative pronouns: They are also demonstrative pronouns as this, that, etc. Explained later.
- Others: mucho => many.
- ex: Muchos perros => many dogs
Determiners go with nouns and change based on noun's gender and number. This is the unique thing in Spanish compared to English.
Articles (a, an, the): a and an are indefinite articles, while the is a definite article. These are used with nouns. Definite and Indefinite articles have to agree in gender and number with the noun they are associated with.
- a / an => indefinite article: When we refer to people or things that have not been specifically identified, we need to use an indefinite article before a noun. "a" is the 5th most commonly used word and an indefinite article in English. "a" similar to "the" has different translation for masculine and fenimine. At least 4 variants as shown below:
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| |
singular |
plural |
| masculine |
un (could have been uno, but uno is already taken for "one")
ex: a cat => un gato (o at end implies masculine)
|
unos (some / a few)
ex: unos niños => some kids
|
| feminine |
una
ex: a good mother => una buena madre (mother is feminine, all adjectives get a at end to imply feminine)
|
unas
ex: unas chicas => some girls
|
- the => definite article: When we refer to people or things that have been specifically identified, we need to use an definite article before a noun. "the" is the most commonly used word and a definite article in English. In spanish, "the" has different translation for masculine and feminine. At least 4 variants as shown below:
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-
| |
singular |
plural |
| masculine |
1. el (No accent on e. If we put an accent on é, él becomes He)
ex: the pencil => el lapiz
2. lo (used rarely for the, lo is a Direct Object pronoun too used for "him,her,it". see in DOP section below)
ex: I did not see him => no lo vi
|
los (plural los came from lo)
ex: the dresses => los vestidos
ex: the good things => los buenos
|
| feminine |
la
ex: the ball => la pelota
ex: the city => la ciudad
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las
ex: the flowers => las flores
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ex: lo boleto => the ticket. boleto is ending in o (masculine), so we use lo (masculine version of the), instead of la (feminine version of the).
ex: los belotos => belotos is ending in "s" (plural), so we used los instead of lo
Common Ex:
- Masculine: ending in -o or -e:
- el chico => the boy. la chica => the girl
- el muchacho => the boy, la muchacha => the girl
- el hombre => man
- el nuevo => the new, la nueva
- el árbol => the tree (it ends in-l which isn't -o or -dad, so masculine). NOTE: accent on a.
- Feminine; (ending in -a):
- la mujer => the woman (woman is feminine to start with, so even though it ends in -r, it's still feminine), las mujeres => the women (plural)
- la pregunta => the question. The opposite word "answer" is "respuesta", which sounds similar to response (i.e answer)
- la -ción => all words ending in -ción are feminine
- la piscina => the pool
Exceptions (where nouns ending in a are masculine, and ones ending in e are feminine):
- Masculine: ending in -a:
- el problema => the problem
- el programa => the program
- el día => the day (accent on i)
- el agua => the water
- Feminine; (ending in -e):
- la clase => the class
- la carne => the meat
- la foto => the photo. foto is short form of fotographía (with accent on i), which ends in -a, so feminine. That's why foto remains masculine even with -o at end.
We also have a gender neutral demonstrative pronoun that can be used, when we don't know the noun's gender. We'll see that later.
-s vs -es: If the word ends in a consonant, then the plural form of that word ends in -es. For all other cases (i.e words ending in vowels), plural form ends in -s.
ex:
- los árboles => the trees (here -es added for plural)
- las chicas => the girls
- las -ciones => all words ending in -ción will have -es added for plural form with accent removed on o. So, it becomes -coines (w/o an accent on o) and NOT -ciónes. This is because the default rule for stressing says that 2nd to last syllable should be stressed as the word ends in s. So, cion is already stressed and hence no accent is needed to specify that. When in singular form, -cion by default should be stressed on 2nd to last syllable as it ends in n or s. This is not what we want. So, we have to put an accent on last syllable of -ción to make the user stress it.
Demonstrative pronouns (DP): When the noun is unidentified, demonstrative pronouns are used to identify or demonstrate the nouns they refer to. Ex are this, that, etc. For these pronouns, we have 3 variants: masculine, feminine and neuter (gender neutral) form, along with 3 more variants for plural. We'll look at this/that and here/there.
NOTE: Usually -o suffix is for male, and -a suffix is for female. -e is usually for gender neutral. However for DP, -e suffix is for male, and -o is for gender neutral. Female is still with -a suffix.For plural form of este/ese, there's irregularity, where plural form for male is estos/esos instead of estes/eses. So, keep in form masculine from for DP is different.
- this/these: Used to refer to things nearby. It has 6 variants for singular/plural and masculine/feminine/neuter with base word being "est". Remember it this way => "t" is touch, so means it's close enough to touch, so implies "this"
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| |
singular (this) |
plural (these) |
| masculine |
este (ends in o or e for male) |
estos (instead of estes, it's estos)
ex:These books =>estos libros
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| feminine |
esta (ends in a for female). NOTE: there's está with an accent on a which means is/are for 3rd person (see in verb - ser/estar) |
estas
ex: these houses => estas casa
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| Neuter (neutral => no gender or number) |
esto (What is this? => ¿Qué es esto? Esto es bueno => This is good) |
estos |
- that/those: Used to refer to things farther away. It has 6 variants (similar to this/these shown above) with base word being "es". The only diff b/w this and aabove is "t" is being removed here. Remember it this way => "t" is touch, so no "t" means no touch, meaning it's far away, so implies "that"
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| |
singular (that) |
plural (those) |
| masculine |
ese
ex: Este y ese => this and that
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esos (instead of eses, it's esos)
ex: those courses => esos curses
|
| feminine |
esa |
esas
ex: those tables => esas mesas
|
| Neuter (no gender or number) |
eso (me gusta eso => I like that) |
esos |
- that/those over there: Used to refer to things which are at a distance. It is similar to that/those, but refers to things which are even further out. It has 6 variants for singular/plural and masculine/feminine/neuter with base word being "aquel". Remember it this way => "t" is touch, so means it's close enough to touch, so implies "this"
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| |
singular |
plural |
| masculine |
aquel |
aquellos |
| feminine |
aquella (pronouned aah-kee-yah) |
aquellas |
| Neuter (no gender or number) |
aquello (aquello fue horrible => That was horrible) |
aquellos
|
ex: This is for everybody => esto es para todos.
Pronouns: I, you, He, she, They, etc. Subject pronouns like these are not always necessary to be said or written explicitly, as they are understood from context. So, most of the times they are completely omitted. The demonstrative verb am, is, are,etc convey who is it for (since they have different ending depending on pronoun), and so instead of saying "I am sick", we just say "am sick". Verb is conjuagted based on the subject, which is the pronoun here.
Link => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRV9fvWjMHA&list=PLv63dFTP4Sjq6knRsZQI-bTnRE38cZZoy&index=2
NOTE: The plural 2nd person (yo all in informal way) is NOT used in Latin America Spanish. It's used in Span only. in rest of the world, we use 3rd person formal (ustedes) for "you all". It stands for both formal and informal "you all" depending on context.
| Pronouns |
singular (same form for male and female except for él/ella) |
plural ( add s at end) => different forms for male(-os) and female(-as) except for ustedes |
| I / We => First person |
Yo (Used with I'm. Yo is often dropped since meaning is clear, so Yo is not very much used). i.e I shower => Yo ducho (Here Yo is needed, since there's no "am" or verb)
I shower myself => Yo me ducho. Here Yo is usually dropped, since meaning is clear, so just say "me ducho"
|
nosotros => We (has "o" at end, meaning masculine. Used for mixed crowd or male crowd)
nosotras => We feminine (has "a" at end, meaning feminine. Used for girl group only) |
| You (informal, casual. Used with friends or with children) => Second person |
tú => with accent on u (hindi "tu" means you, informal). tu (w/o an accent) means "your".
|
vosotros => You all (plural, used for mixed or male crowd). "vos" also used as shortcut instead of vosotros. Used in Spain only. Use "ustedes" instead in rest of the world.
vosotras => You all (plural, female group of people). Used in Spain only. Use "ustedes" instead in rest of the world.
|
| He, she, You (formal, showing respect. Used for people whom you would say Mam/Sir, etc) => Third person |
él => He (with accent on e. may have been ello (to have same form as ella for she, but we have el). el w/o accent is "masculine The". Ideally él should have been "éllo", but this is how spanish ancestors evolved it.
ella (pronounced as eyya) => She
Usted => You (formal)
|
ellos => They (has "o" at end, meaning masculine, for mixed crowd or male crowd)
ellas => They feminine (has "a" at end, meaning feminine. Used for girl group only)
Ustedes => You all (plural, group of people).
|
Direct/Indirect object pronouns (DOP/IOP): Direct objects are nouns on whom the verb is being done. The indirect object, however, is the noun that receives the direct object itself.
ex: Ajay passed Mohan the ball. Here "passing" is verb with ball the direct object. The direct object "ball" is received by Mohan, so Mohan is the indirect object, while Ajay is the subject. If instead of Mohan (name), we used "him", then "him" would be indirect object pronoun. If sentence was "Ajay passed him", then "him" is still indirect object pronoun, since something ( a ball which is direct object noun) was passed to him. If we used it instead of ball, i.e Ajay passed it to him, then it here refers to "direct object pronoun". When we use pronouns instead of nouns, the rule change slightly.
Direct object pronoun => So "direct object pronouns" are words that replace the person/thing that the verb is being done to. We use pronouns that refer to nouns via it, them, etc. So, instead of pronoun I, you, etc, we have me, it, them, etc. These go in front of the verb (different than in English, where they go after the verb).
- TIP: To find what the direct object is, put "what?" just after the verb in the sentence. ex: I received a letter. Replace it with question "I received what?" => answer is "a letter", so letter is the direct object. If we replace this noun with pronoun, then it becomes a Direct pronoun, i.e I received it. Something done to someone is a direct object.
Indirect object pronoun => So "Indirect object pronouns" are pronouns that refer to indirect objects via him, her, etc. So, instead of pronoun I, you, etc, we have me, him, her, them, etc. These go in front of the verb, similar to direct object pronoun. There's not much difference in how they transform except for the the 3rd row (we have le/les for indirect object, instead of lo/la that's used for direct object).
- TIP: Just ask the question to whom or for whom the verb is done, or where the direct object is going? The answer to that is the "indirect object". ex: He gives the money to Jose. Direct object is "money' (since he gives what? => money). To whom? => Jose. So, Jose is the indirect object. If we replace Juan with "him", then him becomes indirect object pronoun. Usually Indirect objects have "to" in front of the object.
Link for IOP/DOP (good explanation): https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/how-to-use-direct-and-indirect-object-pronouns-in-spanish/
Both forms are shown in table below. In Spanish, indirect object pronouns (him) go before direct object pronoun (it), and both of them go before the conjugated verb. Way to remember is that whatever we do in English, we do it in reverse order in Spanish. In English we do subject + Verb + DOP + IOP, so in Spanish, we do IOP+DOP + Verb.
RULE: Subject + IOP + DOP + Verb (conjugated) =>This rearrangement is only for object pronouns. If nouns were used for objects, then no rearrangement is needed. Also, verb is conjugated based on subject doing the work(verb), whether it's noun or pronoun, doesn't matter.
- Start thinking in Spanish. ex: I give him the money => I, to him, give the money > Yo le doy el dinero (le => him). That is how a person in Spanish thinks. Object pronouns don't come at the end as in English. So, when speaking Spanish, always put object pronouns first even in English, before you even translate to Spanish. That will make it for natural for you to think in Spanish.
| Direct object Pronouns |
singular (all end in e) => (remember it as me-te-le) |
plural ( add s at end) |
| me/us => First person |
me (meh NOT mee)=> English "me" or when verb is done to me. If me is NOT used as direct/indirect object, then use "mi" (w/o an aacent) which also means me. "mí" (with an aacent) which means my (PA explained below)
- ex: she loves me => ella me ama (she me loves)
- she talks to me => ella habla a mi (here me is NOT used as an object since it has "to walk", so mi used)
- i.e I like to walk => Me gusta caminar. Again "to walk" is not object. (can't use Yo gusto). See in gustar verb
- ex: Jose writes me a letter => Jose me escribe una carta
|
nos => Us (shortened from nosotros)
ex: you watch us => tú nos miras
|
| You (informal) => Second person |
te => you (when you is used as an object)
- Ana remembers you with love – Ana te recuerda con cariño
- ex: I love you very much => yo te amo mucho
|
os => You all (shortened from vos (since vos is already used for vosotros as a shortened form of vosotros).
|
|
it / Them => Third person
Him,Her,You (formal) / Them => Third person
|
lo (m) / la (f) => him / her (or it) (male/female object). This is for direct object. lo/la may both be used for it. => NOTE: These are also used for indefinite article "the" (lo is used rarely for the, instead "el" is used for the).
- ex: You (formal) wait for her – Usted la espera (here her is direct obj)
- ex: I bought it here => yo lo/la compré aqui (object pronoun before the verb)
le => Him, her, you (formal), it => This is for indirect obj (for both genders)
- ex: He always buys her flowers – Él siempre le compra flores
- ex: I'm going to tell him => le voy a decir (to him, I'm going to tell it). It is a direct obj (but it is not translated as it's not present), him is an indirect object, so le used.
|
los/las => Them (these are also used for plural form of "the"). This is for direct object.
ex: We can wear them – Nosotros los podemos usar
les => Them This is for indirect object. (for both genders)
ex: I read them a book – Yo les leo un libro (them is indirect obj, so les used. book is the direct obj noun)
|
Rules for using object pronoun: Link => https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/how-to-use-direct-and-indirect-object-pronouns-in-spanish/
- Sometimes we may have just indirect object with no direct object.
- ex: I told her => Yo le dije => If we put what after told, then we get "it" or "told something", that is the direct object, and that is going to "her", so her is indirect object. "I told her it (I told it to her)" would be complete sentence, but "it" is hidden here.
- DOP must agree in gender and number with the noun they are replacing (for 3rd person only), while IOP agree just in number (for 3rd person only. Similar to pronoun table, gender doesn't exist for I and you).
- DOP => Did you send the letters? => ¿enviaste las cartas?. Yes, I sent them => Sí, yo las envié. (cartas is feminine+plural, so las used. No, les used when answering since it's DOP (not IOP)
- IOP => Did you buy the present for your mother? => ¿compraste el regalo a tu madre?. Yes, I bought the present for her => Sí, yo le compré el regalo. See personal "a" section below.
- in Spanish we always place the indirect object pronoun before the direct object pronoun. In addition, both are always placed before the conjugated verb. NOTE: It has to be a pronoun *i.e him, it, me, etc) and NOT a noun (ball, Josh, etc). Nouns are still placed after verb (the way they appear in the sentence, same as what we do in English)
- ex: I buy you it (a car) => yo te lo compro (IOP=te=you, DOP=lo=it)
- With positive imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds, pronouns are attached to the word, creating one single word.
- Imperatives: With positive imperatives, we can create one word (NOT with negative imperatives). See in "Imperative section"
- Infinitives and Gerunds: See below section "back to back verbs"
- With some verb combinations, we can either place the pronouns before the conjugated verb or attach them to the non-conjugated verb of the verb combination.
- Also, remember that when 3rd person IOP (le/les) and a 3rd person DOP (lo/la, los/las) appear together, le(s) changes to se. Why? => 2 "l" words in sequence (le lo, les lo, le los, etc) don't sound good, so we change le/les to se. TIP: we don't do "le lo" in spanish.
- ¿Compraste el libro a María? => Did you buy the book for María? => Buy is past tense, since it's Did you buy (or you bought), so compraste. So, tú compraste el libro => You bought the book (you left out as is common). Maria is noun, so regular placement. So, "tú compraste el libro a Maria" => you bought a book for Maria. To change it to a question, just put question marks.
- Sí, se
le lo compré. (le is crossed out, replaced with se) => Yes, I bought it for her. => "I bought" is "yo compré". "it" being direct object comes before verb as "lo/la", so it's "yo lo compré" for "I bought it". her being indirect object comes before direct object pronoun, so it's "yo le lo compré" => I bought it for him/her. But as per the rule, le changes to se, so it becomes "yo se lo compré".
Object Pronouns with back to back Verbs: When we use Object pronouns with back to back verbs (usually verbs followed by infinitives), there are 2 ways to translate it:
- Regular form: Translated in usual way with DOP appearing before the 1st verb (i.e before all the verbs).
- ex: I can see you => Yo te puedo ver => can and see are 2 verbs, so we translate it the usual way, placing DOP before the 1st verb.
- Modified Verb form: Translated in English style where DOP appears after the verb.
- ex: I can see you => Yo puedo verte => This is the alternative form, where we translate this just like in English. DOP is placed after the verb, but we combine the infinitive form of verb with DOP to form 1 word. So, ver + te becomes "verte". We are allowed to do this, as infinitves don't change, so adding pronoun to it is easier, and still sounds ok. If verb was changing form, adding pronoun to it would have been messy.
- ex: I buy it => yo lo compro. Here there's only one verb "buy", so we can't use the second form. i.e we can't say "yo comprolo". You can also remember it by realizing that compro isn't in infinitive form, so we can't modify it.
NOTE: For verbs in present progressive (i.e verb "watching" in gerund form), we are still allowed to use this second rule (since there are still 2 back to back verbs in gerund form). However, we have to put an accent on the vowel of the infinitive form of verb to make it different than original form. NOTE: there are 2 verbs back to back => 1st one is are/am, etc (ser/estar), and 2nd one is real verb (reading, eating, etc).
- ex: You are watching me => tú me estás mirando OR tú estás mirándome => Here we added an accent on "a" in "mirar" to get "mirándome".
- ex: They are reading it => ellos lo están leyendo OR ellos están leyéndolo => We added accent on "e" on "leer"to get "leyéndolo"
- ex: I'm going to buy it => yo lo voy a comprar OR yo voy a comprarlo. I'm buying it => Yo estoy comprándolo.
ex:
- They want to buy them (the books) => 2 forms are : Ellos los quiren comprar, OR Ellos quiren comprarlos.
- I am going to read it => yo lo voy a leer OR yo voy a leerlo (Remember that "a" is required for "going to")
- I have to read it => yo lo tengo que leer OR yo tengo que leerlo.
Reflexive pronouns:
These pronouns are same as object pronoun, except that they are used when the subject and object are the same person. Ex: I call you Vs I call myself. The 1st sentence is not reflexive as subject and object are different, but 2nd sentence is since "I" is both subject and object. The pronoun table for object remains same as above IOP/DOP pronoun table for 1st 2 rows, but last row entries change to "se" for both singular/plural (i.e instead of using lo/la/le, los/las/les, we use "se").
Link => https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/reflexive-verbs-and-reflexive-pronouns
- Non Reflexive: Use Regular IOP/DOP pronoun table
- ex: I call you => Yo te llamo (here te is not used as reflexive). Yo is usually omitted.
- ex: I wash the dog => yo lavo el perro
- Reflexive: Use Reflexive pronoun table (which is same as IOP/DOP pronoun table for 1st 2 rows. For last row, it uses "se" for both singular/plural)
- ex: I call myself => yo me llamo. (Here me is used as reflexive pronoun. It doesn't matter in this case, as both reflexive and non reflexive pronouns are same in spanish for 1st and 2nd person)). Yo is usually omitted.
- ex: I wash myself => yo me llavo. You wash yourself => te lavas (tú form) / se lava (usted form)
- ex: we wash ourselves => nosotros nos lavamos. They wash themselves => se lavan
- Sometimes reflexive pronouns can be added to indicate emotional response (i.e sad, angry, etc) or to add emphasis or completeness of the job
- He gets (himself) bored in maths class => (él) se aburre en la clase de matemáticas. Here se is not needed, but is added for emotions
- I (myself) ate the cake => (yo) Me comí el pastel. Here me is not needed, but it adds completeness to the work. Regularly, translation would be "Yo comí el pastel".
- preocupar = to worry or to be concerned. ex: I worry (myself) that => yo me preocupo que. My papa worries (himself) about everyone => Mi papá se preocupa de todos. Other form "preocuparse" is a reflexive verb as shown below
Present progressive: Reflexive pronouns are added in present progressive at end of verb. ex: I;m showering (myself) => yo me estoy duchando OR yo estoy duchándome (accent added on a since we still want to emphasize ando, but adding "me" makes default rule emphasize "do", which is incorrect)
Commands: Using object pronouns (regular or reflexive) with cmds is covered in "imperative" section(they are added to the end of verb for affirmative cmds only).
Reflexive verbs:
Just like reflexive pronouns, we have reflexive verbs. These verbs have a -se at the end of infinitive form of verb. These are usually for verbs that imply doing something on/by oneself. ex:
- despertarse (despertar + se) => to arouse/wake up (by oneself).
- sentarse (sentar + se) => to sit (oneself) down
- ducharse / bañarse => to shower/bathe oneself. ex: Luego de ducharse, Joe .. => After taking a shower (by himself), Joe ...
- cepillarse (to brush oneself), dormirse (to sleep oneself), peinarse (to comb one's hair), taparse (to cover up oneself), etc.
Verbs that are regularly reflexive can be made so by adding reflexive pronoun. Ex:
- verse => to see oneself (ver => to see which is regular verb)
- hablarse => to talk to oneself
- comprarse => to buy for oneself
- preocuparse => to worry oneself
- detenerse => to stop oneself. detener means "to stop". ex: Me detengo => I stop.
Pronoun "se":
This is the most common pronoun, and one of the hard ones to grasp. "se" means "one" or "anyone", i.e when we don't want to point to someone as 1st, 2nd or 3rd person, but refers to someone in general, then we use "se". "se" is still 3rd person though, so we use 3rd person conjugation. Ex: One should always listen to elders.
Video by Real Fast Spanish (4 uses of se) => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d9Z9V21zX0
4 types of construction using se:
- Reflexive:
- Reciprocal:
- Impersonal:
- Passive:
PrePositional pronouns: These are pronouns that are used with Prepositions as on, with, for, etc. These look like Direct/Indirect objects (i.e with him, for her, etc), but since prepositions are used, their transformation table is different. See in "Preposition" section.
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Personal "a"(pronouned aa): This is used when a verb is being done to a direct object (DO noun) who happens to be a person or someone who is personal, In such cases, we add "a" before the person. It may also be a pet or something that the person has personal feelings to. If "a" is omitted, meaning may change. So, very essential to add this personal "a". There's no equiv of this personal "a" in English. Apart from DO noun, we add this "a" for IO too. Usually indirect objects have a 'to" in front of the IO (i.e gives money to Jose). So, this "a" is equiv to English "to" when used for IO. For people/pet, we can think of adding "to do something to someone" which makes it more personal for that noun.
NOTE: If DO noun is replaced with a DO pronoun, then no "a" added, as it's not considered that personal anymore. "He lover Maria" needs "a", but "he loves her" doesn't need "a".
More details here: https://www.spanish.academy/blog/how-to-use-the-personal-a-in-spanish/
See ex:
- Juan bought a car => Juan compró un coche, Here verb buy is being done to direct object "car" which is an inanimate object (NOT a person), so no "a" used
- Juan kissed Karla => Juan besó a Karla. Here verb "kiss" is being done to a DO, who is a person, so personal "a" is being used. Think of it as => Juan kissed to Karla
- She watches John => Ella mira a John. John is DO person, so "a" added. If sentence was with DOP, i.e She watches him => Ella lo mira (No, "a" as it's DOP and not DO noun)
- I called Mario. => Llamé a Mario. Here "call" is being done to Mario, so "a" (i.e I called to Mario)
- I’m going to pick up Betty from the auto shop => Voy a recoger a (reco-her-aa) Betty del taller (taa-yer). Here Betty may be a pet, car or any other inanimate obj, but if it's treated as persona, "a" is added.
- Emma carries her dog in her purse => Emma lleva a su perro en el bolso. – Here "her dog" or "su perro" is one object, so a" placed before that.
- I love Mexico. => Amo a México. Countries and Cities are also considered personal. Amar means "to love".
Personal "a" in questions: "a" is also added in front of a question. See in "Questions / Interrogative words" section.
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Possessive pronouns: These pronouns are same as possessive adjective (PA) described below in Adjective section. These are words as mine, ours, theirs, etc.,
Other Pronouns:
- There is / There are => These are explained under "participle form of verb" section.
- Here / There => Here is aquí (aa-kee) in spanish. In election booths, you will find signs saying "Here" or "aquí". There has 2 forms, similar to that, one for close by (ahi), and other for far off (allí). All 3 forms have accent on i.
- aquí (Here) => el libro está aquí => The book is here
- ahí (aa-ee, There close) => el libro está ahí en la mesa => The book is there on the table (It's close by near to the speaker)
- allí (aa-jee OR aa-yee, There far) => Where are the keys ? => ¿Dónde están las llaves? Response would be "The keys are there in the garage" => las llaves están allí en el garaje (gara-he)
Adjectives:
Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun. In Spanish, adjectives carry noun's gender and number (just like determiners). Adjectives have both male and female form, as well as singular and plural form. Masculine nouns need male adjective (end in o), while feminine nouns need female adjective (end in a). Just as with nouns, female version of male adjectives can be formed by changing -o to -a. Also, the adjective gets suffixed with a "s" if the noun is plural. So, there are 4 versions for any adjective: male/female and singular, plural (Same as what we have in above tables for noun/pronoun). Not all adjectives have both genders. Adjectives ending in -e or consonant are gender neutral, and so don't change based on noun's gender (ex: rojo => red. It's gender neutral).
in Spanish, adjectives almost always come after a noun (with some exceptions). See below.
Past Participle (PP) form as adjective: PP form of verb act as adjectives too. Ex: "organized office" Here organized is PP form of "organize", so it's written as "la oficina organizada". See in "Past Participle" section
Adjectives/Nouns from verbs: Many adjectives/nouns are derived from verbs of similar word. A lot of these adj end in "o". Ex: verb limpia = to clean. Adj clean is limpio(m,s) and 4 variants.
Ex: Below are few examples of adjectives derived from verbs with the 4 variants possible.All these have a base word, from which these 4 variants are derived.
- Sentir => to feel or to be sorry for. Adj = siento which means sorry. Ex: I'm sorry => Lo siento
- Vivir => to live. Adj "alive" is "vivo" and 4 variants.
- limpia = to clean. Adj clean is limpio(m,s) and 4 variants.
Good: The word good in spanish comes from base word bien (pronouned as b-ee-an, easy to see it as "i" is pronounced as "ee" and "e" is pronounced as "a"). Also used for ok, so, well (like in starting a sentence). It is used in multiple Eurpopean languages too say "ok", "fine", etc. It has 4 variants for singular/plural and masculine/feminine.
| base word = bien (good) => transformed to buen |
singular |
plural |
| masculine |
bueno |
buenos |
| feminine |
buena |
buenas |
Welcome: Another word derived from Bien is Bien (well, ok)+venido(come). The verb for come is "venir", but it's "V3 past participle form" is "have come", where venir transforms to venido. "To have come" is "haber venido". So, the whole word means "it's well to have come" or "welcome" becoming Bienvenido(m,s=> when saying to male)/Bienvenida(f,s=> when saying to 1 female). Similarly for plural form Bienvenidos/Bienvenidas. This word is also used in many Eurpean lanuages to mean "welcome".
Few ex here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGOvu-0gGXk&list=PLv63dFTP4Sjq6knRsZQI-bTnRE38cZZoy&index=12
Ex of adjectives: (m=male, f=female). Adding "s" or "es" at the end makes it plural. Gender neutral ones are same for both male/female.
- Characteristics:
- pretty => bonito(m), lindo (m), bonita (f), ugly => feo (m), fea (f)
- brunette => moreno (m), morena (f), blonde => rubio (m), rubia (f). ex: ella es rubia => She is blonde. el es rubio => He is blonde.
- skinny => flaco (m), fat => gordo (m)
- tall => alto / alta (pronounced arto), short => bajo / baja (pronounced as baho). corto/corta is also used for short.
- handsome => guapo / guapa
- American => americano (m) / americana (f)
- intelligent => inteligente (gender neutral since ends in consonant). ex: el estudiante inteligenete > the smart student. Add "s" for plural forms.
- funny => gracioso or comico (m), graciosa/comica (f) => comical means comedy/funny in English.
- serious =>serio (m) or seria (f). ex: He is very serious => El es muy serio. She is very serious => Ella es muy seria. muy means very.
- young =. joven (similar to juvenile). gender neutral as it ends in consonant. elderly => mayor (maa-your). old man => hombre mayor
- healthy => saludable. sick => enfermos (m) / enfermas (f)
- easy => fácil (s), faciles (p). Difficult => difícil (s), dificiles (p). For plural, no accent. It's neutral gender, so used in both genders.
- cheap => barato/a, expensivee => caro/cara.
- hard => duro/a, soft => blando/a.
- Feelings:
- friendly, nice => simpático (m), simpática (f), plural forms are => simpáticos (m), simpáticas (f). this word similar to "sympathy" in English, which kind of means "sympathetic or friendly". Unfriendly is antipático
- kind => amable, cruel => cruel. (amable comes from amicable meaning "having spirit of friendliness")
- happy => alegre, Alegría is a noun formed from alegre that means ‘happiness, joy‘, Feliz also means Happy, while Felicidad means Happiness, but used for occasions. i.e Happy christmas => Feliz navidad.
- sad => triste. Pena is another synonym for sorrow/grief.
- Misc:
- Knowledge => conocimiento, ignorance => ignorancia (-ance changes to -ancia in spanish)
- Derecha/o => right, izquierda/o => left
Nouns with adjectives: In English, adjectives go before noun, i.e new car, tall boy, etc. However, in Spanish, noun comes before the adjective in general. Articles come before the noun, whlle adj comes comes after the noun. The reason is tht in Spanish, 'a new car" is thought of as "a car that is new". We don't really say or write "that is", and hence we end up with "the car new". Also, this makes it easier to have the article "a","the" go with noun instead of adjective which would be incorrect.
ex:
- the red book => the book (that is) red => el libro rojo. fat boy => chico gordo, fat girl => chica gorda.
- a very nice girl => a girl (that is) very nice => una niña muy simpática
- very nice name => muy bonito/bonita nombre (seems to be an exception to the rule)
- the boys are tall => los niños son altos. (Here adj agrees with "boys" in gender and number). For "the tall boys" => los niños altos. We leave out "is" here.
- you are fat => tú estás gordo (assuming you is male). We are fat => nosotros estamos gordos (we changed gordo to plural, since it's "we" in noun). We can omit the pronoun as is common in Spanish
There are some exceptions when adjectives come before noun. This is when adjectives indicate number/quantity (little spanish => poco español), PA (explained below), Adjectives sometimes go in either order, before or after the noun, and they are both correct, but may change the emphasis on noun vs the adjective.
ex: I read the long book => Leí el libro largo (common one, here it emphasizes that out of several books available, I read the long one). Other form is " Leí el largo libro" => Here we emphasize the book as being long. Both forms are correct.
ex: un gran hombre => a great man. Here adjective is before noun to emphasize the man or delivering subjective opinion of the man.
Possessive adjective (PA): These are NOT possessive pronoun, but possessive adjective. Possessive adjectives provide ownership information about a noun (i.e possession), whereas possessive pronouns eliminate the noun completely. If there is a noun next to pronoun/adjective, then it's possessive adjective. As it's an adjective, they have to agree both in gender and number with the noun in question.
Ex: my car => Here noun "car" is present, so "my" is PA. => mi carro. If there were may cars, then "my cars" => mis carros
We have 2 forms of PA: short PA and long PA.
Short PA: These are PA such as my, your, her, etc. short PA don't change based on gender (except for our and your(plural)).
| Possessive adjective (short form) |
singular adjective => mi-tu-su / mis-tus-sus (remember as car "mi-tsu-bishi")
(both gender have same translation)
|
plural adjective ( add s at end)
(genders have "o" or "a" translation only for 1st 2 entries)
|
| my/our => First person |
mí (mee) / mís => my car / cars (NOTE: mí is with accent on i. mi w/o accent is me and is explained above)
|
nuestro/nuestra => Our car (changed from nosotro/a)
nuestros/nuestras => Our cars (add s at end)
|
| Your (informal) => Second person |
tu / tus => your (NOTE: tu w/o an accent here, tú with an accent means you)
tus camisas => your shirts
|
vuestro/vuestra => Your (plural) car (changed from vosotro/a)
vuestros/vuestras => Your cars (add s at end)
|
|
it's / Their => Third person
His,Her,Your (formal) / Their => Third person
|
su /sus => His, her, your (formal), its
su bolso => Her purse
|
su / sus => Their (same)
sus favoritos => their favorites
|
Long PA: These are PA such as mine, yours, hers, etc. Here -o or -yo is added compared to short PA. Also, depending on the gender of noun, these PA change from o to a (so -a and -ya for feminine). For plural, extra s is added at end.
| Possessive adjective (long form) |
singular adjective => mío-tuyo-suyo / mía-tuya-suya (add s for plural)
(gender have o or a at end, plural nouns have extra s at end)
|
plural adjective ( add s at end)
(these remain same as short PA except for 3rd person)
|
| mine/ours => First person |
mío / mía => mine (o for masculine, a for feminine. NOTE the accent on i)
míos / mías => mine (s for plural nouns)
The pleasure is mine => El placer es mío
|
nuestro/nuestra => Ours (same as short PA)
nuestros/nuestras => Ours
These tables are ours => Estas mesas son nuestras
|
| Yours (informal) => Second person |
tuyo / tuya => yours (singular noun)
tuyos / tuyas => yours (plural noun)
This sandwich is yours => Este sándwich es tuyo (since 1 sandwich only)
|
vuestro/vuestra => Yours (same as short PA)
vuestros/vuestras => Yours (plural)
These paintings are yours => Estas pinturas son vuestras
|
|
it's / Theirs => Third person
His,Hers,Yours (formal) / Theirs => Third person
|
suyo / suya => His, hers, yours (formal), its (singular noun)
suyos / suyas => His, hers, yours (formal), its (plural noun)
this seat is hers => este asiento es suyo (here, we don't use suya, since gender goes with noun. noun is seat which is masculine)
|
suyo / suya => Their (same as singular form)
suyos / suyas=> plural
That room is theirs => Esa habitación es la suya
|
