Glossary

 

Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun.  There are different types of adjectives; they are classified according to the way they describe a noun or pronoun.

Descriptive adjective:  Indicates a quality; it tells what kind of noun it is. Julia lee un libro interesante  ‘Julia reads an interesting book.’

Possessive adjective:  Shows possession; it tells whose noun it is. Nuestros padres están lejos.  ‘Our parents live far away.’

Interrogative adjective:  Asks a question about a noun. ¿Cuál libro leíste?  ‘Which book did you read?’

Demonstrative adjective:  Points at a noun. Esta profesora es excelente.  ‘This teacher is excellent.’

(Spinelly, 1998)

Adverbial clauses
An adverbial clause is one that modifies the verb in the main clause in the same manner as an adverb would, by indicating how, when, for what purposes, and under what circumstances the action of the main clause takes place (Iguina and Dozier, 2008).

Affirmative (tú) commands
An affirmative command is an order to do something.  The tú commands are also known as informal commands.  You must use them when an order is given to a person with whom you use tú.  E.g., ¡Ven aquí ! ‘Come here!’ (Spinelly, 1998).

–ar verbs
Verbs that end in–ar, belonging to what is called the 1st conjugation.  Endings are important because they indicate the pattern the verb will follow to create its various forms.  E.g., caminar ‘to walk,’ saltar  ‘to jump’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Article
An article is a word placed before a noun to show whether the noun refers to a specific person, animal, place, thing, event, or idea, or whether it refers to an unspecified person, thing, or idea.  For example, in the sentence Vi a la chica de la que hablaste ‘I saw the girl you spoke about,’ la ‘the’ refers to a specific girl.   In the sentence Vi a una chica en la calle  ‘I saw a girl in the street,’ una refers to an unspecified girl.  In English and in Spanish there are two types of articles, definite articles and indefinite articles (Spinelly, 1998).

Auxiliary verb
A verb is called an auxiliary verb or helping verb when it helps another verb, called the main verb, form one of its tenses.  E.g., Daniel ha estudiado por una semana.  ‘Daniel has studied for a week.’  In this case, the auxiliary verb is hacer (Spinelly, 1998).

Agreement 
Agreement is a type of grammatical relationship between two or more elements in a sentence, in which both or all elements show a particular feature.  For example, in English a third person singular subject occurs with a singular verb, and a plural subject occurs with a plural verb (number agreement).  E.g., Él camina; Ellos caminan.  He walks; they walk.

In Spanish, the article works hand in hand with the noun to which it belongs in that it matches the noun’s gender and number.  This “matching” is called agreement.  (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992; Spinelly, 1998).

Commands
A verb in the imperative mood is a command.  The affirmative imperative, or affirmative commands, are orders to do something; e.g., ¡Ven aquí!  ‘come here!’  The negative imperative, or negative commands, are orders not to do something; e.g., ¡No vengas aquí!  ‘Don’t come here!’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Complex sentence
A sentence which contains one or more dependent clauses, in addition to its independent or main clause.  E.g., Cuando llovió, nos entramos. ‘When it rained, we went inside’ (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).

Conditional
The conditional is a grammatical mood which describes an imaginary or hypothetical situation or event.  In English, “should” and “would” are described as the conditional in sentences such as “We should like to meet her” or “I would go if I could.” 

Unlike English, you do not need an auxiliary verb to indicate the conditional.  It is a simple tense formed with the future stem + the endings of the imperfect tense for –er  and –ir verbs.  E.g., hablaría  ‘I would speak.’

The conditional is used in the same ways as in English: 

• As a polite form or in polite requests.  E.g.,  Querría un vaso de agua  ‘I would like a glass of water’ or ¿Podría cerrar la puerta, por favor?  ‘Would you close the door, please?’
• In the result of a hypothetical statement.  E.g., Si tuviera mucho dinero compraría una casa grande.  ‘If I had a lot of money, I would buy a big house.’
• In an indirect statement to express a future-in-the-past. E.g., Dijo que vendría   ‘He said (that) he would come (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992; Spinelly, 1998).

Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is a compound tense made up of the auxiliary verb “would have” + past participle of the main verb: “I would have eaten;” “He would have come.”

The conditional perfect is only used in the result clause of contrary-to-fact statements.  A statement is contrary-to-fact when a condition was not met in the past and therefore the result was not accomplished.   For example, the sentence “If I had had money, I would have bought a new house” is contrary-to-fact because the person speaking didn’t have money in the past and therefore did not buy a house. 

In Spanish the conditional perfect is a compound tense made up of the auxiliary verb haber ‘to have’ in the conditional tense + the past participle of the main verb: habría hablado ‘I would have spoken.’ As in English, statements using the conditional perfect are contrary-to-fact (Spinelly, 1998).

Conjugation
Conjugation is the process by which a particular verb changes (conjugates) for tense, person, or number.  It is a list of the six possible forms of the verb for a particular tense.  For each tense, there is one verb form for each of the six persons used as the subject of the verb.  Example:

yo soy                                    I am
tú eres                                    you are
él, ella es                        he, she, it is
nosotros/as somos            we are
ustedes son                        you are
ellos/ellas son                        they are

Unlike English, Spanish verb forms change from one person to another so that when you learn a new verb, you must also learn how to conjugate it.  First you must establish whether the verb is regular or irregular.  Verbs whose forms follow a predictable pattern are called regular verbs.  Verbs whose forms do not follow a predictable pattern are called irregular verbs (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992; Spinelly, 1998).

Demonstrative adjective
A demonstrative adjective points to something in terms of whether it is near to or distant from the speaker.  The demonstrative in  English are “this, that, these, those.”  In Spanish,  ese, esa, esos, esas; este, esta, estos, estas; aquel, aquella, aquellos y aquellas are demonstrative adjectives (Iguina and Dozier, 2008; Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).

Direct object pronouns
A direct object pronoun is a pronoun that may replace the direct object of a sentence.  In English and Spanish, a direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb directly.  It answers the question ¿quién?  ‘who?’ or ¿qué?  ‘what?’ asked after the verb.  Example:

Juan escribe una carta. ‘John writes a letter.’
 “John writes what?”
 Una carta.  ‘A letter.’  This is the direct object.

In this sentence, the direct object can be replaced by the direct object pronoun la:  Juan la escribe.  ‘John writes it.’

The following chart shows the forms of the direct pronouns.

Direct Object Pronouns
English	Spanish
me	me
you (tú form)	te
him	lo
her	la
us	nos
you (vosotros form)	os
you (masculine), them	los
you (feminine), them	las

(Spinelly, 1998).

–er verbs
Verbs that end in–er, belonging to what is called the 2nd conjugation.  Endings are important because they indicate the pattern the verb will follow to create its various forms.  E.g., correr  ‘to run,’ entender ‘to understand’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Gender  
Gender in the grammatical sense means that a word can be classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter.  Grammatical gender is not very important in English; however, it is at the very heart of the Spanish language, where the gender of a word is often reflected not only in the way the word itself is spelled and pronounced, but also in the way all the words connected to it are spelled and pronounced.  More parts of speech have a gender in Spanish than in English.

English	Spanish
pronouns	nouns
possessive adjetives	pronouns
	articles
	adjectives

(Spinelly, 1998).

Gerund form
The gerund or present participle are formed with –ando and –iendo endings.  Examples:

• Hablar:  hablando
• Comer:  comiendo
• Vivir:      viviendo 

(Iguina and Dozier, 2008)

Imperfect
In Spanish there are several verb tenses that can be used to express an action that occurred in the past.  There are two English verb forms that indicate that the imperfect should be used in Spanish.

• The English verb form includes, or could include, “used to.”

“When I was little, I played in the park.”‘Cuando era pequeño, jugaba en el parque.’  “Played” could be replaced by “used to play.”

• The English verb is in the past progressive tense, as in “was playing,” “were studying.”

“I was studying in my room.”‘Estudiaba en mi cuarto.’

The distinction between the preterite and the imperfect aspect of the past tense is one of the most difficult points for learners to master.  The following table summarizes the basic functions of the imperfect.

Imperfect

Past conditions, beliefs E.g., Mi madre solo tenía dos hijos en esa época. ‘My mother only had two children during that time period.’

Habitual actions E.g., Mi hermano me acompañaba a la escuela.  ‘My brother used to accompany me to school.’

Actions –Middle, in progress, interrupted E.g., Cuando entré, las dos hablaban de sus clases.  ‘When I entered, both were speaking about their classes.’

Projected actions – Indirect discourse E.g., Dijeron que iba a llover.  ‘They said (that) it was going to rain.’

(Iguina and Dozier, 2008; Spinelly, 1998).

Imperfect subjunctive
The subjunctive mood can have present, imperfect, present perfect, or pluperfect forms.  The imperfect subjunctive is required under the same conditions as the present subjunctive, but the point of reference is in the past.  For example, when the verb in the main clause is in preterite or imperfect (e.g., quise   or quería ) and the subjunctive is required in the dependent clause, the imperfect subjunctive should be used.  E.g., Quise que vinieras  or Quería que vinieras. ‘I wanted you to come’ (Jehle, 2007, para. 3; Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, & García, 2006).

Impersonal expression
An impersonal expression or construction is one in which there is no mention of who or what does or experiences something.  E.g., Es importante que … ‘It’s important that …,’ Es necesario que… ‘It’s necessary that …’ (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).           

Indicative
The indicative mood is used to state the action of the verb, that is, to “indicate” facts.  This is the most common mood, and most of the verb forms that you use in everyday conversation belong to the indicative mood (Spinelly, 1998).

The indicative mood is the form of the verb used in declarative sentences or questions.  For example:  “She sat down,” “Are you coming?”(Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).

Indirect object pronouns
An indirect object pronoun is a pronoun that may replace the indirect object of a sentence.  It indicates to/for whom a noun/action is given/carried out, or from whom something is bought, borrowed or taken away.  It answers the question ¿a quién?  ‘to/for whom?’ Example:

Juan le escribe una carta a María ‘John writes a letter to María.’
 “To whom does John write a letter?”
 A María  ‘To María.’  María is the indirect object.

In this sentence, the indirect object can be replaced by the direct object pronoun le:   Juan le escribe una carta  ‘John writes her a letter.’

The following chart shows the forms of the indirect pronouns.

Indirect Object Pronouns
English	Spanish
(to) me	me
(to) you (tú form)	te
(to) him / her/ it (masculine and feminine)	le
(to) us	nos
(to) you (vosotros form)	os
(to) you (ustedes / vosotros form (to) them (masculine and feminine)	les

(Spinelly, 1998; Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, &García, 2006).

Infinitive form
In English, the infinitive is composed of two words:  “to”+ “the dictionary form of the verb” (“to speak,” “to dance”).  The infinitive is the form of the verb that is listed as the entry in the dictionary (“speak,” “dance”).  In Spanish, the infinitive form is composed of only one word.  The word “to” that is part of the English infinitive has no Spanish equivalent.  The Spanish infinitive is identified by the last two letters of the verb called “the ending.”  For example:

hablar            ‘to speak’
comer            ‘to eat’
vivir            ‘to live’ (Spinelly, 1998).

–ir verbs
Verbs that end in–ir, belonging to what is called the 3rd conjugation.  Endings are important because they indicate the pattern the verb will follow to create its various forms.  E.g., compartir  ‘to share,’ salir ‘to leave’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Irregular / irregular forms
Irregular verbs are verbs whose forms do not follow a predictable pattern.  E.g., ir ‘to go’ (yo voy, tú vas, él va, nosotros vamos, vosotros vais, ellos van).  The conjugation of these verbs must be memorized individually (Spinelly, 1998).

Mood
Different moods serve different purposes.  For example, verbs that state a fact belong to one mood (you are studying,” “you studied”).  The verb form that gives orders belongs to another mood (Study!).  Some moods have multiple tenses while others have only one tense (Spinelly, 1998).

Mood is the grammatical category which expresses the degree or kind of reality attached to an utterance.  It is not well developed as a grammatical category in English, and we mostly use words and constructions to express mood distinctions.  In this way, we can assign varying degrees of certainty to an utterance:  “Susie smokes,” “I hear that Susie smokes,” “It appears that Susie smokes,” “Surely Susie smokes,” “Susie probably smokes,” “Maybe Susie smokes,” “I wonder if Susie smokes,” “It is unlikely that Susie smokes.”  We can also assign different degrees of reality within conditions:  “If Susie smokes, then …” (an open condition:  maybe she smokes) is different from “If Susie smoked, then…”(a counterfactual condition:  she doesn’t smoke).  (…) In some other languages, [such as Spanish], there are more (…) elaborate distinctions of mood built into the grammar and frequently expressed either by variation in verb-forms or by particles (Stockwell, 2007).

Negative (tú) commands
A negative command is an order not to do something.  The tú commands are also known as informal commands.  You must use them when an order is given to a person with whom you use tú.  E.g., ¡No vengas aquí! ‘Don’t come here!’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Negative words
The most common negative words in Spanish are nada ‘nothing,’ nadie  ‘nobody, no one,’ nunca / jamás ‘never,’ ningún / ninguno/a  ´none, not any,’ and tampoco ‘neither.’ (Spinelly, 1998; Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, &García, 2006).

Nouns
A noun is a word that refers to people, animals, places, things, or abstractions.  A noun is not only a word that names something that is tangible (e.g., something you can touch), such a lamp, horse, or White House; it can also be the name of things that are abstract (e.g., justice, jealousy, and honor)  (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992; Spinelly, 1998).

Number
Number in the grammatical sense means that a word can be classified as singular or plural.  When a word refers to one person or thing, it is said to be singular (e.g., un libro ‘a book’); when it refers to more than one, it is plural (e.g., dos libros ‘two books’) (Spinelly, 1998).

Object pronouns
Pronouns used as direct and indirect objects are called object pronouns.  See the definitions of direct and indirect object pronouns (Spinelly, 1998).

“Opposite” ending 
By 'opposite' the student who provided the strategy refers to the learning of Spanish verbs in two groups: the –ar verbs like andar, hablar, etc. vs. the –er/-ir verbs like comer and salir.  So, if you are using the verb salir and need the “opposite ending,” think of the ending corresponding to the –ar verbs.

Parts of speech
A traditional term to describe the grammatical functions performed by language forms, such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.  From time to time other parts of speech have been proposed, such as determiner (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).

Person
Subject pronouns are divided into three groups:  1st, 2nd, and 3rd person pronouns.  The word person in this instance does not necessarily mean a human being.  It is a grammatical term.  Spanish subject pronouns are identified as   1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons, each having a singular and a plural form. There are three English subject pronouns that have more than one equivalent in Spanish:  “you,” “we,” and “they.”  Also there is one English subject pronoun, “it,” that has no equivalent in Spanish because it is generally not expressed.  Subject pronouns are usually presented in the following order:

Singular

1st person	I	yo
2nd person	you	tú / usted
3rd person	he she	él ella

Plural

1st person	we	nosotros nosotras
2nd person	you	ustedes vosotros vosotras
3rd person	they	ellos ellas

(Spinelly, 1998).

Phrases of uncertainty
Phrases of uncertainty are expressions that contain a verb or an expression of doubt, or a negation of reality, such as  dudo que ‘I doubt that,’ no creo que ‘ I don’t believe that,’ no estoy seguro que ‘I am not sure that,’ and niego que ‘I deny that’  (Iguina and Dozier, 2008).

Pluperfect subjunctive
The pluperfect subjunctive has the same communicative function as the pluperfect indicative.  It is used to refer to an action or event occurring before another past action or even.  However, while the pluperfect indicative describes actions that are real, definite, or factual, the pluperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses that express attitudes, wishes, feelings, emotions, or doubts.  E.g.,  Carlos lamentó que su novia se hubiera embriagado en la fiestaI.‘Carlos was sorry that his girlfriend had gotten drunk at the party’ (Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, & García, 2006).

Preposition
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of one word (usually a noun or pronoun) to another word (usually another noun or pronoun) in the sentence.  E.g., Paula regresa de la escuela a las dos. ‘Paula returns from school at two.’ 

Examples of prepositions in Spanish: a, ante, bajo, con, contra, de, desde, hasta, hacia, para, por, según, sin, sobre, tras (Spinelly, 1998). 

Present perfect
The present perfect tense is used to refer to a past event, action, or condition that has some relation to the present.  It is formed using the auxiliary verb tener ‘to have’ + the past participle of the main verb.  E.g., No he comido todavía ‘I haven’t eaten yet’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Preterite
In Spanish there are several verb tenses that can be used to express an action that occurred in the past.  The preterite generally translates as the simple past in English.  However, past actions in Spanish can also be expressed in the imperfect.  The distinction between the preterite and the imperfect aspect of the past tense is one of the most difficult points for learners to master.  The following table summarizes the basic functions of the preterite.

Preterite

Changed past conditions, reactions.  E.g., Me gustó la película que vimos anoche. ‘I liked the movie we saw last night.’

Actions, single or consecutive E.g., Se levantó, se bañó, desayunó y fue al trabajo. ‘She got up, bathed, ate breakfast, and went to work.’

Habitual actions limited in time E.g., Mi hermano me acompañó a la escuela durante seis años. ‘For six years, my brother accompanied me to school.’

Repeated actions E.g., Mi hermano me acompañó a la escuela tres veces. ‘My brother accompanied me to school three times.’

Actions –Beginning and/or end E.g., Empecé a trabajar a las tres.  ‘I started to work at three.’

(Iguina and Dozier, 2008; Spinelly, 1998).

Pronouns
A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.  It may stand for a person, animal, place, thing, event, or idea. 

There are different types of pronouns, each serving a different function and following different rules.  Listed below are the more important types:

Personal pronouns These pronouns replace nouns referring to persons or things that have been previously mentioned.  A different set of pronouns is often used depending on the pronoun’s function in the sentence. Subject (e.g., yo voy ‘I go,’ él va  ‘he goes.’) Direct object pronoun (e.g., Juan la ama. ‘Juan loves her.’) Indirect object pronoun (e.g., Alberto nos dio el libro.  ‘Alberto gave us the book.’) Pronoun as object of a preposition (e.g., Carlos va al cine con nosotros.  ‘Carlos goes to the movies with us.’)

Reflexive pronouns These pronouns refer back to the subject of the sentence.  E.g., Mariana se viste.  ‘Mariana dresses herself.’

Interrogative pronouns These pronouns are used to ask questions.  E.g., ¿Quién es él y qué quiere? ‘Who is he and what does he want?’

Demonstrative pronouns These pronouns are used to point out persons or things.  E.g., Éste es caro; ése es barato.  ‘This (one) is expensive; that (one) is cheap.’

Possessive pronouns These pronouns are used to show possesion or ownership.  E.g., ¿De quién es ese libro? ¿Mío o tuyo?  ‘Whose book is that?  Mine or yours?’

Relative pronouns These pronouns are used to introduce relative subordinate clauses.  E.g., El chico que está sosteniendo la bandeja es mi mejor amigo. ‘The guy who is holding the tray is my best friend.’

Indefinite pronouns These pronouns are used to refer to unidentified persons or things.  E.g., Uno no hace eso.   ‘One doesn’t do that.’

(Spinelly, 1998). 

Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive, like the present indicative, expresses actions or states in the present or near future.  Unlike the indicative, which expresses real/factual actions or states, the subjunctive describes hypothetical situations, that is, actions or states that may not be real/factual, or that are “conditioned” by the emotive perception or attitude of the speaker or subject.    E.g., Quiero que vengas. ‘I want you to come.’  (Jehle, 2007, para. 3; Zayas-Bazán, Bacon, & García, 2006).

Reflexive pronouns
A reflexive pronoun is one that accompanies a reflexive verb.  Reflexive verbs are those that express what people do to or for themselves.  A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence.  In English, reflexive pronouns end with “-self” in the singular and “-selves” in the plural.  In many cases, Spanish uses reflexives where English does not.  Here are the Spanish reflexive pronouns.

SINGULAR	Spanish	English
1st person	me	myself
2nd person	te	yourself  (tú form)
3rd person	se	himself, herself, yourself  (usted  form)

PLURAL	Spanish	English
1st person	nos	ourselves
2nd person	os	yourselves (vosotros form)
3rd person	se	themselves, yourselves (ustedes form)

E.g., Mi hermanita y yo nos levantamos, nos bañamos, nos secamos y nos vestimos rápidamente.  ‘My little sister and I get up, take a shower, dry ourselves, and get dressed quickly’(Olivella de Castells, Guzmán, Lapuerta, & García, 2006).

Relative pronouns
A relative pronoun is a word used at the beginning of a clause giving additional information about someone or something previously mentioned.  E.g., Estoy leyendo el libro que la profesora recomendó  I’m reading the book that the teacher recommended’ (Spinelly, 1998). 

Simple sentence
A sentence which contains only one predicate.  E.g., Tomo leche. ‘I drink milk’ (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).

Subjunctive
The subjunctive is a mood used to express a wish, hope, uncertainty, or other similar attitude toward a fact or an idea.  Since it stresses the subject’s feelings about the fact or idea, it is usually expressed in the subjective mood (Spinelly, 1998).

The subjunctive mood is the form of the verb often used to express uncertainty, wishes, desires, etc.  In contrast to the indicative mood, the subjunctive usually refers to non-factual or hypothetical situations (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992).

Stems
The stem, also called the root, is the part of the verb left after dropping the last two letters from the infinitive form of the verb (see the definition of infinitive).

Infinitive	Stem
cantar	cant-
comer	com-
vivir	viv-

In regular verbs the stem usually remains the same throughout a conjugation.  However, in certain verbs called stem-changing verbs, the stem will change in a minor way (Spinelly, 1998). 

Superlative
We can compare qualities (height, size, color, or any characteristic) indicated by a descriptive adjective.  In English and in Spanish there are two types or comparison:  comparative and superlative.   The superlative is used to stress the highest or lowest degrees of a quality.  E.g.,  Lucía es la más inteligente  ‘Lucía is the smartest,’ Pablo es el menos activo ‘Pablo is the least active’ (Spinelly, 1998).

Verb
A verb is a word that indicates the action of the sentence.  It is a word which (a) occurs as part of the predicate of a sentence, (b) carries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, number, and mood, and (c) refers to an action or state.  E.g., Eduardo abrió la puerta ‘Eduardo opened the door” (Richards, Platt, &Platt, 1992; Spinelly, 1998).

SOURCES

Iguina, Z., & Dozier, E. (2008).  Manual de gramática.  Boston:  Thomson Heinle.

Jehle, F. (2007).  When to use what subjunctive in Spanish. Fort Wayne, IN: Dept. of International Language and Culture Studies, Indiana University - Purdue University. Retrieved on May 26, 2009 from http://users.ipfw.edu/JEHLE/courses/sequence.htm.

Richards, J., Platt, J., & Platt, H.  (1992).  Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics.  Essex:  Longman.

Olivella de Castels, M., Guzmán, E., Lapuerta, P., & García, C.  (2006). Mosaicos:  Spanish as a world language.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Spinelly, E.  (1998).  English grammar for students of Spanish.  USA:  The Olivia and Hill Press. 

Stockwell, P. (Ed.). (2007).  Language and linguistics:  The key concepts.  New York:  Routledge.

Zayas-Bazán, E., Bacon, S., & García, D. (2006). Conexiones:  Comunicación y cultura.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.