Back To Basics: Spanish Grammar Made Easy

To ease the language acquisition process, one thing we recommend at Spanish by Native is revitalizing your memory of the parts of speech in English. Having an understanding of basic sentence structure in English can help you grasp general concepts when learning to form a sentence in Spanish. If you are new to the Spanish language, or looking for the right refresher course, before starting why not get back to basics?

Think of all the things you may need to communicate. In order to learn to speak you first have to learn how to build effective sentences to communicate your thoughts and ideas in the Spanish language. One definite way to improve your comprehension skills is to practice with reading and writing.

Let’s start by taking a look at the structure of a sentence in English and how it works, followed by the parts of speech that make up a sentence. Think back and recall when you learned that a simple sentence contains two parts—a subject and a predicate—and expresses a complete thought. Think of the subject as the hero of the sentence. It’s word or phrase that does the action or carries the description. The predicate is the rest—the action. Generally, but not always, the subject will come before the predicate.

Examine the following sentences:

Note that the subject answers the questions “who or what?” and the predicate answers what the subject“is”or“does”. Take the simplest sentence, “We like it.” Who likes it? We do—so “we” is the subject. “We” do what? We “like it”—here, “like” is the predicate. “Who” isn’t at home today? The “woman” that I had seen last Monday. The woman that I had seen last Monday is what? She isn’t at home today.

The predicate always includes a verb or verb phrase and may also include a complement. In the previous example, the predicate “like it” is made up of the verb like and the complement it. Some verbs can stand alone, without a complement; others cannot.

Learning another language requires dedication, time, and ultimately frequent practice. Get back to basics and revitalize your memory. Use what you already know about the parts of speech to make a connection from your first language. Build on your base and strengthen your foundation of which you can use to advance your Spanish language acquisition.