Introduction to Parts of Speech

Introduction to Parts of Speech

As mentioned in our previous blog post, back to Spanish grammar basics, subjects and predicates can be further broken down into parts of speech. Compare Spanish and English grammar. They both have eight major elements:

Noun	Sustantivo
Pronoun	Pronombre
Adjective	Adjectivo
Verb	Verbo
Adverb	Adverbio
Preposition	Preposicion
Conjunction	Conjunction
Interjection	Interjeccion

 

Even if you can’t tell the difference between these terms at first glance, when you speak in English, you intuitively know which are which and how they should be used. If you want to become fluent in Spanish then you will want to be able to do the same. We used the following sentences as examples to define the parts of speech so that you can start learning Spanish grammar. Don’t let these sentences intimidate you.

 

 

 

Take a look at the following video. 

 

Nouns (Sustantivo)

Recall that a noun may be any of the following:

·         Concept: truth, religion, awareness, behavior

·         Place: beach, city, Spain, world

·         Person: mother, Juan, student

·         Thing: cellphone, table, pencil

If you can match up a word with an article (the, a or an), it’s definitely a noun, but not all nouns can have one: proper names like Juan and Spain don’t take on articles in English or Spanish.  

 

Pronouns (Pronombre)

 

The first thing to remember about pronouns is that they are replacements for nouns or noun phrases. Instead of constantly repeating a noun, you can resort to a pronoun:

·         Juan when home. “He” went home.

·         Give Jaime a drink. Give “him” a drink. Give it to “him”.

·         Maria’s car is red. “Her” car is red.

·         I will do it “myself”.

In these examples, “he,” “him,” “it,” “her,” and “myself” are personal pronouns. That is, they work to replace specific nouns. Here’s how personal pronouns are categorized in English and Spanish:

 

Subject pronouns replace the subject of the sentence. These are:

 

   

 Object pronouns represent the object noun or phrase. These are:

 

 

Possessive pronouns show ownership. In English, these are my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, and theirs.

 

 

 

Reflexive pronouns  

 

They signal that the subject and the object are one and the same. Reflexive pronouns are:

 

Note: in Spanish the Reflexive pronouns are used in conjunction with Reflexive verbs. Do not forget that you must conjugate the verb and the pronoun. 

Miscellaneous Pronouns

Other types of pronouns might not be as easily recognizable because they don’t necessarily replace a particular noun. Can you figure out below which words in the following examples are pronouns?

·         What was that noise?

·         I know who it is you like.

·         The calculator, which I had used on Friday, is now missing.

·         I have everything I need.

·         That was a great song.

·         I like them both.

·         They love each other.

The pronouns here are “who”, “which”, “that”, “what”, “everything”, “both”, and “each other”. Here’s how these pronouns are categorized:

Demonstrative pronouns in English and Spanish demonstrate or point out something. Examples of demonstrative pronouns in English are: “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those”. The word “this” in “I like this” is a good example of a demonstrative pronoun. As you can see, it replaces the thing or object which is liked.

Relative pronouns relate or connect groups of words to nouns or other pronouns. In English, relative pronouns include: “who”, “whoever”, “whom”, “which”, “that” and “whose”. For example, in the phrase, “I like who you like,” the pronoun “who” relates “I” and “you like.”

Many of the interrogative pronouns are identical to relative pronouns, but they are used differently—to interrogate, or ask questions. In both English and Spanish, interrogative pronouns include “who”, “whom”, “which”, “whose” and “what”. In the question “who do you like?” “who” is an interrogative pronoun. Note that in the answer, this pronoun will be replaced by a noun again at a later time.

Indefinite pronouns are non-personal pronouns that work as nouns. There are quite a few indefinite pronouns, and many can also be used as adjectives.  A few examples in English are: all, none, any, some, everyone, someone, no one, much, little, few, everything, nothing, and something.

Reciprocal pronouns show a mutual relationship between two subjects. In English, there are only two pairs of reciprocal pronouns: “each other” and “one another.” Note: In Spanish, to distinguish between reflexive and reciprocal actions, clarifying prepositional phrases are often added.

Remember, a pronoun must represent—and not describe—a noun or noun phrase, “this sentence,” “this” is not a demonstrative pronoun, because it describes the noun “sentence.” In the phrase, “I Like this,” “this” replaces the thing I like, and therefore is a pronoun. 

 

Adjectives

Pronouns replace nouns, and adjectives describe or modify them. Take a look at the following phrase. Can you tell which are adjectives?

·         I’m always glad to see the pretty flowers.

·         A healthy child is a happy child.

·         That house has been empty for many years.

In these examples, “pretty”, “healthy”, “happy”, “that”, and “many” are all adjectives. As you can see, in English an adjective generally comes before the noun it describes.

 

Verbs

At their simplest, verbs are words that signal action or being (think of it as inaction). Action verbs describe what someone or something does, whether it’s in the past, present, or future:

·         I walked all the way home.

·         We talk often.

·         She will finish her homework later.

Verbs that show a state of being are known as linking verbs: they link or show the relationship between the subject between the subject and the object:

·         Jenny is a student.

·         That place looks homely.

·         It feels right.

One sub-group of linking verbs are modal verbs—verbs that express mood (can, may, must, ought, shall, should) or verb tense (will and would). Modal verbs behave very irregularly. For example, verbs like “ca”" only exist in the present tense.

 

Adverbs

It’s no coincidence that the word “adverb” has the root “verb”—one of the adverb’s main roles is modifying or describing the verb. Here are a few examples of adverbs:

·         You walk quickly.

·         I often see you.

·         Do it carefully.

In these examples, “quickly,” “often,” and “carefully” are adverbs. Note that many of the adverbs in English are formed by adding the suffix “-ly” to an adjective. In addition to modifying a verb, an adverb may modify an adjective or another verb:

·         Do it very carefully.

·         It’s a wonderfully calm night.

In the first sentence, the adverb “very” modifies another adverb, “carefully”. In the second, “wonderfully” is an adverb that modifies the adjective “calm,” which in turn describes the noun “night.”

 

Prepositions

Think of prepositions as words that signal position (physical or otherwise) of a noun or pronoun:

·         The sky is above the trees.

·         The basement is below the house.

·         The exit is through the garden.

·         I was looking for you.

·         She is at work.

·         The box was inside the house.

Here, the prepositions “for,” “at,” and “inside” explain where the noun is or how it’s related to another noun (in the case of the first example) Together with the noun and article, a preposition makes up the prepositional phrase, “for you,” “at work,” and “inside the house.” The entire prepositional phrase functions as a complement of the verb. Without the prepositional phrase the sentences serving as examples would not have been complete.

 

Conjunctions and Interjections

Conjunctions and interjections play a secondary role in sentences. Conjunctions are words “at a junction”—words that join or relate words or phrases. In English, conjunctions are divided into three groups:

·         Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

·         Correlative conjunctions: conjunctions that work in pairs, like either/ or and if/then

·         Subordinating conjunctions: conjunctions that connect a subordinate clause to the rest of the sentence. There are quite a few of these in English; a few are: however, since, because an whether.