SPANISH GRAMMAR

Accentuation
Spanish word stress is generally determined according to the following rules:

 Words ending in a vowel, or in –n or –s, are stressed on the penultimate syllable

Example zapato
Llaman
 Words ending in a consonant other than –n or s are stressed on the last syllable
Example perdiz
Curiosidad
 Exception to the rules have a written accent mark over the stressed vowel fácil, hablará ultimo.
There are also few words which take accent marks in order to distinguish them from homonyms
(si, sí; que, qué; el, él and etc...
 Adverbs ending in –mente have to stressed syllables since they retain both the stress of the root
word and of the –mente suffix (lentamente, dificilmente). And also many compounds also have
two stressed syllables (limpiaparabrisas)

Punctuation and Capitalization

 Questions and exclamations in Spanish are preceded by an inverted question mark ¿and an
inverted exclamation mark ¡, respectively:

¿Cuándo llamó Ana?

Y tú, ¿qué piensas?

¡No hagas eso!

Pero, quélastima!

 In Spanish, unlike English, the following words are not capitalized:

 Names of days, months, and languages (jueves, octubre, español).
 Spanish adjectives or nouns derived from proper nouns (los nicaragüenses, una teoria
marxista)

Articles
1. Definite Article
Spanish has five forms of the definite article: el (masculine singular), la (feminine singular), los
(masculine plural), las (feminine plural), and lo (neuter). The first four agree in gender and number with
the nouns they limit (el carro, the car; las tijeras, the scissors), although the form el is used with
feminine singular nouns beginning with a stressed a- or ha- (el águila, el hambre).
The neuter article lo is used with the masculine singular form of an adjective to express an abstract
concept (lo mejor de este método, the best thing about this method; lo mneticuloso de su trabajo, the
meticulousness of her work; lo mismo para mi, the same for me).

Whenever the masculine article el immediately follows the words de or a, it combines with them to
form the contractions del and al, respectively (viene del campo, vi al hermano de Roberto).

The use of el, la, los, and as in Spanish corresponds largely to the use of the in English; some exceptions
are noted below.

The definite article is used:

 When referring to something as a class (los gatos son ágiles, cats are agile; me gusta el café, I
like coffee).
 In references to meals and in most expressions of time comiste el almuerzo?, did you eat
lunch?; vino el año pasado, he came last year; son las dos, it's two o'clock; prefiero el verano,
prefer summer; la reunión es el lunes the meeting is on Monday; but: hoy es hunes, today is
Monday)
 Before titles (except don, doña, san, santo, santa, fray, and sor) in third-person references to
people (la señora Rivera llamó, Mrs. Rivera called; but: hola, señora Rivera, hello, Mrs. Rivera).

 In references to body parts and personal possessions (me duele la cabeza, my head hurts; dejo
el sombrero, he left his hat)

 To mean "the one" or "the ones when the subject is already understood (la de madera, the
wooden one; los que vi aver , the ones I saw yesterday).

The definite article is omitted:

 Before a noun in apposition, if the noun is not modified (Caracas, capital de Venezuela; but: Pico
Bolivar, la Montana más alta de Venezuela).

 Before a number in a royal title (Carlos Quinto, Charles the Fifth).

2. Indefinite Article
The forms of the indefinite article in Spanish are un (masculine singular), una (feminine singular), unos
(masculine plural), and unas (feminine plural). They agree in number and gender with the nouns they
limit (una mesa, a table; unos platos, some plates), although the form un is used with feminine singular
nouns beginning with a stressed a- or ha- (un ala, un hacha).

The use of un, una, unos, and unas in Spanish corresponds largely to the use of a, an, and some in
English, with some exceptions:

 Indefinite articles are generally omitted before nouns identifying someone or something as a
member of a class or category (Paco es profesor/católico, Paco is a professor/ Catholic;, se llama
páncreas, it's called a pancreas).
 They are also often omitted in instances where quantity is understood from context (vine sin
chaqueta, I came without a jacket; no tengo carro, I don't have a car).