Spanish Writing and Grammar Lab
Beginning Grammar
Introducción a la Gramática
What is grammar?
Grammar is the study of the rules that govern the language. These rules may indicate:
How words and sentences are pronounced: phonetics and phonology
How words are formed: morphology
How words are put together in a meaningful sentence: syntax
Grammar is a part of a broader field of knowledge called linguistics.
The study of the meaning of words is taken up by two branches of linguistics called semantics and lexicography.In order to illustrate how grammar works, compare these two groups of words:
(a) a las se lo veían casas lejos pueblo del
(b) A lo lejos se veían las casas del pueblo.
Anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish would probably notice that the first group of words, (a), makes no sense whatsoever, although it contains the same words as the second group, (b). This is possible because when we learn a language, we acquire a sense of the order of words even if we can not explain the rules that govern it. The following exercise will prove to you that you already have a sense of word order in Spanish, that is, its syntax.
What is a grammatical sentence?
The groups of words in the left column are complete statements that express an idea or give an order. They are called grammatical sentences (oraciones gramaticales).
The groups of words in the right column are incomplete statements and are called phrases (frases) in some grammar books. However, these phrases could be interpreted as grammatical sentences if they are part of a question-answer sequence, for example, -¿Qué quieres? -Verte. In this sequence, the speaker is saying ¨[Quiero] verte¨, which is a sentence.
What are the components of the grammatical sentence?
1. Los muchachos saltaron la cerca. The children jumped over the fence
2. Ayer llegaron los muebles. The pieces of furniture arrived yesterday
3. Me gusta bailar ese baile. I like to dance that dance
4. No sabemos nada de ella. We don´t know anything about her
The grammatical sentence has two main components:
The subject (sujeto), which is the actor of the action expressed in the sentence:
(1) los muchachos, (2) los muebles, (3) bailar ese baile, (4) (nosotros, understood)
The predicate (predicado) which is the verb or action and its complements: direct object, indirect object, and the adverbials:
Example 1: saltaron (verb), la cerca (direct object)
Example 2: llegaron (verb), ayer (adverbial)
Example 3: gusta (verb), me (indirect object)
Example 4: sabemos (verb), nada (direct object), de ella (adverbial) no (adverbial)
What is a simple sentence (oración simple)?
Mis hermanos y mis sobrinos viven en Jamaica
My brothers and my nephews live in Jamaica
Yo siempre había querido volver a visitar La Habana en invierno
I had always wanted to visit Havana again in the winter
¡Cállate!
Be quiet!
A simple sentence is a grammatical sentence with only one verb. This verb form can be a compound form like the one in the second example, había querido.
What is a compound sentence (oración compuesta)?
Voy porque quiero. I´m going because I want to
Llegué, vi y vencí. I came, I saw, and I conquered
Entra, siéntate, cuéntame todo. Come in, sit down, tell me everything
No esperaba que lo hicieras tan bien I did not expect you to do it so well
A compound sentence is a sentence that has more than one verb form. In reality, a compound sentence is a combination of two or more simple sentences.
Actividad:
Di si los siguientes grupos de palabras son frases, oraciones simples u oraciones compuestas.
1. Romeo y Julieta, los amantes de Verona.
2. Fernando tomó el refresco porque tenía sed.
3. Vine a las dos y volví a verlo.
4. Para cazar serpientes hay que tener un instrumento especial.
5. Todas las tardes me voy al pueblo antes de que oscurezca.
6. Sabemos las respuestas.
7. Al llegar a la plaza vi a Micaela.
8. Es imposible que digan eso de ti.
How do you know what is what in a simple declarative sentence?
Subject (sujeto)
Ricardo buscaba a su padre. Richard was looking for his father
Los caballos no han comido todavía. The horses have not eaten yet
Los demócratas ganaron las elecciones. The democrats won the elections
The subject of a sentence is the actor or executor of the action expressed by the verb. You can follow this simple procedure to determine or discover who or what is the subject of a sentence:
First: Ask the question who or what is doing the action. The response is the subject of the sentence. In the examples above, Ricardo, los caballos, and los demócratas.
Second: Be sure to verify that there is an agreement in person and in number between the found subject and the verb. In the example above Ricardo and buscaba are both singular and third person; los caballos and han comido are both plural and third person; los demócratas and ganaron are both plural and third person.
Verb (verbo)
The verb is the action in the sentence. Some verbs do not express actions in the sense that we normally use this word. For example, ser, estar, parecer, and tener are not very active; however, they are verbs. Use the following procedure to find out what word in a sentence is the verb:
First: Look for the word expressing an action.
Second: Verify if the word you think is a verb has or could have a subject.
Third: Verify if the word you are considering has a verb form, for which you must know the paradigms of the Spanish conjugation.
Direct object (objeto directo)
The direct object is the part of the sentence that is acted upon. The direct object does not do anything - everything is done to it. Follow this procedure to find out who or what is the direct object of a sentence:
First: Ask the verb who or what is receiving its action. In other words, who or what is being acted upon.
Second: Do not be tricked by the position of the direct object after the verb, as it normally occurs in English. In Spanish the direct object could be in different places, as shown in the following examples:
Vimos ayer en el teatro a Miguel
Vimos a Miguel ayer en el teatro
Lo vimos ayer en el teatro
A Miguel lo vimos ayer en el teatro
Third: You can test the word you are considering as a direct object by doing the passive transformation. In other words, transform the given sentence into a passive sentence with ser. For example: Vimos ayer a Miguel en el teatro, changes to the passive as Miguel fue visto ayer en el teatro (por nosotros). Since Miguel becomes a passive subject, it is a direct object. Notice that in both instances, Miguel is acted upon.
Indirect object (objeto indirecto)
The indirect object is the person (sometimes a thing) that is receiving the benefit, or the damage, or the result of the verbal action in a sentence. The indirect object does not do anything in the sentence but sometimes acts as a producer or inducer of the action, as is evident in the following examples:
Luis le abrió la puerta a Julia
Luis opened the door for Julia
Me dieron cuatro invitaciones para la fiesta, porque estaba allí
They gave me four invitations to the party because I was there
Les cambié el aceite a los autos
I changed the oil in the cars
¿Te limpiaron el cuarto?
Did they clean the room for you?
Use the following procedure to discover the indirect object of a sentence:
First: Ask the verb to whom or for whom the action on the direct object is performed. The response must be a person, an animal, or a thing. For example in Les cambié el aceite a los autos, you ask: to whom/what did I change the oil? The answer must be the indirect object: los autos.
Second: Check if the person, animal, or thing is introduced by the preposition a, if so, it must be the indirect object.
Third: Verify that the person, animal, or thing is not acted upon. That is, if it is not a direct object, then it must be an indirect object. (With verbs, like traer, the indirect object may be introduced by the preposition para.)
Fourth: Verity if that person, animal, or thing is receiving any damage or benefit from the action in the sentence. If it does, then it is an indirect object.
Adverbials (complementos adverbiales o circunstanciales)
The adverbials are those words or phrases that express conditions of time, place, mode, company, instrument, quantity, purpose, and so forth. For example:
El helicóptero rescató en la falda de la montaña a los pasajeros del avión en menos de una hora
The helicopter rescued on the side of the mountain the passengers of the plane in less than an hour
The components of this sentence are:
SUBJECT: El helicóptero
VERB: rescató
DIRECT OBJECT: a los pasajeros del avión
ADVERBIAL OF PLACE: en la falda de la montaña
ADVERBIAL OF TIME: en menos de una hora
Actividad:
Di los componentes sintácticos de estas oraciones: sujeto, verbo, objeto directo, objeto indirecto y complementos circunstanciales (adverbios).
1. En ese momento el tío de Clarita entró con prisa en la casa
2. Horacio no les compraba nunca juguetes a sus hijos.
3. La familia Hernández vivía pobremente en la casucha de la esquina norte.
4. Ayer me dieron las noticias aquí mismo.
5. Se lo dijo Adela hoy por la mañana
6. Nosotros no somos venezolanos.
7. Para bailar la bamba necesitas un poquito de gracia.
8. ¿Me vas a enseñar las fotos de tu sobrino Lorenzo?
Adapted from the book ¨Spanish for Oral and Written Review¨ by Mario Iglesias and Walter Meiden