Grammar - Questions
Unlike English, yes/no questions in Spanish are not usually formed by switching the position of subject and verb (if the subject is explicit). To recognize a sentence as affirmative or as a question one must pay attention to the intonation pattern. Unlike English, Spanish uses a reversed question mark (¿) at the beginning of a question:
| Tú eres de México. | You are from Mexico. |
| Eres de México. | You are from Mexico. |
become
| ¿Tú eres de México? | Are you from Mexico? |
| ¿Eres de México? | Are you from Mexico? |
For other type of questions Spanish uses the following question words (note that all of them have an accent in the word):
| ¿Cómo...? or ¿Qué...? | How...? or What...? |
| ¿Cuándo...? | When...? |
| ¿Cuánto...? | How much...? |
| ¿Cuántos...? | How many...? |
| ¿Dónde...? | Where...? |
| ¿Por qué...? | Why...? |
| ¿Quién...? | Who...? (singular) |
| ¿Quiénes...? | Who...? (plural) |
Here are some Spanish sentences where specific question words are used:
| ¿Cómo te llamas? | What is your name? (Literally: How do you call yourself?) |
| ¿Cuántos años tienes? | How old are you? (Literally: How many years do you have?) |
| ¿Dónde está el aeropuerto? | Where is the airport? |
Questions can also be posed within a sentence:
| Y tú, ¿cuántos años tienes? | How old are you? (Literally: And you, how many years do you have?) |
| Entonces, ¿por qué no puedo jugar con él? | So, why can't I play with him? |
Exercise: Questions
Grammar - Possessive Adjectives
Like English, the Spanish possessive adjectives differ depending on the person they are referring to. Unlike English, the possessive article also changes depending on the number of items that one possesses (for example: mi libro = my book, mis libros = my books). It can also change depending on the gender of the item (for example: nuestro perro = our dog, nuestra casa = our house). The following table summarizes all Spanish possessive adjectives:
| Person | Singular | Plural | English |
Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | mi | mis | my |
mi lápiz |
| tú | tu | tus | your |
tu lápiz |
| él | su, de él | sus | his |
su lápiz, el lápiz de él |
| ella | su, de ella | sus, de ella | her |
su lápiz, el lápiz de ella |
| usted | su, de usted | sus, de usted | your |
su lápiz, el lápiz de usted |
| nosotros/nosotras | nuestro, nuestra, de nosotros |
nuestros, nuestras |
our | nuestro lápiz, el lápiz de
nosotros |
| vosotros/vosotras | vuestro, vuestra | vuestros, vuestras | your |
vuestro lápiz |
| ellos | su, de ellos | sus, de ellos | their |
su lápiz, el lápiz de ellos |
| ellas | su, de ellas | sus, de ellas | their |
su lápiz, el lápiz de ellas |
| ustedes | su, de ustedes | sus, de ustedes | your |
su lápiz, el lápiz de ustedes |
- Possessive Pronouns are not used when talking about body parts:
| mi nariz (la nariz de él) | my nose (his nose) |
| mi dedo (el dedo de él) | my finger (his finger) |
| mis manos (las manos de él) | my hands (his hands) |
| mis ojos (los ojos de él) | my eyes (his eyes) |
Exercise: Possessive Adjectives
Grammar - Comparisons
Equality
Spanish uses three slightly different constructions for comparisons of equality. One for comparing verbs, one for comparing nouns and one for comparing adjectives/adverbs. The following examples show the three different possibilities:
| Alberto estudia tanto como Felicitas. | Alberto studies as much as Felicitas. |
| Yo tengo tanto dinero como mi hermano. | I have as much money as my brother. |
| La estudiante es tan inteligente como el profesor. | The student is as intelligent as the teacher. |
When comparing nouns, the ending of tanto will be modified to tanta, tantos, or tantas in order to match gender and quantity of the noun. The general pattern for comparisons of equality is the following:
| {verb} tanto como | {verb} as much as |
| tanto/a/os/as {noun} como | as much/as many {noun} as |
| tan {adjective/adverb} como | as {adjective/adverb} as |
Inequality
For comparisons of inequality, Spanish uses the same form for both nouns and adjectives/adverbs. There are two types of inequalities: más ... que (more than) and menos ... que (less than):
| Trabajo más horas que tú. | I work more hours than you. |
| Trabajo menos horas que tú. | I work less hours than you. |
| Tom Hanks es más famoso que Patrick Stewart. | Tom Hanks is more famous than Patrick Stewart. |
| Patrick Stewart es menos famoso que Tom Hanks. | Patrick Stewart is less famous than Tom Hanks. |
In general:
| más/menos {noun/adjective/adverb} que | more/less {noun/adjective/adverb} than |
Superlatives
Superlatives in Spanish are similar to comparisons of inequality: They use más for the most, menos for the least. Then follows the adjective and finally there is a preposition (de):
| Ricardo es el estudiante más alto de la universidad. | Ricardo is the tallest student in the university. |
| Plutón es el planeta más pequeño del sistema solar. | Pluto is the smallest planet in the solar system. |
| Los diamantes son las gemas más caras del mundo. | Diamonds are the most expensive gems in the world. |
| María es la más inteligente de la clase. | Maria is the most intelligent one in the class. |
| El libro de Jorge es el menos interesante de la clase. | Jorge's book is the least interesting book in the class. |
Note that in some cases (la más inteligente) you can just write the article and omit the noun. The general pattern for Spanish superlatives is:
| el/la/los/las ({noun}) más/menos {adjective} de | the (most/least){adjective} {noun} in/of |
Exercise: Comparisons
Vocabulario (Vocabulary) - La escuela (School)
| La escuela | The school |
|---|---|
| el profesor, la profesora | the teacher, the professor |
| el maestro, la maestra | the primary school teacher |
| el rector, la rectora | the university president, the school principal |
| el colegio | the primary school (Spain), the K-12 school (Chile) |
| la escuela | the school (all senses), the primary School (Chile) |
| el instituto | the secondary school (Spain) |
| el liceo | the secondary school (Chile) |
| la preparatoria | the secondary school (Mexico) |
| la universidad | the university, the college |
| la biblioteca | the library |
| la librería | the book store |
| el libro de texto | the text book |
| el curso, la clase | the course, the class |
| el exámen | the final exam |
| los deberes, las tareas escolares, la tarea | the homework |
| la actividad extracuricular | the extracurricular activity |
| el club | the club |
| la ajedrez | the chess |
| la banda | the band |
| el equipo | the team |
| el coro | the choir |
| el fotografía | the photography |
| el teatro | theater |
| Verbos | |
| aprender | to learn |
| estudiar | to study |
| leer | to read |
| calcular | to compute, to calculate |
| hacer un proyecto | to do a project |
| preguntar | to ask |
| contestar | to answer |
| discutir | to argue |
| fácil | easy |
| difícil | difficult |
| interesante | interesting |
| aburrido, pesado | boring |
| inteligente | intelligent |
| estúpido, tonto | stupid, dumb, silly |