II.

General Characteristics

Speakers of Spanish share a common linguistic system and a common grammar. Although inhabitants of the various provinces of Spain and the various countries have slightly differing vocabularies and pronunciation, and use different expressions, these variations do not hamper communication.

A.

Phonetics

The Spanish alphabet consists of 27 letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, and z. The vowels of this alphabet (a, e, i, o, u) sound roughly like the English words ha, hay, he, ho, and who. The Spanish language also contains 14 diphthongs (speech sounds) that combine the strong vowels (a, e, o) with the weak ones (i, u) to create distinct sounds. Examples of these are ue, as in bueno (good), and io, as in dios (god). The letter y serves as both a consonant, as in yodo (iodine), and a semivowel, as in bueyes (oxen).

Unlike vowels, the consonants of the Spanish alphabet cannot be combined to create new sounds. However, there are some notable issues with consonants. The consonants b and v are pronounced very similarly to each other, as are ll and y. Spanish speakers also drop h sounds at the beginning of words, so that horario (schedule) and historia (history) are pronounced as if they were spelled orario and istoria. These three elements of the language account for the most common mistakes made by people learning Spanish as a second language: confusing a b with a v, mistaking an ll for a y, and adding the h sounds to the beginning of words with a silent h.

Most Spanish words are pronounced with the stress on the second-to-last syllable. Words ending in consonants other than n or s, however, are stressed on the last syllable. Words whose pronunciation requires the stress to fall on a syllable other than the second-to-last or last syllable, or that require the breakup of a diphthong, carry an accent mark on the vowel of the stressed syllable. Examples of these situations are pájaro (bird), with the accent on the first a, and día (day), with the i and a sounds pronounced distinctly. In rare words, a dieresis over the u (ü) indicates that a u should not form part of a diphthong. One important punctuation note is that questions and exclamations in written forms are indicated by an inverted question mark (¿) or exclamation point (¡) at the beginning of the sentence and then a standard one at the end of the sentence.

B.

Vocabulary

Most Spanish words come from the Latin language (the language of the Roman Empire). But because so many people speak Spanish in so many places, the language quickly adopts new words and borrows words from other languages, particularly Arabic, English, and continental European languages such as French and Italian. In the Caribbean region and in Central and South America, indigenous languages have heavily influenced Spanish. An organization called the Royal Spanish Academy of Language has branches in countries where Spanish is spoken and establishes norms of spelling and grammatical forms.

C.

Grammar

Word order in Spanish generally follows the pattern of subject-verb-object, as in Las gallinas comen semillas (the chickens eat seeds).

As is the case with verbs in many languages, verbs in Spanish are conjugated, or changed to indicate tense and person. In their infinitive form, Spanish verbs end in -ar, -er, or -ir. For example, the Spanish verb to walk is andar, to eat is comer, and to sleep is dormir. Users indicate the tense (present, past, future, conditional, or one of the various compound forms) by adding endings to the main stem of the infinitive. These endings also indicate the subject of the verb (first person singular and plural, second person singular and plural, third person singular and plural). For example, andar is conjugated in the present tense as yo ando (I walk), tú andas (you walk), and so on. When indicating the future tense, these endings change: yo andaré (I will walk), tú andarás (you will walk), and so on. When using the second person singular or plural (the you form in English), Spanish speakers can choose between a familiar form and a formal one, depending on the relationship between the speakers. In the familiar form, you is translated as tú in the singular and vosotros in the plural. In the formal form, it is translated as usted in the singular and ustedes in the plural.

Two verbs in Spanish express “to be”: ser (conjugated in the present tense as soy, eres, es, somos, sois, and son), and estar (conjugated in the present tense as estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, and están). In general, ser expresses permanent states, such as Soy alto (I am tall) or Somos de Perú (We are from Peru). Estar expresses temporary conditions, such as Estoy cansado (I am tired) or La calle está mojada (The street is wet).

Spanish has two past tenses: the preterit and the imperfect. In general, the preterit refers to completed past actions, such as Amelia terminó su tarea (Amelia finished her homework). The imperfect expresses continuing actions in the past, such as Durante todo el día Miguel pensaba en sus padres (Throughout the day Miguel thought of his parents).

Spanish speakers also use two modes of speech, called the indicative and the subjunctive. These modes differ in the verb forms they take. Speakers use the indicative to convey existing information or certainty, as in Ella vive en una casa roja (She lives in a red house). They use the subjunctive to express doubt, the influence of one subject over another, indirect commands, pending or nonfactual information, or actions, as in Yo dudo que ella viva en una casa roja (I doubt that she lives in a red house).

All nouns in Spanish have gender—either masculine or feminine. In general, a noun’s ending indicates its gender. Most masculine nouns end in o, as in caballo (horse). Most feminine nouns end in a, as in vaca (cow). The gender endings on some nouns depend on the subject. These nouns include hermano/hermana (brother/sister) and niño/niña (boy/girl). Articles and adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number. For example, the black horse is written el caballo negro, while the black cows is written las vacas negras.