Spanish

Language
Spanish or Castilian is a Romance
Language that is originated in the
Castile region of Spain and today
has hundreds of millions of native
speakers in the Americas and
Spain. It is a global language and
the world’s second-most spoken
PHONOLOGY
 SPANISH ALPHABET
a [ah] – Ana b [beh] – Burro c [seh] – Cesar /s/ d [deh] – dedo e [eh] – Eduardo
Casa /k/

f [ehfe] – foco g [heh] – gato h [ahche] – historia ch [cheh] – churro i [ee] – Ines
genero

j [hota] – Julio k [kah] – kilo l [eleh] – loco/loca ll [doble elle] – lluvia

m [ehme] – mama n [ehne] – no ñ [enye] – niño o [oh] – ola

p [peh] – Pedro q [koo] – queso r [ehre] – Ramon rr [doble ehre] – Perro

s [ehse] – sol t [teh] - Tonto u [ooo] – huracan v [ubeh] – vaca

w [doble u] – Washington x [equis] – Mexico y [ ee griega] – voy / caray

yo / vaya

z [senta] - zanahoria
Spanish Vowel Pronunciation Example Words

a
ah papa , agua 
 

e
eh esperanza , bebé 
 

i
ee sí , chica 
 

o
oh loco , bonito 
 

u
oo grupo , futuro 
 
 SPANISH VOWELS
FRONT CENTRAL BACK

HIGH [i] [u]

MID [e] [o]

LOW [a]
 bilabial labiodental dental alveolar Palato- palatal velar
alveolar

Stops [p] capa [t] pata [k] pico

[b] ambos [d] lindo [g] vengo

Fricatives [f] café [Ɵ] caza [s] casa [x] caja

[ß] lobo [ð] cada [z] mismo [ʝ] a yer [ɣ] lago

Approxima [ɺ] Israel

nts

Affricates [tʃ] chico

[dʓ] ya

Nasals [m] cama [ɱ] [n] cana [ɲ] caña [ƴ] tengo
enfermo

Laterals [ɭ] cala [ʎ] calla

Tap [ɽ] caro

trill [ɼ] carro

 Spanish Diphthong Pronunciation

Diphthong Pronunciation Examples

au
ow aula , aunque 
 

ai , ay  ay aire , hay 

eu
ehoo Europa , neutro 
 

ei , ey  ey reina , rey 

ia
yah piano , hacia 
 
ie yeh tierra , serpiente 
 

io radio
yoh
   

iu
yoo viuda , ciudad 
 

oi , oy  oy boina , hoy 

ua
wah agua , cuadro 
 
ue
  weh fuego , trueno 

ui
  wee fuimos , fuiste 

uo
  woh cuota , individuo 
MORPHOLOG
Y
 Differences in Morphology
Spanish English
•is considered a highly inflected language • is not considered a highly
•inflections may be placed on nouns, verbs, inflected language
adjectives, articles and pronouns

•inflections affect the meaning of the words

•verbs can be inflected for aspect, tense,

mood, probability/indicative action (has or will
occur), person and number

•verbs can be conjugated as regular, irregular,

reflexive, radical-changing, or orthographical
changing
In Spanish there are In English there is
two verbs that are not essentially one copular
interchangeable (ser verb that joins the
and estar). Estar subject to the verb
implies a transitory (is/are).
state of being while Ser
indicates a permanent
state or an innate
condition.
NOUN
S
SUSTANTIVOS (nouns)
Nouns are names of things, places, ideas/concepts, or people.

Examples of nouns:

•Pedro - name of a person

•Casa (house) - name of a thing
•Centro comercial (shopping mall) - name of a place
•Democracia (democracy) - name of a concept (abstract noun)
Remember that in Spanish nouns need to
carry the gender and number. To do this
correctly, you need to remember the rules
and exceptions for feminine and
masculine nouns.
The basic rule is that nouns that end in 'o'
are masculine, and nouns that end in 'a'
are feminine. But there are other rules
and exceptions you need to know.
 DEFINITE ARTICLES
El ( masculine singular)
La (feminine singular)
Los (masculine plural)
Las (feminine plural)

Example:
El libro “The book”
La mesa “The table”
Los cuadernos “The notebooks/workbooks”
Las Señoras “The women”
 INDIFINITE ARTICLES

Un – a, an [masculine, singular] Unos – some [masculine, plural]

Una – a, an [feminine, singular] Unas – some [feminine,plural]

PRONOU
NS
PRONOMBRES (pronouns)
Pronouns are words we use to replace nouns. Pronouns carry the same
number and gender as the noun they replace.

There are many different pronouns, for example:

•Personal pronouns: yo, tú, él, nosotros, vosotros, ellos.

•Demonstrative pronouns: éste, aquél, ésa.
•Possessive pronouns: los míos, la mía.
•Relative pronouns: que, quien, el que, la cual.
•Indefinite pronouns: algo, alguien.
VERBS
VERBOS (verbs)

Verbs express an action or state that the subject of the

sentence performs. In Spanish, there are regular and
irregular verbs, and many different verb tenses.
The three infinitive forms that exist are:

verbs ending in -ar (hablar)

verbs ending in -er (comer)
verbs ending in -ir (vivir).
There are verbs that are transitive (those that need a direct
object), and there are verbs that are intransitive (which do not
need an object).

An example of a transitive verb is preparar.

Lucía está preparando la cena
(Lucía is preparing dinner).

On the other hand, you have intransitive verbs like delinquir.

Pedro ha delinquido
(Pedro has transgressed).
ADJECTIVE
S
ADJETIVOS (adjectives)
Adjectives describe and give extra information about nouns.

There are descriptive adjectives such as:

“tonto”(fool) “grande” (large/big)

Limiting adjectives such as:

“este” (this) “aquel” (that) “cinco” (five) “mi” (my) “la” (her)
“los” (them)
Adjectives must agree in number and gender with the
noun, so adjectives have different forms.

For example:

“bueno” / “buena” ( Una buena idea – A good idea)

“buenos” /“buenas” ( Buenas tardes – Good afternoon)

ADVERB
S
ADVERBIOS (adverbs)
Adverbs describe or give extra information about a verb, an
adjective or another adverb. There are many different type of
adverbs:

•Adverbios de tiempo (adverbs of time):

Primero (first), luego (then), después (afterward/later)

•Adverbios de lugar (adverbs of place):

Acá (here), allá (there)
•Adverbios de modo (adverbs of manner):
Lentamente (slowly), mal (badly), bruscamente
(suddenly)

•Adverbios de afirmación y negación (adverbs of

affirmation and negation):
Sí (yes), no, nunca (never)
PREPOSITIO
NS
PREPOSICIONES (preposition)
Prepositions are used to show the relationship between items
in the sentence. For instance, these are some of the
prepositions you can learn in Spanish:

•con (with) and sin (without)

•antes (before) and después (after)
•arriba (above) and abajo/debajo de (below, underneath)
•contra (against)
There are prepositions of time, place, direction, sequence, etc.
When the preposition de [of] is followed
by the definite article el,

De + el contracts to del.

So, El cuaderno del curso is “ The

workbook of the course”.
CONJUNCTIONS
CONJUNCIONES (conjunctions)
Conjunctions are linkers we use to make sentences and
paragraphs more cohesive and natural. The most
common ones are:
y (and) and pero (but).

Other common ones are:

De (of), manera (way), que (that), así que (even if that)
etc.
INTERJECTIO
NS
INTERJECCIONES (interjections)

Interjections are exclamations and sounds one make

when speaking to express a certain reaction or emotion:

•¡Ay!
•Uhhh...
•¡Ah!
SYNTAX
SUBJECT (doer) + VERB (action) +OBJECT (recipient)