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How Spanish packages meaning
Spanish grammar at a glance
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Common questions about Spanish
What does the Spanish verb ending tell you?
A single suffix encodes person, number, tense, aspect, and mood simultaneously. 'Hablo' is 1SG present indicative, 'hablase' is 3SG past subjunctive, 'hablaríamos' is 1PL conditional. Six different endings distinguish all six person/number combinations in every tense, which is why subject pronouns are usually dropped — the verb already says who's acting.
What's the difference between ser and estar?
Spanish has two verbs for 'to be'. Ser marks identity, profession, origin, and inherent traits (soy de Madrid, soy alta). Estar marks location, state, and condition (estoy cansado, está en casa). 'Es feliz' means 'she's a happy person'; 'está feliz' means 'she's happy right now'. The contrast is grammatical — every adjective takes one or the other and the choice changes the meaning.
Does Spanish have grammatical gender?
Yes — every noun is masculine or feminine, and articles, adjectives, and past participles agree. 'El libro rojo' / 'la mesa roja'. Endings give clues (-o usually masculine, -a usually feminine) but exceptions exist (la mano, el día, la foto). Plural adds -s and the agreement carries through.
Why are Spanish sentences shorter than English?
Spanish drops subject pronouns. 'Hablo español' is a complete sentence — the -o ending already tells you the subject is 'I'. English requires 'I speak Spanish'. Pronouns appear in Spanish only for emphasis or contrast ('YO hablo, tú no'). Across a paragraph this saves significant length.
Why does 'lo' stick to the verb in 'dámelo' but float free in 'lo doy'?
Spanish object pronouns (clitics) attach to certain verb forms and stand separate from others. With imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds, clitics suffix to the verb (dámelo = give-me-it, dárselo = give-it-to-her). With finite verbs in indicative or subjunctive moods, clitics precede the verb as separate words (te lo doy = to-you-it I-give). Same pronoun, two positions, fixed by verb form.
Sources for Spanish
The grammatical descriptions on this page are informed by the following published reference and descriptive grammars. Grammatical facts themselves are not subject to copyright; the scholars who documented them deserve attribution.
- Butt, John & Benjamin, Carmen (2004). A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, 4th ed. London: Arnold.
- Whitley, M. Stanley & González, Luis (2007). Gramática para la composición, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
- Real Academia Española & Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010). Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa.
- Penny, Ralph (2002). A History of the Spanish Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.