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    Spanish Essentials
    Spanish Essentials
    Spanish Essentials
    Ebook206 pages1 hour

    Spanish Essentials

    By Ricardo Mouat

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    About this ebook

    REA’s Essentials provide quick and easy access to critical information in a variety of different fields, ranging from the most basic to the most advanced. As its name implies, these concise, comprehensive study guides summarize the essentials of the field covered. Essentials are helpful when preparing for exams, doing homework and will remain a lasting reference source for students, teachers, and professionals. Spanish reviews the fundamentals of the Spanish language, including basic pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Other topics include cognates, numbers, idiomatic expressions, time, weather, and clothing.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherResearch & Education Association
    Release dateJan 1, 2013
    ISBN9780738670294
    Spanish Essentials

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      Book preview

      Spanish Essentials - Ricardo Mouat

      GLOSSARY

      CHAPTER 1

      Alphabet and Sounds

      1.1 The Alphabet

      Spanish uses the same Latin alphabet as English except for the addition of four letters:

      1.2 Consonants

      (This pronunciation guide follows Latin American usage. In Castilian Spanish the soft c and the z are pronounced like th in thin.)

      1.3 Vowels

      The sounds of the Spanish vowels are invariable.

      1.3.1 Diphthongs

      A combination of one strong (a, e, o) and one weak vowel (i, u) or of two weak ones is a diphthong and counts as one syllable:

      1.4 Stress and Accent Marks

      There are two basic rules that indicate stress in Spanish. If either of these two rules is broken, a written accent mark will appear over the word.

      If a word ends in a vowel, —n, or —s, the normal stress is on the penultimate (next to last) syllable.

      esposa (over the –o)

      clase (over the –a)

      crimen (over the –i)

      If a word ends in any other letter (than those mentioned above), the normal stress will fall on the last syllable.

      hablar (over the –a)

      papel (over the –e)

      nivel (over the –e)

      Some one-syllable words will be accented according to their grammatical function.

      mi (possessive adjective) vs. mí (prepositional pronoun)

      mas (but-conjunction) vs. más (more-adverb)

      si (if) vs. sí (yes)

      se (reflexive pronoun) vs. sé (I know-verb)

      tu (possessive adjective) vs. tú (subject pronoun)

      el (article) vs. él (subject pronoun)

      1.5 Syllabic Division

      A consonant between two vowels joins the second vowel to form a syllable: li-te-ra-tu-ra, e-ne-mi-go, a-ho-ra;

      two consonants together must be separated: cuer-no, pac-to;

      ch, ll, and rr are considered one letter and are not separated;

      l or r preceded by b, c, d, f, g, p, and t are not separated: ha-blar, a-brup-to, te-cla, pul-cri-tud, melo-dra-ma, in-flu-yo, a-gra-de-cer;

      ns and bs are not separated in groups of three or four consonants: ins-cri-bir, obs-tá-cu-lo;

      in words formed with prefixes, the prefix stands alone as one syllable: sub-ra-yar, in-ú-til, des-a-gra-dar.

      CHAPTER 2

      Articles

      2.1 Forms of the Definite Article

      The forms of the definite article are:

      2.1.1 Masculine Article with Feminine Nouns

      El is used instead of la before feminine nouns beginning with stressed a or ha: el agua, el hacha, el alma, el hambre.

      2.1.2 Contractions

      El contracts to al when the article follows the preposition a (a + el) and to del when the article follows the preposition de (de + el.)

      2.2 Uses of the Definite Article

      The definite article is used in Spanish (but not in English):

      when the noun represents an abstraction: life is short; time is money; freedom is worth fighting for; politics is a practical art. (In Spanish: la vida, el tiempo, la libertad, la política.);

      when the noun includes the totality of a category: books are good; man is mortal; the Incas were acquainted with gold; bread is a staple. (In Spanish: los libros, el hombre, el oro, el pan.);

      with the days of the week (except after a form of the verb ser) and the seasons of the year: el lunes (but hoy es lunes), la primavera, el otoño;

      with the hours of the day: son las tres de la tarde; a las doce del día (or al mediodía);

      with personal or professional forms of address in the third person: el señor Jiménez, la señorita Méndez, el doctor Márquez, el licenciado Vidriera. (It is omitted when the individual is directly addressed and in front of titles such as Don, Doña, San, or Santo[a]: venga, señor Jiménez; no se

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