Learn the basic rules of Spanish sentence structure
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Intro |
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| Michael: How are sentences structured in Spanish? |
| Ninoska: And are the rules rigid? |
| Michael: At SpanishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee is with his friend, Silvia Ramirez Arce, at Mexico City's International Airport. Ben is a foreign-exchange student and he thinks he sees a famous Mexican actor. He gestures to his friend, Silvia, and says, |
| "I know him! That's Gael Garcia!" |
| Ben Lee: ¡Yo lo conozco! ¡Es Gael García! |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: ¡Yo lo conozco! ¡Es Gael García! |
| Silvia Ramirez Arce: ¡Yo también lo conozco! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: ¡Yo lo conozco! ¡Es Gael García! |
| Michael: "I know him! That's Gael Garcia!" |
| Silvia Ramirez Arce: ¡Yo también lo conozco! |
| Michael: "I know him, too!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this conversation, both Ben and Silvia say different versions of the sentence: "I know him!" The only difference is that Silvia adds the word for "too," |
| Ninoska: También. |
| Michael: However, unlike in English, this adverb isn't at the end of the sentence. Instead, it's just after the subject: |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo también lo conozco! |
| Michael: In Spanish, adverbs which modify entire affirmative sentences, are usually between the subject and the verb. In this case, although there is also a pronoun in front of the verb, it's the object of the sentence, which is why it comes together with the verb. If we instead had the adverb at the end, |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo lo conozco también! |
| Michael: the sentence still makes sense, but it doesn't sound as natural as it would with the order we previously showed you. There are other kinds of adverbs, however, that do need to go after the verb, just like in English. For example, if you wanted to say "She sings well," |
| Ninoska: Ella canta bien, |
| Michael: the adverb for "well," |
| Ninoska: bien, |
| Michael: can only be positioned after the verb because it's strictly modifying the verb, instead of the entire sentence as in the previous example. So now we've seen adverbs that modify a whole sentence, and adverbs that modify a verb. We're only missing two: adverbs that modify adjectives, and those that modify other adverbs. Once again, just like in English, in both of these cases, the adverb will be in front of either the adjective or the main adverb. For example, in the sentence |
| Ninoska: Es muy pronto, |
| Michael: meaning "It's very early," the adverb "very," or |
| Ninoska: muy |
| Michael: in Spanish, is modifying |
| Ninoska: pronto, |
| Michael: which is the main adverb meaning "early." |
| Michael: In general, Spanish sentence structure is quite simple. The most important thing you need to remember is that the subject, if there is one, always goes at the beginning. This is followed by the verb, which is then followed by the object, once again, only if there is one. This word order works in affirmative sentences, |
| Ninoska: oraciones afirmativas, |
| Michael: negative sentences, |
| Ninoska: oraciones negativas |
| Michael: and interrogative sentences, |
| Ninoska: oraciones interrogativas. |
| Michael: The only thing you need to keep in mind when building a negative sentence is that you will need the negative particle, |
| Ninoska: no, |
| Michael: which will always be placed between the subject and the verb. As an example, consider the sentence |
| Ninoska: Ella no canta bien, |
| Michael: meaning "She does not sing well." In that sentence, the negative particle comes between the subject "she" and the verb "sing." As for interrogative sentences in Spanish, they are quite simple. For example, to form the question "Does she sing well?" all we need to do is take the original affirmative sentence and add question marks! |
| Ninoska: ¿Ella canta bien? |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the dialogue from this lesson. Try to respond to the following prompts by saying the Spanish translation out loud. Then, repeat after Ninoska with the focus on your pronunciation. |
| The first prompt is "I know him! That's Gael Garcia!" |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo lo conozco! ¡Es Gael García! |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again to Ninoska and repeat what she says. Remember to focus on the pronunciation! |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo lo conozco! ¡Es Gael García! |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo lo conozco! ¡Es Gael García! |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "I know him, too!" |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo también lo conozco! |
| Michael: Listen to Ninoska again and repeat what she says.. |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo también lo conozco! |
| Ninoska: ¡Yo también lo conozco! |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: |
| Even if you're not sure who Gael Garcia is, you have probably seen or heard him in movies before. For example, he stars in the 2004 film Bad Education, and more recently, he played the voice of Héctor in the Disney movie Coco — which we would recommend to anyone who is starting to learn Spanish. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Ninoska: ¡Hasta la próxima! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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