Appendix 1

Glossary of Grammar Terms

Adjective          A word that describes a noun or pronoun.

La chica es inteligente. The young lady is smart.

Article   A determiner that sets off a noun.

el libro   the book

Definite article    An article that indicates a specific noun.

el bolígrafo            the pen

Indefinite article   An article that indicates an unspecified noun.

un carro                 a car

Infinitive     The form of a verb that has not been conjugated into a tense, person or mood.

Jaime va a comprar una manzana.

Jaime is going to buy an apple.

 

Noun        A word that denotes a person, place, thing, or idea.

maestro, universidad, mesa, Juan

teacher, university, table, Juan

Number

Cardinal number   A number that indicates an amount.

dos libros, cuatro estudiantes

two books, four students

Ordinal number   A number that indicates position in a series.

la primera estudiante, la tercera silla

the first student, the third chair

 

Person      The form of a pronoun or verb that indicates the person involved in an action.

1st person singular I yo

2nd person singular you

3rd person singular he, she, it, usted/él/ella

1st person plural we nosotros

3rd person plural they ustedes/ellos/as

Preposition   A word or phrase that specifies the relationship of one word (usually a noun or pronoun) to another.

cerca de la cafetería near the cafetería

                              antes de la clase before class

Present Participle    The verb form that ends in -ing in English and with the verb estar in Spanish to form the progressive.

hablando talking

comiendo eating

escribiendo writing

Progressive         The verb that expresses continuing or developing action.

Carmen está caminando. Carmen is walking.

Juan y Julio están estudiando. Juan and Julio are studying.

Nosotros estamos durmiendo. We are sleeping.

Pronouns         A word that refers to a person (I, you, we, etc.) or that is used in place of one or more nouns.

Interrogative    A pronoun used to ask a question.

¿Quién es el maestro? Who is the teacher?

Reflexive        A pronoun that represents the same person as the subject of the verb.

Me miro en el espejo. I look at myself in the mirror.

Tense       The form of a verb indicating time: present, past or future.

Gisela era, es y siempre será mi hermana.

Gisela was, is, and always will be my sister.

 

Verb       A word that reports an action or state.

Juan escucha música. Juan listens to music.

Reflexive verb    A verb whose subject and object are the same.

Alba se peina. Alba brushes her hair (herself).

 

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Spanish 001 PSU New Kensington Copyright © 2019 by Ana Ivette Serrano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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