Glossary of grammatical terms
adjective a word that describes the characteristics or attributes of a noun, e.g. un coche
verde, una cara bonita
adverb a word that gives more information about the action of a verb, telling us how,
when or where the action occurred, e.g. rápidamente, despacio, ayer
auxiliary verb a verb that is used in conjunction with another and not in its own right,
usually to form a different tense, e.g. hemos estu-diado, han visto
comparative a way of comparing two adjectives or adverbs, e.g. más alto que ...
definite article used with a noun to indicate that a particular noun is being referred to,
e.g. el vecino (as opposed to un vecino)
demonstrative adjective used with a noun to identify that noun in particular, as opposed
to other similar ones, for example when you point at it, e.g. este libro, esa gente
demonstrative pronoun used to replace a demonstrative adjective when the context
makes clear what is being referred to, e.g. ¿prefieres estos o aquellos? (when both
speakers know what ‘these’ and ‘those’ refer to)
direct object The person or thing upon which the action of the verb is directly applied,
e.g. se bebió el vino
imperfect (tense) used to describe repeated, habitual or on-going actions in the past, e.g.
hacía calor (it was sunny), nadábamos (we used to go swimming)
indefinite article used with a noun when the speaker either does not know or does not
want to specify which particular noun is being referred to, e.g. una casa con
persianas verdes
indirect object The person or thing at the receiving end of the action performed by the
verb; usually indicates ‘to’ of ‘for’ whom or what the action is being performed, e.g. le
compró un regalo a su madre (he bought his mother a present or he bought a present
for his mother)
infinitive the form of the verb found in the dictionary before the ending has been
modified in any way to indicate tense or person, English ‘to ...’, e.g. to run, to eat
interrogative a word introducing a direct or indirect question, e.g. ¿Qué? ¿Dónde? No
sé cuándo vendrá
gender all nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine in Spanish, whether they
refer to animate or inanimate objects, this is their ‘gender’, e.g. la mesa (fem.), el
coche (masc.)
gerund an invariable part of the verb corresponding to the English ‘-ing’, indicating an
on-going action e.g. corriendo (running), saltando (jumping)
noun the name of a person, place or object
past participle an invariable part of the verb used to form the perfect and pluperfect
tenses (and other compound tenses), e.g. He comprado (I have bought), habíamos
dicho (we had said)
perfect (tense) a past tense formed with the present tense of the verb ‘haber’ (to have)
and the past participle of another verb, corresponds to the English ‘has/have (done)’,
e.g. hemos comido (we have eaten), han llegado (they have arrived)