Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Este, esta, estos, estas These are used to identify what is physically near to or is associated with the speaker: Estas botas qu ...

Placing the demonstrative adjective after the noun Although its normal position is before the noun, the demonstrative adjec- tiv ...

The pronounesteis used with the meaning of ‘the latter’ (‘this’ – the last mentioned), and aquel‘the former’ (‘that’ – mentioned ...

Possessive adjectives are used to indicate a relationship of possession or association, usually between a person and a thing. Fo ...

Note: In contrast with English, the Spanish possessive adjective is repeated before each noun in a list, except where they refer ...

Definite and neuter articles with possessives The possessive adjectives shown in 5.2 are used as pronouns when preceded by el, l ...

los zapatos de ella her shoes la casa de ellos their house This formula can be adopted also to stress different possessors: la b ...

en contra suya = en contra de against him/her etc. él/ella etc. en torno suyo = en torno de all around him/her etc. él/ella etc. ...

As in English, adjectives assign a property or characteristic to a noun. They can appear next to a noun, as in un niño listo ‘a ...

Isolated exceptions without a distinct feminine form are:marrón‘brown’, afín‘similar/related’. A common group of exceptions endi ...

This includes common adjectives ending in other consonants, or in the vowels -eand -a(such as the endings -istaand -ita): feliz ...

However, when the nouns are of mixed gender, the adjective is masculine and plural: El sofá y la cama están sucios. The sofa and ...

If the two nouns constitute separateitems, the usual rule applies and the adjective is used in the plural: una inteligencia y de ...

Shortening occurs even if another adjective immediately follows before the noun: el primer nuevo caso the first new case However ...

Adjectives that have a fixed position Adjectives that substitute for a noun phrase always followtheir accompa- nying noun: emisi ...

Some sequences of a noun with an adjective have developed a more or less fixedword order: ideas fijas fixed ideas sentido común ...

la odiada/temida policía the hated/feared secret police secreta su oportuna intervención your timely intervention este maldito h ...

puro oro puro pure gold por pura by sheer casualidad chance simple una idea a simple idea un simple a mere simple periodista jou ...

Verb + adjective sequences A very common construction in Spanish involves using an adjective in combination with a verb. In one ...

Adverbs usually qualify verbs, adjectives (including past participles) and even other adverbs. Se movían lentamente. They moved ...