Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Specific constructions

The following guidelines apply to specific constructions.

Subjects with no article must follow the verb

When the subject is a noun on its own, it must be placed after the verb:

Entra luz por la persiana. Light is coming in through the

blind.

Viven lobos en aquellas There are wolves in those

montañas. mountains.

Subjects of reflexive passive constructions

Typically in this construction the subject comes after the verb, unless the

subject constitutes the topic of the sentence:

No se veían las caras de los niños.

You couldn’t see the faces of the children.

No se comentó la gravedad de la situación.

The seriousness of the situation was not mentioned.

But:

Esos platos se ponen aquí. Those plates go here.

Una deuda tan grande no se liquida fácilmente.

Such a big debt can’t be paid off easily.

Long subjects tend to follow the verb

Long subject phrases, particularly those that contain a relative clause, are

normally placed after the verb, especially if the verb has no object:

Habló uno que es experto en antropología.

Someone who is an expert in anthropology spoke.

The subject of a relative clause tends to follow the verb

If a relative clause contains an explicit subject, this tends to follow the verb

if placement before it would leave the verb at the very end of the clause:

28.4.4

28.4.3

28.4.2

28.4.1

(^1111) 28.4
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

Specific

constructions

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