Conjunction A word which links other words or phrases, e.g.y
‘and’,o‘or’,pero‘but’. Subordinating conjunctions
introduce a subordinate clause, e.g. que ‘that’,
cuando‘when’, aunque‘although’.
Countable noun A noun that can be quantified, such as zapato
‘shoe’ or casa‘house’. Thus one can say unos
zapatos‘some shoes’, varias casas‘several houses’.
Compare mass nouns.
Diphthong Two vowels forming a single syllable: uand ein
pueblo‘village’. The equivalent with three vowels
is a triphthong, e.g. i, aand iin enviáis‘you
[plural] send’.
Direct object The noun or pronoun that experiences the direct
action of the verb, e.g.edificioin Destruyeron el
edificio‘They destroyed the building’ or loin Lo
mataron‘They killed him’.
Finite verb A verb form that indicates person, number and, in
most cases, tense, e.g. hablo‘I speak’, hablaste‘you
spoke’, ¡hablad!‘speak!’. In Spanish, all forms of
the verb are finite except the infinitive, the gerund
and the past participle.
Gender See agreement.
Indirect object The noun or pronoun that corresponds to the
recipient or beneficiary of the action: Maríain Se lo
dieron a María‘They gave it to María’ or lein Le
han mandado un fax ‘They have sent a fax to him’.
Intransitive verb A verb which does not take a direct object, e.g. ir
‘to go’, toser ‘to cough’. Some verbs, however, can
be both intransitive and transitivein use: La niña
duerme‘The girl is sleeping’, and Durmieron a la
niña‘They put the girl to sleep’.
Invariable Describes a word that cannot be changed for the
purpose of agreementof number, gender or person,
e.g. cada‘each’ or any adverb.
Mass (or A noun that cannot normally be counted, such as
uncountable) noun fango‘mud’ and lana ‘wool’. These nouns are
typically used in the singular. Thus one does not
normally say ×unos fangos×or ×veinte lanas×.
Non-finite verb form The infinitive, gerund or past participle of a verb.
Number See agreement.1111
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
Glossary