Parts of Speech in Spanish Language
Parts of speech are defined as a classification of words by basing on what are their uses are in a sentence, and as well as on the implications that they give to the reader. In English, the parts of speech are the nouns, pronouns, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.
These parts of speech also exist in Spanish as well. They called either parte de la oracion or categoria grammatical in Spanish. These are the following:
El Sustantivo
This is the Spanish equivalent of the English noun. Like its English counterpart, what falls under the category of the sustantivo are the names of a person, place, thing, or concept. It also has the classification of being proper or common nouns, and they also have gender and number. Examples are the following:
- Jose (a proper noun, as it is the specific name of a person)
- Hombre (man)
- Mujer (woman)
- Ofisina (office)
El Pronombre
In both English and Spanish, pronouns (pronombre) are used to substitute for nouns and classify it into gender and number. For example, the possessive noun mi hijo (my son) is replaced by el, which means he. Pronombres are classified into personal, possessives, relatives, and indefinites.
El Verbo
This is the Spanish form of the English verb. This part of speech stands for an action, or a state of being. They are classified into X types:
- Transitive – verbs that require a direct object. For example, the verb mover (to move) requires a word to indicate what is being moved or else the sentence will not make sense.
- Intransitive – stand-alone verbs; they do not require a direct object. Example is the verb luchar (to fight) which has no direct object in Spanish speech.
- Linking verbs – forms of being
- Impersonal verbs - Examples of this is hay (there is/there are)
- Auxiliary verbs - functions as a modifier of the main verb to give further semantic or syntactic information. One example is the verb hablado (spoken).
The Spanish has three conjugations: -ar, -er, and –ir. All of these verbs have their own sets of endings which convey mood and the tense with that mood, as well as the person and number.
El Adverbio
As “adverb” in English, it functions as a modifier of adverb, adjective or its fellow adverbs. They have three types (adverbs of place, time, manner, affirmation and negation) and three forms (comparative, superlative and diminutive).
Examples:
Place: aqui (here), alli (there).
Time: despues (afterwards), pronto (soon)
Manner: bien (well), rapidamente (quickly)
Si is an example of an affirmation adverb, while no and nunca are negation adverbs.
La Preposicion
This is the Spanish equivalent of the English prepositions, which provide a link between other parts of speech and some words (referred to as objects of a preposition) in the sentence.
Examples are entre (between, among), hacia (toward), hasta (until), and para (for).
La Interjeccion (Interjection)
Interjections are words that are inserted within a sentence that shows a state of emotion usually of the speaker. Most of the times they are exclamations like Ah! Oh! and Bravo!
La Conjuncion (Conjunction)
These are words used to link words or phrases with each other. It has two kinds:
- Coordinating – links independent clauses.
Subordinating – introduces a subordinate or dependent clause.
|
