Parts of Speech in Spanish Grammar

Nouns are names of things, places, ideas/concepts, or people.

SUSTANTIVOS (nouns)

Examples of nouns:

• Pedro - name of a person
• Casa (house) - name of a thing
• Centro comercial (shopping mall) - name of a place
• Democracia (democracy) - name of a concept (abstract noun)

Remember that in Spanish nouns need to carry the gender and number. To do this correctly, you need to remember the rules and exceptions for feminine and masculine nouns. The basic rule is that nouns that end in 'o' are masculine, and nouns that end in 'a' are feminine. But there are other rules and exceptions you need to know.

Articles - definite and indefinite define the status of the noun.

ARTICULOS (articles)

Examples of articles:

• The - is the definite article. In singular in Spanish it is "El" or "La" - el niño, la niña
• The definite article in plural in Spanish is "Los" or "Las" - los niños, las niñas
• A - is the indefinite article. In singular in Spanish it is "Un" or "Una" - un niño, una niña.
• The indefinite plural in Spanish is "Unos" or "Unas" - unos niños, unas niñas.

Click here to learn more about Nouns and Articles in Spanish

PRONOMBRES (pronouns)

Pronouns are words we use to replace nouns. Pronouns carry the same number and gender as the noun they replace.

There are many different pronouns, for example:

• Personal pronouns: yo, tú, él, nosotros, vosotros, ellos. (I, you, he/she, we, they)
• Demonstrative pronouns: éste, aquél, ésa. (this, that, those)
• Possessive pronouns: los míos, la mía. (my, your, his, hers, theirs
• Relative pronouns: que, quien, el que, la cual.( which, who, whose)
• Indefinite pronouns: algo, alguien. (something, someone)

VERBOS (verbs)

Verbs express an action or state that the subject of the sentence performs. In Spanish, there are regular and irregular verbs, and many different verb tenses which you can learn in our Grammar section.

The three infinitive forms that exist are: verbs ending in -ar (hablar), verbs ending in -er (comer) and verbs ending in -ir (vivir).

There are verbs that are transitive (those that need a direct object), and there are verbs that are intransitive (which do not need an object). An example of a transitive verb is preparar. Lucía está preparando la cena (Lucía is preparing dinner). On the other hand, you have intransitive verbs like correr. El corre cada mañana. (He runs every day).

Click here to learn more about Verbs in Spanish in the Present Tense

ADJETIVOS (adjectives)

Adjectives describe and give extra information about nouns. There are descriptive adjectives such as “tonto”, “grande”, and limiting adjectives such as “este”, “aquel”, “cinco”, “mi”, “la”, “los”, etc. Adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun, so adjectives have different forms. For example: “bueno”, “buena”, “buenos”, “buenas”, “mejor”, “el mejor”.

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ADVERBIOS (adverbs)

Adverbs describe or give extra information about a verb, an adjective or another adverb. There are many different type of adverbs:

• Adverbios de tiempo (adverbs of time): primero, luego, después.
• Adverbios de lugar (adverbs of place): acá, allá.
• Adverbios de modo (adverbs of manner): lentamente, mal, bruscamente.
• Adverbios de afirmación y negación (adverbs of affirmation and negation): sí, no, nunca.

It is important to know that adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms, as well as diminutive forms.

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PREPOSICIONES (preposition)

Prepositions are used to show the relationship between items in the sentence. For instance, these are some of the prepositions you can learn in Spanish:

• con (with) and sin (without)
• antes (before) and después (after)
• arriba (above> and abajo, debajo de (below, underneath)
• contra (against)

There are prepositions of time, place, direction, sequence, etc.

Click here to learn more about Prepositions in Spanish

CONJUNCIONES (conjunctions)

Conjunctions are linkers we use to make sentences and paragraphs more cohesive and natural. The most common ones are y (and) and pero (but). Other common ones are: de manera que, así que, etc.

INTERJECCIONES (interjections)

Interjections are exclamations and sounds one make when speaking to express a certain reaction or emotion:

• ¡Ay!
• Uhhh...
• ¡Ah!