Spanish_English_Grammar_Glossary

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Active Voice

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La voz activa

Definition: A sentence in which the subject of the main verb performs the acting is in the active voice. We can also say that the verb is in the active voice. This is the way in which an "ordinary" simple sentence is constructed in both English and Spanish. The active voice is in contrast to the passive voice, in which the noun performing the action of the verb is stated indirectly, if at all.
Also Known As: La voz activa in Spanish
Examples:
Examples in Spanish: 1. Pedro come las manzanas. The subject (Pedro) is the noun that is performing the action (come), so the verb is in the active voice. 2. Compré el coche. The subject (implied by the verb conjugation to be yo) is who is performing the action (compré). Corresponding examples in English: 1. "Pedro is eating the apples." The subject ("Pedro") is the noun that is performing the action ("is eating"), so the verb is in the atctive voice. 2. "I bought the car." The subject ("I") is who is performing the action ("bought").

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Adjective

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adjetivo

Definition: The part of speech that is used to modify, describe, limit, qualify or otherwise affect the meaning of a noun or noun phrase. In English, the adjective typically is used in one of two ways: 1) It can be placed immediately before the noun it refers to. Thus in the phrase "green house," "green" is an adjective that affects the meaning of "house," a noun. 2) It can be placed after a verb to help specify the nature of the verb's subject. Thus in the sentence "the house is green," "green" is an adjective that affects the meaning of "house."
In Spanish, adjectives can be used in the same ways. Additionally, in Spanish, descriptive adjectives are typically placed after the nouns they refer to. Thus, "green house" would typically be translated as casa verde, with verde being the adjective the affects the meaning of casa.

Among the types of adjectives are descriptive adjectives, which tell what something is like; demonstrative adjectives, which point to a noun, as in "that house" or aquella casa; and possessive adjectives, which indicate belonging, as in "my house" or mi casa. Some grammarians consider articles ("a," "an" and "the" in English; un, una, el, la, los and las in Spanish) to be a type of adjective. In Spanish, nearly all adjectives must match the nouns they refer to in gender and number.

Also Known As: adjetivo in Spanish
Examples:
English adjectives include the boldfaced words in these sentences: My car is red. I am happy. She has two new computers. Spanish adjectives include the boldfaced were in these equivalent sentences: Mi coche es rojo. Tiene dos ordenadores nuevos.

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Adverb

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adverbio

Definition: The part of speech that is used for describing or limiting an adjective, a verb, another adverb or an entire sentence.
In English, adverbs are frequently formed by adding "-ly" to the end of an adjective; in Spanish, they are frequently formed by adding -mente to the feminine form of adjectives. However, there are many adverbs in both languages that do not fit this pattern. In Spanish it is more common than in English for adjectives to function as adverbs.

In both languages, it is common for phrases to function as adverbs. For example, in the sentence "he fought with courage" (luchó con coraje), "with courage" (con coraje) is an adverbial phrase.

A sentence that modifies an entire sentence is known as a sentence adverb and usually indicates the speaker's attitude toward what the sentence says. For example, in the sentence "thankfully, it was nothing serious" (afortunadamente no fue nada serio), "thankfully" (afortunadamente) is a sentence adverb.

Also Known As: adverbio in Spanish
Examples:
In the sentence "Obviously, we are very happily eating this extremely hot sauce" (claro, comemos muy felizmente esta salsa sumamente picante), the adverbs are "obviously," "very," "happily" and "extremely" (claro, felizmente, muy and sumamente).

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Antonym

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Antónimo

Definition: A word that means the opposite, or approximately the opposite, of another word. Two words can be considered antonyms even if they aren't exact opposites in all contexts.
Also Known As: Antónimo in Spanish.
Examples:
Examples of antonym pairs in Spanish and English include feliz (happy) and triste (sad), grande (big) and pequeño (small), and difícil (difficult) and fácil (easy).

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Apposition

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la aposición

Definition: A grammatical construction in which two nouns or noun phrases are placed next to each other, not joined by a conjunction such as "or" or "and," and each have the same syntactical relationship to the rest of the sentence. The two nouns or noun phrases can be, but do not have to be, separated by a comma.
Term in Spanish: la aposición (verb form is aponer, to appose)

Example in Spanish: Conozco a Julio Iglesias, cantante famoso. (Cantante famoso is in apposition to Julio Iglesias.)

Corresponding example in English: "I know Julio Iglesias, the famous singer." ("The famous singer" is in apposition to "Julio Iglesias.")

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Article

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Artículo

Definition: A somewhat arbitrarily defined small group of determiners that are placed before nouns. Articles standing alone have little meaning; when used with a noun they can indicate whether the noun refers to a specific one or ones of its type or whether it refers to its type in general. In Spanish, the articles also specify the noun's gender.
In English, the articles are "a," "an" and "the." Some grammarians also classify "some" as an article in some usages.

In Spanish, the articles are un, una, unos, unas, el, la, los and las.

Articles can be classified as definite or indefinite. The definite articles are "the" in English and el, la, los and las in Spanish. The indefinite articles are "a" and "an" in English (also "some" if that word is so classified) and un, una, unos and unas in Spanish.

Note that Spanish and English have different grammatical rules concerning when articles are needed or should be omitted.

Also Known As: Artículo in Spanish.
Examples:
Boldfaced words are articles: The boy bought a book. (El chico compró un libro.) The doctor is eating an apple. (La doctora come una manzana.)

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Assimilation

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Asimilación

Definition: In pronunciation, the influence of a sound on adjacent or nearby sounds. In other words, a particular letter can have a varying sound that depends at least in part on what other letters are around it. Assimilation is common in both English and Spanish.
Also Known As: Asimilación in Spanish.
Examples:
In English, the "p" often has a distinctly less explosive sound when it is preceded by an "s," as in "spot," than it does at the beginning of a word or after a vowel, as in "people." For a more extreme example, "don't you" is often pronounced as "DOHN-chu." In Spanish, to give one of many examples, the n is usually pronounced like an m when it comes before certain letters, such as p. Thus en pesos is usually pronounced the same as empesos would be.

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Auxiliary Verb

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verbo auxiliar

Definition: A verb that is used with a main verb that follows to help indicate its tense or some other way in which the verb is understood. As such, the auxiliary verb often doesn't have any meaning in itself, only in how it affects the main verb. The auxiliary verb and the main verb together form what is known as a compound verb.
Auxiliary verbs are used much more often in English than they are in Spanish, since Spanish is able to use conjugation to indicate tenses that sometimes are expressed in English with auxiliary verbs. For example, the future tense in English uses the auxiliary verb "will" as in "I will study." But Spanish needs no auxiliary verb in this case, as the future is expressed through a verb ending: estudiaré. English also uses the auxiliary verb "do" to form many questions, as in "Do you study?" Such an auxiliary isn't needed in Spanish: ¿Estudias?

Two very common English auxiliaries have equivalents in Spanish: In English, forms of "to have" are combined with the past participle to form the perfect tenses; in Spanish, haber is used. In English, forms of "to be" are combined with the present participle to form the progressive (or continuous) tenses; in Spanish, forms of estar are used with the gerund.

Also Known As: Helping verb. The Spanish term is verbo auxiliar.
Examples:
Auxiliary verbs are in boldface; note that sometimes an auxiliary is used in one language but not the other. I have bought a house. (He comprado una casa.) We are celebrating. (Estamos celebrando.) He does not work. (No trabaja.) I can swim. (Puedo nadar.) I know how to swim. (Sé nadar.) I usually drive fast. (Suelo manejar rápido.)

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Cognate

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palabra afín, palabra relacionada or palabra cognada

Definition: In a technical sense, two words that have a common origin are cognates. Most often, cognates are words in two languages that have a common etymology and thus are similar or identical. For example, the English "kiosk" and the Spanish quiosco are cognates because they both come from the Turkish kosk.
Cognates often have a similar meaning, but in some cases the meaning has changed over the centuries in one language or another. An example of such a change is the English word "arena," which usually refers to a sports facility, and the Spanish arena, which usually means "sand." They both come from the Latin harena, which originally meant "sand" and came in time to also refer to an area of a Roman amphitheater that was covered with sand. Spanish retained the meaning of "sand" (although the word can sometimes refer to a sports arena), but English expanded the word's meaning to include facilities something like the Roman amphitheater.

In a popular and less technical sense, the term "cognate" also is used to refer to words in two languages that are similar but have no common origin, such as the Spanish sopa (meaning "soup") and the English "soap."

Also in a popular and not technical sense, the phrase "false cognate" is used to refer to cognates that have different meanings, such as the Spanish molestar (to bother) and the English "molest" (to abuse sexually). A more precise term to use for such word pairs is "false friends."

Also Known As: palabra afín, palabra relacionada or palabra cognada in Spanish
Examples:
Cognate pairs with similar meanings number in the thousands and include "azure"/azul, "committee"/comité and "morphine"/morfina. Spanish cognates that are false friends include asistir (which usually means "to attend," not "to assist"), contestar (which usually means "to answer," not "to contest") and sano (which usually means "healthy" rather than "sane").

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Compound Verb

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verbo compuesto

Definition: A verb formed by the combination of an auxiliary verb followed by the main verb. For example, in "we are speaking" (estamos hablando), "are speaking" (estamos hablando) is a compound verb made up of the auxiliary verb "are" (estamos) followed by the main verb "speaking" (hablando). It is also possible to use two auxiliaries, as in "we have been speaking" (hemos estado hablando), where "have" (hemos) and "been" (estado) are auxiliaries.
Compound verbs are used much more often in English than they are in Spanish, since Spanish is able to use conjugation to indicate tenses that sometimes are expressed in English with compound verbs. For example, the future tense in English uses the auxiliary verb "will" as in "I will study." But Spanish needs no auxiliary verb in this case, as the future is expressed through a verb ending: estudiaré. English also uses the auxiliary verb "do" to form many questions, as in "Do you study?" A compound verb isn't needed in Spanish: ¿Estudias?

Two very common types of English compound verbs have equivalents in Spanish: In English, forms of "to have" are combined with the past participle to form the perfect tenses; in Spanish, haber is used. In English, forms of "to be" are combined with the present participle to form the progressive (or continuous) tenses; in Spanish, forms of estar are used with the gerund.

Also Known As: verbo compuesto in Spanish
Examples:
Compound verbs are in boldface; note that sometimes a compound form is used in one language but not the other. I have bought a house. (He comprado una casa.) We are celebrating. (Estamos celebrando.) He does not work. (No trabaja.) I can swim. (Puedo nadar.) I know how to swim. (Sé nadar.) I usually drive fast. (Suelo manejar rápido.)

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Concession

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No Spanish translation

Definition: The use of a word, phrase or sentence that diminishes and may contradict implications of a statement or description.
Words or phrases commonly used in English to indicate concession are "however," "nevertheless," "despite," "in spite of," "even so," and "although."

Words or prhases commonly used in Spanish to indicate concession are aunque, sin embargo, no obstante and y eso que.

Examples:
The following pair of sentences and their Spanish equivalent show concession: He earns $1,000 per day. Nevertheless, he doesn't have any money. (Gana mil dólares por dia. Sin embargo no tiene dinero.)

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Conditional Tense

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Futuro hipotético, tiempo potencial or tiempo condicional

Definition: The verb tense that is used to indicate that an action or state of being is dependent on the occurrence of a condition.
In both English and Spanish, the condition does not need to be explicitly stated. For example, in the sentence "I would eat it" (Yo lo comería), the condition is not stated but would be implied by the context.

In English, the conditional tense is formed using the auxiliary verb "would," although "would" also has other uses. In Spanish, the conditional tense has historical ties to the future tense and is often known as the hypothetical future tense. Like the future tense, the conditional tenses use verb endings that attach to the infinitive rather than the verb stem. The conjugated forms of hablar in the conditional tense, for example, are yo hablaría, tú hablarías, el/ella/usted hablaría, nosotros hablaríamos, vosotros hablaríais, ellos/ellan hablarían. The conjugated forms of regular -er and -ir verbs are constructed the same way.

Also Known As: Futuro hipotético, tiempo potencial or tiempo condicional in Spanish.
Examples:
Verbs in the conditional (future hypothetical) are in boldface: It would be a surprise. (Sería una sorpresa.) The wives would not understand. (Las esposas no comprenderían.) If you were able to play, would you be happy? (Si pudieras jugar, ¿estarías feliz?)

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Conjugation

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conjugación

Definition: The act of inflecting, that is, changing the form of, a verb; or the resulting word when a verb is inflected.
In both English and Spanish, the purpose of conjugation is to indicate the number of the subject (singular or plural), tense, and mood (such as indicative, subjunctive or imperative). Spanish uses conjugation much more extensively than English, so extensively that it is often possible to omit the subject from sentences. English uses methods other than conjugation to indicate the future tense and some other verb forms.

Also Known As: conjugación in Spanish
Examples:
Spanish: Conjugations of comprar ("to buy") include compro ("I buy"), compraré ("he/she will buy"), comprad (plural command form), comprara (subjunctive usage), and compraban ("they used to buy"). English: "Buys" is used for the third-person present, "buy" for other use of the present. "Bought" is used the past tense. English uses a method other than conjugation to indicate the future tense.

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Conjunction

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conjunción

Definition: One of the parts of speech, a type of word that is used to connect words or groups of words. Traditionally, conjunctions are used to connect words within a sentence. However, modern usage in both Spanish and English is accepting of allowing conjunctions to be used at the beginning of a sentence to join it with a previous sentence.
In traditional English grammar, the types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions (which connect two words, sentences or phrases of equal grammatical status), subordinating conjunctions (which subordinate a word or phrase to another) and correlative conjunctions (which come in pairs).

Spanish grammarians often classify conjunctions differently, referring to conjunciones aditivas (additive conjunctions such as "and" or y), conjunciones adversativas (contrastive conjunctions such as "but" or pero and "nevertheless" or sin embargo), conjunciones causales (causal conjunctions such as "because" or porque), and conjunciones temporales (temporal conjunctions such as "then" or entonces).

Also Known As: conjunción in Spanish
Examples:
Boldface words in this sentence are conjunctions: María and Pedro ate fruits or vegetables, but they are still hungry. (María y Pedro comieron frutas o verduras, pero siguen teniendo hambre.)

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Coordinating Conjunction

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conjunción coordinante or conjunción de coordinación

Definition: A type of conjunction that is used to connect two words or groups of words of equal grammatical status. The most common coordinating conjunctions are "and" and "or" in English, y and o in Spanish. "But" (pero) is also sometimes used as a coordinating conjunction.
Also Known As: conjunción coordinante or conjunción de coordinación in Spanish
Examples:
Boldface words in these sentence are coordinating conjunctions: I know Juan and Laura. (Conozco a Juan y Laura.) I have five or six ideas. (Tengo cinco o seis ideas.) I don't like it, but I'm happy. (No me gusta, pero estoy feliz.)

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Correlative Conjunction

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Correlativa Conjunción

Definition: One of a pair of words separated from each other that serve as a conjunction, connecting two words, phrases or sentences. The most common pairs in English are "either/or" (o/o in Spanish) and "neither/nor" (ni/ni).
Also Known As: paired conjunction
Examples:
Boldface words are correlative conjunctions: Neither he nor she can leave. (Ni él ni ella pueden salir.) Either shut up or leave. (O cállate o sal.)

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Definite Article

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artículo definido

Definition: An article that makes a noun refer to a particular item or items of its class. The definite articles are "the" in English and el, la, lo, los and las in Spanish. The Spanish el also can be part of a contraction: "a + el" forms the contraction al.
Note that Spanish and English have different rules as to when a definite article is needed or can be omitted. In general, Spanish often uses a definite article in cases where English does not.

Also Known As: Artículo definido in Spanish. Definite articles are also sometimes referred to as definite determiners.
Examples:
Definite articles are in boldface: The man went to Havana. (El hombre fue a la Havana.) The computers aren't working. (Las computadoras no funcionan.) Mr. Brown is rich. (El señor Brown es rico.) The dog that barks doesn't bite. (Perro que ladra no muerde.)

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Demonstrative Adjective

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adjetivo demostrativo

Definition: An adjective that points out which item, object, person or concept is being referred to. In both English and Spanish, the same words are used for demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives, although in Spanish the masculine and feminine pronouns use an orthographic accent to distinguish them from the adjectives.
In English, demonstrative adjectives always come before the nouns they refer to. In Spanish they usually do.

Also Known As: adjetivo demostrativo in Spanish.
Examples:
English has four demonstrative pronouns: "this," "that," "these" and "those." In the masculine singular form, Spanish has three demonstrative pronouns: ese, este and aquel. They also exist in feminine and plural forms and must match the nouns they refer to in number and gender.

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Demonstrative Pronoun

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pronombre demostrativo

Definition: A pronoun that indicates which item, object, person or concept is being referred to. In both English and Spanish, the same words are used for demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives, although in Spanish the masculine and feminine pronouns use an orthographic accent to distinguish them from the adjectives.
Also Known As: pronombre demostrativo in Spanish.
Examples:
English has four demonstrative pronouns: "this," "that," "these" and "those." In the masculine singular form, Spanish has three demonstrative pronouns: ése, éste and aquél. They also exist in feminine, neuter and plural forms.

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Determiner

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determinante

Definition: A type of word that refers to a noun and determines which object, person or other entity the noun represents. Determiners are usually classified as a type of nondescriptive adjective, and with the exception of numbers they have little meaning apart from the nouns they refer to. Types of determiners include articles (such as "a" and "the" in English, un and el in Spanish), possessive adjectives (such as "their" and su), numbers (such as "three" or tres), demonstrative adjectives (such as "that" or este) and quantifiers (such as "many" and muchos).
In both Spanish and English, determiners invariably precede the nouns they refer to (although sometimes an adjective intervenes). It is possible to use two determiners with a single noun if the second determiner is a number or quantifier (as in "the many Cubans" or los muchos cubanos).

Also Known As: determinante in Spanish
Examples:
Boldfaced words are determiners: Read the comments of some students in the following chapter and identify which problem each one has. (Lee los comentarios de algunos estudiantes en el siguiente capítulo e identifica qué problema tiene cada uno.)

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Elision

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Elisión

Definition: In pronunciation, the omission of sounds, especially as words flow together. Elision is extremely common in Spanish, especially when one word ends in a vowel and the following word begins with the same vowel. (English speakers are more likely to use a brief pause under similar circumstances or to modify the sound of one vowel. Compare la artista in Spanish, which sounds the same as would lartista, with the English "the elephant," which typically has distinct sounds for each "e.") In both languages, it is common to omit one of the consonant sounds when a word that ends in one consonant precedes a word beginning with the same consonant.
Also Known As: Elisión in Spanish.
Examples:
In Spanish, the sound of compró ocho is indinguishable from what comprocho would be, and the sound of puerta abierta would be the same as that of puertabierta. El lado and helado are pronounced identically (the h is silent). In casually spoken English, "seven nuts" is pronounced the same as "sevenuts" would be. A more extreme example of elision in English is the use of "gonna" for "going to."

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Etymology

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etimología

Definition: The branch of linguistics that studies the origin and development of words and other linguistic forms. Examples of areas that are studied include the earliest origins of a word, how its meanings and connotations have changed, the meanings and origins of its component parts, whether and how it has spread to other languages, and how its meaning or use has been influenced by other words. The history of a word also is called its etymology.
Also Known As: etimología in Spanish
Examples:
Many dictionaries include brief etymologies of words. The dictionary etymologies of the English "algebra" and the Spanish álgebra indicate that they came from a Latin word derived from the Arabic al-jabr. A longer etymology would indicate how the Arabic word originally was a medical term referring to the setting of bones, and that it came to refer in a broader sense to the concept of restoring what was broken.

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Interjection

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interjección

Definition: A part of speech that can stand alone to express emotion or a reaction. Although an interjection can form a complete sentence (that is, expressing a thought without need of a subject and verb), one can often also be inserted within a sentence, usually parenthetically or separated by commas from the rest of the sentence. In written Spanish and English, an interjection frequently is used with exclamation marks.
Interjections are much more common in speech and informal writing than they are in formal writing. Many interjections, such as the English "oh" and the Spanish caray, have meanings that can vary widely depending on the context and the intonation.

Also Known As: interjección in Spanish. When an interjection stands alone, it is often called an exclamation (exclamación), especially when it is used emphatically.
Examples:
Common English words that are usually used as interjections include "ouch," "wow," "ugh," "oops" and "splat." Their approximate Spanish equivalents include ay, caramba, puf, uy and plaf (other translations are possible). Many other words that are usually other parts of speech are also frequently used as interjections. An example of an interjection within a sentence is the "ouch" (or ay) in "ouch, that hurts" (ay, me duele).

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False Friend

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falso amigo

Definition: Words that are similar in spelling and/or pronunciation in two languages but have different meanings. A common mistake that beginning students of foreign languages make is to assume that a word that looks similar to one they know will have the same meaning.
Sometimes the similarity in words of two languages comes about because of coincidence. For example, there is no connection between the English "tuna" and the Spanish tuna (which refers to a type of cactus). At other times, the meaning has changed in one or both languages from what it originally meant. An example is the Latin word futilis, which originally meant something (such as a boat) that leaked. In English the word eventually became "futile," meaning "ineffective," while in Spanish the word became fútil, meaning "insignificant."

Also Known As: falso amigo in Spanish. In English, although it is not technically precise, sometimes the term "false cognate" is used synonymously.
Examples:
The Spanish once means "eleven," not "once." Pretender usually means "to try," not "to pretend." Delito usually means "crime," not "delight."

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Gender

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el género

Definition: A type of classification that is applied to nouns, pronouns and adjectives. The three genders in Spanish are masculine, feminine and neuter. Nearly all nouns can be classified as masculine or feminine; the only neuter nouns in Spanish are abstract nouns that are formed by preceding an adjective with lo. Many of the pronouns exist in masculine, feminine and neuter forms.
The importance of gender to Spanish grammar is that as a general rule, adjectives must be in a masculine form when they refer to masculine nouns and in a feminine form when they refer to feminine nouns. The masculine definite article (el or los for "the") is also used with masculine nouns and a feminine article (la or las for "the") is used with feminine nouns. Also, masculine pronouns are used when referring to nouns that are of masculine gender, and feminine pronouns when referring to nouns that are of feminine gender. Neuter pronouns are used to refer to unspecified nouns or nouns whose gender isn't known, as in "¿Qué es eso?" for "What is that?" (eso is neuter).

Adjectives don't always vary according to gender; for many adjectives, the masculine and feminine forms are identical. Neuter adjectives are used infrequently, but where they are used they have the same form as the masculine form and are thus indistinguishable from them.

The division of nouns into masculine and feminine genders is somewhat arbitrary. Nouns that naturally refer to males (such as el hombre, "the man") are typically masculine, and nouns that refer to females (such as la muchacha, "the girl") are feminine. However, the gender of other words is usually unpredictable. Although there are many exceptions, it is common for nouns that end in -o to be masculine and those ending in -a to be feminine.

Also Known As: el género in Spanish
Examples:
Example of Spanish sentences using masculine words: Mi hermano es gordo. Él tiene dos coches. (My brother is fat. He has two cars.)
Example of Spanish sentences using feminine words: Mi prima es flaca. Ella tiene dos camisas. (My cousin is skinny. She has two shirts.)

Example of a Spanish sentences using neuter words: Lo bello es caro. No comprendo esto. (That which is beautiful is expensive.(I do not understand this)

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Gerund

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Gerundio

Definition: Traditionally, "gerund" is the term used to refer to a certain Latin verb form that could function as a noun.
Nowadays, the term generally is used to refer to the present participle in English and the verbal present participle of Spanish. These are the verb forms that end in '-ing" in English and -ando or -endo in Spanish. In both languages, the gerund is used to form the progressive or continuous tenses. Note that while the English gerund can be and frequently is used a noun, the Spanish gerund does not function as a noun.

Some grammarians also use the term "gerund" more loosely to refer to any verb form when it is functioning as a noun. Generally, you should not assume this definition is meant unless the context makes clear this is what is intended.

Also Known As: Gerundio in Spanish when referring to the verbal present participle.
Examples:
Boldfaced terms are gerunds: I am thinking about you. (Estoy pensando en ti.) Seeing is believing. (Ver es creer. Note that the gerund is not used in Spanish here.) He went away crying. (Se fue llorando.) I need a working car. (Necesito un coche que funciona. Note that the gerund is not used in Spanish here.)

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Idiom

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modismo

Definition: As used in this site, "idiom" most often refers to a phrase or expression that cannot be understood by knowing what the individual words in the phrase mean. For example, "to roll out the red carpet" is to extravagantly welcome a guest; no red carpet is needed. The phrase is misunderstood when interpreted in a literal fashion. An example of a Spanish idiom is "no está el horno para bollos, which literally means "the oven isn't ready for bread rolls." The phrase generally means "the time isn't right." Although most idiomatic phrases are of primarily colloquial usage, there are many that are acceptable in standard speech and writing.
Another meaning for "idiom" is a specialized language or a distinctive pattern in the usage of a language. As such, it can refer to the way a language is used in a given region; in such usage, an idiom usually isn't seen as distinctly different as a dialect is, although sometimes "idiom" and "dialect" are used interchangeably. An idiom can similarly refer to the language patterns used within a certain profession or other subgroup. For example, it might be said that college students have their own idiom.

Also Known As: In Spanish, an idiomatic phrase is a modismo. The word idioma usually refers to a language in general, but it can also refer to a pattern of language usage, depending on the context.
Examples:
The English idiom "the cat was let out of the bag" means "the secret was revealed." The same thing can be said using the Spanish idiom "se descubrió el pastel," which literally means "the cake was discovered."

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Imperfect Tense

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pretérito imperfecto

Definition: The tense that expresses action in the past that either has not been completed, that occurred habitually or frequently, or that took place over an indefinite period of time. It is contrasted with the preterite tense, which expresses action that took place at a definite time or has been completed. English does not have an imperfect tense per se, although it has other ways of expressing the concept of the Spanish imperfect, as in the examples below.
Also Known As: Pretérito imperfecto in Spanish.
Examples:
In Spanish: Él cantaba. Ella escribía la carta. Yo conocía a Eva. English equivalents: He used to sing. She was writing the letter. (Note that in the preceding two examples the reader can't tell out of context when or even whether the activity ceased.) I knew Eva. (Note that conocer, as in the Spanish example above, can mean "to know" or "to meet." The translation of "knew" is used because the use of the imperfect indicates an activity that didn't cease at a particular time.)

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Indefinite Article

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Artículo indefinido

Definition: An article that makes a noun refer to a nonspecific item (or items) of its class. The indefinite articles are "a" and "an" in English and un, una, unos and unas in Spanish. The word "some" is sometimes classified as an article in English when it is used in a way similar to unos and unas.
Note that Spanish and English have different grammatical rules concerning when indefinite articles are needed or should be omitted.

Also Known As: Artículo indefinido in Spanish.
Examples:
Boldfaced words are indefinite articles: She bought a house. (Compró una casa.) He is reading a book. (Lee un libro.) I am a teacher. (Soy profesor.)

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Indicative

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Indicativo

Definition: The indicative mood is the verb mood used in ordinary, typical speech when making statements. The indicative is the most common of moods. It contrasts with the subjunctive mood, which is often used in making subjective or contrary-to-fact statements.
The indicative and subjunctive moods do not correspond exactly in English and Spanish. In English, the indicative mood is used nearly all the time except when giving direct commands. In other words, Spanish often uses a verb in the subjunctive mood when the corresponding English sentence uses one in the indicative mood.

Also Known As: Indicativo in Spanish.
Examples:
The boldface verbs are in the indicative mood: I see two trees. (Veo dos árboles.) I will go home. (Iré a casa.) We bought two watermelons. (Compramos dos sandías.)

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Infinitive

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Infinitivo

Definition: The most basic form of a verb. In Spanish, infinitives always end in -ar, -er, or -ir. In English, the term is usually used to refer to the "to + verb" form of the verb such as "to run" or "to eat," although according to some authorities the infinitives are "run" and "eat." The infinitive by itself does not indicate tense or who is performing the action of the verb. In both English and Spanish, the infinitive can often function as a noun.
Also Known As: Infinitivo in Spanish
Examples:
In Spanish: 1. hablar. 2. viajar.
Corresponding examples in English: 1. "to speak." 2. "to travel."

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Inflection

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inflexión, flexión

Definition: The change in the form of a word to indicate a change in its grammatical usage. In both English and Spanish, nouns can be inflected to indicate a change in number (that is, to indicate whether it is singular or plural) or gender (although changes in gender, such as from "actor" to "actress," are unusual in English). In both languages, verbs are also inflected to indicate tense, mood, person and voice. In Spanish, adjectives are inflected to indicate gender and number.
The inflection can take the form of a prefix (not used for inflection in English or Spanish), a suffix, a change in the word ending or beginning, or a change in the way the word root is formed. In both languages, the suffix and changed word ending are the most common inflections. For example, both languages typically add an "-s" or "-es" to indicate that a word is plural, and Spanish also changes word endings to indicate gender. Similarly, both languages can add a suffix or change the word ending to indicate verb tenses (although English does so only for the past tense). In both languages, changes in the root word are also used in some irregular verbs. For example, the difference in tense can be seen in changing "I go" to "I went," the same as the corresponding Spanish term, voy, changes to fui to indicate the change in tense.

Greek and Russian are examples of highly inflected languages. Spanish is moderately inflected, more so than English is. Chinese is an example of a language that has little inflection. In general, word order tends to be more important in languages that have more inflection. This tendency is true in the comparison of English and Spanish.

When verbs are inflected, the inflection is known as conjugation.

Term in Spanish: inflexión, flexión

Examples of inflection to show number in Spanish: la casa, las casas; un perro, dos perros

Corresponding examples in English: the house, the houses; one dog, two dogs

Examples of inflection to show tense in Spanish: hablo, hablé; trabaja, trabajó; comemos, comeremos

Corresponding examples in English: I speak, I spoke; he works, he worked; we are eating, we will eat (inflection not used in this final English)

Example of inflection to show mood in Spanish: Pablo estudia. Preferimos que Pablo estudie.

Corresponding example in English: Pablo studies. We prefer that Pablo study.

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Intensifier

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partícula enfática or palabra enfática

Definition: A word, usually an adverb, that has little meaning in itself but provides force, intensity or emphasis to another word.
The most common intensifer in English is "very." Its equivalent in Spanish is muy, which also is quite common.

Another common Spanish intensifier, ya, often can't be translated directly. For example, while puedes estudiar might mean "you can study," ya puedes estudiar might mean "you had better get studying." When used as an intensifer (it also has other uses), ya usually makes the meaning of the whole sentence stronger.

In English, "up" is used as an intensifier in phrases such as "to wait up," "to speak up" and "to hurry up." Some grammarians would classify those phrases as phrasal verbs rather than being examples of use of an adverbial intensifier.

Also Known As: partícula enfática or palabra enfática in Spanish. Another English term for "intensifier" is "intensive" (as a noun).
Examples:
Intensifiers in these sentences are in bold: She is extremely happy. (Está sumamente feliz.) The test is unbelievably easy. (El exámen es increíblemente fácil.) I am very hungry. (Tengo mucho hambre.) What a man! (¡Qué hombre!) The sweet-toothed bear ate up the honey. (El oso goloso se comió la miel, in which se is a reflexive pronoun that acts something like an intensifier.)

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Interjection

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interjección

Definition: A part of speech that can stand alone to express emotion or a reaction. Although an interjection can form a complete sentence (that is, expressing a thought without need of a subject and verb), one can often also be inserted within a sentence, usually parenthetically or separated by commas from the rest of the sentence. In written Spanish and English, an interjection frequently is used with exclamation marks.
Interjections are much more common in speech and informal writing than they are in formal writing. Many interjections, such as the English "oh" and the Spanish caray, have meanings that can vary widely depending on the context and the intonation.

Also Known As: interjección in Spanish. When an interjection stands alone, it is often called an exclamation (exclamación), especially when it is used emphatically.
Examples:
Common English words that are usually used as interjections include "ouch," "wow," "ugh," "oops" and "splat." Their approximate Spanish equivalents include ay, caramba, puf, uy and plaf (other translations are possible). Many other words that are usually other parts of speech are also frequently used as interjections. An example of an interjection within a sentence is the "ouch" (or ay) in "ouch, that hurts" (ay, me duele).

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Intonation

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entonación

Definition: The use of pitch or tone in a sentence to convey meaning or emotion. Although the term when strictly used applies only to the pitch of speech, it is sometimes used loosely to indicate also the emphasis and pacing used in the spoken language.
Also Known As: entonación in Spanish
Examples:
Both English and Spanish use a rising intonation to indicate that a sentence is a question. In other words, a sentence in which the pitch rises toward the end is probably a question. Thus a sentence such as "my mother is at home" (mi madre está en casa) would sound different and have a different meaning as a question ("My mother is at home?" or ¿Mi madre está en casa?) than it would as a statement, even though the words are the same.

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Mood

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mode; el modo

Definition: A set of verb forms that indicate the attitude of the speaker toward the likelihood of the action occurring or in some other way. Both Spanish and English have three verb moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. All verbs (other than infinitives, participles and gerunds when used alone) are in one of those moods. In both languages, the indicative mood is the "normal" verb form, the one used to make statements of fact. The subjunctive (not often distinguished in English but common in Spanish) is often used to indicate that something is not factual but is probable, unlikely, hoped for or feared. The imperative mood is used to give direct commands.
Also Known As: mode; el modo in Spanish
Examples:
In Spanish: Isabella canta. Prefiero que Isabella cante. Isabella, ícanta! (The highlighted verbs are in the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods, respectively.) In English: Isabella sings. I prefer that Isabella sing. Isabella, sing! (The highlighted verbs are in the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods, respectively.)

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Neuter

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neutro

Definition: The gender that is neither masculine nor feminine. In Spanish, the neuter is used primarily in three instances:
a) when an adjective is used as a noun. For example, lo azul would be used to say "the blue thing" or "that which is blue."
b) as the demonstrative pronouns esto, eso and aquello. They are used to refer to an object whose identity is unknown or to an object or concept rather than a thing.
c) as the neuter direct object lo, such as in the sentence quiero comprarlo, "I want to buy it."

Spanish also has a neuter pronoun, ello, that means "it," although its use is nearly obsolete and is found primarily in literature.

In English, the personal singular neuter pronoun is "it."

Also Known As: neutro (in Spanish)
Examples:
Lo difícil es decidirlo. What is difficult is deciding it.

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Noun

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sustantivo, nombre

Definition: In both English and Spanish, a noun is a word that refers to and names a person, place, thing, concept, entity or action. Grammatically, a noun can serve as the subject of a sentence or the object of a verb or preposition. A noun can also be described by adjectives or replaced by pronouns.
In both English and Spanish, a noun can be classified as to number: either singular or plural. In Spanish, nouns also can be classified according to gender: masculine, feminine or (infrequently) neuter.

Term in Spanish: sustantivo, nombre

Examples in Spanish: computadora, Ricardo, Nueva York, felicidad, condado, fumar (can also function as a verb)

Corresponding examples in English: computer, Richard, New York, happiness, county, smoking (can also function as a verb)

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Object

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objeto, complemento

Definition: A noun (or noun substitute such as a pronoun, phrase or gerund) that receives action of or is affected by the action of a verb within a sentence; or a noun or noun substitute that is preceded by a preposition that indicate the relationship of that noun with another word in the sentence.
An object that receives the action of a verb is known as a direct object. An object that is affected by a verb that acts on a direct object is an indirect object. (In English, a verb that has an indirect object must also have a direct object. In Spanish, an indirect object can exist in a sentence that doesn't have a direct object.)

An object that follows a preposition is known as a prepositional object. In English, but not Spanish, it is possible for a prepositional object to be separated from the preposition (as in "Where are you going to?," where "to" is the preposition and "where" is the prepositional object), although this practice is frowned upon by some purists.

Also Known As: In English, some but not all objects are also known as complements. In Spanish, both objeto and complemento are used to refer to the three types of objects.
Examples:
In the sentence "I gave him the book belonging to my mother," "him" is an indirect object, "the book" is a direct object, and "my mother" is a prepositional object. In the equivalent Spanish sentence, "le di el libro de mi madre, le is an indirect object, el libro is a direct object, and mi madre is a prepositional object.

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Onomatopoeia

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Onomatopeya

Definition: The formation or use of words that are intended to sound like the what they represent.
Also Known As: Onomatopeya in Spanish. The Spanish word can also be used to refer to an onomatopoeic word.
Examples:
Examples of English onomatopoeia include "buzz," "moo," "hiss" and "swish." Examples of Spanish onomatopoeia include quiquiriquí (the sound of a rooster crowing), achís (the sound of a sneeze), miau (meow) and pataplum (the sound of an explosion).

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Orthographic Accent

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Acento ortográfico

Definition: A written accent that is used in Spanish to distinguish two words that otherwise are spelled and pronounced the same.
Sometimes orthographic accents are used to distinguish two related words depending on how they function in a sentence. For example, este means "this" as an adjective while éste means "this" as a pronoun. (In modern usage, such an orthographic accent is sometimes omitted if the sentence is unambiguous without out it.)

In other instances, an orthographic accent is used to distinguish two unrelated words. For example, se is a reflexive pronoun meaning "himself," "herself," "itself," or "themselves," while sé is a conjugated verb meaning either "I know" (from saber) or "you be" (from ser).

Some writers also use an accent over the o ("or") when it comes between two numerals so it is not confused with a 0 (zero). Example: Murieron 8 ó 9 personas. (8 or 9 people died.)

Note that in all these examples, the orthographic accent doesn't affect which syllable of the word is stressed.

Also Known As: Acento ortográfico in Spanish.
Examples:
Orthographic accents are used on the words in boldface: Me gusta cómo canta como Madonna. (I like how she sings like Madonna.) Aquélla es mi casa. (That is my house.) Aquella casa es mía. (That house is mine.) ¿Cuántas películas hay? (How many films are there?) Cuantos más participen, mejor será. (The more who participate the better it will be.)

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Paired (Correlative) Conjunction

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emparejado junto

Definition: One of a pair of words separated from each other that serve as a conjunction, connecting two words, phrases or sentences. The most common pairs in English are "either/or" (o/o in Spanish) and "neither/nor" (ni/ni).
Also Known As: paired conjunction
Examples:
Boldface words are correlative conjunctions: Neither he nor she can leave. (Ni él ni ella pueden salir.) Either shut up or leave. (O cállate o sal.)

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Part of Speech

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parte de la oración, categoría gramatical

Definition: A classification of words according to how they are used in a sentence and the types of ideas they convey. Traditionally, the parts of speech are the noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. However, there are other ways of classifying parts of speech. Sometimes articles (such as "the" in English or la in Spanish) are considered a separate part of speech, while sometimes they are classified as adjectives. Also, words such as "up" in the phrase "to look up" are considered to be particles, adverbs or part of a phrasal verb depending on the classification scheme.
In one sense, a word can be classified only as a part of speech when it is seen in context. However, words are often called a particular part of speech depending on how they are usually used. In English, much more so than in Spanish, it is common for words to function as parts of speech other than their typical usage. For example, the word "network" typically would be classified as a noun, but it functions as an adjective in "the network cable," as a verb in the colloquial sentence "I plan to network with my colleagues," and as an adverb in the adjectival phrase "network capable."

In both languages, it is possible for a phrase to function as a single part of speech. For example, in the sentence "I talk with difficulty" (Hablo con dificultad), the phrase "with difficulty" (con dificultad) functions as an adverb.

Also Known As: parte de la oración in Spanish, also categoría gramatical
Examples:
In the sentence "I am reading two old books" and its Spanish equivalent, "Yo leo dos libros viejos," "I"/yo is a pronoun, "am reading"/leo is a verb, "two"/dos and "old"/viejos are adjectives, and "books"/libros is a noun.

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Participle

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Participio

Definition: An impersonal inflected verb form that combines with auxiliary verbs and can sometimes function as an adjective. In both English and Spanish, there are two types of participles: present participles and past participles. In English, present participles typically end in "-ing," while in Spanish they typically end in -ando, -endo, -ante or -ente.
In English, the present participle also can combine with forms of "to be" to make the progressive tenses, as can the -ando and -endo present participles.

In English, the past participles typically end in "-ed," while in Spanish, regular past participles end in -ado or -ido.

Also Known As: Participio in Spanish.
Examples:
Boldface words are participles: We have bought the broken car. (Hemos comprado el coche roto.) He can't adapt to the changing times. (No puede adaptarse a los tiempos cambiantes.) We are eating now. (Estamos comiendo ahora.)

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Passive Voice

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La voz pasiva

Definition: A sentence in which the subject of the main verb is also acted on by the verb is in the passive voice. We can also say that the verb is in the passive voice. A common use of the passive voice is to indicate what happened to the subject of the sentence without saying who or what carried out the action (although the actor can by indicated in a prepositional phrase).
How It Is Used:

The passive voice is much more common in English than in Spanish, which often uses reflexive verbs where English uses the passive voice. Writing experts usually advise against using the passive voice unnecessarily, because the active voice comes across as more lively and does a better job of conveying action.
In English, the passive voice is formed by using a form of the verb "to be" followed by the past participle. It is the same in Spanish, where a form of ser is followed by the past participle. The past participle in such cases is modified if necessary to agree in number and gender with the subject of the sentence.

Term in Spanish:

La voz pasiva.
Examples in Spanish:

1. Las computadoras fueron vendidas. Note that the subject of the sentence (computadoras) is also the object acted on. Note also that the usual way of stating this would be using a reflexive construction, se vendieron las computadoras, literally, "the computers sold themselves." 2. El coche será manejado por mi padre. Note that the person performing the action isn't the subject of the sentence, but is the object of a prepositional phrase. This sentence is less likely to be said in Spanish than its equivalent in English would be. More common in Spanish would be the active voice: Mi padre manejará el coche.
Corresponding examples in English :

1. "The computers were sold." Note that in neither language does the sentence indicate who sold the computers. 2. "The car will be driven by my father." Note that "the car" is the subject of the sentence; the sentence would be complete without the prepositional phrase, "by my father," which indicates who is performing the action of the verb.

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Past Participle

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Preterite participle, participio pasivo, participio de pretérito.

Definition: The participle which, in both Spanish and English, can be used as an adjective or with auxiliary verbs to form the perfect tenses or the passive voice. In English, regular past participles end in "-ed," while in Spanish they typically end in -ado or -ido. In Spanish, the past participle, when used as an adjective or to form the passive voice, changes in gender and number as do other adjectives.
Also Known As: Preterite participle. In Spanish, participio pasivo or participio de pretérito.
Examples:
Boldface words are past participles: I have studied in Barcelona. (He estudiado en Barcelona.) My friend was arrested. (Mi amiga fue detenida.) I had eaten the burnt potatoes. (Había comido las papas quemadas.)

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Perfect Tense

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Tiempo perfecto

Definition: A type of tense that indicates the completion of action. In English, the perfect tenses are formed by using "to have" followed by the past participle. In Spanish, the perfect tenses are formed by using haber followed by the past participle.
Perfect tenses shared by the two languages are all in the indicative mood: the present perfect (I have seen, he visto), past perfect (I had seen, había visto), future perfect (I will have seen, habré visto) and conditional perfect (I would have seen, habría visto). The past perfect is also known as the pluperfect.

Spanish also has a preterite perfect tense that can refer to past events (hube visto), but it is seldom used in modern Spanish. In addition, Spanish has two perfect subjunctive forms, the present perfect (que haya visto) and the past perfect (que hubiera visto).

Also Known As: Tiempo perfecto in Spanish.
Examples:
Boldface verbs indicate use of perfect tenses: I have not seen the film. (No he visto la película.) All the children had left. (Todos los niños habían salido.) If they had told me that, I would have studied more. (Si me lo hubieran dicho, habría estudiado más.)

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Person

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persona in Spanish. Sequentially the terms in Spanish are primera persona, segunda persona and tercera persona (first, second and third persons).

Definition: A grammatical category based on the relationship between the speaker and the listener. In both Spanish and English, pronouns and verb forms can vary depending on which person is being used. A sentence, verb, noun or pronoun in the first person refers to the speaker or writer. (In the plural form, the reference is to a group that includes the speaker.) A sentence or part of speech in the second person refers to the person being spoken to. A sentence or part of speech in the third person refers to someone or something other than the speaker or person being addressed.
There are circumstances in both languages where it is possible to use a third-person verb form when speaking in the second person, commonly in Spanish, rarely in English. In English, an example would be "Is your honor pleased?," where the third-person "is" is used to refer to the person being addressed. In Spanish, the pronouns usted and ustedes are the second-person formal pronouns, meaning "you." They both take third-person verbs. These two pronouns are historically based on a phrase similar in usage to "your mercy," or vuestra merced.

Also Known As: persona in Spanish. Sequentially the terms in Spanish are primera persona, segunda persona and tercera persona (first, second and third persons).
Examples:
These sentences (the Spanish and English examples are equivalent) are in the first person: I am happy. Estoy feliz. We are happy. Estamos felices. These sentences are in the second person: You are happy. Estás feliz or Estáis felices. These sentences are in the third person: She is happy. Está feliz. They are happy. Están felices.

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Pluperfect

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pluscuamperfecto, pasado perfecto

Definition: A verb tense used to indicate that an action was completed at some specified or implied time in the past.
In English, the pluperfect is expressed by using the auxiliary verb "had" followed by the past participle: "She had studied."

In Spanish, the pluperfect is formed in the indicative mood by using the imperfect form of haber (había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían) followed by the past participle: Había estudiado.

In Spanish, the pluperfect can also be used in the subjunctive mood by preceding the past participle with the imperfect subjunctive of haber (hubiera, hubieras, etc.): Dudo que hubiera estudiado (I doubt she had studied).

The pluperfect usages of the two languages are almost identical, so it is usually safe to translate the pluperfect of one language into the pluperfect of the other. However, in some contexts, especially in colloquial usage, the simple past tense can be substituted for the pluperfect in either language.

Also Known As: "Past perfect" in English, pluscuamperfecto or pasado perfecto (less common) in Spanish.
Examples:
Where had you gone? (¿Adónde habías ido?) I believed I had broken my leg. (Creía que se me había roto la pierna.) If John had had choices, surely he would not have gone to the United States in order to work. ( Si Juan hubiera tenido opciones, seguramente no se hubiera ido a Estados Unidos para trabajar.) It was not certain they had bought the book. (No era cierto que hubieran comprado el libro.)

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Possive Adjective

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Adjetivo posesivo

Definition: An adjective used with a noun (or less commonly, pronoun) to indicate possession, ownership or close relationship.
In English, these are the possessive adjectives:

My
Your
His
Her
Its
Our
Their
In Spanish, there are two types of possessive adjectives, the short form and the long form. Except rarely in poetry, the short form, which is more common, is used before the nouns they refer to, while the long form is used afterward. Here are the possessive adjectives of Spanish, with the short form first:
Mi, mío (my)
Tu, tuyo (your)
Su, suyo (his, her, your, its, their)
Nuestro, nuestro (our)
Vuestro, vuestro (your)
As is the case with other adjectives, possessive adjectives must agree with the nouns they refer to in both number and gender.
Also Known As: Adjetivo posesivo in Spanish. In English grammar, the term "possessive determiner" is sometimes used.
Examples:
Here are some examples in Spanish. Note that the English translations don't always use adjectives (which are indicated in boldface): Bienvenidos a nuestro hogar. (Welcome to our home.) Es mi madre y amiga. (She is my mother and my friend.) Son mi madre y mi amiga. (They are my mother and my friend.) No abrieron esos libros suyos. (They didn't open those books of theirs.)

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Preposition

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preposición

Definition: A word (or sometimes a phrase) that is usually placed before a noun (or a noun substitute such as a pronoun or gerund) and that indicates the semantic or grammatical relationship between that noun and another word in the sentence. The noun or noun substitute following the preposition is known as a prepositional object. In Spanish, the object always follows the preposition; in English, a preposition can come at the end of a sentence (as in "Where are you going to?," where "to" is the preposition and "where" is the object), although this practice is frowned upon by some purists.
The word "preposition" comes from Greek and Latin roots meaning "to place before."

Also Known As: preposición in Spanish
Examples:
Some English prepositions: in, of, from, to, with regard to, at, through, under, over, about, until, for, against, until, after, before. Some Spanish prepositions: en, de, a, por, bajo, antes de, a causa de, hasta, según, sobre, tras, contra.

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Present Participle

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participio activo, participio de presente

Definition: The participle which in English is typically formed by adding "-ing" to verbs and can be used as an adjective or with "to be" to form the progressive (or continuous) tenses.
Spanish has two types of present participles: verbal present participles, which are used with forms of estar to form the progressive tenses, and adjectival present participles, which are used as adjectives. The verbal present participles end in -ando or -endo, while the adjectival present participles end in -ante or -ente.

In English, present participles can be formed from nearly any verb. The same is true for the verbal present participles in Spanish, although adjectival participles either don't exist or are rarely used for most verbs.

In both languages, the present participle suggests that the quality described is or was in progress rather than completed. Note the difference, for example, between a "changed man" (hombre cambiado) and a "changing man" (hombre cambiante), as well as between "I was eating" (estaba comiendo) and "I had eaten" (he comido).

Also Known As: The adjectival present participle is known as the participio activo or participio de presente in Spanish. The verbal present participle is the gerundio.
Examples:
Boldfaced words are present participles: I am studying. (Estoy estudiando.) I know the incoming president. (Conozco al presidente entrante.)

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Preterite

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préterito indefinido

Definition: The verb tense that expresses action taking place at a definite time in the past. It is contrasted with the imperfect tense, which expresses action that took place at an indefinite time or has not been completed. The preterite is the tense that would normally be thought of as the past tense in English.
Also Known As: past tense
Alternate Spellings: preterit, préterito indefinido in Spanish
Examples:
Pablo cantó. (Pablo sang.) Ana escribió la carta. (Ana wrote the letter). Adán conocí a Eva. (Adam met Eve.) (Note that conocer can mean "to know" or "to meet." The translation of "met" is used because the use of the preterite indicates that an event that happened at a specific time.)

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Progressive

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continuo

Definition: Progressive (or continuous) verb forms in English are those made by following a form of the verb "to be" with the gerund (the "-ing" form) of a verb. As the name suggests, this construction suggests that the action described by the verb was, is or will be in progress.
In Spanish, the progressive forms are made by using a conjugation of estar followed by the gerund (-ando or -iendo verb form). The progressive forms are used less often in Spanish than in English, and many thoughts that are expressed in English using progressive verb forms are not properly translated that way into Spanish. In Spanish, the progressive verb forms often emphasize the continuing nature of the verb's action.

In Spanish grammar, progressive verb forms can also refer to the use of verbs other than estar that are combined with gerunds. For example, the gerund can be combined with the verb andar, as in this sentence: Andaba hablando de cambio de actitud. (He went about talking about a change of attitude.)

Also Known As: continuo in Spanish; "continuous" in English
Examples:
Spanish: Estoy estudiando. Está nevando. Estuvimos hablando tres horas. Equivalents in English: I am studying. It is snowing. We were talking for three hours.

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Pronoun

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pronombre

Definition: A word that stands for or represents a noun or noun phrase. A distinguishing characteristic of pronouns is that the nouns (or noun phrases) they stand for can be identified only in the context of the sentence in which they are used. Thus, for example, it is unknown who the pronoun "she" (or the Spanish equivalent, ella), stands for outside of the context of the sentence in which it is used. As is the case with nouns, pronouns can serve as either subjects or objects of sentences. Types of pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb's subject).
Term in Spanish: pronombre

Examples in Spanish: yo, quien, ellas

Examples in English: I, who, they (the second two Spanish terms also can be translated in some contexts as "whom" or "them," respectively)

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Romanization or Transliteration

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Romanización or Transliteración

Definition: The spelling of words that were originally from a language using a different alphabet.
Transliteration isn't always exact task, and sometimes words are transliterated more than one way. For example, the name of the Chinese capital was at one time transliterated as "Peking" in English and Pekín in Spanish; currently the official transliteration of "Beijing" is used both languages. Transliteration is used most often when words are imported from one language to another or in the use of place names. Sometimes official or semi-official letter equivalents are used in translation, while in other cases an attempt is made to reproduce the sound of the other language as closely as possible.

Both Spanish and English have words that are derived from transliterations of words in languages such as Greek, Russian, Arabic and Hebrew. Latin American Spanish also has some words of regional usage that are derived from transliterations of North and South American indigenous languages.

Also Known As: Transliteración in Spanish. When the transliteration is to the Latin alphabet used by English and Spanish, the term "romanization" or romanización can be used.
Examples:
The name for the Jewish festival of lights, which comes from a Hebrew word, has been transliterated as "Hanukkah" or "Chanukah" in English, Janucá and Jánuka in Spanish.

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Sentence

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oración, frase

Definition: A word or group of words that expresses a complete thought. In traditional grammar, a sentence must include at least a subject (a noun or something that substitutes for a noun) and a predicate (which has to include a verb). A sentence can express a statement, ask a question or give a command.
In Spanish, it is very common for the subject to not be explicitly stated, although it is implied by the conjugation of the verb. For example, the word hablamos, which means "we speak," can be a complete sentence. The subject of the sentence is not explicitly stated, although it is implied to be nosotros, which means "we."

In English, the subject can be similarly implied, although only when the verb is in the imperative mood, that is, when the sentence is a command. For example, the command "speak" is a complete sentence; the listener can infer that the subject is "you."

Exclamations, such as "ouch!" in English or "¡ay!" in Spanish can express a complete thought, although they generally are not considered to be sentences.

Also Known As: oración, frase in Spanish
Examples:
Spanish: El cielo es azul. ¿Cuál es el significado de la vida? ¡Cállate! (These sentences make a statement, ask a question and give a command, respectively.) English: The sky is blue. What is the meaning of life? Shut up!

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Subjunctive

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Subjuntivo

Definition: The subjunctive mood is used not to indicate that something is being asserted but that it is contrary to fact, supposed, doubted, feared or desired. The subjunctive mood barely exists in English, although more so in writing than in speech. In contrast, the subjunctive mood is an essential feature of the Spanish language.
In Spanish, the subjunctive mood is used most commonly in a dependent clause, usually one beginning with que. In some cases, in both English and Spanish, a past-tense form of the subjunctive can be used to state a contrary-to-fact condition after "if" (si in Spanish).

Also Known As: Subjuntivo in Spanish.
Examples:
The boldface verbs are in the subjunctive mood mood: If I were a man I would be a soccer player. (Si fuera hombre, sería futbolista.) I demand that he study. (Le exigo que estudie).

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Subordinate Conjunction

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Conjunción subordinante, conjunción de subordinación

Definition: A type of conjunction that is used to introduce a dependent clause (also known as a subordinate clause), a clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence or that depends on an independent clause for its meaning. Probably the most common subordinate conjunction is "that" in English, que in Spanish (both words also have other uses.) In Spanish, the verb following a subordinate conjunction is often in the subjunctive mood.
Also Known As: Conjunción subordinante or conjunción de subordinación in Spanish. Also called "subordinating conjunction" in English.
Examples:
Boldface words in these sentences are subordinate conjunctions: I doubt that he loves me. (Dudo que me ame.) Click here if you wish to create a new account. (Pulsa aquí si quieres crear una nueva cuenta.) I am writing to you so you can help me. (Te escribo para que me ayudes.)

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Synonym

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Sinónino

Definition: A word that means the same, or approximately the same, as another word. Two words can be considered synonyms even if they aren't interchangeable in all contexts.
Also Known As: Sinónino in Spanish.
Examples:
In Spanish, entender and comprender are synonyms (both usually mean "to understand"), as are marida and esposa (both mean "wife"). In English, "late" and "tardy" are synonymous, as are "perfect" and "flawless."

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Tense

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tiempo

Definition: A verb form that indicates, or can indicate, a relationship between the time the action in a verb occurs and the time the verb is uttered. A verb tense can also give an indication of the duration of the verb's action and when or if it is completed.
English uses conjugation to indicate simple present and simple past tenses. "I speak" is in the present tense, while "I spoke" is in the past tense. English uses auxiliary verbs to indicate other tenses. Thus "I will speak" is in the future tense, while "I had spoken" and "I have spoken" are in the past perfect and present perfect tenses, respectively. A progressive tense ("I am speaking") can be used to indicate that the action is continuing.

Spanish also uses conjugation as well as auxiliary verbs to form the tenses. Hablo (I speak) is in the simple present, while estoy hablando (I am speaking) is in the present progressive. Spanish has a type of past tense, the imperfect, that doesn't have an exact equivalent in English. For example, hablaba can mean "I spoke" or "I used to speak."

The grammatical tense of a verb doesn't always coincide with the actual time the verb refers to. For example, the simple present tense in both English and Spanish can refer to events of the future. Thus "we leave at 8" and the Spanish equivalent, salimos a las ocho, are both in the present tense but refer to a future event.

Also Known As: tiempo in Spanish
Examples:
Tenses can be classified in various ways. Common tenses include the simple present (I buy, compro), progressive present (I am buying, estoy comprando), preterite (I bought, compré), past perfect (I had bought, había comprado), present perfect (I have bought, he comprado) and future (I will buy, compraré). There are also combination tenses such as the future perfect progressive (I will have been buying, habré estado comprando).

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Verb

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verbo

Definition: The part of speech that expresses action, existence or mode of being. In both English and Spanish, a verb, to be used in forming a complete sentence, must be accompanied by a noun or pronoun that is acting, existing or in a mode of being. (In Spanish, it is common for the noun to be implied without being explicitly stated.) In both languages (although much more so in Spanish), verbs are inflected or conjugated to show when action, existence or mode of being occurs as well as how many (one or more than one) are performing the action, existence or state of being.
Term in Spanish: verbo

Examples in Spanish: Pablo echó la camisa a la basura. (The verb expresses action). Mi madre está en casa. (The verb expresses existence.) Los árboles son verdes. (The verb expresses state of being.)

Equivalent examples in English: Pablo threw the shirt in the garbage. (The verb expresses action.) Mi mother is at home. (The verb expresses existence.) The trees are green. (The verb expresses state of being.)