Spanish Sentence Structure

1. Spanish Sentence Structure How can we make better sentences?

2. Rules with verbs • You CAN NOT have two verbs next to each other…. • EX. Tengoesuna casa bonita. • You don’t need the “es”.

3. Ownership Rules • En English we say: • Pedro’s Family • Maria’s house • Etc. • We can’t do this in Spanish!

4. How can I use ‘s? • Instead of using the apostrophe (‘) in Spanish, we have to do this: • The(thing)of(owner). • El/la (thing)de(owner). • So Maria’s book, turns into: • el libro de Maria • Pedro’s family, turns into: - la familia de Pedro

5. Agreement with adjectives • Remember that adjectives: - Go after the noun they describe - Agree in number & gender with the noun they modify. *Just because a girl has something, doesn’t make it feminine. So if a girl is holding a book, “el libro” is still masculine.

6. Words that don’t translate well to Spanish • Get… Try to use another word or work around it • Will… As in “I will go”. This DOES NOT translate to Spanish. • Remember to look up things like “have”, “eat”, etc. and then CONJUGATE them according to subject.

7. Suggestions • The best advice I can give you is to ALWAYS translate what you just wrote! • If the sentence makes no sense, then think of another way to say it. • If you don’t know how to say a certain word, avoid it and think of a word you do know. • Don’t confuse yourself!

8. Actual Examples • “Ricardo case espequeño.” • “Casa de Ricardo espequeñaunabaño y dos dormitorios.” • Dormitorioalfombraroja

9. Mejor • “Ricardo case espequeño.” Becomes: - La casa de Ricardo espequeña. • “Casa de Ricardo espequeñaunabaño dos dormitorios.” Becomes: - La casa de Ricardo espequeña. La casa tiene un baño y dos dormitorios. • Dormitorioalfombraroja - Mi dormitoriotieneunaalfombraroja.

10. Final Thoughts • We will work on these things today. • You do not have to be perfect, but we need to understand the basics first!