Term |
Conceptualize
the term, ... don't define it as an English
word! |
| accent |
The
little mark ´ that you have to put
over some vowels in some words. It's only there
because the word isn't pronounced like it's supposed
to be, ... according to the first two rules. |
| adjective |
A
word that describes something or someone; a descriptive
term. The thing to remember before you can use these
is whether "the entity being regarded/described"
is m or f.
Another good thing to look at right off the bat
is that they come AFTER the nouns, ... and you know
what you're describing before you describe it ... |
| adverb |
A
word that describes an action or an adjective. Sometimes
it tells you "when." Sometimes it's a -ly word in
English. |
| article |
The
words "a" and "the" in English
have varied forms in Spanish. "A" is the
indefinite article in English, corresponding to
Spanish un and una.
"The" is the English definite article,
corresponding to the Spanish el,
la, los,
las. |
| auxiliary
verb |
A
"special verb" that appears in compound
tenses to make another verb into a more specific
tense, making it compound because the helping verb
and the real action are used together. |
| cognate |
A
word that is spelled or sounds like another word
in another language, and keeps its meaning. |
| compound
(tenses) |
Two
verbs put together for the formation of specific
tenses, with one verb usually being conjugated for
"who" is doing it, and the other being
in another form to show "when" or "how." |
| conditional |
A
verb tense name. This verb form is required when
there's an "if" clause, i.e., the information in
the sentence is based on a condition. (If I were
to win the lottery, I would ...) Endings for
this tense attach the equivalent of the English
"would" to the action implied. |
| conjugate |
Changing
a verb to meaningfully represent "who is doing
what when." |
| contraction |
A
shortened form of two words placed together. In
English they always take an apostrophe (... can't,
don't, it's, etc.) There are only 2 in Spanish:
al
= a el ______ and del
= de el _____. Notice the blank? It means
that the el here means
"the," and there's gotta be a "something"
after the "the." |
| dialect |
The
variations in how people speak from region to region,
including pronunciation and even vocabulary at times. |
| direct
object |
The
"object" that the verb is acting on. |
| ending |
The
specific letters added to a word or word's stem
- placed there to indicate specific values or meanings. |
| expression |
A
way of saying something more or less indirectly. |
| false
cognate |
A
word that is spelled or sounds like a word in another
language - but isn't what you'd think it is. |
| feminine |
A
gender. Not necessarily female! Rules will tell
you what's "feminine." |
| future |
A
verb tense name. Not necessarily "when."
This tense is used more to indicate conjecture "What
do you think he's up to?" than an upcoming
action or event. |
| gender |
A
word's form, not what it represents as "man" or
"woman" - but rather how the word is dealt with.
There are only 2 genders in Spanish: masculine
and feminine. Has nothing to do with boys
& girls ... |
| idiom |
A
group of words that don't mean what they look like
they'd mean. No, idioms and expressions aren't the
same, ... but some are proverbs! |
| imperfect |
A
verb tense specifying prolonged activity in the
past without beginning or end. The verb forms take
on the meaning of somebody would _____ in the past,
somebody used to _____ in the past, or somebody
_____-ed over and over again in the past. I walked
to school every day. |
| indicative |
"Real"
forms of verbs - or verb forms that indicate what
is "really happening." How often does the English
speaker consider whether what (s)he is saying is
really going on or not? You don't use this mood
when you're talking about what's going on inside
your head. |
| indirect
object |
The
"other object" that is receiving the "object the
verb is acting on." Often is the "for"
or "to" being in a sentence. |
| infinitive |
The
plain vanilla, unconjugated form of a verb, ...
in English: the "to" form. Spanish has 3 kinds of
verbs: AR, ER, & IR. |
| interrogative |
The
"question words" --- like WHO? WHEN? WHERE? WHY?
, ... etc. |
| masculine |
A
gender. Not necessarily male! Rules will tell you
what's "masculine." |
| noun |
Whatever
you're pointing at ... (Conceptualize here!) |
| perfect
(tenses) |
Forms
of verbs that have occurred, with the helping verb
"to have."
Have you eaten?
They will have arrived
by now. I would've
done something! |
| plural |
More
than 1. |
| preposition |
A
word that gives position to all things. These are
tough, and you never finish learning them because
somebody always has another instance to add, like
when Billy Bob seen a bar crosst yonder! |
| present |
Now.
Nowadays. Current. On-going. Not completed. Not
over with. Not finished. |
| preterite |
A
verb tense: done. Somebody "did" this. It was an
event and not a background setting. It happened!
Pum! ... over with! |
| progressive
(tenses) |
A
set of tenses showing activities as on-going, no
matter when it was or will be. |
| pronoun |
Whatever
you're pointing at, but without knowing what it
is or what it's called. |
| pronunciation |
How
one says a word, a sound, a syllable, etc. |
| punctuation |
The
markings that let you know when a sentence ends
... or starts. |
| reflexive |
Reflects
back to the doer of the deed. Talking about the
-self here. |
| relative |
Refers
back to or is related to whatever precedes it, whether
directly or in reference. |
| singular |
Just
1. No more, ... sometimes less. |
| stem |
The
part of the word that really carries the weight
of it's "meaning" or "implied reference." |
| stress |
The
loudest part, most frantic part, most vocalized
and heard. |
| subject |
The
person or thing that's doing the action. This isn't
a laboratory you know! |
| subjunctive |
"Fantasy"
forms of verbs - or verb forms that indicate what's
going on in the speaker's head, as a wish, or a
conjecture or a doubt - anything but a reality.
Anything imagined you speak of in the subjunctive.
Hmmm, ... yeah, English speakers do that all the
time! Sure they do ... |
| syllable |
Most
often a consonant-vowel, or just a vowel, or consonant-vowel-consonant,
or (in a cluster) consonant-consonant-vowel, or
(in a diphthong) consonant-vowel-vowel, or ... |
| tense |
The
name of different sets of endings that convey who's
doing what and when the verbs are going on. They
establish the timeframe of the activity: past -
present - future, etc. |
| verb |
The
action!! This is the part of a sentence that tells
you what is happening! |
|
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