The elements of a sentence.

Noun / el sustantivo. Nouns are the name of things, persons, places, and abstract entities. In Spanish the noun is called sustantivo (or substantivo in traditional spelling) because in Aristotelic logic a noun is the name of a substance, that which remains the same through contingency or change. In Spanish all nouns are feminine or masculine, singular or plural; they are subject to change according to gender and number. Examples: things / cosas, wheel / rueda, George, Eloísa, Argentina, sweetness / dulzura, amazement / asombro, sand / arena, insanity / locura, excellency / excelencia, pity / piedad, screwdrivers / desarmadores.

Article / el artículo. It adds specificity or unspecificity to the noun. In Spanish all articles are feminine or masculine, singular or plural. Examples: the beach / la playa, a beach / una playa, the beaches / las playas, the radish / el rábano.

Adjective / el adjetivo. Adjectives qualify nouns, that is to say, they add information about the noun. There are several categories of adjectives, among others, (1) possessive, for example: my guitar / mi guitarra; (2) demonstrative, for example: that circumstance / esa circunstancia; (3) predicate (called qualifyers in Spanish, or adjetivos calificativos), for example a magnificent concert / un concierto magnífico, the new car / el coche nuevo, the bad news / la mala noticia. In Spanish all adjectives are variable; they are feminine or masculine, singular or plural.

Verb / el verbo. Verbs are the highly variable names of actions or a state of being. By varying part of their structure they convey who the subject of the action is (this is why we conjugate verbs), and whether the action happened in the past, is happening now, or will happen in the future. They are the most flexible parts of speech and carry the full dynamism of language. For example, we thought / nosotros pensamos, she will ski, / ella esquiará, I consider / yo considero. There are verbal moods or modes: (a) infinitive, or the name of the verb (to paint); (b) indicative, or the mode of the verb that indicates actual action or state of being (I painted, I will paint, I paint); (c) subjunctive, or the mode of the verb that conveys possible, desirable, undesirable or contingent action, that is, action dependent on other factors (she requested that you paint the chairs) (d) imperative, or the command mode (paint those chairs!, all right?). There are verbal tenses in the indicative and subjunctive, indicating time: past or preterite, present, future, conditional, imperfect. There are verbal voices: active (she climbed the Everest) and passive (the portrait was copied by a master forger).

Pronoun / el pronombre. As their name indicates, pronouns stand for nouns; they take their place. Pronouns belong in several categories, among them: (1) personal or subject pronouns, for example: they / ellas; (2) possessive pronouns, for example: hers / suya; (3) demonstrative pronouns, for example: that one over there / aquél; (4) reflexive pronouns, for example: she prepared herself / ella se preparó; (5) direct object pronouns, for example: are you bringing it? / lo vas a traer? (6) indirect object pronouns, for example: they told her that... / le dijeron que... Pronouns are variable according to gender, number and persons.

Adverb / el adverbio. An adverb is an invariable part of the sentence in both Spanish and English. Adverbs qualify verbs in the same way that adjectives qualify nouns. You can see the parallel: a tall man, a short man (adjectives); to walk fast, to walk slowly (adverbs). In addition to qualifying verbs, adverbs also qualify adjectives and other adverbs. For example: exceedingly funny / excesivamente chistoso (an adverb qualifying an adjective); we play soccer unbelievably well / jugamos futbol increíblemente bien (an adverb qualifying another adverb, and both adverbs quialifying the verb). Adverbs also belong in categories: (1) adverbs of time, for example: I rise early / me levanto temprano; (2) adverbs of quantity (or intensity), for example: Julian talks too much; Julian habla demasiado; or Julian is very talkative / Julian es muy hablador; (3) adverbs of place, for example: sit here, please / siéntese aquí, por favor; (4) adverbs of modality, which are the most abundant, for example: you are doubly wrong, my friend / estás doblemente equivocado, amigo mío. Almost any adjective can be turned into an adverb with the addition of the suffix -ly in English and -mente in Spanish, for example, tender > tenderly / tierno / tiernamente.

Preposition / la preposición. These are invariable particles in both languages that serve to indicate direction (to, toward, from), position (in, under, at, over, above), relation (with, without, of, between), or temporal limitations (since, until) for nouns and verbs.

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