Spanish 1/linguistic characteristics
From Wikiversity
Contents |
[edit] Cognates, Borrowed Words, Pronunciation, & Other Rules
[edit] Cognates
In Spanish, there are several cognates that are extremely similar to those in English. Using cognates will help you understand surrounding words in a text even if you don't know what they entirely mean. The following is a list of a few cognates in Spanish to English.
- aire = air
- editor/a = editor
- médico = medical
- policía = police
- dentista = dentist
- similar = similar
- piano = piano
[edit] Borrowed Words
Most, if not all languages have at least one borrowed word from another language. Borrowed words also act as cognates. A list of words in English borrowed from Spanish include: rodeo, patata, corral, rancho. The words mean rodeo, potato, corral, and ranch respectively. A list of words in Spanish borrowed from English include: pudin, jersey, teléfono. The words in respective order mean pudding, jersey, and telephone.
[edit] Pronunciation
One of the easiest things about Spanish is its pronunciation: almost everything is pronounced as it is written. However, there are some exceptions. The following is a list of pronunciation rules in Spanish.
- a is pronounced as in English as ah.
- c is pronounced as in English as k; if the c is before e or i, is pronounced as in English as s in South America or as th in Spain.
- h, by itself, is never pronounced.
- e is pronounced like e in the English word hey.
- i is pronounced like i in the English word police.
- j is pronounced with a breathy huff of air from the throat (like a hard "h" sound).
- ll is pronounced like y.
- ñ is pronounced like the ny in canyon.
- o is pronounced as in English like the o in no.
- r is pronounced by tapping the tip of the tongue against the gum ridge in the back of the upper teeth.
- rr is pronounced as the same way as r but rolled—this may take some practice to get right.
- s is pronounced as the s in lesson.
- u is pronounced similar to the u in rule.
- x is pronounced as the Spanish j (i.e., like "h").
- v is pronounced as a slight b.
- ü is pronounced with a strong huff.
- accent marks are pronounced as the letter they are above, but with a strong huff of air in the throat. Accent marks are used to denote emphasis in Spanish where it may not be expected; for example, in the word "está", the last (accented) syllable is stressed.
All letters are always clearly pronounced in Spanish.
[edit] Other Rules
- In Spanish, the adjective usually comes after the noun (unlike in English, where the adjective comes first). Most adjectives, like nouns, are classified by gender: masculine nouns and adjectives usually end in o and feminine nouns and adjectives usually end in a. Adjectives that have gender in this course will have the femine form in parenthesis.
- In Spanish, an upside down question mark or exclamation mark is placed before a question or exclamation. Examples: ¿Qué? ¡Hola!
- In Spanish, it is useful to know a set of rules that govern the usage of the language like there are rules in all other spoken and written languages. The following useful rules in reference to the 'definite' and 'indefinite articles' can be learned in a very short amount of time and will save a lot of guessing or forgetting which would be the correct form.
First: In English there are Definite and Indefinite articles and we use the same concept for Spanish and other romance languages. Definite articles are used when the subject of a sentence (the speaker) 'definitely' knows which item the subject makes reference to. Ex. I want to purchase the book "La Isla en Peso."
Schedule A:
Definite Articles are used when the subject (the speaker) makes reference to a specifict item:
I want to purchase the book: La Isla en Peso by Virgilio Piñera.
M F
singular: el , la ;
plural: los , las .
Indefinite articles are used when the subject (the speaker) does not make reference to any specific item:
I want to purchase a book from Virgilio Piñera.
Indefinite Articles
M F
singular: un , una ;
plural: unos , unas .
NOTE: The rule is: all articles (el, la, los, las, un, una, unos, unas) must agree with the noun in gender and number. Example: el libro, los libros, la novela, las novelas, un libro, una novela, unos libros, unas novelas.
Second: In Spanish it is important to write the date correctly and understand the order of the items in it. 1st the calendar number of the specific day, 2nd the calendar month, 3rd the calendar year. 31 de diciembre de 2008 and 1 de enero de 2009. The word 'de' is always used, unless one is pressed for space: 31/12/08 and 01/01/09.
Note: do not capitalize the words for the months of the year nor for the days of the week. The months are: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre. The days of the week are: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado y domingo. (Notice that the week starts with: lunes (you will find that in other european countries and latin american countries the week begins with: lunes. For example: El día del padre es: domingo, 21 de junio de 2009.
Third: In Spanish, it is important to write the days of the week and months of the year in lower case letters (not capitalized). (There are no exceptions to these rules, so it is very important to be able to read the date of a newspaper, the date of a plane ticket, the date of any legal document.)
Fourth: In Spanish, the verb 'to be' in English has two forms: SER AND ESTAR. (One can remember a simple set of 'hints' to know when to use one or the other. Use Ser for permanent things: Soy de los Estados Unidos. Use Estar for non permanent things: Estoy de vacaciones en Madrid, España. Other ways to remember these two forms are also useful. For example: SER is used to describe: Soy bajita, gordita, feita or soy alto, delgado, feito. Estar is used to denote location, position, condition. Estoy en la universidad, parado en la terminal de omnibus, y muy cansado. So, one quick way to use the verb to be correctly is to remember: use ESTAR for condition, position and location and use SER for everything else...unless you know for sure Soy de España (my place of birth or permanent residence) Estoy en España (I am on vacation or visiting with a non permanent visa).
While it is not difficult to learn a foreign language and to most people who already use any language with a Latin root, the first language will be of great resource to learn another one which also has a Latin root. This is the case with Spanish and many other european languages. There are over 500 words that we can think in less than one hour which are the same, similar or have the same root that we will always be able to guess correctly. Use these words immediately to begin communicating in Spanish. For example: Soy Eduardo y estudio arquitectura en España pero soy de México. Soy creativo, inteligente y muy buen atleta. Mi deporte favorito es el fútbol (which is what we call soccer)and our football is called fútbol americano.
Fifth: SALUDOS Y DESPEDIDAS
Also, the first lesson given to anyone boarding a plane to a foreign country where Spanish is spoken or going to interview for a job that requires Spanish speaking...is the one to remember the uses of ser and estar for Saludos y Despedidas. We must get those down and have a quick response._¿!Hola!, ¿Cómo estás! Estoy bien gracias y ¿usted? (¿tú?)
The use of the familiar or the formal or professional "you" is one thing that demands a conscious effort to think: what is the relationship here in this communication? In the professional world the 'formal' use of "you" is always used. Also, for persons which are not personal friends the 'formal' use of "you" is always used.
So, the rule is: only people who are peers and have a personal relationship talk to each other in the informal "you": using tú for singular and vosotros for plural. There is a tremendous misconception in thinking that the ´vosotros´form is not widely used...it is used by everyone who lives in Spain and every student of Spanish who wishes to politely address others.
Only ´peers´that know each other use the informal ´tú and vosotros´forms.
These are the subject pronouns:
singular plural
1st person yo nosotros
2nd person tú (familiar) vosotros (familiar)
2nd person usted (professional, formal) ustedes (professional, formal)
3rd person él, ella ellos, ellas
