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Deleted user
12 Sep 2021

Question about Spanish (Spain)

How to build a sentences in spanish? What do I have to take care by building a sentences what is the rule?

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jmhk
12 Sep 2021

  • Spanish (Mexico)

The general structure of a sentence in Spanish is subject + verb + predicate, for example:

Juan come una manzana roja —> John eats a red Apple

"Juan" (John) is the subject (who?), "come" (eats) is the verb (who does what?) and "una manzana roja" (a red apple) is the predicate (what)

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BraisGZ
12 Sep 2021

  • Spanish (Spain)
  • English (US)
Spanish is a pretty free language as for word order. First of all, the most common way to build a sentence is Subject + Verb + Object, and sometimes even the subject is dropped, so you'd end up with just Verb + Object. For example: (Yo) Voy al cine el sábado = I go to the cinema on Saturday Now, when it comes to emphasis, you usually put what you want to highlight right before the verb, therefore you may find the previous sentence like this as well: El sábado voy al cine --> not on Monday or Thursday, but on Saturday Al cine voy el sábado --> not to the supermarket or your place but to the cinema However, you can also find these two sentences with a complementing phrase after them: El sábado voy al cine y el domingo a la playa = I go to the cinema on Saturday and to the beach on Sunday Al cine voy el sábado y al museo el lunes = I go to the cinema on Saturday and to the museum on Monday Another really imporant point when it comes to emphasis (the last one I promise, I don't want to make this endless for you) is using the personal pronouns. Compare: "Voy al cine el sábado" and "Yo voy al cine el sábado" What a native speaker would get from the second one is that you are the one going, and no one else as you are making it clear by using the pronoun. This is actually something that students usually overdo, you don't need to use the pronoun every single time you have a verb as it may sound quite rude depending on the context, but as long as they know you are learning, it's all good. I'm really sorry about this long explanation but I just wanted you to be aware of the typical structures you may come across while speaking or listening to native speakers as for sentence structure. So basically: Subject (if necessary) + Verb + Rest of the sentence --> Standard sentence Important part + Subject (if necessary) + Verb + Rest of the sentence --> "Emphasis sentence" If you have any doubt (which is likely because of my long answer) just let me know and I'll make it shorter next time!

Spanish is a pretty free language as for word order. First of all, the most common way to build a sentence is Subject + Verb + Object, and sometimes even the subject is dropped, so you'd end up with just Verb + Object. For example:
(Yo) Voy al cine el sábado = I go to the cinema on Saturday

Now, when it comes to emphasis, you usually put what you want to highlight right before the verb, therefore you may find the previous sentence like this as well:
El sábado voy al cine --> not on Monday or Thursday, but on Saturday
Al cine voy el sábado --> not to the supermarket or your place but to the cinema

However, you can also find these two sentences with a complementing phrase after them:
El sábado voy al cine y el domingo a la playa = I go to the cinema on Saturday and to the beach on Sunday
Al cine voy el sábado y al museo el lunes = I go to the cinema on Saturday and to the museum on Monday

Another really imporant point when it comes to emphasis (the last one I promise, I don't want to make this endless for you) is using the personal pronouns. Compare:
"Voy al cine el sábado" and "Yo voy al cine el sábado"
What a native speaker would get from the second one is that you are the one going, and no one else as you are making it clear by using the pronoun.
This is actually something that students usually overdo, you don't need to use the pronoun every single time you have a verb as it may sound quite rude depending on the context, but as long as they know you are learning, it's all good.

I'm really sorry about this long explanation but I just wanted you to be aware of the typical structures you may come across while speaking or listening to native speakers as for sentence structure. So basically:
Subject (if necessary) + Verb + Rest of the sentence --> Standard sentence
Important part + Subject (if necessary) + Verb + Rest of the sentence --> "Emphasis sentence"

If you have any doubt (which is likely because of my long answer) just let me know and I'll make it shorter next time!

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Highly-rated answerer
Deleted user
12 Sep 2021

@BraisGZ @jmhk Thank you both

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Deleted user
13 Sep 2021

@BraisGZ @jmhk I need it for the college which I want to go and hope they take me. Do you think I can have the basic knowledge in spanish after the summer holidays 2022 ?

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Deleted user
13 Sep 2021

Advice me where should I start

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Deleted user
13 Sep 2021

I can then hopefully write on my CV Language skills: Spanish (basic knowledge)

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Deleted user
13 Sep 2021

The only annoying thing about Spanish is that the exclamation mark (!) And question mark (?) Are also written upside down. Why is that?

Like this (¿) or this (¡)

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BraisGZ
13 Sep 2021

  • Spanish (Spain)
  • English (US)
So, first of all, "¿" and "¡" are just for you to know how you need to read the sentence as when you're asking something or yelling you tend to rise the pitch or have a different intonation than when taking normally. So just take it as a way to know when a question or an exclamation starts. We usually drop the first one colloquially and just write the final one: ¿Vienes el domingo al cine? = Vienes el domingo al cine? As for how to start learning a language, I think that's pretty personal and each person has their way to learn a language. Some learn through memorizing a bunch of words, others just learn basic phrases and try to get the grammar from that... So firstly you should really know how you learn a language or the most effective way to do it. If you think what's best for you is memorizing words, then look on Google "frequency lists Spanish" and just use any flashcard website to memorize. If you want to learn as much grammar as you can before even learning to speak, then go for looking for Spanish grammar on Google and see if you can download a good book. In case you are more a grammar student rather than the "flashcard type", you can also try to do it in steps, like first learning how genders work, plural, then maybe adjectives and their position in a sentence, adverbs, conjugations (don't mess with subjunctive until you feel comfortable with indicative and imperative), conjunctions (first learn the coordinating ones and then the subordinating), and after all this you may have a good B1 level in my opinion. If you wanna ask anything else just let me know!

So, first of all, "¿" and "¡" are just for you to know how you need to read the sentence as when you're asking something or yelling you tend to rise the pitch or have a different intonation than when taking normally. So just take it as a way to know when a question or an exclamation starts. We usually drop the first one colloquially and just write the final one:
¿Vienes el domingo al cine? = Vienes el domingo al cine?

As for how to start learning a language, I think that's pretty personal and each person has their way to learn a language. Some learn through memorizing a bunch of words, others just learn basic phrases and try to get the grammar from that... So firstly you should really know how you learn a language or the most effective way to do it. If you think what's best for you is memorizing words, then look on Google "frequency lists Spanish" and just use any flashcard website to memorize. If you want to learn as much grammar as you can before even learning to speak, then go for looking for Spanish grammar on Google and see if you can download a good book.

In case you are more a grammar student rather than the "flashcard type", you can also try to do it in steps, like first learning how genders work, plural, then maybe adjectives and their position in a sentence, adverbs, conjugations (don't mess with subjunctive until you feel comfortable with indicative and imperative), conjunctions (first learn the coordinating ones and then the subordinating), and after all this you may have a good B1 level in my opinion.

If you wanna ask anything else just let me know!

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Highly-rated answerer
Deleted user
13 Sep 2021

@BraisGZ I think I should start know all the words which is useful and naturally. Words that you always need like if you ask something or evaluate something. Yeah! Thats it! I learn how to build the sentences first and then how to speak and say my own opinion in spanish.

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Deleted user
13 Sep 2021

¡Gracias Amigo! @BraisGZ

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BraisGZ
13 Sep 2021

  • Spanish (Spain)
  • English (US)

@Khaled1506 No hay de qué! I think that's a good way to start learning, buena suerte!

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