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10 Facts About the Spanish Language

Spanish Among the World's Most-Used Languages


By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

See More About: castilian history of spanish cognates etymology 10 facts Ads Kuala Lumpur Group DealsSign Up With Your Friends To Get Group Deals On Kuala Lumpur's Best!www.Groupon.my Study a language AbroadLearn a language where it is spoken Courses to suit all language levelswww.ef.com We Are Hiring TranslatorsWe are looking for online translators from MalaysiaRealTranslatorJobs.com

Spanish Language Ads Learn Spanish Spanish Help Spanish Jobs Speak Spanish Spanish Lessons Ads Want to learn French?Kick-start your French in no time with our fun, free websitewww.tv5.org/premiereclasse Learn Spanish in MadridSpanish courses. Small groups. Cervantes accredited centre.www.madridplus.es Here are 10 facts about the Spanish language you might be interested to know: 1. With 329 million native speakers, Spanish ranks as the world's No. 2 language in terms of how many people speak it as their first language. It is slightly ahead of English (328 million) but far behind Chinese (1.2 billion). (Source: Ethnologue) 2. Spanish has at least 3 million native speakers each in 44 countries, making it the fourth mostly geographically widely spoken language behind English (112 countries), French (60) and Arabic (57). (Source: Ethnologue) 3. Spanish is part of the Indo-European family of languages, which are spoken by more than a third of the world's population. Other Indo-European languages include English, French, German, the Scandinavian languages, the Slavic languages and many of the languages of India. Spanish can be classified further as a Romance language, a group that includes French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan and Romanian. 4. Although there is no clear boundary defining when the Latin of what is now the north-central area of Spain became Spanish, it is safe to say that the language of the Castile region became a distinct language in part because of efforts by King Alfonso in the 13th century to standardize the language for official use. By the time Columbus came to the Western Hemisphere in 1492, Spanish had reached the point where the language as spoken and written would be easily understandable today. 5. To the people who speak it, Spanish is sometimes called espaol and sometimes castellano (the Spanish equivalent of "Castilian"). The labels used vary from region to region and sometimes according to political viewpoint. (See also the article on Spanish vs. Castilian.) 6. Spanish is one of the world's most phonetic languages. If you know how a word is spelled, you can almost always know how it is pronounced (although the reverse isn't true). The main exception is recent words of foreign origin, which usually retain their original spelling. 7. The Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Espaola), created in the 18th century, is widely considered the arbiter of what is considered standard Spanish. It produces authoritative dictionaries and grammar guides. Although its decisions do not have the force of law, they are widely followed in both Spain and Latin America. Among the language reforms promoted by the Academy have been the use of the inverted question mark and exclamation point ( and ). Although they have been used by people who

speak some of the non-Spanish languages of Spain, they are otherwise unique to the Spanish language. Similarly unique to Spanish and a few local languages that have copied it is the , which became standardized around the 14th century. 8. Although Spanish originated on the Iberian Peninsula as a descendant of Latin, today it is has far more speakers in Latin America, having been brought to the New World by Spanish colonialization. Although there are minor differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation between the Spanish of Spain and the Spanish of Latin America, the differences are not so great as to prevent easy communication. 9. After Latin, the language that has had the biggest influence on Spanish is Arabic. Today, the foreign language exerting the most influence is English, and Spanish has adopted hundreds of English words related to technology and culture. 10. Spanish and English share much of their vocabulary through cognates, as both languages derive many of their words from Latin and Arabic. The biggest differences in the grammar of the two languages include Spanish's use ofgender, a more extensive verb conjugation and the widespread use of subjunctive verb moods.

10 Facts About Spanish Nouns


Useful Information for Spanish Students
By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

See More About: written spanish spanish nouns spanish grammar Ads Spanish TradeAll Spanish trade data on our comprehensive official sitewww.spainbusiness.com Subconscious Mind PowerProgram your subconscious mind to create what you want, simple steps7steps2success.net Learn English VocabularyThe Secrets To Speaking English Faster. Free Email Course.LearnRealEnglish.com

Spanish Language Ads Learn Spanish Spanish Help Learning Spanish Verbs Beginners Spanish Spanish Lessons Ads Study English in the UKAttend the Education UK Exhibition to explore options. Visit site now.my.edukexhibitions.org/ Freelance Writing JobMake a full time income writing Up to $20/page. Start Earning Now!www.academia-research.com Here are 10 facts about Spanish nouns that will come in handy as you learn Spanish: 1. Spanish nouns have gender, and nearly all are either masculine or feminine. Although male creatures are usually (not always) represented by masculine nouns and female creatures by feminine nouns, in most cases the gender of a noun appears arbitrary. 2. The only neuter (neither masculine nor feminine) nouns are abstract nouns, which are formed by preceding a descriptive adjective with the definite article lo. For example, you could say lo importante to form a neuter noun (or an adjective functioning as a noun) meaning "the important thing." 3. Adjectives referring to nouns must agree with the noun in number and gender. For example, in the sentence "Las casas son nuevas" ("The houses are new"), casas is plural and feminine, and so are las and nuevas. 4. Nouns that end in o are usually masculine, and those ending in a are usually feminine. But there are exceptions to this gender rule. 5. Nouns are usually made plural by adding an sor es. The rules followed are very similar to those of English. 6. Spanish nouns are capitalized less often in Spanish than in English. Examples of nouns that aren't capitalized are days of the week, months of the year, names of nationalities, names of languages and names of religions.

7. Spanish does not freely use nouns as adjectives as can be done in English. In English, the use of attributive nouns placing a noun before another noun to act like an adjective is extremely common. For example, in English I could refer to a "paper cup," where "paper" acts like an adjective describing the type of cup. In Spanish, however, it is usually necessary to tie the two nouns together in a different way. One common way is through the use of the preposition de. A paper cup, for example, is una taza de papel (literally, "a cup of paper"). 8. Suffixes can be used to change the meanings of nouns. Most commonly, diminutive suffixes can be used to indicate that something is small or dear, and augmentative suffixescan be used to indicate that something is large or disliked. 9. Other suffixes or endings are used to show how a noun is used. For example, the -eraending usually refers to a place where something is made or sold, and an -ista ending often indicates an occupation. 10. A collective noun is a singular noun that refers to a group of things or beings. Unlike in English, where collective nouns usually take a singular verb, collective nouns in Spanish can be used with either singular or plural verbs, depending on the structure of the sentence.

10 Facts About Spanish Verbs


Useful Information for Spanish Students
By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

See More About: 10 facts spanish verbs spanish grammar Ads Spanish ServicesComplete Spanish business data on our comprehensive official sitewww.spainbusiness.com Learn Spanish in MadridSpanish courses. Small groups. Cervantes accredited centre.www.madridplus.es Tansa Systems ASServerbased text proofing. Names, punctuation, hyphenation.www.tansasystems.com

Spanish Language Ads Learn Spanish Spanish Lessons Learning Spanish Verbs Beginners Spanish Study Spanish Here are 10 facts about Spanish verbs that will come in handy to know as you learn Spanish: 1. The most basic form of the Spanish verb is the infinitive. Infinitives are usually seen as the equivalent of the "to" form of verbs in English, such as "to eat" and "to love." Spanish infinitives always end in -ar, -er or -ir, in that order of frequency. 2. Spanish infinitives can function as masculine nouns. For example, in "creer es la clave" (believing is the key), creer is acting like a noun. 3. Spanish verbs are extensively conjugated.Most often, the -ar, -er or -ir endings of verbs are replaced with another ending, although sometimes an ending is added to the complete verb. These endings can be used to indicate who is performing the action of the verb, when the action occurred and, to some extent, how the verb relates to other parts of the sentence. 4. Most verbs are conjugated regularly, which means that if you know the infinitive ending (such as -ar) you can predict how it will be conjugated, but the most-used verbs usually are conjugated irregularly. 5. Some verbs don't exist in all conjugated forms. These are known as defective verbs. The most common defective verbs are the weather verbs such as nevar (to snow) and llover (to rain), which are used only in the third person. 6. Spanish verbs very commonly are used without a subject. Because conjugation can indicate who is performing the action, an explicit subject often isn't necessary. For example, it is clear that "canto bien" means "I sing well," and it is not necessary to include yo, the word for "I." In other words, subject pronouns are frequently omitted. 7. Verbs can be classified as transitive or intransitive. The same is true in English. A transitive verb needs a noun or pronoun, known as an object, with it in order to express a complete thought; an intransitive verb does not. Some verbs are transitive and intransitive. 8. Spanish has two verbs that are almost always the equivalent of "to be" in English.They are ser and estar, and you can very seldom substitute one for the other.

9. The subjunctive verb mood is extremely common in Spanish even though it has mostly disappeared in English. 10. When new verbs are added to the language, they are frequently given an -earending. Examples of such verbs, all of them imported from English, include tweetear (to tweet), surfear (to surf) and even snowboardear.

10 Facts About Spanish Adverbs


A Quick Guide for Spanish Students
By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

See More About: spanish adverbs 10 facts spanish grammar Ads DELE exam preparation95% pass rate. Small groups. Cervantes accredited centerwww.madridplus.es Download Dictionary1 Click Definitions & Translations. 75 Languages. Free Download.www.Babylon.com Spanish TradeAll Spanish trade data on our comprehensive official sitewww.spainbusiness.com

Spanish Language Ads Learn Spanish Spanish Help Learning Spanish Verbs Beginners Spanish Spanish Lessons Ads Study English in the UKAttend the Education UK Exhibition to explore options. Visit site now.my.edukexhibitions.org/ English ListeningThe Secrets To Speaking English Faster. Free Email Course.LearnRealEnglish.com Here are 10 facts about Spanish adverbs that will come in handy to know as you learn Spanish: 1. An adverb is a part of speech that is used to modify the meaning of an adjective, verb, another adverb or an entire sentence. In other words, adverbs in Spanish have basically the same function as they do in English. 2. Most adverbs are formed by taking the singular feminine form of the adjective and adding the suffix -mente. Thus -mente is usually the equivalent of the "-ly" ending in English. 3. Many of the most common adverbs are short words that don't end in -mente. Among them areaqu (here), bien (well), mal (poorly), no (not),nunca (never) and siempre (always). 4. Regarding placement of adverbs, adverbs that affect the meaning of a verb usually go after the verb, while adverbs that affect the meaning of an adjective or another adverb are usually placed in front of the word they refer to. 5. It is extremely common in Spanish to use anadverbial phrase, usually a phrase of two or three words, where an adverb might be used in English. In fact, in many cases Spanish speakers often prefer adverbial phrases even where a corresponding adverb exists. For example, while the adverb nuevamente, meaning "newly" or "anew," is readily understood, native speakers are much more likely to say de nuevo or otra vez to mean much the same thing. 6. In a series of adverbs that end in -mente, the -mente ending is used on only the final adverb. An example would be in the sentence "Puede compartir archivos rpida y fcilmente" (You can share files quickly and easily), where the -mente is "shared" with rpida and fcil. 7. Some nouns act as adverbs even though you might not think of them that way. A common example is the days of the week or the months. In the sentence "Nos vamos el lunes a una cabaa en el campo" (We're going away Monday to a cabin in the country), el lunes is functioning as an adverb of time.

8. Occasionally, singular masculine adjectives can function as adverbs, especially in informal speech. Sentences such as "canta muy lindo" (he/she sings beautifully) and "estudia fuerte" (he studies hard) can be heard in some areas but sound wrong or overly informal in other areas. Such usage is best avoided except in imitation of native speakers in your locality. 9. Adverbs of doubt or probability that affect the meaning of a verb often require the verb to be in the subjunctive mood. Example: Hay muchas cosas que probablemente no sepas sobre mi pas. (There are many things you probably don't know about my country.) 10. When no or another adverb of negation comes before a verb, a negative form can still be used afterward, forming a double negative. Thus a sentence such as "No tengo nada" (word for word, "I don't have nothing") is grammatically correct Spanish.

10 Facts About Spanish Adjectives


A Quick Grammar Guide to What You Need To Know
By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

See More About: 10 facts spanish adjectives spanish grammar Ads Spanish TradeAll Spanish trade data on our comprehensive official sitewww.spainbusiness.com Learn Spanish - downloadmp3-file for use in pc, smartphone, mobile or mp3-playerswww.LanguageStore.net English Conversation FastThe Secrets To Speaking English Faster. Free Email Course.LearnRealEnglish.com

Spanish Language Ads Learn Spanish Spanish Help Learning Spanish Verbs Beginners Spanish Spanish Lessons Ads 1-on-1 Chinese TutoringLearning 1-on-1 with online tutor $7.99/session, Easier & Fasterwww.eTuition.org The Perfect Golf Swing?"Rebel" PGA Instructor Claims He Can Add 30+ Yards to Anyone's SwingPerfectConnectionGolfSwing.com Here are 10 facts about Spanish adjectives that will be useful to know as you pursue your language studies: 1. An adjective is a part of speech that is used to modify, describe, limit, qualify or otherwise affect the meaning of a noun, pronoun or a phrase functioning as a noun. The words we most often think of adjectives are descriptive words words such as verde(green), feliz (happy), fuerte (strong) and impaciente (impatient). 2. Adjectives in Spanish have gender, and a masculine adjective must be used with a masculine noun, a feminine adjective with a feminine noun following the principle of noun-adjective agreement. Some adjectives change in form with gender, while others don't. Generally, a masculine adjective that ends in -o or -os (in the plural) can become feminine by changing the ending to -a or as. But singular nouns that don't end in -o generally don't change form to become feminine. 3. Adjectives in Spanish also have number, meaning they can be singular or plural. Again, following the principle of nounadjective agreement, a singular adjective is used with a singular noun, a plural adjective with a plural noun. Singular adjectives become plural by adding an -s or -es suffix. 4. A very few adjectives are invariable, meaning they don't change form among plural and singular, masculine and feminine. Traditionally, the most common invariable adjectives are macho(male) and hembra, as can be seen in the sentence "Los animales

macho en general proporcionan muchos menos atenciones parentales que las hembras" ("Male animals in general provide much less parental attention than the females do"), although you'll also see these words pluralized sometimes as well. Rarely, and then most often in journalese or phrases that have been imported from English, a noun can function as an invariable adjective, as web in the phrase sitios web (website). Such cases of nouns as adjectives are the exception rather than the rule, and Spanish students should not freely use nouns as adjectives as can be done in English. 5. The default location for descriptive adjectives is after the noun they refer to. When theadjective is placed before the noun, it typically gives an emotional or subjective quality to the adjective. For example, la mujer pobre is likely to refer to a woman who has little money, while la pobre mujer is likely to suggest that the speaker feels sorry for the woman, even though both could be translated as "the poor woman." 6. Most descriptive adjectives can be used as nouns, often by preceding them with adefinite article. For example, los felices could mean "the happy people," and los verdes could mean "the green ones." 7. The meaning of some adjectives can be modified by using diminutive or augmentativesuffixes. For example, while un coche viejo is simply an old car, un coche viejecito might refer to a quaint car or an older car that someone likes. 8. In sentences of the type "noun is adjective," the adjective might be translated differently depending on whether the verb ser or estar is used. For example, "es seguro" often means "it is safe," while "est seguro" usually means "he or she is certain." 9. Spanish doesn't use suffixes such as "-er" or "-est" to indicate superlatives. Instead, the adverbms is used. Thus, "the bluest lake" or "the bluer lake" is "el lago ms azul." 10. A few adjectives are shortened when they appear before nouns. One of the most common isgrande, which is shortened to gran, as in un gran ejrcito for "a great army."

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