Students’ Basic Grammar of Spanish - European literature

1 Rosario Alonso RayaAlejandro Casta eda CastroPablo Mart nez GilaLourdes Miquel L pezJenaro Ortega OlivaresJos Pl cido Ruiz CampilloStudents BasicGrammar of Spanish REVISED 330/08/13 10:24 Acknowledgements People who search for Grammar books are looking for a map to an unknown land. They are pirates, astronauts, crazy adventurers bent on discovering an entire universe. There is nothing more daring nor more generous than learning a lan-guage. It is an endless undertaking, overwhelming and worthy of heroes. Like Adam in the Garden of Eden, you start to name the world afresh.

2 If you have got this far and are hol-ding this Grammar book in your hands, you are already one of us. Thank you. Thanks also to our students of the Centro de Lenguas Modernas of the University of Granada, of the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas-2 in Barcelona and of the Instituto Cervantes in Istanbul, all expedition members on the Safari of learning, for it is really they who have shown us where the sinking sands, the oases, the caves and volcanoes, the wild watercourses and the cool pools of crystal-clear waters are. For it is they who have guided and corrected the lines on this map with the lucid testimony of their grammatical adventu-res.

3 For it is not they who have learned from this Grammar book : it is this Grammar book that has learned from them. Thank you to the inventive genius of David Revilla our artist; thank you for the support, patience and help of Agust n Garmendia and the Difusi n production team, thank you for the sensitivity, involvement, understanding and enthusiasm of Jordi Sadurn . And, above all, we thank our long-suffering families and our temporarily abandoned friends for having put up with our long absences in imaginary countries. From our long stays in the region of the pronouns, in the jungle of the subjunctive, and on the planet of qu , qui n, cu l or in the castle of ser and estar, we returned worse off than we had set out, more aware of the bottomless chasms and on the verge of being seduced by the dark side of the force.

4 Adoraci n, Alicia, ngela, Antonio, Arnau, Carlota, Carmen, Carmen, Francisca, Gloria, H ctor, Inma, Juani, Jes s, Luc a, Luc a, Luc a, Luis, Mari, Mopa, Pl cido, Puchi, Rosario, Samuel, Teo, Xavier, your contributions are priceless. The map makersFirst edition: august 2009 The authors and Difusi n. Centro de investigaciones y publicaciones de idiomas, c/Trafalgar, 10, entlo. 1 08010 Barcelona Tel. (+34) 93 268 03 00 / Fax (+34) 93 310 33 40 : Rosario Alonso Raya Alejandro Casta eda Castro Pablo Mart nez Gila Lourdes Miquel L pez Jenaro Ortega Olivares Jos Pl cido Ruiz CampilloRosario Alonso, Alejandro Casta eda, Lourdes Miquel and Jenaro Ortega s involvement in this edition is linked to the development of project number FFI2009-13107, financed by the Ministry of Science and and design: Jordi Sadurn VenturaEditing: Paco Riera Arteaga, Jordi Sadurn i VenturaCover design: Oscar Garc a OrtegaEducational consultant.

5 Agust n GarmendiaDocumentation: Olga MiasEnglish edition: Bob Flory, Brian BrennanIllustrations: David RevillaPhotographs: P g. 36, 102, 106, 116, 140,146, 153, 217, 234, 237: autores y familiares. P g. 44: 1: Rasmus Evensen, Didvision, 2: John Pring 3: Franco Giovanella 4: San San P g. 110: Jo o Estev o A. de Freitas P g. 193: Real Ib rico, Consorcio para la Promoci n del Jam n Ib rico Espa ol. Printed by Tallers Gr fics Soler ISBN: 978-84-8443-437-5 Legal deposit: B-25797-2013 Any form of reproduction, distribution, public communication or transfor-mation of this work is strictly prohibited without the consent of the inte-llectual property owners.

6 Any violation of the above-mentioned rights could constitute a criminal offence against the intellectual property (Art. 270 and following of the Penal Code). 424/10/13 11:14 Index 10 Introduction 11 How the SBGS is organisedsection 1 Nouns and Adjectives 14 1. Noun. The gender of things 14 a General rule: el edificio, la 14 b Special rules: el problema, la 17 2. Noun. The gender of people and animals 17 a General rule: doctor, 18 b Special rules for the gender of people: marido, 19 c Special rules for the gender of animals: toro, 20 3.

7 Noun. Number 20 a Forming the plural: mapa, mapas; pa s, pa 21 b Special cases: la gente, las 23 4. Adjective 23 a Gender: guapo, guapa; 24 b Number: guapos, guapas; 25 c Concordance: Unos amigos griegos. 26 d Adjective after noun: Vino tinto o vino blanco? 26 e Adjective before noun: Mi apartamento peque o / Mi peque o apartamento 28 f Un gran problema / Un problema grandesection 2 Determiners 30 5. Articles: Un, el, 30 a Forms 31 b Uses: Toma una carta / Toma la carta 33 c Un o el o ?: Tenemos tel fono. Suena un tel fono. He roto el tel fono.

8 34 d Generalising: A los espa oles les gusta el caf .. 36 e Uno alto, el de Soria, el que te 37 6. Demonstratives: este, ese, esto, eso, 37 a Este libro; ese libro; aquel libro. 39 b Uses connected with time: Este mes. Ese d a. Aquel fin de semana. 39 c Este, ese, 40 d Neutral demonstratives: D nde pongo esto? No me digas eso. Qu es aquello? 43 7. Possessives: mi, tu, m o, tuyo, 43 a Possessives before the noun: mi amigo, mi 45 b Possessives after the noun: un amigo m o, una amiga m 46 c Un amigo m o / Mi amigo 47 d Without noun: Tu casa es bonita pero la m a es m s grande.

9 48 e De qui n es? Es nuestro: m o, tuyo y de Pepe. 49 f Special cases:: Tengo el pelo mojado. 50 8. Indefinite articles: todos, algunos, alguien, nada, 50 a Alg n estudiante, ninguna casa, todos los d 52 b Alguien, nadie; algo, nada; todo. 53 c Double negative: No hay ninguno; no hay nadie; no hay nada. 54 d Otro, otra, otros, otras. 56 9. Cardinal numbers: uno, dos, 56 a From 0 to 15 57 b From 16 to 99 58 c From 100 to 999 59 d From to 59 e Mill n, 60 f How to say numbers in 530/08/13 10:24 61 10. Ordinal numbers: primero, segundo, 61 a Meaning and forms 62 b How they work 62 c Uses 63 d Ordinals from 10th upwards 64 11.

10 Quantifiers: demasiado, mucho, 64 a With nouns: mucho chocolate / muchas galletas 65 b Poco / un poco de + uncountable nouns: Hay un poco de comida pero hay poca bebida. 66 c With adjectives, adverbs and verbs: Corre mucho; es muy r pido; est muy 3 Personal pronouns 68 12. Personal pronouns. Introduction. 68 a Subject, direct object and indirect object 70 b Reflexive constructions: Ella se pinta. 70 c Constructions that express opinions: A Jaime le gustan las motos. 71 13. Subject pronouns: yo, t , 71 a Forms: yo, t , 72 b With and without the pronoun: C mo te llamas?