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Foundations & BasicsbeginnerCEFR A1

Basic Sentence Structure: Building Your First Spanish Sentences

📋Overview🏗️Structure💡Examples⚠️Common Mistakes🧠Quiz📚Useful Resources

What You'll Learn

  • A1 Essential: Build simple Spanish sentences using Subject-Verb-Object pattern
  • Identify subjects, verbs, and objects in basic Spanish sentences
  • Create sentences about daily activities using common verbs
  • Understand that Spanish word order is similar to English
  • Recognize when Spanish drops subject pronouns (yo, tú)
  • Practice with family, food, and school vocabulary

Overview / Usage

Spanish sentences follow the same Subject-Verb-Object pattern as English - making them easy to learn! Master this foundation and you'll be building sentences from day one.

🏗️ The SVO Pattern

Subject: Who or what does the action?María(Maria)
Verb: What action happens?come(eats)
Object: What receives the action?manzanas(apples)

💡 A1 Tip: Subject Pronouns Are Optional!

With pronoun:Yo hablo español
(I speak Spanish)
Without pronoun:Hablo español
(I speak Spanish) - More common! ✅

Structure & Formation

🏗️ Building Spanish Sentences

Spanish sentences follow the same basic pattern as English, making them easy to learn!

👤

Subject (Sujeto)

El perro

Who or what does the action

⚡

Verb (Verbo)

come

The action or state

🎯

Object (Objeto)

carne

What receives the action

Complete Sentence

El perro come carne

The dog eats meat

▶🎨 Advanced Note: Spanish Word Order Flexibility(Optional - Click to expand)

For A2+ learners: Unlike English, Spanish allows more flexible word order for emphasis and style!

Dropping the Subject Pronoun

💡 Key insight: Spanish verb endings show WHO is doing the action, so subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc.) are often optional!

Yocomopizza(I eat pizza)
The "-o" ending in "como" tells us it's "I" (yo)
Túestudiasmucho(You study a lot)
The "-as" ending in "estudias" tells us it's "you" (tú)
✨ When do we know the subject?
  • Verb endings: Each person has a unique ending
  • Context: Previous conversation makes it clear
  • Logic: Only one person makes sense in the situation
📄 Download Study Guide

Get a comprehensive PDF study guide with all sentence structure rules, examples, and practice exercises.

Examples

📚 Real-Life Examples

Daily Activities

María bebe café
(Maria drinks coffee)
Los niños juegan fútbol
(The children play soccer)
Nosotros vemos televisión
(We watch television)

Without Subject Pronouns

Hablo inglés
(I speak English)
The "-o" ending shows it's "I"
Comes demasiado
(You eat too much)
The "-es" ending shows it's "you"
Escriben cartas
(They write letters)
The "-en" ending shows it's "they"

Gotchas / Common Mistakes

⚠️ Common Mistakes

❌ Don't copy English

❌ Wrong: Yo siempre como

✅ Right: Siempre como(I always eat)

Drop unnecessary pronouns!

❌ Wrong verb endings

❌ Wrong: Él comer pizza

✅ Right: Él come pizza(He eats pizza)

Verbs must agree with subjects!

❌ Missing articles

❌ Wrong: Perro come carne

✅ Right: El perro come carne(The dog eats meat)

Don't forget articles!

Quick Test / Mini Quiz

📝 Interactive Sentence Structure Quiz

1

🧩 Word order puzzle! What's the correct order for 'María drinks coffee'?

2

🎯 Subject identification! In 'El perro come carne' (The dog eats meat), what's the subject?

3

📖 Verb spotting! In 'Los niños juegan fútbol' (The children play soccer), which word is the verb?

4

📺 Object hunting! In 'Nosotros vemos televisión' (We watch television), what's the object?

5

☕ Build this sentence: 'I drink coffee' in Spanish

6

✍️ Writing time! How do you say 'They write letters'?

7

🗣️ Speaking practice! Complete: 'Yo _____ inglés'

8

🍕 Food sentence! Which sentence correctly says 'We eat pizza'?

Useful Resources