Spanish Grammar Dictionary
A comprehensive dictionary of grammatical terms you'll encounter while learning Spanish. Click linked terms to explore dedicated lesson pages.
Showing 69 of 69 terms
| Term | Category | Definition | Examples |
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| Accent Mark | Pronunciation | A mark (´) placed over vowels to show stress or distinguish between similar words. Also called "tilde" or "acento ortográfico". Can also break diphthongs. |
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| Active Voice | Grammar Concepts | The default verb construction where the subject performs the action (contrast with passive voice where subject receives the action). |
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| Adjective | Parts of Speech | A word that describes or modifies a noun. Must agree in gender and number. Usually comes after the noun (casa grande) but some come before (gran casa). |
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| Adverb | Parts of Speech | A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Many end in -mente (like -ly in English), but not all. |
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| Agreement | Grammar Concepts | The grammatical rule that adjectives, determiners, pronouns, and participles must match the gender and number of the nouns they relate to. |
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| Article | Parts of Speech | Small words that come before nouns. Spanish has definite (el/la/los/las), indefinite (un/una/unos/unas), and neuter lo (before adjectives). |
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| Augmentative | Word Formation | A suffix added to make something bigger or more intense. Usually -ón/-azo in Spanish. |
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| Auxiliary Verb | Verb Forms | A helping verb used with another verb to form tenses, moods, or voices. In Spanish, mainly "haber", "estar", and "ser" (for passive). |
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| Clause | Grammar Concepts | A group of words containing a subject and a verb. Can be independent (complete sentence) or dependent (needs another clause). |
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| Cognate | Word Formation | Words that look similar and mean the same in Spanish and English due to shared origins. |
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| Comparative | Grammar Concepts | Forms used to compare two things. Can show more, less, or equal degrees. |
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| Conditional | Tenses | A verb form expressing what would happen under certain conditions, similar to "would" in English. |
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| Conditional Perfect | Tenses | A compound tense expressing what would have happened under different circumstances. |
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| Conjugation | Verb Forms | The process of changing a verb form to match the subject (who is doing the action), tense (when it happens), and mood (attitude toward the action). |
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| Conjunction | Parts of Speech | A word that connects words, phrases, or clauses together. |
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| Definite Article | Grammar Concepts | The Spanish equivalent of "the" in English. Must agree in gender and number with the noun. Also includes the neuter "lo" for abstract concepts. |
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| Demonstrative Adjective | Grammar Concepts | Words that point out specific nouns (this, that, these, those). Must agree in gender and number. |
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| Demonstrative Pronoun | Grammar Concepts | Words that replace nouns and point to specific things. Stand alone without a noun. |
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| Diminutive | Word Formation | A suffix added to make something smaller, cuter, or show affection. Usually -ito/-ita in Spanish. |
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| Diphthong | Pronunciation | Two vowels pronounced together in one syllable. Usually a weak vowel (i,u) + strong vowel (a,e,o), or two weak vowels together. |
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| Direct Object | Grammar Concepts | The person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb. Answers "what?" or "whom?" |
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| False Friend | Word Formation | Words that look similar in Spanish and English but have different meanings. Also called "false cognates". |
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| Future Perfect | Tenses | A compound tense expressing actions that will be completed before a future point. |
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| Future Tense | Tenses | A verb tense expressing actions that will happen, formed by adding endings to the infinitive. |
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| Gender | Grammar Concepts | In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. This affects articles, adjectives, and sometimes verb forms. |
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| Gerund | Verb Forms | The -ing form of a verb in English, or -ando/-iendo form in Spanish. Used with estar for progressive tenses. |
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| Hiatus | Pronunciation | Two adjacent vowels that are pronounced in separate syllables (unlike a diphthong where they form one syllable). Occurs with two strong vowels (a,e,o) together or when weak vowels have accent marks. |
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| Imperative | Moods | The verb mood used for commands, requests, or instructions. |
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| Imperfect | Tenses | A past tense used for ongoing, habitual, or descriptive actions in the past. |
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| Imperfect Subjunctive | Tenses | A mood expressing hypothetical situations, wishes, or polite requests in the past. |
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| Indefinite Article | Grammar Concepts | The Spanish equivalent of "a/an" in singular or "some" in plural. Must agree in gender and number. Note: unos/unas can mean "some" or "approximately." |
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| Indicative | Moods | The most common verb mood, used to state facts, ask questions, or express opinions as certainties. |
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| Indirect Object | Grammar Concepts | The person or thing that indirectly benefits from the action. Answers "to whom?" or "for whom?" |
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| Infinitive | Verb Forms | The basic, unconjugated form of a verb, equivalent to "to + verb" in English. Spanish infinitives end in -ar, -er, or -ir. |
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| Interjection | Parts of Speech | A word or phrase expressing emotion or reaction, often standing alone with exclamation marks. |
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| Interrogative | Grammar Concepts | Words used to ask questions. Always have accent marks in Spanish when used in questions. |
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| Irregular | Verb Forms | Words that don't follow standard patterns for conjugation or formation. |
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| Mood | Moods | The form of a verb that shows the speaker's attitude (fact, command, wish, possibility). Spanish has indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods. |
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| Noun | Parts of Speech | A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. In Spanish, all nouns have gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural). |
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| Number | Grammar Concepts | Refers to whether a word is singular (one) or plural (more than one). In Spanish, both nouns and adjectives change form to show number. |
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| Object | Grammar Concepts | The person or thing that receives the action of the verb. Can be direct (receives action directly) or indirect (receives the benefit of action). See also Direct Object and Indirect Object. |
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| Participle | Verb Forms | A verb form used to create compound tenses or as an adjective. Past participles end in -ado/-ido in Spanish. |
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| Passive Voice | Grammar Concepts | A verb construction where the subject receives the action rather than performing it. |
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| Past Participle | Verb Forms | The -ed/-en form in English, or -ado/-ido form in Spanish. Used with "haber" to form perfect tenses, or as adjectives. |
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| Past Perfect (Pluperfect) | Tenses | A compound tense expressing actions completed before another past action. |
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| Personal A | Grammar Concepts | The preposition "a" used before direct objects that are people or personified things. Has no English translation and is used with both names and pronouns. |
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| Pluperfect Subjunctive | Tenses | A subjunctive mood expressing hypothetical completed actions in the past. |
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| Possessive Adjective | Grammar Concepts | Words that show ownership and come before nouns. Must agree in number with the noun they modify. |
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| Possessive Pronoun | Grammar Concepts | Words that replace nouns and show ownership. Stand alone without a noun. |
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| Prefix | Word Formation | Letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning. |
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| Preposition | Parts of Speech | A word that shows the relationship between a noun/pronoun and other words in a sentence (location, time, direction). |
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| Present Perfect | Tenses | A compound tense expressing actions completed recently or with relevance to the present. |
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| Present Perfect Subjunctive | Tenses | A subjunctive mood expressing completed actions with doubt or emotion. |
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| Present Subjunctive | Tenses | A mood expressing doubt, emotion, desire, or hypothetical situations in the present. |
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| Present Tense | Tenses | A verb tense expressing current actions, habits, or general truths. |
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| Preterite | Tenses | A past tense used for completed actions at specific times in the past. |
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| Pronoun | Parts of Speech | A word that replaces a noun to avoid repetition. Spanish has subject pronouns (yo, tú, él), object pronouns (me, te, lo), and more. |
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| Reflexive | Verb Forms | Verbs where the subject performs the action on itself. Always require reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nos, os, se) that must match the subject. |
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| Regular | Verb Forms | Words that follow standard, predictable patterns for conjugation or formation. |
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| Relative Pronoun | Grammar Concepts | Words that connect clauses and refer back to a noun mentioned earlier. "Que" is the most common. |
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| Stem-Changing Verb | Verb Forms | Verbs that change their stem vowel when conjugated (e→ie, o→ue, e→i). Also called "boot verbs". |
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| Stress | Pronunciation | The emphasis placed on a syllable when pronouncing a word. In Spanish, follows specific rules. |
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| Subject | Grammar Concepts | The person or thing performing the action of the verb in a sentence. |
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| Subjunctive | Moods | A verb mood expressing doubt, emotion, desire, or hypothetical situations. Very common in Spanish, rare in English. |
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| Suffix | Word Formation | Letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or grammatical function. |
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| Superlative | Grammar Concepts | Forms used to express the highest or lowest degree of a quality. |
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| Syllable | Pronunciation | A unit of pronunciation containing a vowel sound. Spanish syllables follow specific patterns. |
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| Tense | Tenses | The form of a verb that shows when an action takes place (past, present, or future). |
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| Verb | Parts of Speech | A word that expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being. Spanish verbs change form based on who is doing the action and when. |
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