Download Sentence Structure and "Ser"

Sentence Structure
in Spanish
SUBJECTS and VERBS
• Every sentence has:
• SUBJECT (doer of the
action)
• VERB (the action)
• Examples:
• I sing.
• Maria dances.
• The students learn.
EXTRAS
• Some sentences have other parts of speech, such as:
•
•
•
•
•
Direct objects: I sang a song.
Indirect objects: I sang my mom a song.
Prepositional phrases: I sang my mom a song at the park.
Adjectives: I sang my mom a beautiful song at the park.
Adverbs: I happily sang my mom a beautiful song at the park.
EXTRAS (continued)
• All these things are EXTRAS (they are not MANDATORY
in a sentence).
• Subjects and verbs are MANDATORY in order for it to be
a sentence.
• I sang.  mandatory
• I happily sang my mom a beautiful song at the park. extras
IN SPANISH
• Spanish ALSO requires that all sentences have a SUBJECT
and a VERB.
• However, word order in Spanish isn’t always the same!
Nouns & Adjectives: English
• English = Adjectives come BEFORE nouns
•
•
•
•
1) ADJECTIVE
2) NOUN
my Spanish teacher
the brown shaggy dog
a giant red backpack
Nouns & Adjectives: Spanish
• Spanish = Adjectives come AFTER nouns
•
•
•
•
1) NOUN
2) ADJECTIVE
la camisa verde
mi hermana major
el gato travieso
SUBJECT PRONOUNS (REVIEW)
YO
NOSOTROS
TÚ
VOSOTROS
ÉL
ELLA
ELLOS
ELLAS
USTED
USTEDES
The verb “to be”
• In English, there are 3 different forms of the verb “to be” (in present tense):
I
AM
WE
ARE
YOU
ARE
YOU ALL
ARE
THEY
ARE
HE
SHE
IS
El verbo “ser”
• In Spanish, there are 6 different forms of the verb “ser” (in present tense):
YO
SOY
NOSOTROS
SOMOS
TÚ
ERES
VOSOTROS
SOIS
ELLOS
ELLAS
USTEDES
SON
ÉL
ELLA
USTED
ES
Subject Pronouns: English
• In English, we NEED to use a subject in order for the reader/listener to
understand WHO is doing the action.
• The form “are” is used with you, we, you all, and they… so it can get
confusing if we don’t say which one we mean:
• “Are really nice.” WHO?? We? They? You??
• We actually have to say/write “THEY are really nice.” or “WE are
really nice.” or “YOU are really nice.”
Subject Pronouns: Spanish
• In Spanish, all the different subject pronouns have their OWN form of the
verb, so we don’t NEED to use them all the time.
• If I say “soy” you already know I’m using the “yo” form because it’s the only
subject pronoun that uses “soy”!
• Yo soy alta…. Soy alta...  BOTH are correct!
• If I say “somos” you already know I’m using the “nosotros” form because it’s
the only subject pronoun that uses “somos”!
• Nosotros somos jovenes… Somos jovenes...  BOTH are correct!
Practice
• Which subject pronoun is IMPLIED in each sentence?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Eres simpática. _____
No soy bajo. _____
Somos muy creativos. _____
¿De dónde eres? _____
Ésta es mi amiga María. Es muy cómica. _____