Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

GlossaryxxiIré mañana o pasado.I’ll go tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.Habla español pero no muy bien.He/she speaks Spanish but not very well.Demonstratives (see 9)Demonstratives indicate proximity or remoteness, e.g. este ‘this’, aquel ‘that’.Diphthong (see 1.2)A diphthong is a group of two vowels in the same syllable.Direct object see ObjectGender (see 2)Spanish has two genders, masculine or feminine. For example la oficina ‘the office’ isfeminine, while el coche ‘the car’ is masculine. Adjectives, articles,demonstratives, possessives and pronouns must agree in gender when they relateto one another.Gerund (see 17.12)Gerunds are forms like estudiando ‘studying’, haciendo ‘doing’.Hiatus (see 1.5.2)Where two vowels together belong to different syllables, they are said to be in hiatus.Imperative see MoodIndicative see MoodIndirect object see ObjectInfinitive (see 17.11)This is the base form of the Spanish verb, as it normally appears in a dictionary, forexample, cantar ‘to sing’, beber ‘to drink’.IntransitiveAn intransitive verb is one which cannot take a direct object, e.g. salir ‘to go out’,cenar ‘to dine’.MoodIn Spanish it is usual to refer to the indicative (see 17.1–17.10), the subjunctive (see 18)and the imperative (see 17.13) as different moods of the verb:José vive en Barcelona.José lives in Barcelona. (indicative)Ojalá vuelva pronto.I hope he/she comes back soon. (subjunctive)Abre la ventana, por favor.Open the window please. (imperative)