Chapter 7 of 16 · Explore the Spanish path
How sentences work · Chapter 7 of 16
Work out who is doing something
A verb is the word for what somebody does. Its last letters tell you who, so the word for I can vanish. Learn to read the ending, deny it, and ask a question with it.
≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- In a plain statement the order is English order: doer, verb, then the thing it happens to.
- The doer usually vanishes: -o on the verb is I, -s is you, no ending is he or she.
- No helper word for do: no
noh in front of the verb denies, the two question marks ask, and no… nada is the ordinary “nothing”. - Every question word carries a written accent.
- A small a
ah appears in front of a person on the receiving end of a verb.
I see the forest.
Veo el bosque.
BEH-oh ehl BOHS-keh
One word does two jobs. ve
The ending tells you who is doing it
A verb is the word for what somebody does: see, go, want. Its last letters tell you who, so the word for I can vanish.
| Spanish | Who is doing it | English |
|---|---|---|
| ve | the ending -o means I | I see |
| ve | the ending -s means you | you see |
| ve | no ending means he or she | he sees, she sees |
Not a table to memorise — a habit: when a sentence seems to have no subject, look at the end of the verb. The verb lookup has the full ending tables when you want them.
Do you see the sun? — I see nothing.
¿Ves el sol? — No veo nada.
behs ehl sohl — noh BEH-oh NAH-dah
No helper do anywhere. You ask with the verb itself, and no
Small words for the one it happens to
These stand in for somebody already named, the way English uses me or it.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| me | me, you |
| lo | him or it, her or it |
| nos | us, them |
One placement rule. In front of the verb that carries the person: Lo veo.
Words that open a question
Spot one of these and you know a question is coming, before you understand the rest of the sentence.
| English | Spanish | English | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| what | qué | when | cuándo |
| who | quién | why | por qué |
| where | dónde | how | cómo |
Each carries a written accent. por qué in two words is why; porque
Find the doer, deny it, ask about it
- No veo nada.
Two negative words, and they do not cancel.
Show answer +Hide answer −
No veo nada.noh BEH-oh NAH-dah “I see nothing” - Ella ve a Mina.
One of those words is invisible in English.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Ella ve a Mina.EH-yah beh ah MEE-nah “She sees Mina”. The a is there because Mina is a person — do not translate it, and do not be surprised by it. - Why is there no word for “I” in Veo el sol?
Show answer +Hide answer −
The -o has already said it. Adding yoyoh would be emphasis.