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Spanish Grammar: The Spanish Sentence
A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought. It has two parts: the subject (noun or pronoun) and its modifiers, and the predicate (verb) and its modifiers.
The subject is that part about which something is said, and the predicate tells that which is said about the subject. The subject is broken up into the subject word and its modifiers, and the predicate is broken up into the predicate word and its modifiers.
The black horse / runs a beautiful race. "The black horse" is the complete subject, "horse" being the subject word modified by the adjectives "the" and "black." "Runs a beautiful race" is the complete predicate, "runs" being the predicate word modified by the phrase "a beautiful race."
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TYPES OF SENTENCES
In both English and Spanish, sentences are classified, according to use, as declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.
A DECLARATIVE SENTENCE makes a statement.
John is a good student.
An INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE asks a question.
Has the mailman arrived yet?
An IMPERATIVE SENTENCE states a request or command.
Come back in about an hour.
An EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE expresses strong feeling or emotion.
How pretty she is!
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WORD ORDER
Generally, the word order of Spanish sentences is the same as that of English sentences, i.e., subject, verb, object.
Subject (noun or pronoun) + verb + predicate noun.
Ella es alemana.
She is German.
However, in a question, Spanish usually places the subject after the verb. The auxiliary verb do is not translated from English into Spanish.
¿Habla Ud. español?
Do you speak Spanish? (literally: Speak you Spanish?)
¿Trabaja Ud. hoy?
Do you work today? (literally: Work you today?)
¿Come Ud. aquí?
Do you eat here? (literally: Eat you here?)
The same is true of the auxiliary (helping) verb to be except when used to form the passive voice or the progressive tenses.
¿Va Ud. al pueblo?
Are you going to town? (literally: Go you to town?)
¿Trabaja él aquí?
Is he working here? (literally: Works he here?)
If an interrogative word is used in the question, generally the interrogative word is placed in the same position as in the English sentence.
¿Por qué habla Ud. español?
Why do you speak Spanish?
¿Cuándo va Ud. al pueblo?
When are you going to town?
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NEGATIVE SENTENCES
Negative sentences in Spanish are formed by placing the negative word immediately before the verb.
The expression ¿no es verdad? (frequently shortened to ¿verdad? or merely to ¿no?) is used inquiringly with an expectation of assent, where in English we repeat the auxiliary verb; thus:
Ustedes cruzan todos los días, ¿no es verdad?
You cross every day, don't you?
Ellos estudian en la Academia, ¿no?
They are studying at the Academy, aren't they?
No is associated with other negative words which come after it, and do not as in English, counteract the negation, but rather strengthen it:
No compro ninguna casa.
I am not buying any house.
No como nada.
I do not eat anything.
If any negative word is used with no it must be placed after the verb, otherwise it must take the place of no, immediately before the verb:
Él no come nunca aquí.
He never eats here.
Él nunca come aquí.
He never eats here.
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Double Negatives
Although double negatives are not permitted in English and are considered a very bad error Spanish has no such rule.
They didn't see nobody in the apartment. (incorrect)
They saw nobody in the apartment. (correct)
or
They didn't see anybody in the apartment. (correct)
Spanish on the other hand allows for double or triple negatives. Consequently the following is a correct construction.
Juan no me visita nunca.
Juan never visits me. (literally: Juan does not visit me never.)
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THE PERSONAL "A"
Another important difference between the English and the Spanish sentence construction is the Spanish usage of the personal "a" to introduce a direct object noun referring to a definite person or persons.
María lleva a los niños a la escuela.
Maria is taking (is carrying) the children to school.
Since the direct object noun the children is referring to definite persons, it is necessary to introduce it by the preposition a. If niños (or any other direct object noun) is not referring to a definite person or persons but rather to children in general, the construction would be:
María lleva niños a la escuela.
Maria takes children to school.
If the direct object noun is not referring to persons at all, then there is no a used:
María lleva muchos libros.
Maria is taking (is carrying) a lot of books.