We have discussed the basic elements of sentence building in class. Let's review some of the important points that we have seen at this point.

We have seen how nouns are divided into two groups. These are the "O" category and the "A" category. It is important to know this because other words used with nouns have to match. Normally, the "O" nouns end in the letter "o" and the "A" nouns end in the letter "a".

We have, for example, different forms of the word "the" and we have to match the proper form to the noun that we are using.

"the" "O" "A"

singular el la
plural los las

There are some exceptions, however. Nouns that actually end in the letter "e" must be memorized. There isn't a good clue to the actual category of the noun.

el puente
la fuente

Also, we have two words for "a". If we use an "O" noun, the word is "un". If we use an "A" noun, the word is "una". For example, we would say, "un libro", but we would say, "una página".

Another point to remember about nouns is that we can't just string them together like we do in English. We can't say, "the Spanish class". We have to say, "la clase de español" ("the class of Spanish").

We also saw that there are two categories of verbs. There are "A" verbs and "E" verbs.
To analyze verbs we divide them into three parts. The first part tells us what action is being done. The second part tells us the category ("A" or "E"). The third part has endings which must match the subject (the "doer"). We also need to know the pronouns which are used as subjects. Look at the following charts.

VERBS "A" "E"

yo estudi---o aprend---o

tú estudi-a-s aprend-e-s

usted/él/ella estudi-a-- aprend-e---

nosotros estudi-a-mos aprend-e-mos

ustedes/ellos/ellas estudi-a-n aprend-e-n

We can put an "r" on the end of the verb, in the third space, and it means "to do" something. For example, "aprender" is "to learn" and "estudiar" is "to study". We use these forms with other verbs, such as "need" ("I need to study".) Now let's take a look at some of the new words that we have learned. We'll use them in our sentence building practice. You should memorize them.

el libro the book

la página the page

la palabra the word

el examen the test

la clase the class

el muchacho the boy

la muchacha the girl

el profesor the teacher

dónde where

adónde (to) where

a to

hoy today

la escuela the school

la biblioteca the library

la mochila the bookbag

el casillero the locker

el cuaderno the notebook

en in

para for

que that

porque because

dice says

necesitar to need

estudiar to study

aprender to learn

creer to believe

está is

están are

veinte 20

mañana tomorrow

de of

con with

Let's practice building some sentences.

Here are two verbs with irregular (unpredictable) forms that we have studied. Make sure that you learn them. Pay particular attention to the unpredictable changes that you need to memorize. Notice that the combination "ie" changes to "e" in the "mos" form of any verb. We will see other examples of this. This change of "ie" to "e" also happens in the "r" form of a verb.

"A" "E"

yo v---oy teng---o

tú v-a-s tien-e-s

usted/él/ella v-a-- tien-e---

nosotros v-a-mos ten-e-mos

ustedes/ellos/ellas v-a-n tien-e-n

We use "go" to express the idea of movement from one place to another. However, we also can use "go" with the "R" forms of other verbs to express the idea of doing something in the future ("I'm going to study".) Remember that we always follow the word "go" in Spanish with "a" which means "to".

We also use the verb "have" in another way. In the sentences we have seen, "have" means "possess". We also use "have" to express the idea of obligation. We say that someone "has to do" something. In Spanish, when we use "have" to express obligation, we use the "R" form of the other verb but we also insert the word "que". The word "que" normally means "that", but in this case, it is just used to indicate that "have" means "have to do" not "have something".