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 professor - the teacher
dónde - where
adónde - (to) where
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

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".