Explicaciones

EXPLICATION: AND, OR, BUT

1. AND - The Spanish equivalent for and is Y.

   el lapiz Y la pluma
   the pencil AND the pen

Y changes to E before words beginning with I. 

   espanol E ingles 
   Spanish AND English

2. Or - The Spanish equivalent for or is O.

   el lapiz O la pluma
   the pencil OR the pen

O changes to U before words ending in O.

  siete U ocho 
  seven OR eight

3. But  - the Spanish equivalent for but is pero.

   el lapiz PERO no la pluma
   the pencil BUT not the pen

When but comes after a negation and implies "not... but rather...," it is translated SINO.

   NO el lapiz, SINO la pluma
   NOT the pencil, BUT (rather) the pen    

EXPLICATION: The indefinite article A 

In the previous chapter, you learned the masculine and feminine forms of the definite article the. 

   masculine: el 
   feminine: la 

You learned that el goes before a masculine noun and that la goes before a feminine noun.

   el senor, la senora, el piano, la banana 

In this chapter you are going to learn the indefinite article a. 

The indefinite article a, like the definite article the, may be either masculine (un) or feminine (una) depending on the gender of the noun it precedes.

Un goes before a masculine noun: un senor, un banana
Una goes before a feminine noun: una senora, una banana

The indefinite article is sometimes omitted in Spanish. This is true before a noun of nationality, religion, race, or, more simply, whenever you are saying what someone is.

  Juan es americano - John is an American
  Juan es profesor - John is a teacher      
  Juan es cristano - John is a Christian
  Juan es japones - John is Japanese

It is also true after the expression, "Yo no tengo..."

   Yo no tengo lapiz
   I don't have a pencil.

EXPLICACION: Statements and Questions with ES, continued.

1. In chapter one, you leaned how to make simple statements and questions with es and a noun.

    ES un insecto.
    It is an insect.
    NO ES un insecto. 
    It isn't an insect.
    ES un insecto?
    Is it an insect?

In this lesson, you are going to learn how to make statements and questions with es involving both a subject and a complement.

2. Statements

In making a statement with a subject and a complement, Spanish follows the same word order as English.

    Subject                  Verb                 Complement
El mosquito              es                      un insecto
The mosquito              is                         an insect

The intonation pattern is downward.

3. Negations

To make a statement negative, no is placed directly before the verb.

   El mosquito no es un animal.
   The mosquito is not an animal.

Notice that this is the exact opposite of English, which places not directly after the verb.

4. Questions

To ask a question involving a subject and a complement, Spanish inverts the order of the subject and verd so that the sentence begins with es. 

      Verb                Subject              Complement
      Es                el mosquito          un insecto?
       Is                 the mosquito            an insect?
     No es            el mosquito          un insecto?
      Isn't               the mosquito            an insect?

Notice that the word order is inverted in English also. The intonation pattern for both languages is upward.

Questions with que (what): To ask a question with que, Spanish follows the same pattern as English.

      Que es el mosquito? 
      What is the mosquito?

The intonation pattern is downward.