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Using Spanish

This is a guide to Spanish usage for those who have already acquiredthe basics of the language and wish to extend their knowledge. Unlikeconventional grammars, it focuses on those areas of vocabulary andgrammar which cause most difficulty to English speakers. It fullyillustrates the differences between the Spanish of Spain and LatinAmerica, and looks in detail at register variation. Complete with a fullword index, this clear and easy-to-consult text guides students throughthe richness and diversity of this major world language.

This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to take afuller account of Latin-American usage. The vocabulary sections havebeen significantly expanded, and now include examples whichcontextualize each word or expression. The presentation of manysections has been improved to make reference even easier than before,and some completely new material has been added on semi-technicalvocabulary and Anglicisms.

ronald e. batchelor has now retired from the University ofNottingham, where he taught French and Spanish for forty years. Hehas also held teaching posts at the universities of Besancon, France, andValencia, Spain. He has published ten books, including in this seriesUsing Spanish Synonyms, Using Spanish Vocabulary, Using French andUsing French Synonyms. He is currently working on A Student Grammarof Spanish, also to be published by Cambridge University Press(forthcoming 2005).

christopher j. pountain is Professor of Spanish Linguistics atQueen Mary, University of London. He has held previousappointments at the University of Nottingham and the University ofCambridge, where he is a Life Fellow of Queens’ College. He has along experience of teaching Spanish at various levels, and his previousbooks include Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide, PractisingSpanish Grammar, A Comprehensive Spanish Grammar, A History of theSpanish Language through Texts and Exploring the Spanish Language.

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Using SpanishA guide to contemporary usage

Second edition

RON BATCHELORFormerly of the University of Nottingham

CHRISTOPHER POUNTAINQueen Mary, University of London






cambridge univer s ity pre ssCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo

Cambridge University PressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521004810

C© Ron Batchelor and Christopher Pountain 2005

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place withoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First edition published 1992. Reprinted 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002.Second edition published 2005

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Batchelor, R. E. (Ronald Ernest)Using Spanish: a guide to contemporary usage / Ron Batchelor, ChristopherPountain. – 2nd edn.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-521-00481-0 (paperback)1. Spanish language – Textbooks for foreign speakers – English.2. Spanish language – Grammar. I. Pountain, Christopher J. II. TitlePC4129.E5B32 2005468.2′421 – dc22 2005046962

ISBN 0 521 00481 0 paperback

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Contents

Authors’ acknowledgements page xviiiPreface to the second edition xixList of abbreviations and symbols xxGlossary xxii

1 Introduction 1

1.1 The Spanish language today 11.2 Local variety and standard 11.3 Peninsular and American Spanish 21.4 Register 2

1.4.1 R1 21.4.2 R2 31.4.3 R3 3

1.5 ‘Correctness’ 3

2 Passages illustrating register and local variety 4

2.1 Example of R1∗ (Peninsular Spanish): Un encuentro en la calle 42.2 Example of R1 (Mexican Spanish): ¡Pelate! Que vamos al cine 62.3 Example of R1 (Peninsular Spanish): Cosas de crıos 72.4 Example of R1 (Argentine Spanish): from Don Segundo Sombra, by

R. Guiraldes 82.5 Example of R2 (Peninsular Spanish): Una agencia de viajes 102.6 Example of R2 (Latin-American Spanish): from Resumen, Caracas,

12 August 1984 122.7 Example of R2–3 (Peninsular Spanish): Intercambio de casas 132.8 Example of R2–3 (Peninsular Spanish): from San Manuel Bueno,

martir, by M. de Unamuno 152.9 Example of R2–3 (Latin-American Spanish): Viajando a traves de la

ciudad de Mexico by Jorge Larracilla 162.10 Example of R3 (Latin-American Spanish): from El Comercio, Quito,

2 October 1985 17

v






Contents

Part I Vocabulary

3 Misleading similarities between Spanish and English 23

3.1 Similar form – different meaning 233.2 Similar form – partly similar meaning 333.3 Differences in register between Spanish words and their English

cognates 483.4 Adjectives and nouns in Spanish 52

3.4.1 Adjectives used as nouns 523.4.2 Spanish past participles used as nouns 52

4 Similarities between Spanish words 55

4.1 Similar form – similar meaning 554.2 Similar form – different meaning 804.3 Similar verb stem 894.4 Words distinguished by gender 94

4.4.1 Different gender – similar meaning 944.4.2 Different gender – different meaning 102

5 Fields of meaning – vocabulary extension 108

abrigo 108accidente 109acordar 110agujero 110lo alto 111amable 111anillo 112aparecer 113apariencia 113apoderarse de 113apresurarse 114arma (de fuego) 114avisar 115ayudar 115barco 116barrio 116basto 117borde 117botella 118brillar 118cara 119charco 120chirriar 121coger 121colina 122competicion 122

vi






Contents

contento 123convertirse 124cortar 125crecer 125cuarto 126cuerda 127culo 128dar 128decir 129dejar 129delgado 130delito 131derrotar 131destruir 132dibujo 133diente 133dinero 134disparar 134disputa 135divertirse 136empezar 136encontrar 137enfadarse 138enfrentarse (a) 138enganar 139engano 139ensenar 140enviar 141espalda(s) 141estropear 141estupendo 142fila 142fuego 143fuerte 143gafas 144golpear 144gordo 145gracioso 146grupo 146hermoso 147intentar 147investigar 148jefe 149lado 150lengua 150letrero 151levantar 151listo 151

vii






Contents

lleno 152llevar 153malgastar 154malhechor 154mejora 155modelo 155molestar 156muchacho/a 157nativo 157nombre 158ocurrir 158orgulloso 159palo 160pared 160pedir 161pelo 161pelota 162pensar 162perezoso 163piedra 164pobre 164poner 165profesor 165rebelarse 166regalo 166rico 167rincon 167robar 168rodaja 168romper 169saber 169salvaje 170sonidos emitidos por los animales 170subir 171sucio 172sueldo 173suerte 174talon 174terco 175tienda 175tirar 176tirarse 176tonto 177tormenta 177trabajo 178triste 178vacaciones 179

viii






Contents

valiente 180vaso 180ventana 181ver 181viaje 182vidrio 182viejo 183viento 183

6 Complex verbal expressions 184

6.1 A complex expression in Spanish corresponding to a single verb inEnglish 184

6.2 A single verb in Spanish corresponding to a complex expression inEnglish 185

6.3 Common complex expressions in Spanish corresponding tocomplex expressions in English 188

6.4 Spanish verbs which take an infinitive as their subject 1896.5 Reflexive verbs + la or las 190

7 Affective suffixes 192

8 Idioms, similes and proverbs 195

8.1 Idioms 1958.2 Some idioms based on colour 2018.3 Some idioms based on numbers 2028.4 Similes based on adjectives 2038.5 Similes based on verbs 2048.6 Proverbs and proverbial expressions 204

9 Proper names 207

9.1 Names of people 2079.1.1 The Ancient Greek world 2079.1.2 The Ancient Roman world 2089.1.3 The Bible: Old Testment 2089.1.4 The Bible: New Testament 2099.1.5 People in the medieval and Renaisance world 209

9.2 Names of places 2099.2.1 Europe 2099.2.2 Asia 2119.2.3 Africa 2119.2.4 North America 2119.2.5 South America 212

9.3 Names of rivers 2129.4 Names of mountains and volcanoes 212

ix






Contents

10 Adjectives pertaining to countries and towns 213

10.1 Espana 21310.1.1 Regions 21310.1.2 Towns 21410.1.3 Islands 214

10.2 America Latina / Latinoamerica 21410.3 Europa 21610.4 Africa 21710.5 Asia y Australia 21810.6 Oriente Medio 21910.7 America del Norte 219

11 Abbreviations 220

11.1 Abbreviations of titles and common words 22011.2 Abbreviations of weights and measures 22211.3 Abbreviations of major national and international

organizations 22311.4 Other abbreviations from Spanish-speaking countries 22411.5 Truncated words 226

12 Latin expressions 227

13 Anglicisms 229

14 Grammatical terms 233

15 Interjections 235

16 Fillers 237

17 Transition words 239

18 Numerals 241

19 Measurements 242

19.1 Length 24219.2 Weight 24319.3 Area 24419.4 Volume 24419.5 Temperature 24519.6 Time 24519.7 Currencies 24619.8 Traditional measurements 246

20 Semi-technical vocabulary 247

20.1 Banking 24720.1.1 Buildings, people and things 24720.1.2 Opening an account 24820.1.3 Accounts: types of account 248

x






Contents

20.1.4 Accounts: cheques (Brit), checks (US), etc 24820.1.5 Accounts: management 24920.1.6 Saving 24920.1.7 Cash 24920.1.8 Changing money 25020.1.9 Loans 25020.1.10 Investment 251

20.2 The Stock Exchange 25120.2.1 Buildings, people and activities 25120.2.2 Stocks and shares 25220.2.3 Market activity 25220.2.4 Speculation 25320.2.5 Takeovers 253

20.3 Commerce 25320.3.1 General 25320.3.2 Production and distribution 25320.3.3 Marketing 25420.3.4 Prices 25420.3.5 Finance 255

20.3.5.1 General 25520.3.5.2 Bills and payment 25520.3.5.3 Debt 25620.3.5.4 Money 25620.3.5.5 Credit 25620.3.5.6 Interest 25620.3.5.7 Profit and loss 25620.3.5.8 Exchange 257

20.3.6 Salaries 25720.3.7 Competition 25720.3.8 The economy 257

20.4 Insurance (general) 25820.4.1 General 25820.4.2 Taking out an insurance policy 25920.4.3 Terms 25920.4.4 Claims 26020.4.5 Different kinds of insurance 26120.4.6 Home insurance policy 26120.4.7 Financial planning and pensions 262

20.5 Tax 26220.5.1 General 26220.5.2 Types of tax 26320.5.3 Filling in a tax return 26420.5.4 Assessment 26520.5.5 Taxation policy 266

20.6 Social Security 26720.6.1 General 26720.6.2 People 267

xi






Contents

20.6.3 Benefits 26720.6.4 Assessment 26820.6.5 Policy 26920.6.6 Charitable work 269

20.7 Justice 27020.7.1 General 27020.7.2 People 27020.7.3 Crimes 27120.7.4 Investigation and apprehension 27120.7.5 Courts 27220.7.6 Proceedings 27320.7.7 Verdict and sentencing 27420.7.8 Punishments 27520.7.9 Policy 276

20.8 Computing 27620.8.1 General 27620.8.2 System 27720.8.3 Hardware and peripherals 27720.8.4 Display, keyboard and mouse 27820.8.5 Files 27920.8.6 Programs 27920.8.7 Internet 27920.8.8 Word processing 28020.8.9 Graphics and fax 28020.8.10 E-mail 280

Part II Grammar

21 Gender 283

21.1 Gender and sex 28321.2 Gender associated with types of noun 28421.3 Gender associated with noun ending 28421.4 Gender of compound nouns 28621.5 Adjectives as nouns 28621.6 Words of varying gender 28721.7 Names of towns 28821.8 Formation of masculine/feminine pairs 28821.9 Family relations and titles 289

21.10 The neuter 29021.11 Homonyms distinguished by gender 29021.12 Problem genders 292

22 Number 296

22.1 Formation of plurals 29622.2 Some Spanish plurals which correspond to English singulars 298

xii






Contents

22.3 Some Spanish singulars which correspond to English plurals 29922.4 Number concord 300

23 Word order 301

23.1 Subject and verb 30123.2 Subject, verb and object 30223.3 Verb, objects and adverb 30323.4 Noun and adjective 303

23.4.1 One adjective 30323.5 Numerals, quantifiers and otro 30723.6 Fixed order expressions 307

24 Prepositions 308

24.1 a 30824.1.1 Basic meanings 30824.1.2 a in time expressions 30824.1.3 a expressing rate 30924.1.4 a expressing manner 31024.1.5 Adverbial idioms with a 31024.1.6 a expressing position 31224.1.7 a expressing instrument 31324.1.8 Complex prepositional expressions with a 31324.1.9 ‘Personal’ a 313

24.2 ante, delante de, antes de, antes que 31624.3 bajo, debajo de 31624.4 con 317

24.4.1 Basic meanings 31724.4.2 con in complex prepositional expressions 31724.4.3 con expressing manner 317

24.5 contra, en contra de 31824.6 de 318

24.6.1 Basic meanings 31824.6.2 de in adverbial expressions of time 32024.6.3 de in adverbial expressions of position 32024.6.4 de in expressions of price and measurement 32024.6.5 de with professions 32124.6.6 de in adverbial expressions of manner 32124.6.7 Common idioms and expressions involving de 32124.6.8 de expressing direction to or from 32224.6.9 ‘Grammatical’ uses of de 32224.6.10 Complex prepositions with de 323

24.7 desde 32324.8 en 324

24.8.1 Basic meanings 32424.8.2 en in expressions of measurement 32524.8.3 en indicating material 325

xiii






Contents

24.8.4 en, corresponding to English from, with nouns indicatingreceptacles 326

24.8.5 Common idioms and expressions involving en 32624.9 encima de 327

24.10 enfrente de, frente a 32724.11 hacia 32824.12 hasta 32824.13 para and por 329

24.13.1 Basic meanings 32924.13.2 para and por in time expressions 33024.13.3 Other uses of para 33124.13.4 por expressing rate 33124.13.5 por expressing agent 33124.13.6 por in expressions of manner and means 33124.13.7 por in adverbial idioms of manner 33124.13.8 por with other prepositions 33224.13.9 Complex prepositions with por 332

24.14 sin 33224.15 sobre 33324.16 tras, detras de, despues de, despues que 33324.17 a traves de 33424.18 Accumulation of prepositions 335

25 Prepositional constructions with verbs, nouns andadjectives 336

25.1 Verbs with no preposition before an infinitive 33625.1.1 Infinitive as subject of the verb 33625.1.2 Infinitive as direct object 33725.1.3 Verbs of ordering 33925.1.4 Verbs of perception 33925.1.5 Verbs of saying 33925.1.6 Other verbs 340

25.2 a before an infinitive 34025.2.1 Attainment and figurative motion 34025.2.2 Verbs of beginning 34125.2.3 Agreement 34125.2.4 Encouragement, help or other influence 34125.2.5 With verbs of motion 34325.2.6 a for para and por 34325.2.7 a + infinitive as imperative 343

25.3 a before a noun 34325.3.1 Indirect object a rendered by a preposition other

than to in English 34325.3.2 Noun + a + noun 34425.3.3 With verbs of smell and taste 346

25.4 de before an infinitive or noun 34625.4.1 Cessation 346

xiv






Contents

25.4.2 ‘Negative’ idea 34625.4.3 Causation 34725.4.4 ‘Advantage’ 34825.4.5 ‘Instrument’ 34825.4.6 With verbs of change 34925.4.7 Other uses of de 349

25.5 por before an infinitive or noun 34925.5.1 por = on account of 34925.5.2 por = by 35025.5.3 por = in favour of 35025.5.4 With verbs and nouns of ‘effort’ 350

25.6 para before an infinitive or noun 35125.6.1 Ability and inability 35125.6.2 Sufficiency 35225.6.3 Persuasion 352

25.7 en before an infinitive or noun 35225.7.1 en corresponding to English in, into, on 35225.7.2 With verbs of ‘persistence’ 35325.7.3 With verbs of ‘hesitation’ 35325.7.4 With verbs of ‘noticing’ 353

25.8 Verbs followed by the gerund 35425.9 Varying prepositions 354

25.9.1 No preposition in Spanish: preposition in English 36325.9.2 Preposition in Spanish: no preposition in

English 36425.9.3 Some prepositions which do not correspond in Spanish

and English 366

26 Constructions with verbs of movement 368

27 Negation 370

27.1 General 37027.2 Negation of adjectives 37127.3 Negative pronouns, adjectives and adverbs 37127.4 Expressions which require no before the verb 37227.5 Other negative contexts 372

28 Use of tenses 373

28.1 Present tense (hago, etc) 37328.1.1 Present and Perfect 374

28.2 Future tense (hare, etc) 37528.3 Future Perfect tense (habre hecho, etc) 37528.4 Conditional tense (harıa, etc) 37528.5 Conditional Perfect tense (habrıa hecho, etc) 37628.6 Imperfect and Preterite (hacıa, etc; hice, etc) 376

28.6.1 Imperfect tense: other uses 37728.6.2 Preterite tense: other uses 377

xv






Contents

28.7 Perfect tense (he hecho, etc) 37728.7.1 Perfect and Preterite 378

28.8 Pluperfect tense (habıa hecho, etc) 37828.9 Past Anterior tense (hube hecho, etc) 378

28.10 -ra tense (hiciera, etc) 379

29 Periphrastic verb forms 380

29.1 ir a + infinitive 38029.2 acabar de + infinitive 38029.3 estar + gerund 38129.4 ir + gerund 38129.5 venir + gerund 38129.6 llevar + gerund 38229.7 tener + past participle 38229.8 llevar + past participle 38229.9 ir + past participle 383

30 Modal auxiliaries 384

30.1 Obligation 38530.2 Ability 38630.3 Inference 38730.4 Possibility 388

31 The Subjunctive 389

31.1 Sequence of tenses in Subjunctive constructions 39031.2 Commands and related structures 390

31.2.1 Direct commands 39031.2.2 Indirect command, request, necessity 39231.2.3 Suggestion 39631.2.4 Permission and prohibition 39731.2.5 Conjunctions expressing purpose or

intention 39831.2.6 Other expressions of influence 399

31.3 Expressions of emotion 40031.4 Expressions involving a negative idea 403

31.4.1 Verbs and verbal expressions of denialand doubt 403

31.4.2 ‘Negative’ conjunctions 40431.5 Expressions of opinion and thought 404

31.5.1 Apparent negation 40531.5.2 Doubt or hesitation 40531.5.3 Emotional overtone 405

31.6 Expressions of possibility and probability 40631.7 Hypothetical expressions 407

31.7.1 Verbs and expressions of imagining andwishing 407

xvi






Contents

31.7.2 Conjunctions of supposition, provision andconcession 408

31.7.3 Conditional sentences 41031.8 Temporal clauses 41131.9 Relative clauses 413

31.9.1 Superlative antecedent 41331.10 Noun clauses 414

32 ser and estar 415

32.1 With nouns, pronouns, infinitives and clauses 41532.2 With adverbs of place 41632.3 With other adverbs 41632.4 With a gerund 41632.5 With a past participle 41732.6 With an adjective 41932.7 With a prepositional phrase 42132.8 In isolation 42132.9 Idioms with prepositions, etc 422

33 Personal pronouns 423

33.1 Order 42333.2 Pronouns and verb 42433.3 ‘Redundant’ pronouns 42533.4 Second-person pronouns 42633.5 Third-person (including usted, ustedes) object

pronouns 42833.6 Personal pronouns expressing possession 429

34 The reflexive 430

34.1 Genuine reflexives 43034.2 Inherent reflexives 43134.3 The reflexive as a marker of the intransitive 43134.4 The reflexive as an intensifier 43334.5 The impersonal reflexive 43534.6 Further notes on se 43634.7 The reflexive and the passive 436

35 Comparison 439

35.1 Comparison of inequality 43935.2 mayor / mas grande, menor / menos grande 44035.3 Comparison of equality 44035.4 Comparison of clauses 441

36 Usage with names of countries 442

Index 443

xvii






Authors’ acknowledgements

Second edition

We are deeply indebted to the following Spanish speakers for theendless hours they have given so indefatigably to us in our efforts toprovide as accurate a picture as possible of the present state of theSpanish language:

Armando Lechuga ArribasJose Luis Ayesa LacostaDr Jorge Larracilla

The perfection of the text would not have been attained without thekeen and expert support of our copy-editor, Leigh Mueller. We wouldalso like to thanks Mary Leighton and Helen Barton at CambridgeUniversity Press.

First edition

Information for this book has all been collected from, or checkedwith, native speakers, and we are particularly indebted to the followingfor their generous giving of time and effort in this respect: Jose-LuisCarames Lage, Teresa de Carlos, Carmen Melbourne, Marıa AmparoOrtola Pallas, Gaspar Perez Martınez, Alfonso Ruiz, and innumerablestudents from the University of Valencia.

Richard King and Sara Palmer read the entire manuscript with aneye, respectively, to US English usage and Latin-American Spanishusage, and made many additions and amendments.

We would also like to thank Annie Cave, Peter Ducker, JuliaHarding and Ann Mason of Cambridge University Press for their care,thoughtfulness and imaginativeness in bringing this material to theprinted page.

xviii






Preface to the second edition

Since the appearance of the first edition of this book, the range ofSpanish-language reference material has been transformed by asignificant number of welcome additions and developments. Largerand more comprehensive Spanish/English bilingual dictionaries, basedon huge electronic corpora and incorporating much information onregister usage, have been published by Collins, Oxford University Pressand Larousse; the CLAVE Diccionario del uso del espanol (Madrid:Ediciones SM) has brought the illustration of word meaning throughcontextual example to a fine art; substantial on-line corpora have beenmade available by the Real Academia Espanola (www.rae.es) and byProfessor Mark Davies (www.corpusdelespanol.org), and the presenceof Spanish on the Internet provides a wealth of linguistic information.We enthusiastically commend such rich resources. However, thepurpose of this book remains what it was, that of providing a selectiveguide to areas of Spanish usage which we know through years ofteaching experience pose problems for English-speaking learners, andwe hope that, as such, it will be clear, easy to use and not toodaunting. We have therefore retained the style and the bulk of thematerial of the original project whilst taking the opportunity to makesome changes, additions and updatings. Some of the chapters onvocabulary have been completely rewritten and extended, and thereare new chapters on anglicisms and on semi-technical vocabulary. Wehave continued to focus on vocabulary and grammar, and there is nosystematic treatment of pronunciation or of essentially morphologicalfeatures such as verb forms. However, the pronunciation of anglicismsis indicated in Chapter 13 using the standard characters of theInternational Phonetic Alphabet, and the gender of all nouns notending in -o or -a is indicated in the vocabulary section of the bookwhere it is not obvious from the context.

We gratefully acknowledge the many comments made on the firstedition and look forward to receiving views on the second.

REBCJP

xix






Abbreviations and symbols

Note. Spanish alphabetical order is followed in lists of Spanish wordsand expressions.

ADJ adjectiveAm Latin-American SpanishArg Argentine SpanishBrit British EnglishEng Englishesp especiallyf femininefig figurative(ly)gen generalger gerund (eg Spanish hablando)indic Indicativeinf infinitive (eg Spanish hablar)intr intransitiveIO indirect object (aIO introduces the indirect

object)lit literal(ly)m masculineMex Mexican SpanishN nounpej pejorativePen Peninsular SpanishPERS personal (aPERS denotes the Spanish

personal a)pl pluralPP past participlePREP prepositionR1∗, R1, R2, R3 markers of register (see pp 4–19)refl reflexivesb somebodysg singularsth somethingsubj Subjunctive

xx






List of abbreviations and symbols

tr transitiveUS US Englishusu usual(ly)

= is used in Chapter 25 to indicate that the subject of the main verb ina sentence is the same as that of the dependent infinitive.! is used to indicate forms which are in regular use but which might

be considered ‘incorrect’ in an examination.

† indicates that more information about the word or expression isto be found in another section. Look up the word or expression inthe Spanish word index at the end of the book.

xxi






Glossary

The page number in brackets indicates where the term is first used.adjectival complement (p 415) ‘Copular’ verbs, such as English be,

Spanish ser and estar, are usually considered to take complementsrather than objects. When these verbs are followed by an adjective,this may be termed an adjectival complement.

affective suffix (p 192) Spanish suffixes (eg -ito, -illo, -on, etc) whichhave an emotive or ironic overtone.

agent (p 319) The performer of a verbal action: in an active sentence,the agent is typically the subject of the sentence; in a passivesentence, the agent (the subject of the corresponding activesentence) is usually introduced by by in English and by por inSpanish.

anteriority (p 375) An earlier stage.aspect/aspectual (p 374) Relating to the way in which an action or

state is viewed: continuous, repeated, within fixed limits, etc. Thedifference between the Imperfect and the Preterite in Spanish isusually thought of as an aspectual difference, though several otherverb forms, and especially the periphrastic (see below) verb forms,have aspectual values.

cognate (p 23) English and Spanish have many words which are verysimilar in form, often because they are derived from the same Latinor Greek word (eg sinfonıa/symphony). Such matching words areknown as cognates. Although they are very often essentially thesame or similar in meaning, they are sometimes different in meaning(deceptive cognates). Deceptive cognates thus present hiddendifficulties for the learner, and are traditionally known as ‘falsefriends’ (falsos amigos).

complement (p 336) See adjectival complement. The term‘complement’ is also used in this book to denote a sentence,infinitive or gerund which acts as the object or subject of averb.

deceptive cognate (p 23) See cognate.demonstrative (p 52) A pronoun or adjective which expresses

proximity to or remoteness from the speaker (eg English this, that,Spanish este, ese, aquel).

xxii






Glossary

diminutive (p 7) A form which indicates smallness (eg Spanish-ito).

disjunctive pronoun (p 423) A (personal) pronoun which isfree-standing or the object of a preposition (eg Spanish yo, mı, usted).(In English all personal pronouns are effectively disjunctive.)

ellipsis (p 2) Partial expression of an idea.falso amigo (p 23) See cognate.gerund (p 19) In this book, the term is used to refer to the English

verb form in -ing and the Spanish verb-form in -ndo.homonyms (p 94) Words that sound the same although spelt

differently, eg English bow and bough. Standard Peninsular Spanishhas relatively few homonyms, but Latin-American Spanish has anumber as a result of the absence of a c/s contrast, eg cima/sima.

impersonal verb (p 393) A verb which does not normally take asubject which refers to a person or thing. Impersonal verbs may havean infinitive or a clause beginning with que as their subject, eg Teconviene contestar, No es de extranar que se haya marchado.

implied subject (p 336) A subject which is not explicitly stated by anoun, pronoun or the verb ending, but which is necessarilyunderstood (eg in Prometı hacerlo, ‘I promised to do it’, yo, ‘I’, is notonly the expressed subject – through the verb ending – of prometerbut also the implied subject of hacer).

instrument (p 348) The thing employed to carry out an action: eghammer is the instrument in I hit the nail with the hammer.

interference (p 23) The influence of one’s native language on theforeign language one is learning.

metaphorical (p 290) Relating to metaphor, a figure of speech inwhich a thing, person or action is referred to as something elsewhich it resembles in some way (eg a pain in the neck = ‘a (personwho is a) nuisance’). The boundary between ‘literal’ and‘metaphorical’ meaning is sometimes difficult to determine becausewords often change or extend their meaning metaphorically (eg ashark = ‘a rogue’).

mood/modal (p 374) Relating to the attitude which certain verbforms express (eg Seran las diez, ‘It must be ten o’clock’, expressessupposition; Me da un kilo de patatas, ‘Can I have a kilo of potatoes’,expresses a kind of command). Traditionally, forms such as theIndicative, Subjunctive, etc, have been distinguished on the basis ofmood, but it is clear that modal meanings can be expressed by mostverb forms.

paronym (p 55) A word similar in form to another (in the samelanguage).

periphrastic (p 380) Relating to paraphrase, and used here ofstructures in which a number of words are involved (eg voy a ir isdescribed as a periphrastic future by comparison with the simplefuture ire).

xxiii






Glossary

pleonastic (p 412) Redundant, not strictly necessary (from the pointof view of meaning).

positive imperative (p 424) An imperative which is not negated(eg English Do it!, Spanish ¡Hazlo!).

topic (p 301) The element in a sentence which is currently beingtalked about.

truncation (p 2) Shortening or curtailing (of a sentence or word).

xxiv






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