The Difference between Spanish and English Verbs
Though there are definitely differences between Spanish and English verbs, they are also certain aspects in which they are very similar. A good example pertains to grammar. Spanish grammar is almost the same with the ones you can learn in English. The huge problem is there’s no exact equivalent when it comes to Spanish tenses. For instance, you can surely misuse some of your tenses, such as to mean something simple when you should be using a progressive or perfect tense. There’s also the challenge with regards to how you can form negatives or interrogatives in Spanish. This is because there are actually no auxiliary verbs present in the Spanish language. So there’s a huge possibility you will say, “Who she met?” when, in fact, you mean “Who did she meet?” in English.
In general, the formation of a Spanish sentence resembles that of English language. The subject comes before the object and the verb, and the verb is in between the object and the subject. However, the Spanish language is absolutely more flexible than English grammar. This means that even if the general structure is subject-verb-object, you can find some Spanish sentences where the subject or the verb is found at the end of the sentence. This is due to the fact that the Spanish language places the words that need to be emphasized at the end of the sentence.
Verbs “To Be”
There are actually two kinds of to-be verbs in Spanish. These are known as estar and ser. By usage, estar refers to temporary states while ser is being used to describe permanent objects or states. A good example will be these two sentences: “She’s bored” and “She’s boring.” The first one means a temporary state, in which the verb to be that should be used is estar. On the other hand, the latter speaks of a permanent characteristic of a person, which, in turn, requires you to use ser. Nevertheless, knowing how complex and flexible the Spanish language can be, there’s definitely the possibility that you will mix up the use of these “to be” verbs, depending on the context of the sentence.
Subjunctive Spanish Verbs
The Spanish language makes use of the subjunctive mood more often than the English language. In fact, you may have to translate the sentence “I want you to get me a gift.” When you’re speaking in Spanish, you may have to change this sentence to “I want that you get me a gift.” You need to change some of the words in their subjective moods.
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