Word order and other fun facts!

 A sentence (una frase) in English follows the regular pattern of a subject + a verb  Ex: The phone rings. The students laugh.  In English, adjectives go BEFORE the noun  Ex: I see a green car. The large house is theirs.

 Similar to English, Spanish sentences place the subject before the verb  Ex: Los estudiantes comen mucho. Yo hablo español.  UNLIKE English, adjectives in a Spanish sentence go AFTER the noun, not before it!  Ex: El papel blanco. La manzana roja. La casa blanca.  * there is also the rule whereby adjectives are spelled in a way that MATCHES the noun*

 Questions (las preguntas) in English follow the same pattern as sentences, with the subject coming before the verb.  Ex: Do the students speak a lot? Are the teachers giving homework?  Notice the words DO and ARE in these two examples, because they will be important later!

 The formation of questions in Spanish is different than in English, because just like we saw in the examples with adjectives, the words SWITCH THEIR NORMAL POSITION.  Ex: Do they eat a lot? ¿ Comen ellos mucho?  Ex: When are we going to the restaurant?  ¿Cuándo vamos nosotros al restaurante?  When creating a question in Spanish you must ALWAYS make them “backwards” from english!

 Making and answering questions in Spanish requires you to memorize the common question words (called interrogativos ) in Spanish  ¿Quién? ¿Quiénes? = who or whom (plural)  ¿Qué? = what  ¿Dónde? = where (location)  ¿Cuándo? = when  ¿Por qué? = why  ¿Cómo? = how  ¿Adónde? = to where (destination)

 English question: Where do the students eat ?  Notice the pattern : question word + subject + verb  Spanish question: ¿ Dónde comen los estudiantes ?  Notice the pattern : question word + verb + subject.  English question: What music does the band play ?  Spanish question: ¿Qué música toca la banda ?  Notice how the question word stays in first position for both examples!!!

 Give the spanish question for the following:  Where are the students studying? (estudiar)  ¿Dónde estudian los estudiantes ?  When do you talk with your teacher (hablar)?  ¿Cuándo hablas tú con tu profesora?  With whom (plural) are they walking?(caminar)  ¿Con quiénes caminan ellos ?