🎯 Why This Matters
To understand teacher explanations and dictionaries.
Skill in using reference materials.
🇪🇸 The Challenge
Metalanguage. Understanding terms 'noun', 'verb', 'adjective' is universal, but essential for using English monolingual dictionaries and grammar explanations.
🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 Grammar terms transfer well
Advantage: Spanish grammar terms (sustantivo, verbo, adjetivo) match English concepts
Watch out: The main challenge: English uses same word form for different parts of speech
✅ Fix: Learn to identify by POSITION: before noun = adjective. After verb = adverb/object.
🧠 Mental Note: Context determines word class in English more than form does.
🇪🇸 Same advantage, same challenge
Problem: Grammar terminology matches between languages
Watch out: Expecting form changes like in Spanish when English keeps same form
✅ Fix: Position in sentence reveals word class: 'I water plants' (verb) vs 'a glass of water' (noun)
🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)
The Word Factory
Person/thing = noun. Action = verb. Describes noun = adjective. Describes verb = adverb.
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:
Stress shift with word class
Spanish Habit: Consistent stress regardless of word type
English Reality: Many words change stress based on noun vs verb
Examples:
- REcord (noun) vs reCORD (verb)
- PREsent (noun) vs preSENT (verb)
- CONduct (noun) vs conDUCT (verb)
Practice: Nouns often stress first syllable, verbs stress second: PROduce (n) vs proDUCE (v)
📖 How It Works
Teacher Recommendation: Teacher recommended
Time Investment: 2 hours
🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)
These words/phrases appear with this structure:
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| noun | sustantivo | cat, table, happiness = nouns |
| verb | verbo | run, eat, is = verbs |
| adjective | adjetivo | big, happy, blue = adjectives |
| adverb | adverbio | quickly, very, always = adverbs |
| preposition | preposición | in, on, at, with = prepositions |
💬 Real Examples
Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:
Example 1: Identifying nouns and verbs
✅ CORRECT: "The dog eats food."
🇪🇸 Translation: "El perro come comida."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "The eat dogs food."
Why wrong? Words have specific roles. 'Dog' is noun (subject), 'eats' is verb (action), 'food' is noun (object)
Example 2: Word form changes
✅ CORRECT: "She works hard. She is a hard worker."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Ella trabaja duro. Ella es una trabajadora dura."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "She work hardly."
Why wrong? 'Work' (verb) vs 'worker' (noun) vs 'working' (adjective/gerund). Form changes with role.
Example 3: Same word, different parts of speech
✅ CORRECT: "I love you (verb). My love for you (noun)."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Te amo (verbo). Mi amor por ti (sustantivo)."
✏️ Practice Exercises
Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!