(1) Sentence Word Order

Every language has a special order that its words go in. Spanish and English have different sentence word orders. Spanish has a Subject-Verb-Object order that can be moved around based on what words are most important, which are placed at the end of a sentence. In contrast, English has a Subject-Verb-Object order that is not flexible most often.

(2) Infinitive Verbs

Infinitives are special verbs that do not have tense (time) or a subject (someone performing the action). In Spanish, they are formed with a special ending that is placed on the end of a verb. In English, we form infinitives by placing the word “to” in front of the base form of a verb (the present tense singular). Infinitives are used when we talk about an action as an idea or as a noun. For example, “I like to write.” In this sentence, the action of writing is being talked about, but no one is doing the writing. For this purpose, we use an infinitive.

(3) Negation

Negation is how we contradict something, say something is not true, say something does not exist, or deny something. In Spanish, this is done by placing two negative elements or words on each side of what is being negated. This is called double negation. In English, double negation is considered an error. English negation is formed by placing one negative element or word in front of the word we want to negate. The helping verbs “do” and “will” are used to show when we were negating something. It looks like this:

• Present tense negation: I do not want anything.

• Past tense negation: I did not want anything.

• Future tense negation: I will not want anything.

(4) Interrogatives

An interrogative is a structure for asking questions. In Spanish, these are formed by using a question word + a verb + the subject + other sentence elements. In English, interrogatives are formed by a question word + a helping verb at the start of the sentence.

(5) Adjective-Noun Order

Each language has its own rules for where an adjective (a word that describes a noun) needs to be placed around the noun it describes. In Spanish, adjectives follow nouns and they must have an ending that matches the noun they describe in number and gender. In English, the adjective does not need any special ending to match the noun it describes. English adjectives precede the noun they describe.

(6) Articles

Articles are a kind of word that used to describe details about a noun. There are several types of articles: definite and indefinite. Definite articles describe a specific version of a noun, such as the apple of Mary. Indefinite articles describe a general version of the noun, such as an apple from the fridge.

• English definite articles: the

• English indefinite articles: a, an

Some languages require them, and some languages only use them sometimes. Spanish uses articles in front of almost all nouns, and almost all articles used are definite. Spanish articles also must agree with their nouns in number and gender. In English, only specific, countable nouns require definite articles. General, plural, and noncount nouns do not require articles in English.

(7) Comparatives

Comparatives are linguistic structures that help speakers compare two items. In Spanish, independent words are added to the sentence: más/menos. In English, an ending is added to the word that needs to be made greater: -er.

(8) Auxiliary Verbs

In some languages, verbs cannot completely communicate their meanings on their own. In this case, a helping or auxiliary verb is used. In Spanish, verbs completely communicate their information through a special ending that explains the time, number, and actor of the verbs. In English, most verbs require a two-part structure of an auxiliary/helping verb + the main verb. This helping verb communicates the tense of the verb, or when the verb is happening because the verb does not communicate the time with its own ending. For example, “studying” does not say when it happens or who might be doing it. Therefore, English needs a form of to be to help communicate this information: am studying - this tells the reader that the action is happening in the present tense and it is completed by a singular first-person subject that matches am: I am studying.

(9) Possessive Nouns

Possessives are a linguistic structure that explains how an item belongs to someone or something. In Spanish, the independent word del is used between the person owning the object and the object itself in the sentence order. In English, an ending made of an apostrophe and -s is used on the person or thing that owns the item: the cat’s meow. There are two forms of this possessive ending:

• Singular: ‘s (the apostrophe is placed before -s): the cat’s meow (one cat’s meow)

• Plural: s’ (the apostrophe is placed after -s): the cats’ meow (two cats’ meow)

(10) Subject Omission

Each language expresses a concept called a subject, the person or thing that performs the verb or action in the sentence. In some languages, you do not need to use a separate word for the subject; the subject can be communicated in a verb ending. Spanish is like this and can communicate who acted out a verb in an ending on the verb. In English, the subject is not communicated in the verb at all. An English subject must be a freestanding noun that is placed before the verb. Thus, the subject can never be omitted or left out in English like it can in Spanish.