Whenever learning a new language and in particular, Spanish, there is always the question of whether or not one needs to know the grammar. On one hand, of course you need to know grammar…that’s how you learn to speak and form sentences; but on the other hand…it is not necessarily something you have to be book smart and study to the “T” about.
Know basic grammar
Grammar, although you should know the basics when you are getting started, is something that will gradually come the more you speak and the more you listen. In this blog post, you will see how this works and how you can apply grammar to your study methods.
Obviously you need to have a basic understanding of grammar…it is the base that you will build on when learning to become fluent in Spanish. The 4 top basic things you need to have a comprehension of are the conjugations, the tenses, the order, and the gender.
The Gender
Gender is a very simple, yet important thing to understand. In many languages the way you say a word, even though it has one meaning, has a masculine and feminine version of that word. For example, in Spanish, when you say an adjective, the word will either end in “a” or “o” depending on who you are talking about. If you mess up in front of a native speaking and misuse the gender, they will most likely still understand what you mean; but if you misuse the gender in certain situations, it can lead to confusion and/or even issues in the conversation. So take 5-10 minutes to understand how gender works in Spanish or in any other language you are learning.
The Order
You need to know how to put a sentence together. In Spanish the order of the nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. are different from English. For example, in Spanish, the adjective comes after the subject. Instead of saying “the blue sky” you would say “el cielo azul” (the sky blue). The way people can address someone or ask someone a question can be a little different as well. Another example is, “if you leave…” in Spanish it can sound like you are saying “you” twice… “si tú te vas…” Tú and te can both be used for the word “you,” but in this case it’s used twice because the verb is “irse” and it’s a reflective verb. Another example, and perhaps an easier one is, “¿Sabe usted inglés?” This is saying, do “you yourself understand?” ( usted is formal for “you”) You could simply say, “Sabe inglés.” They are both correct but one is just longer and I would say more formal. All this to say, it is important to at least get familiar with how the sentences are structured.
The Tenses
You should have a general understanding of how the tenses work. The better you understand the tenses, the better you will be able to follow along with other people’s conversations and the better you will be able to conversate with them. To start you should at least have a grasp on the present, the imperfect past, the preterite past, and the future.
The Conjugations
Although this is one of the more “complicated basics,” knowing conjugations is super important. Conjugations change based on who you are talking to and talking about, the tense, and the mood, etc. Every verb has a different form depending on these things. It’s not like in English where you use the same verb for the same subjects.
Ex. The verb correr, to run.
| English | I run | You run | he/she runs | They run | We run |
| Spanish | Yo corro | Tu corres | él /ella corre | ellos/ellas corren | Nos corremos |
In Spanish each pronoun has a specific verb term. The verb correr has a different conjugation for each subject, for each tense, for each mood, and everything in between. Learning conjugations is one of the biggest things that puts a bump in the road for a lot of people learning Spanish. This is the reason why I say to have a basic understanding of it and to continue to learn and study them; but don’t stress out too much about it because as you conversate and listen, your brain will get familiar with how conjugations flow. Besides, even if you used the infinitive (verb without conjugation), people will understand what you are trying to say. It may sound funny, but they’ll get it.
Those are the top 4 things I would focus on when learning grammar; but don’t over complicate it. The grammar, just like the vocabulary will come as you continue your “Spanish Journey.” Every day or as much as you can, just practice a little grammar and gradually it will come.
So to conclude, yes grammar is important, but when studying the books (books are one of my favorite ways to study grammar), don’t over complicate it. This is something that will gradually come along as you practice.
Your study sessions shouldn’t look or feel like this…stress, anxiety, nothing but books and reading.
They should look more like this…relaxed, focused, various ways of learning Spanish…listening, watching, and reading.
Tip: Use keyboard shortcuts to type certain letters of the Spanish alphabet faster. Press and hold the ALT-key with zero and the numeric code you’ll find in this table: https://www.alt-codes.net/spanish_alt_codes/