The biggest challenge Spanish speakers face while learning English is often pronunciation.
For many, though, English syntax - the arrangement of words and phrases to create coherent and grammatically accurate sentences - can be just as challenging.
Take the following sentence:
‘Are you interested in learning English?’
That’s the right way to say it. A Spanish speaker translating from his native language, however, is more likely to ask the same question as:
‘You are interested in learning English?’
Unfortunately, that’s not correct. It’s a statement and not a question, even if you use the right punctuation mark at the end of the sentence.
Before we go into the exact reason behind this common mistake, let’s make one thing absolutely clear - despite some similarities, English and Spanish have very different rules of syntax.
Simply translating the words from Spanish to English, therefore, is not enough to form correct sentences.
One reason for this is that English and Spanish come from different language families.
English, like German, Dutch, or Norwegian, is a Germanic language that evolved from a common proto-German parent language.
Spanish, in contrast, is a Romance language descended from Late Latin, with more similarities with French, Italian, and Portuguese than English.
To understand the differences in syntax between the two languages, let’s first get acquainted with the similarities.
First, both languages use the subject-verb-object (SVO) pattern of sentences.
For instance, ‘I saw a movie’ translates to ‘vi una película’ in Spanish, with the sentence structure being similar in both cases.
Second, English and Spanish both have four basic types of sentence structure - simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
Third, both languages use conjunctions like but (pero), and (y), and or (o) to form compound sentences.
With that being said, let’s explore the many ways in which the rules of syntax differ between English and Spanish:
Maria (Subject) ate (Verb) an apple (Object). You can say that in Spanish as:Comió (Verb) María (Subject) una manzana (Object).In other words, Spanish can have a verb-subject-object (VSO) structure, while English uses only the SVO order.
Take this sentence, for example: A (preposition) comfortable (adjective) hotel (noun). In Spanish, that would read, ‘Un (preposition) hotel (noun) confortable (adjective)’.
‘She (subject) does (auxiliary verb) not (adverb) like (main verb) coffee’. The same happens with this sentence:‘He is not coming to the party’. Here’s how these two sentences translate to Spanish: ‘A ella no le gusta el café.’‘Él no viene a la fiesta.’In both these cases, the adverb ‘no’ precedes the main verb. Another point of difference here is the use of double negatives in Spanish, which English does not use. For instance: I didn’t see anyone on the street.The same is said in Spanish as:‘No vi a nadie en la calle.’In this sentence, no (not) and nadie (no one) are both used together.
A conjugated verb is one that can be changed to indicate the subject, tense, or mood of a sentence. For instance: ‘I am going to the cinema’. ‘It is raining’. ‘I don’t want to go’. This is how the three sentences would be spoken in Spanish: ‘Voy al cine.’‘Está lloviendo.’‘No quiero ir.’In each case, the subject is omitted because it can be derived from the verb being used. There are several other subtle differences in syntax between English and Spanish, but this is more than enough to get started with. Syntax Differences Between English and Spanish Explained with ExamplesHere are eight examples of Spanish sentences and how they translate to English. These examples highlight the various differences in English and Spanish syntax like word order, subject omission, negation, and other features.
English: I am going to the supermarket. Explanation: The subject ‘I’ is omitted in Spanish because the verb ‘voy’ (am going) is conjugated for the first person.
English: John came to the party. Explanation: Here, Spanish uses the VSO structure for emphasis, while the English translation uses the standard SVO order.
English: Where does she live?Explanation: English requires the auxiliary verb ‘does’ to form the question. Spanish uses the word ‘donde’ (where) and the verb-subject order instead of subject-verb.
English: A red car. Explanation: Adjectives typically follow the noun in Spanish, whereas in English, adjectives always come before the noun.
English: I ate pizza yesterday. Explanation: The time expression ‘ayer’ (yesterday) goes before the verb ‘comi’ (ate) in Spanish. In English, ‘yesterday’ occurs at the end of the sentence.
English: I don’t want anything. Explanation: Besides the omitted subject, the sentence uses double negatives - no and nada. A single negation is all it takes in English.
English: I give it to you. Explanation: The direct and indirect object pronouns ‘lo’ (it) and ‘te’ (to you), respectively, come before the verb in Spanish. In English, the object pronoun ‘it’ comes after the verb (give).
English: I always study in the afternoon. Explanation: Adverbs like ‘siempre’ (always) can be placed before the verb in Spanish, while in English, the adverb ‘always’ follows the subject ‘I’ and precedes the verb ‘study’.Bridge the Gaps Between Spanish and English Syntax with Immigo Syntax is a major challenge native Spanish speakers face while learning English. Unfortunately, it is not the only one. Everything from conjunctions and phrasal verbs to contractions can trip up Spanish learners. We at Immigo understand these challenges only too well. That is why our immersive language-learning platform is full of useful tools and resources that aid you every step of the way. Whether it be through conversations with peers or AI-driven real-time feedback, we help Spanish learners speak English accurately, confidently, and in no time. Reach out to us today if you want to speak English like a native.
