are besides used at the beginning of every line in poetry, as La virtud es amable, Virtue is amiable. abominable, Vice is odious. Fabricava un palacio el pensamiento, Ha hecho sala de un grave tormento. El vicio es 2d, All christian and proper names of persons, kingdoms, provinces, towns, places, rivers, ships, mountains, dignities, and professions; also the names of heathen gods and goddesses, are all written with a capital letter. 3d, The names of arts and sciences begin with a capital letter, as La Musica y la Pintura son agradables, Music and Painting are agreeable. An easy method of learning many Spanish feminine Words ending in ad, and in English in ty or y, in an alphabe N. B. The perfect knowledge of the above nouns may spare a great deal of time and trouble to the beginner, if he will take upon him to learn them by heart. 11 PART II. OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. THERE are in Spanish, as in other languages, ten parts of speech; viz. the article, the substantive, the adjective, the pronoun, the verb, the participle, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection. The six first are declinable, and the four others indeclinable. CHAPTER I. OF THE ARTICLE. THE article is a little word placed before a substantive to specify the extent of the signification in which it is taken the Spanish language has three articles, the definite, the indefinite, and the partitive. 1. Def. el m. la f. lo n. los m. pl. las f. pl....the. 2 Indef. a de . a, an. 3. Part. unos or algunos m. pl. unas or algunas f. pl..some The article has great advantages in languages in which it is used; it gives to the speech much softness and precision: it has its proper use and rules, as we shall see in the Syntax. CHAPTER II. OF SUBSTANTIVES. THIS Chapter is divided into four sections; the first explains the nature and different species of substantives; the second speaks of their case and declension; the third treats of their gender, and shows how to distinguish the masculine from the feminine: and the fourth has for its object the plural of nouns and its formation from the singular number. SECTION I. Of the nature and species of Substantives. A substantive is a word which expresses the name of a person or thing, material, spiritual, or ideal; as hombre a man, muger a woman, caballo a horse, casa a house, virtud virtue. There are three sorts of substantives; which are called proper, common, and collective. The substantive proper expresses some individual person or thing which cannot be divided into species: such are Pedro Peter, Londres London, Fernando Ferdinand, Adorfo Adorf, &c. The substantive common can be said of all objects of the same kind: such are reyno kingdom, rio river, soldado soldier. The substantive collective is a word singular which presents to the mind several persons or things: the collective nouns are general or partitive. A collective general represents the whole object: such are la nacion the nation, el exercito the army, la flota the fleet, el parlamento the parliament. |