PART THE SECOND. ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. ALL the Rules hitherto given, although exceedingly useful and even indispensable, form, after all, but a very small portion of the Grammar. They serve to give you the first principles of the pronunciation and spelling of Spanish words; but we are now about to consider the value and class of the words themselves, with the position they should occupy in the sentence, their relation to each other, and all the other circumstances which are needful to express our thoughts, and form a wellregulated discourse. To this end, we will examine each of the parts of speech in turn, and commence with the Article. CHAPTER I. THE ARTICLE. THE article the in English, is rendered into Spanish by el for the masculine singular, and la for the feminine; with los for the masculine plural, and las for the feminine; there is another article, lo, used only in the singular, and before adjectives. These articles are declined with the prepositions de, of; á, to; and por, by; thus :— In the masculine singular you will observe that, to avoid the difficulty and harshness of pronouncing de el, á el, custom has blended the two words into one, thus making del, al. In order that the value of these articles may be better understood, I will decline them with nouns. Declension of a Noun with the Masculine Article. Thus it will be observed that the article changes according to the gender and number of the noun to which it is prefixed; not, as in English, remaining invariable. The masculine article el is united to the infinitives of verbs when used substantively; as, as well as to some adverbs and conjunctions, used as nouns : el si, el no, el como, el cuando, the yes and no. I said the article lo, the, was likewise employed; it is used before adjectives when unaccompanied by substantives and supplying their place. Thus The article the is frequently suppressed in English, particularly before nouns taken in a general sense; not so in Spanish, for the article is used before all nouns, except the names of persons and cities. Instead, therefore, of saying, Gold is found in several parts of the world, it must be in Spanish, The gold, &c. The article must be repeated also before each noun, provided there are two or more in succession, more especially if they differ in gender or number, for the reason we have given, that articles must agree with their nouns in all things. When you meet in English such phrases as, A dollar a yard, Three rials a pound, the article a preceding the measure or weight is usually rendered by the article the in Spanish. Thus Un duro la vara. Tres reales la libra. There are other little points of difference between the two languages in the use of this article; but the rules which I could give you are liable to as many exceptions as examples could be found under them. Practice will be your surest guide, and I have marked down the most important and necessary. After they have been read two or three times over, you may venture to supply the omissions in the following exercise, wherein I have set down the nouns and marked their gender, in order to facilitate the operation. EXERCISE FIRST.-ON THE ARTICLE. NOTE. The English indefinite article a or an is expressed in Spanish by un for the masculine, and una for the feminine. A woman. The girl. An apple. The The man. hombre. knife. A cuchillo, m. tenedor, m. pluma, f. A book. Esperanza, f. Caridad, f. The window. Wisdom. ventana, f. Sabiduria, f. The uncle. An aunt. Time. gramatica, f. casa, f. A game. The coach. gansa. virtud, f. Orgullo, m. A vice. The vicio, m. ministro. exito, m. dones, m. Of the merits measures of the minister. The hopes of success. Fortuna, f. niños. meritos, m. of the history. To the wishes of the pupils. To the pens CHAPTER II. ON THE NOUN. NOUNS possess number, gender, and case. in It will be necessary to explain each of these separately, order that they may be clearly understood; and to this end we will begin with NUMBER. As most nouns may express one single thing or person, or several at the same time, and it is by their termination that we learn to which of these great divisions the noun belongs, there must evidently be two numbers-Singular and Plural. The mode in which the singular is made plural in Spanish will be simple enough to the English student, as it resembles the general rule of his own language, and has fewer exceptions. Thus, if the noun ends in a vowel, an s must be added to the singular. If the noun terminates in a consonant, es must be added. Should the final consonant be a z, you must change the z into ces; as, lapiz, luz, pencil. light. lapices, pencils. Es must likewise be added to the few nouns which end in an accented vowel, as the s only would cause them in the plural to lose their marked sound. Certain nouns, such as brindis, a toast; cortaplumas, a penknife; sacamuelas, a dentist; sacatrapos, a corkscrew; remain |