Word order and questions

Spanish sentences follow the same basic order as English, but the subject is often left out. Questions and exclamations get an extra upside-down mark at the start, and "no" simply goes before the verb.

Basic Word Order

Like English, a normal Spanish sentence goes subject, verb, object:

• María come pan. - María eats bread.
• Mi hermano tiene un perro. - My brother has a dog.
• Los niños ven la televisión. - The children watch TV.

Two things are different from English:

• Adjectives usually come after the noun: una casa grande (a big house), el carro rojo (the red car).
• Object pronouns such as lo (it, him) and te (you) come before the verb: Lo veo. (I see it.), Te quiero. (I love you.)

Dropping the Subject Pronoun

The verb ending already shows who is doing the action, so the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, ella, nosotros, ellos...) is usually left out.

Keep the pronoun to stress or contrast who does something: Yo trabajo y tú no. - I work and you don’t.

When You Need the Pronoun

Some verb forms can refer to more than one person:

• habla can mean "he speaks", "she speaks" or "you speak" (to someone you call usted).
• hablan can mean "they speak" or "you all speak" (ustedes).

When the context doesn’t make it clear who you mean, add the pronoun: Él habla inglés, pero ella habla francés. - He speaks English, but she speaks French.

Upside-Down Marks: ¿? and ¡!

Spanish puts a mark at the start of every question and exclamation, as well as at the end. The opening mark is upside down:

• ¿Cómo estás? - How are you?
• ¡Qué bueno! - How great!

The marks go around the question or exclamation itself, which is not always the whole sentence:

• Y tú, ¿cómo estás? - And you, how are you?

Yes-or-No Questions

The simplest way to ask a question is to keep the normal order and let your voice rise at the end. In writing, the question marks do the work:

• Tienes hambre. - You are hungry.
• ¿Tienes hambre? - Are you hungry?

There is no word like English "do" or "does": ¿Hablas inglés? means "Do you speak English?"

You can also put the subject after the verb. This is common with usted and with names: ¿Habla usted inglés? - Do you speak English? ¿Está María en casa? - Is María at home?

To check that someone agrees, add ¿verdad? or ¿no? at the end, like English "right?": Es fácil, ¿verdad? - It’s easy, right?

Questions With Question Words

Question words go at the very start and carry a written accent. The verb usually comes right after them, and any subject follows the verb:

• ¿Dónde está el hotel? - Where is the hotel?
• ¿Qué quieres comer? - What do you want to eat?
• ¿Cuándo llega el autobús? - When does the bus arrive?

No Preposition at the End

A Spanish question never ends with a preposition, as English questions often do. Words like de (from, of) and con (with) go in front of the question word:

• ¿De dónde eres? - Where are you from?
• ¿Con quién vives? - Who do you live with?

Placing "No"

To make a sentence negative, put no directly before the verb. Spanish has no "don’t" or "doesn’t":

• No tengo dinero. - I don’t have money.
• María no come carne. - María doesn’t eat meat.

If the verb has an object pronoun in front of it, no goes before the pronoun: No lo sé. - I don’t know.

When you answer a question, you often say no twice: once as the answer and once before the verb. ¿Tienes hambre? No, no tengo hambre. - Are you hungry? No, I’m not hungry.

Double Negatives Are Correct

Words like nada (nothing), nadie (nobody) and nunca (never) still need no before the verb when they come after it. Unlike in English, this double negative is correct Spanish:

• No tengo nada. - I don’t have anything.
• No veo a nadie. - I don’t see anybody.
• No voy nunca. - I never go.

If the negative word comes first, leave out no: Nunca voy. - I never go. Nadie sabe. - Nobody knows.