GRAMMATICAL INTRODUCTION
| Spelling | Description | Examples |
| h | stands for no sound at all, but is written in a number of words | haba "bean"; hierba "grass" |
0.3Syllables.A single consonant sound (and, in writing, two letters representing a single sound), or a consonant followed by l or r, belongs to the same syllable as the vowel following it: ca-ro, ca-rro, mi-lla. Other groups of two consonants are broken up, the first consonant belonging with the preceding vowel and the second with the following vowel: juz-gar "to judge"; rec-tor "rector".
0.4Stress.Words ending in a vowel or in -n or -s are normally stressed on the next to the last syllable; words ending in any other consonant are stressed on the last syllable. Words having this type of stress bear no written accent mark: cosa "thing"; cantan "they sing"; cantas "you sing" (Fam); cantar "to sing". If a word does not conform to this pattern, an accent mark is written over the vowel letter of the syllable which is stressed: vámonos "let's go"; jardín "garden". In a few cases, a written accent serves only to mark the difference between one word and another written like it but having a different meaning: ¿cuándo? "when?" (interrogative), but cuando "when" (relative).
II. Forms
1.1Nouns and adjectives are inflected alike, and will be discussed together. A noun is an inflected form that may follow el/la and precede a verb; an adjective is a form that may follow el/la and precede a noun. (For the definite article, cf §1.22.)
1.11The plural of nouns and adjectives is formed in one of three ways:
1.By leaving the singular unchanged (words ending in -s, family names, and a few others): jueves "Thursday, Thursdays"; López "López, Lopezes"; déficit "deficit, deficits".
2.By adding -s to nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or stressed -é: libro "book", libros "books"; cara "face", caras "faces"; café "coffee", cafés "coffees".
3.By adding -es to most other nouns: rubí "ruby", pl rubíes; buey "ox", pl bueyes; papel "paper", pl papeles. The letter c is replaced by qu, and z by c, before -es: frac "frock coat", pl fraques; lápiz "pencil", pl lápices.
1.12Gender.Nouns belong either to the masculine or the feminine gender; adjectives to both. The feminine of an adjective is formed on the masculine in one of the following three ways:
1.By substituting -a for -o of the masculine: bueno m, buena f "good".
2.By adding -a to the masculine: inglés m, inglesa f "English".
3.By leaving the masculine unchanged: interesante m, f "interesting"; fácil m, f "easy".
1.13Reduced forms of adjectives.Certain adjectives are used in shortened or reduced forms when they stand before a noun they modify, e.g. un buen libro "a good book". The following adjectives have reduced forms in the masculine singular only: buen(o) "good": mal(o) "bad" ; primer(o) "first"; tercer(o) "third";
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