ComparisonofSpanishandItalian
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Introduction This page is concerned with similarities and differences between Italian and Spanish. My main motivation in writing it was to help those who are already fluent or near-fluent in one of the two languages to start learning the other. However the page may also be of interest to people who speak neither language, but who wonder whether Italian and Spanish are really as similar as they at first appear. In all the examples, I have used the convention of putting Italian words and phrases first, followed by Spanish. The page is under construction! If you have any suggestions or corrections, please let me know. (Contact details are here.) Pronunciation and Spelling The Italian alphabet officially only contains 21 letters. If the letters j, k, w, x or y appear in a word, it is because the word has been borrowed from a foreign language. The situation with Spanish is a bit more complicated. The current official stance of the Real Academia Espa?ola is that there are 29 characters, with ’ch’, ’ll’ and ’?’ regarded as characters in their own right. However, the Academia permits the rule to be relaxed for ’ch’ and ’ll’ to make computerised sorting easier. Italian has seven vowels and Spanish five. The vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ are pronounced very similarly. However, standard Italian has ’open’ and ’closed’ versions of both /e/ and /o/, whereas Spanish only has one version of each. To me, the Spanish /e/ and /o/ sound similar to the closed Italian counterparts. In both languages, the voiceless consonants /p/, /t/ and /k/ are less aspirated than in English. Also the /t/ is made by putting the tongue against the upper teeth. The voiced consonants /b/, /d/ and /g/, on the other hand, differ. The Italian versions are similar to English, although the voicing is more marked. Spanish /b/ is indistinguishable from /v/ and is made using the lips. When /d/ appears between vowels in Spanish, it becomes like the sound at the beginning of the English word ’this’. When /g/ appears between vowels, it becomes softer (technically, it becomes a fricative). Both Italian and Spanish have a sound which is similar, but not identical, to the sound ’lli’ in the English word ’million’. The Italian version is written ’gl’, as in consiglio, svegliarsi, and is always followed by ’i’. The Spanish version is written as ’ll’, as in calle, llamar, caballo, and may be followed by any vowel. Both Italian and Spanish also have a sound which is similar, but not identical, to the sound ’ni’ in the English word ’onion’. The Italian version is written ’gn’, as in spagnolo, bagno, whereas the Spanish version is written as ’?’, as in espa?ol, ba?o. The letter ’h’ is silent in both languages. However, it can change the sound of adjacent letters, as explained below. Italian and Spanish follow English in that the letters ’c’ and ’g’ are softened when followed by ’e’ or ’i’. Unfortunately, the meaning of ’softened’ varies from one language to another. In Italian, the soft ’c’ is like English ’ch’, and ’g’ behaves as in English. In Spanish, the soft ’c’ is like the sound at the beginning of the English word ’think’, and the soft ’g’ is like the Scottish ’ch’. Just as in English, this causes difficulties if you want a hard ’c’ or ’g’ before ’e’ or ’i’. To do this in Italian, you have to insert an ’h’, as in chi, righe, paghi. To do this in Spanish, you use ’qu’ or ’gu’, as in que, guerra. This leads to the confusing situation where the Italian words che, quando and quanto mean exactly the same thing as the Spanish words que, cuando and cuanto, and are pronounced in exactly the same way, but are spelled differently! Alternatively, you may want a soft ’c’ or ’g’ before ’a’, ’o’ or ’u’. To do this in Italian, you have to insert an ’i’, as in ciao, ciò, già, giù. To do this in Spanish, you have to use ’z’ and ’j’, as in zapatos, zumo, oja, ajo. In Italian, ’sc’ is pronounced like the English ’sh’ when before ’e’ or ’i’, as in sciare, capisce. If you want ’sc’ to be pronounced normally before ’e’ or ’i’, you again have to insert an ’h’, as in schifo, mosche. In Spanish, ’ch’ is pronounced as in English. E.g. chocolate, hecho. In Italian, the letter ’s’ can be pronounced voiced or voiceless, depending on the context. In Spanish, it is always voiceless. In Italian, the letter ’z’ is pronounced as /ts/ or /dz/, again depending on the context, whereas in Spanish it is pronounced like the ’th’ in ’think’, as we have seen. Italian contains many, many words with doubled consonants, as in gabbia, bocca, addio, baffi, leggo, bello, gomma, anno, scoppiare, correre, adesso, gatto, avverbio, azzurro. When a consonant is doubled in this way, the sound is lengthened. In Spanish, on the other hand, the only consonants which can be doubled are ’l’ (llamar) and ’r’ (perro). The Spanish ’rr’ is similar to the Italian version, but ’ll’ is a sound in its own right as described above. (It is also possible to have ’cc’ in Spanish, as in acción, but this is not a true doubling as the first ’c’ is hard and the second is soft.) In Italian, the majority of words are stressed on the penultimate syllable, as in cane, orologio, bella. However, there are many exceptions. If the final syllable is stressed, it is indicated with an accent, such as caffè, città, virtù. If a different syllable is stressed, there is no indication and the word must simply be learned, as in the case of parlano, abito, possibile. Spanish on the other hand has very simple rules governing stress. Words ending in a vowel, ’n’ or ’s’ are normally stressed on the penultimate syllable, as in casa, tienen, hombres. Words ending in other letters are normally stressed on the last syllable, as in ciudad, espa?ol. Any exceptions must be indicated by an acute accent, as in árbol, andén. Accents are always acute in Spanish. In Italian, they are usually grave, but occasionally an acute accent is used to indicate an open ’e’, as in perché. On the whole I would say that Spanish spelling is slightly easier to master than Italian, but both systems are a lot simpler than English! Similar Vocabulary In many (but by no means all) cases, the Italian and Spanish words for something are very similar. In fact there are some simple rules for converting one to the other which work in many cases: Almost all words in Italian end in a vowel, whereas many Spanish words do not. Compare giardino/jardín, partire/partir, migliore/mejor. Italian ’o’ or ’uo’ often becomes ’ue’ in Spanish when the syllable is stressed. E.g. morto/muerto, posto/puesto. Italian ’e’ often becomes ’ie’ in Spanish when the syllable is stressed. E.g. concerto/concierto, tempo/tiempo. Italian ’f’ often becomes ’h’ in Spanish when at the start of a word. E.g. fumo/humo, figlio/hijo. Italian voiceless consonants ’c’ and ’t’ often become voiced (’g’ and ’d’ respectively) in Spanish. E.g. amico/amigo, potere/poder, colpo/golpe. Italian ’sc’, ’sf’, ’sp’ and ’st’ often become ’esc, ’esf’, ’esp’ and ’est’ in Spanish, when at the start of a word. E.g. scrivere/escribir, sforzo/esfuerzo, speciale/especial, studente/estudiante. The Italian suffixes ’-tà’ ’-tù’ and ’-zione’ become ’-dad’, ’-tud’ and ’-ción’ in Spanish. E.g. università/universidad, virtù/virtud, informazione/información. Armed with this knowledge, you can easily learn the following pairs, which involve the ’o’ to ’ue’ rule: l’accordo/el acuerdo, il collo/el cuello, il conto/la cuenta, la corda/la cuerda, il corno/el cuerno, il corpo/el cuerpo, il fuoco/el fuego, il mobile/el mueble, la mostra/la muestra, la noce/la nuez, la porta/la puerta, il porto/el puerto, il risposto/la rispuesta, il racconto/el cuento, l’ospito/el huéspede, l’osso/el hueso, lo sconto/el discuento, il posto/el puesto, l’uovo/el huevo, il volo/el vuelo, buono/bueno, forte/fuerte, morto/muerto, nostro/nuestro, nuovo/nuevo, fuori/fuera, dopo/después. And these ones, which involve the ’e’ to ’ie’ rule: il cervo/el ciervo, il concerto/el concierto, il dente/el diente, la febbre/la fiebre, la festa/la fiesta, il governo/el gobierno, l’inverno/el invierno, la nebbia/la niebla, la petra/la piedra, il pelo/el piel, il tempo/el tiempo, il vento/el viento, mentre/mientras, bene/bien, aperto/abierto, sempre/siempre, vecchio/viejo. And these ones, which involve the initial ’f’ rule: la farina/la harina, la fata/el hada, il fegato/el hígado, il ferro/el hierro, il fico/el higo, il figlio/el hijo, il filo/el hilo, la foglia/la hoja, il fondo/el hondo, la formica/la hormiga, il forno/el horno, il fumo/el humo, fare/hacer, ferire/herir. Completely Different Vocabulary I would not want to give the impression that all words are similar in the two languages! Here are some examples of sentences where the two languages become mutually incomprehensible: ’This boy works in the shop’ becomes Questo ragazzo lavora nel negozio in Italian and Este muchacho trabaja en la tienda in Spanish. ’The street on the left’ becomes La strada a sinistra in Italian and La calle a la izquierda in Spanish. ’We ate carrots and peas’ becomes Abbiamo mangiato carote e piselli in Italian and Comimos zanahorias y guisantes in Spanish. ’Would you like to leave a message?’ becomes Vorrebbe lasciare un messaggio? in Italian and ?Querría usted dejar un recado? in Spanish. ’I’m going to take a nap’ becomes Faccio un pisolino in Italian and Me echo una siesta in Spanish. Italian-speakers may find the following Spanish verbs difficult to learn: quedar, quejar, quemar, querer and quitar. (These are approximately equivalent to rimanere, lamentare, brucciare, volere and togliere, respectively.) They may also find the following verbs difficult: llegar, llenar, llevar, llover and llorar (approximately equivalent to arrivare, pienare, portare, piovere and piangere). Finally, Italian has only two verbs meaning ’to become’: diventare and divenire. Spanish has several ways of saying it, with slightly different meanings: convertirse en, hacerse, llegar a ser, pasar a ser, ponerse, quedar(se), volverse. False Friends The following pairs can be misleading. Italian pesca usually means peach, although it can (if pronounced with a closed ’e’) mean she/he/it fishes. Spanish pesca always has the latter meaning. Italian burro means butter; Spanish burro means donkey. Italian salire means to go up; Spanish salir means to go out or to depart. Italian tenere means to hold or to take; Spanish tener usually means to have. Italian subire means to undergo or to endure; Spanish subir means to raise or to go up. Italian sembrare means to seem; Spanish sembrar means to sow (seed). Italian guardare means to look (at); Spanish guardar means to keep or to guard. Italian topo means mouse; Spanish topo means mole (i.e., the animal). To make life even more complicated, the Italian word deluso and the Spanish word decepcionado do not mean deluded or deceived respectively. In fact, they both mean disappointed! Articles Articles are much more complicated in Italian than in Spanish. In both languages, the indefinite artices are un (masculine) and una (feminine). However, in Italian, un becomes uno before a noun beginning with ’s’+consonant, as in uno studente, and in a few other cases. Also, una becomes un’ before a noun beginning with a vowel, as in un’ università. In Italian, the definite artices are il (masculine singular), i (masculine plural), la (feminine singular) and le (feminine plural). The Spanish equivalents are el, los, la and las respectively. However, in Italian, il becomes lo before ’s’ + consonant and l’ before a vowel, la becomes l’ before a vowel, and i becomes gli before ’s’ + consonant or a vowel. The only change of this kind in Spanish is that la becomes el before a stressed ’a’, as in el agua, el águila. Generally speaking, Italian uses articles more frequently than Spanish. For example, ’Do you have another pen?’ is Hai un’altra penna? in Italian, but simply ?Tienes otro boli? in Spanish. There are exceptions, however: ’on the right’ is a destra in Italian but a la derecha in Spanish. Also, Italian has the so-called ’partitive article’ construction, but Spanish does not. For example ’I’d like some water’ is Vorrei dell’acqua in Italian but simply Querría agua in Spanish. Prepositions The list of prepositions, and their uses, is fairly similar in both languages. However: Italian has both di and da, whereas Spanish only has de. Compare Il padre di Pietro with El padre de Pedro, and Il treno viene da Londra with El tren viene de Londres. On the other hand, Spanish has both para and por, whereas Italian only has per. Compare Ti chiamo per sapere with Te llamo para saber, and Andiamo per strada with Andamos por la calle. In some cases, where Italian uses ’di’, Spanish does not need a preposition. Compare Spero di viaggiare with Espero viajar, Penso di poterlo fare with Pienso poderlo hacer and Ha deciso di sposarsi with Ha decidido casarse. Similarly, there are cases where Spanish needs ’de’ when Italian doesn’t need a preposition. Compare sono sicuro che with estoy seguro de que. There are other cases in which one language needs a preposition but the other does not. For example, compare siamo in cinque with somos cinco. There are cases where each language requires a preposition, but not the same one. Examples: interessarsi di qualcosa/interesarse en algo, qualcosa da bere/algo para beber, penso a te/pienso en ti, per forza/a la fuerza. Care must be taken with sentences beginning with ’I went to’ or ’I live in’. In Italian we have Sono andato a Parigi, Sono andato in Francia, Vivo a Parigi, Vivo in Francia. In Spanish, we have Fui a París, Fui a Francia, Vivo en París, Vivo en Francia. (The Spanish system is similar to the English one.) The Spanish sobre can mean either su (on) or sopra (above) depending on the context. Spanish has the so-called ’personal a’. This means that, when a direct object is a person, the preposition ’a’ has to be inserted. Compare Vedo Paulo with Veo a Pablo. Remember this only occurs with persons, so for example Leggo il libro becomes simply Leo el libro. The ’personal a’ causes some difficulties with object pronouns (see below). Finally, in Italian there exist many expressions in which ’di’ occurs before an infinitive, as in Penso di averlo fatto, Mi ha chiesto di venire, Dille di scrivermi. This construction can be used in Spanish only when the infinitive refers to the subject of the sentence. That is, one can say Pienso de haberlo hecho, but one would have to say Me pedió que viniera and Dile que me escriba. Personal Pronouns The Italian personal pronouns are summarized in the following table: SubjectDirect ObjectIndirect ObjectStressedReflexive 1st pn sg.iomimimemi 2nd pn sg.tutititeti 3rd pn sg.lui/leilo/lagli/lelui/leisi 1st pn pl.noicicinoici 2nd pn pl.voivivivoivi 3rd pn pl.loroli/leglilorosi Here, stressed means following a preposition. Sometimes, stressed pronouns are called disjunctive. Now compare this with the corresponding table for Spanish: SubjectDirect ObjectIndirect ObjectStressedReflexive 1st pn sg.yomememíme 2nd pn sg.tútetetite 3rd pn sg.él/ellalo/laleél/ellase 1st pn pl.nosotrosnosnosnosotrosnos 2nd pn pl.vosotrosososvosotrosos 3rd pn pl.ellos/ellaslos/laslesellos/ellasse Note the switch of ’i’ and ’e’ in the first and second person singular forms, and also in the third person reflexive forms. This can lead to confusion and needs to be memorized. (Compare mi piace, ti dico and si lavano with me gusta, te digo and se lavan, respectively.) Here are some remarks about usage: In Italian, one uses ’Lei’ followed by the third person singular form to address somebody in formal speech, as in Di dov’è Lei?. One can also use ’Loro’ to address more than one person, as in Di dove sono Loro?, but this is now regarded as very formal and old-fashioned. In Spanish formal speech, one uses ’usted’ followed by the third person singular form when addressing one person, as in ?De donde es usted?, and ’ustedes’ followed by the third person plural form when addresses more than one person, as in ?De donde son ustedes?. In both languages, subject pronouns are optional. That is, in Italian one can say either Hai mangiato tutto or Tu hai mangiato tutto, and in Spanish one can say Has comido todo or Tú has comido todo. The pronoun is only included when necessary to avoid confusion, for emphasis, or to make it obvious that formal speech is being used. In Spanish it is common to add redundant indirect object pronouns to sentences, as in Le hablo a él and A mí me gusta. This is regarded as substandard in Italian and is best avoided. One would simply say Parlo a lui and A me piace, respectively. On the other hand, there is one situation where Italian uses a redundant direct object pronoun. This is when a direct object is moved to the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. Compare La carne non la mangio with Carne no como. (This example also illustrates the fact mentioned above, that Italian uses articles more frequently than Spanish.) The ’personal a’, mentioned in the section on prepositions, causes problems in Spanish. It makes it hard sometimes to tell whether a person is a direct or indirect object. A sentence like ’I saw him’ can be translated as either Lo vi or Le vi. It varies from one region to another. For an Italian speaker, it is easier to use lo/la/los/las here. Complications arise when an indirect object pronoun is immediately followed by a direct object pronoun. In Italian, ’gli lo’ and ’le lo’ are contracted to ’glielo’. In Spanish, ’le lo’ becomes ’se lo’. So, for example, ’I have given it to him’ becomes Gliel’ho dato in Italian and Se lo he dado in Spanish. Finally, I should mention the stressed version of the reflexive third person pronouns, which are ’sé’ or ’se stesso’ in Italian and ’sí’ or ’sí mismo’ in Spanish. So, for example, ’He is talking to himself’ becomes Parla con se stesso in Italian and Habla con sí mismo in Spanish. Note yet again the irritating switch of ’i’ and ’e’. Other Pronouns In Italian, the demonstrative pronouns are identical to the demonstrative adjectives. E.g. questo libro means ’this book’ and questo means ’this (one)’. Spanish is a little more complicated: we would have este libro and esto respectively. In Italian, the possessive pronouns are identical to the possessive adjectives. E.g. il mio libro means ’my book’ and il mio means ’my one’. Again, Spanish is a little more complicated: we would have mi libro and el mío respectively. The relative pronouns are extremely similar in both languages, although the spelling differs: che/que, quando/cuando, quanto/cuanto, chi/quien, quale/cual, dove/donde. In Italian, the interrogative pronouns are identical to the relative pronouns. E.g. che can mean both ’what’ and ’that’. Spanish is similar, but an accent is added to the interrogative version: ?qué?, ?cuándo? and so on. Italian has the so-called ’clitic pronouns’, ne and ci, which are usually used in place of an object phrase. Spanish, like English, does not have them. Compare ne ho due with tengo dos, non ci sono mai stato with nunca he estado allí and devo pensarci with tengo que pensar sobre eso. The ’neuter’ subject pronoun is ciò in Italian and lo in Spanish. Example: Ciò che dice non è vero, Lo que dice no es verdad. Auxiliary Verbs Spanish has the complication of two verbs meaning ’to be’, namely, ser and estar. The first is used mainly for permanent states, whereas the second is used mainly for temporary states. The equivalent verbs essere and stare exist in Italian, but stare is used much less frequently than estar. Compare the Italian Dov’è? and Sono stanco with the Spanish ?Dónde está? and Estoy cansado. Italian use of stare follows Spanish, however, in the construction of the gerund (see below) and also in a few set phrases (compare Sto bene with Estoy bien). The main verb in Italian meaning ’to have’ is avere. In Spanish it is tener. However, whereas Italian uses avere to form compound tenses, Spanish does not use tener. Instead, Spanish has the special auxiliary verb haber. To say ’there is’, ’there are’ in Italian, use ci plus essere. For example, c’è una macchina, ci sono delle donne, c’era molta gente. In Spanish, you just use haber. For example, hay un coche, hay de las mujeres, había mucha gente. Italian has three modal auxiliary verbs: dovere, potere and volere. Spanish also has the three verbs deber, poder and querer. However, in Spanish there exist several other modal constructions. E.g., it is common to use tener que in place of deber. For impersonal constructions, one can use hay que or hace falta. It should be noted that the Spanish modal querer followed by a human object means ’to love’. For more on the auxiliary verbs essere, avere and haber, see below (under compound tenses). Simple Tenses By ’simple’ tenses I mean ones which involve changing the verb itself, rather than introducing auxiliary verbs. In both Italian and Spanish these are the present, imperfect, past, future and conditional. In both languages, there are three main conjugations. The infinitive endings are -are, -ere and -ire in Italian, and -ar, -er and -ir in Spanish. Present: Examples of present tense conjugations of regular Italian verbs are as follows: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parlovendoparto 2nd pn sg.parlivendiparti 3rd pn sg.parlavendeparte 1st pn pl.parliamovendiamopartiamo 2nd pn pl.parlatevendetepartite 3rd pn pl.parlanovendonopartono The equivalent is Spanish is: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablovendoparto 2nd pn sg.hablasvendespartes 3rd pn sg.hablavendeparte 1st pn pl.hablamosvendemospartimos 2nd pn pl.habláisvendéispartís 3rd pn pl.hablanvendenparten Again, there are obvious similarities. The main difference is that all Italian finite forms end in a vowel, but in Spanish this does not hold. Imperfect: This tense is extremely simple in Italian; it basically involves the insertion of the letter ’v’: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parlavovendevopartivo 2nd pn sg.parlavivendevipartivi 3rd pn sg.parlavavendevapartiva 1st pn pl.parlavamovendevamopartivamo 2nd pn pl.parlavatevendevatepartivate 3rd pn pl.parlavanovendevanopartivano Spanish is similar, except that it involves the addition of ’b’ in the first conjugation and ’í’ in the second and third conjugations: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablabavendíapartía 2nd pn sg.hablabasvendíaspartías 3rd pn sg.hablabavendíapartía 1st pn pl.hablábamosvendíamospartíamos 2nd pn pl.hablabaisvendíaispartíais 3rd pn pl.hablabanvendíanpartían Note that Spanish does not make a distinction between the first and third person singular here. Simple past: The simple past is called the passato remoto in Italian and the pretérito in Spanish. The regular forms in Italian are: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parlaivendeipartii 2nd pn sg.parlastivendestipartisti 3rd pn sg.parlòvendépartì 1st pn pl.parlammovendemmopartimmo 2nd pn pl.parlastevendestepartiste 3rd pn pl.parlaronovenderonopartirono The regular forms in Spanish are: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablévendépartí 2nd pn sg.hablastevendistepartiste 3rd pn sg.hablóvendiópartió 1st pn pl.hablamosvendimospartimos 2nd pn pl.hablasteisvendisteispartisteis 3rd pn pl.hablaranvendieronpartieron There are some clear similarities in the verb endings. However, in both languages there are many irregularities, and in the case of Italian there are even alternative forms for some verbs. The usage of the simple past also differs from one language to another. It is rarely used in spoken Italian, and is reserved mainly for formal written language. Italians tend to prefer the perfect tense (see below). In Spanish, however, it is used extremely frequently, as indeed in English. For example, ’I did the shopping yesterday’ would be ho fatto la spesa ieri (perfect tense) in Italian, but fui de compras ayer (simple past tense) in Spanish. Future: Here is the future tense in Italian: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parleròvenderòpartirò 2nd pn sg.parleraivenderaipartirai 3rd pn sg.parleràvenderàpartirà 1st pn pl.parleremovenderemopartiremo 2nd pn pl.parleretevenderetepartirete 3rd pn pl.parlerannovenderannopartiranno The basic idea is to add an appropriate ending to the infinitive. The same idea applies in Spanish, but the endings are slightly different: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablarévenderépartiré 2nd pn sg.hablarásvenderáspartirás 3rd pn sg.hablarávenderápartirá 1st pn pl.hablaremosvenderemospartiremos 2nd pn pl.hablaréisvenderéispartiréis 3rd pn pl.hablaránvenderánpartirán Both languages use the future tense less frequently than in English, with a preference for the present tense. Care must be taken when producing statements such as ’when you come, I will pay you’. Here, English uses the present tense for the first clause and the future for the second. In Italian, the two tenses must be the same; either both present (quando vieni, ti pago) or both future (quando verrai, ti pagherò). Spanish on the other hand follows English, except that the first verb must be in the subjunctive: cuando vengas, te pagaré. Conditional: Finally, the conditional tense. In Italian: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parlereivendereipartirei 2nd pn sg.parlerestivenderestipartiresti 3rd pn sg.parlerebbbevenderebbepartirebbe 1st pn pl.parleremmovenderemmopartiremmo 2nd pn pl.parlerestevenderestepartireste 3rd pn pl.parlerebberovenderebberopartirebbero As with the future tense, the basic idea is to add an appropriate ending to the infinitive. The same idea applies in Spanish, but the endings in Spanish are easier to remember because they resemble the imperfect endings: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablaríavenderíapartiría 2nd pn sg.hablaríasvenderíaspartirías 3rd pn sg.hablaríavenderíapartiría 1st pn pl.hablaríamosvenderíamospartiríamos 2nd pn pl.hablaríaisvenderíaispartiríais 3rd pn pl.hablaríanvenderíanpartirían. Compound Tenses In Italian, the compound tenses are formed by taking the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb avere (to have) or essere (to be), followed by the past participle. Most verbs take avere, but all reflexive verbs and most intransitive verbs take essere. When essere is used, the ending of the past participle must agree with the gender and number of the subject. Spanish is much simpler. There is a single auxiliary verb, haber, and there is no agreement necessary. Italian also has the so-called ’preceding direct object pronoun’ rule. That is, the ending of the past participle must agree with a direct object pronoun if that pronoun precedes the verb. For example, ’I have seen it’ becomes L’ho vista, if ’it’ refers to something feminine. Spanish does not have this rule, so the sentence becomes simply La he visto. Here are the five compound tenses, in the same order as their simple counterparts: Perfect: (In English, ’I have eaten’ and so on.) Formed by present tense of auxiliary + past participle. Examples: ho mangiato/he comido, sei andata/has ido, si sono alzati/se han levantado. Pluperfect: (In English, ’I had eaten’ and so on.) Formed by imperfect tense of auxiliary + past participle. Examples: avevo mangiato/había comido, eri andata/habías ido, si erano alzati/se habían levantado. Past anterior: No real equivalent in English. Used for remote past and rarely used. Formed by simple past tense of auxiliary + past participle. Examples: ebbi mangiato/hube comido, fosti andata/hubiste ido, si furono alzati/se hubieran levantado. Future perfect: (In English, ’I will have eaten’ and so on.) Formed by future tense of auxiliary + past participle. Examples: avrò mangiato/habré comido, sarai andata/habrás ido, si saranno alzati/se habrán levantado. Conditional perfect: (In English, ’I would have eaten’ and so on.) Formed by conditional tense of auxiliary + past participle. Examples: avrei mangiato/habría comido, saresti andata/habrías ido, si sarebbero alzati/se habrían levantado. The Gerund The use and formation of the gerund is similar in both languages. In both Italian and Spanish, one uses -ando for first conjugation verbs, as in parlando, hablando. Italian uses -endo for second and third conjugation verbs, whereas Spanish uses -iendo (compare vendendo and partendo with vendiendo and partiendo). The gerund is normally preceded by the appropriate form of stare/estar. E.g., Sto parlando, Estoy hablando. There is an important difference, however, between the two languages. In Italian, the gerund always applies to the subject and never to the object. Therefore, a sentence like l’ho visto fumando means that I saw him while I (the subject) was smoking. In Spanish, however, the gerund can apply to the object in certain contexts. The sentence lo vi fumando would normally be interpreted to mean that he (the subject) was smoking. The Subjunctive Mood There is no room here to explain the subjunctive mood in detail, but it will suffice to say that it is used to express subjectivity or hypothetical situations. Frequently, but not always, it appears in a subordinate clause following the word che/que. There are two simple forms of the subjunctive: present and imperfect. (Apparently there used to be a future version, but it has disappeared.) The two corresponding compound forms are the perfect subjunctive and the pluperfect subjunctive. Present subjunctive: In Italian, roughly speaking, you put an ’i’ into the ’are’ verbs and an ’a’ into ’ere’ and ’ire’ verbs: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parlivendaparta 2nd pn sg.parlivendaparta 3rd pn sg.parlivendaparta 1st pn pl.parliamovendiamopartiamo 2nd pn pl.parliatevendiatepartiate 3rd pn pl.parlinovendanopartano Spanish is similar: you put an ’e’ into the ’ar’ verbs and an ’a’ into ’er’ and ’ir’ verbs: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablevendaparta 2nd pn sg.hablesvendaspartas 3rd pn sg.hablevendaparta 1st pn pl.hablemosvendamospartamos 2nd pn pl.habléisvendáispartáis 3rd pn pl.hablenvendanpartan Note that, whereas the singular endings are the same in Italian regardless of person, in Spanish only the first and third person singular endings are the same. Example: ’I hope that he comes’ is Spero che (lui) venga in Italian and Espero que (él) venga in Spanish. Imperfect subjunctive: This is an easy mood/tense to learn in Italian: ParlareVenderePartire 1st pn sg.parlassivendessipartissi 2nd pn sg.parlassivendessipartissi 3rd pn sg.parlassevendessepartisse 1st pn pl.parlassimovendessimopartissimo 2nd pn pl.parlastevendestepartiste 3rd pn pl.parlasserovendesseropartissero In Spanish, strangely, there are two alternative versions of the imperfect subjunctive. The first one is very similar to the Italian: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablasevendesepartise 2nd pn sg.hablasesvendesespartises 3rd pn sg.hablasevendesepartise 1st pn pl.hablásimosvendésimospartísimos 2nd pn pl.hablaseisvendeseispartiseis 3rd pn pl.hablasenvendesenpartisen But the second form is rather different: HablarVenderPartir 1st pn sg.hablaravendierapartiera 2nd pn sg.hablarasvendieraspartieras 3rd pn sg.hablaravendierapartiera 1st pn pl.habláramosvendéramospartíramos 2nd pn pl.hablaraisvenderaispartirais 3rd pn pl.hablaranvendieranpartieran Unfortunately, the second form, the one which is unlike Italian, is more common in spoken Spanish. Example: ’I though he was coming’ is Pensavo che (lui) venisse in Italian and Pensaba que (él) veniera/veniese in Spanish. Perfect subjunctive: This is just formed by using the present subjunctive of the auxiliary followed by the past participle. For example, ’I doubt that he has come’ would be Dubito che (lui) sia venuto and Dudo que (él) haya venido. Pluperfect subjunctive: Similarly, this is formed by using the imperfect subjunctive of the auxiliary followed by the past participle. For example, ’I thought he had been to Italy once’ would be Credevo che fosse andato una volta in Italia and Creía que hubiese/hubiera ido una vez a Italia. More comments on the subjunctive There are cases where the subjunctive is used in Italian but not in Spanish. Compare Credo che (lui) sia inglese with Creo que (él) es inglés. Also compare La persona più simpatica che (io) abbia mai conosciuto with La persona más simpática que he conocido. On the other hand, there are some cases where the subjunctive is used in Spanish but not in Italian. Compare Quando ho del tempo libero, vengo with Cuando tenga tiempo libre, vendré. The imperfect subjunctive is often used in ’if... then’ clauses. For example, ’if I were able, I would write to you’ is Se (io) potessi, ti scriverei and Si (yo) pudiese/pudiera, te escribiría. The same applies to the pluperfect subjunctive. ’If I had been able, I would have written to you’ becomes Se (io) avessi potuto, ti avrei scritto and Si (yo) hubiese/hubiera podido, te habría escrito. The Imperative Mood Here are the regular imperative endings in Italian: ParlareVenderePartire tuparla!vendi!parti! Leiparli!venda!parta! noiparliamo!vendiamo!partiamo! voiparlate!vendete!partite! Loroparlino!vendano!partano! Note that the ’tu’ imperative ending is ’a’ for ’are’ verbs and ’i’ for ’ere’ and ’ire’ verbs, the reverse of the present subjunctive. The formal (Lei/Loro) forms are taken from the present subjunctive. The other two forms (noi/voi) are identical to the present indicative. The negative imperative forms are identical, with the exception of the ’tu’ form, where the infinitive is used: non parlare!, non vendere! The equivalent is Spanish is: HablarVenderPartir tú?habla!?vende!?parte! usted?hable!?venda!?parta! nosotros?hablemos!?vendamos!?partamos! vosotros?hablad!?vended!?partid! ustedes?hablen!?vendan!?partan! The ’usted’, ’nosotros’ and ’ustedes’ forms are taken from the present subjunctive. Also, all negative imperative forms use the present subjunctive: ?no hables!, ?no venga!, ?no fumes! and so on. Created 22nd January 2004. Last updated 19th May 2005. Back to home page. Adam N. Letchford 相关资料 |
