Spanish Grammar, Beginner Level

Description of the course: Theoretical and practical course designed to address the morphological
and syntactic aspects of the Spanish language. In this class, at a basic level, grammar and
vocabulary are envisioned as a system with three dimensions that interact among them: the form
of the elements, their semantics and the pragmatic conditions governing their use.
General Objective: To develop the linguistic competence of students so that they can deal with
everyday situations in different and known contexts accurately, meaningfully and appropriately.

Specific Objectives:
• Introduce morphological and syntactic aspects of the system of Spanish language.
• Build up and organize vocabulary according to different and diverse authentic contexts.
• Analyze the system of rules and grammatical aspects associated with the use and usage of
the language.
• Apply the system of rules to real communicative contexts.
General Contents:
• Spanish pronominal system: personal pronouns, possessive adjectives, direct and indirect
pronouns.
• Word classes: nouns, adjectives, prepositions, determiners.
• Agreement: noun/adjective, noun/determiner, subject/verb, etc.

• Spanish moods and tenses: indicative, subjunctive and imperative, verb conjugations of
simple and compound tenses.
• Word order.
• Vocabulary related to the people, objects and events of the students’ personal, public and
educational domains.
(Main differences in lexical and syntactic variation (e.g. “voseo verbal”) between “standard”
Spanish and Chilean Spanish at a basic level)
Activities.
• Expository lessons
• Pair work and group work tasks
• Grammatical analysis.
• Compositions
• Written exercises.
Evaluation.
• 2 tests, 20% each (40%)
• 2 compositions, 10 % each (20%)
• 1 Final Exam 30%
• Class participation, 10%
ATTENDANCE: 80%
Reference
• Alarcos Llorach, E. (1970): Gramática de la Lengua Española. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
• Bosque, Ignacio y Demonte, Violeta. (1999): Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española.
Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
• Porroche, M. (1998): Ser, Estar y Verbos de Cambio. Madrid: Arcolibros
• RAE (1973): Esbozo de una Nueva Gramática de la Lengua Española. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.