Sin + infinitive, compound infinitive, passive voice and the rules for using articles

Otra vez Carmen y José riñendo

— No.

Vocablos

Grammar

1. Usage of the construction sin + infinitive

In lesson 38 we learned the construction al + infinitive, which is used to express an adverbial subordinate clause of time.

The construction sin + infinitive is used to express an adverbial subordinate clause of manner and indicates in what way this action is performed (the course of the action). In English, sin + infinitive is translated using the gerund after the preposition ‘without’ (without + gerund), for example:

2. Perfect / Compound Infinitive

In Spanish, the infinitive of the verb has two forms: the simple infinitive and the compound (perfect) infinitive.

The compound form of the infinitive is formed with the auxiliary verb haber in the infinitive and the passive participle of the conjugated verb, for example:

haber mirado
haber comido etc.

Both simple and compound infinitives do not independently express tense, person, or number.

The simple form and the compound form, appearing in a sentence in combination with the personal form of another verb, express the tense in which the personal form of the conjugated verb is used.

The simple infinitive expresses an action simultaneous with the action of the conjugated verb, the compound infinitive expresses an action preceding the action expressed by the personal form of the conjugated verb, for example:

3. Passive Voice (voz pasiva) (continuation)

The participial form of the passive voice in Spanish is formed with the personal forms of the verb ser and the passive participle of the conjugated verb, for example:

The participial form of the passive voice is rarely used in the modern language; it is replaced by the reflexive impersonal form of the passive voice with the pronoun se:

In Spanish, as in English, the passive voice is formed only from transitive verbs. The passive participle agrees in person and number with the subject, for example:

Conjugation of verbs in passive voice

Note:

The participial form of the passive voice is also used with the verb estar if:

• the passive participle functions as an adjective without an object, e.g.:

   

  La carta está escrita.

  The letter is written.

• the sentence indicates a place or geographical location, e.g.:

4. The general rules for using articles in Spanish

We talked about the use of articles at the beginning of the lessons. In this lesson, we will examine the general rules for using articles.

The definite article is used:

a) Before nouns naming well-known objects or concepts, for example:

b) Before nouns naming abstract concepts (no article in English in this case), for example:

c) Before nouns naming unique objects, as in English, for example:

d) Before nouns naming academic degrees, titles, positions, for example:

or:

When addressing a person directly, the article is not used, like in English:

e) Before days of the week, before dates, when indicating time, years, etc., answering the question: when?

f) Instead of possessive pronouns with parts of the body, clothing, or other objects belonging to persons and closely related to them, for example:

g) Before names of mountains, rivers, seas, and the names of only certain countries and cities, for example:

h) Before ordinal numbers preceding nouns, for example:

The indefinite article is used:

a) Before a noun naming an object or person mentioned for the first time, as in English, for example:

b) Before a noun standing after an impersonal form, for example:

c) Before a noun followed by cualquiera in the meaning of — any, for example:

The neuter article lo is used:

a) Before an adjective, adverb, or passive participle, giving them an abstract character, for example:

b) Lo + adverb in the superlative degree in combination with the word posible, for example:

c) Lo + adjective or adverb in combination with que, for example:

d) In other expressions, for example:

5. Omission of Articles

The article is omitted:

a) Before a noun if demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, indefinite pronouns or cardinal numbers stand before it, for example:

b) Before a noun appearing after the verb ser as a nominal part of the predicate and naming a profession, nationality, or party affiliation:

You must remember that if the above-mentioned nouns are used with an attribute, an article is placed before them, for example:

c) Before proper names, for example:

d) Before uncountable nouns when it is indicated that only a part of the named substance or object is used, for example:

or

e) Before nouns with the prepositions: a, con, de, en, for example:

f) After the verb tener in the negative form and after the preposition sin, for example:

g) After que in an exclamatory sentence and after como, as well as after the preposition de, for example:

Exercises

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