The Spanish
conjunctions ('and') and ('or') alter their form in both spoken and written language to and respectively when followed by an identical vowel sound. Thus, ('father and son'), ('Ferdinand and Isabella'), ('subject or object'), ('vertical or horizontal'). The change does not take place before the of a diphthong, as in ('steel and iron'). Nor does the conjunction change when initial in a question (where it serves to introduce or reintroduce a name as a
topic, rather than to link one element with another), as in ('What about Inés?'). When the conjunction appears between numerals, it was usually spelled with an accent mark (), in order to distinguish it from zero (0); thus, ('2 or 3') in contrast to ('two-hundred three'). Nowadays only is standard. == Syntax and syntactic variation ==
Order of constituents Spanish unmarked word order for affirmative declarative sentences is
subject-verb-object (SVO); however, as in other Romance languages, in practice, word order is more variable, with
topicalization and
focus being the primary factors in the selection of a particular order.
Verb-subject-object (VSO),
verb-object-subject (VOS), and
object-verb-subject (OVS) are also relatively common, while other orders are very uncommon outside of poetry. Thus, to simply say, "My friend wrote the book", one would say (SVO): • Although bare VSO and VOS are somewhat rare in declarative independent clauses, they are quite common in sentences in which something other than the subject or direct object functions as the focus. For example: • or = "A few years ago, my friend wrote a book" • or = "Yesterday, my mother saw my friend and asked him about his book" In many
dependent clauses, the verb is placed before the subject (and thus often VSO or VOS) to avoid placing the verb in final position: • , but rarely = "This is the book that my friend wrote" A sentence in which the direct object is the
topic or "theme" (old information), while the subject is part of the comment, or "rheme" (new information), often assumes OVS order. In this case the direct object noun phrase is supplemented with the appropriate direct object pronoun; for example: • Because subject pronouns are
often dropped, one will often see sentences with a verb and direct object but no explicitly stated subject. In questions, VSO is usual (though not obligatory): • = "Did my friend write the book?" Yes/no questions, regardless of constituent order, are generally distinguished from declarative sentences by context and intonation.
Cleft sentences A
cleft sentence is one formed with the copular verb (generally with a
dummy pronoun like "it" as its subject), plus a word that "cleaves" the sentence, plus a subordinate clause. They are often used to put emphasis on a part of the sentence. Here are some examples of English sentences and their cleft versions: • "I did it." → "It was I who did it" or more colloquially "It was me that did it." • "You will stop smoking through willpower." → "It is through willpower that you will stop smoking." Spanish does not usually employ such a structure in simple sentences. The translations of sentences like these can be readily analyzed as being normal sentences containing relative pronouns. Spanish is capable of expressing such concepts without a special cleft structure thanks to its flexible word order. For example, if we translate a cleft sentence such as "It was Juan who lost the keys", we get Whereas the English sentence uses a special structure, the Spanish one does not. The verb has no dummy subject, and the pronoun is not a cleaver but a nominalising relative pronoun meaning "the [male] one that". Provided we respect the pairings of "" and "", we can play with the word order of the Spanish sentence without affecting its structure – although each permutation would, to a native speaker, give a subtly different shading of emphasis. For example, we can say ("Juan was the one who lost the keys") or ("The one who lost the keys was Juan"). As can be seen from the translations, if this word order is chosen, English stops using the cleft structure (there is no more dummy "it" and a nominalising relative is used instead of the cleaving word) whilst in Spanish no words have changed. Here are some examples of such sentences: • = "It was John who lost the keys" • = "It is only three days that you have left" • = "It will be I who tells him" • = lit. "There are few who come and stay" Note that it is ungrammatical to try to use just to cleave such sentences as in English, but using in singular or in plural is grammatical. • * (incorrect) • (correct) When prepositions come into play, things become complicated. Structures unambiguously identifiable as cleft sentences are used. The verb introduces the stressed element and then there is a nominaliser. Both of these are preceded by the relevant preposition. For example: • = "It was me to whom he gave permission", lit. "It was to me to whom he gave permission" • = "It is us for whom this was made", lit. "It is for us for whom this was made" • = "That is why I did it", more literally: "It is because of that that I did it", or completely literally: "It is because of that because of which I did it" • = "It is this way that it must be done", lit. "It is this way how it must be done" ( replaces longer expressions such as ) This structure is quite wordy, and is therefore often avoided by not using a cleft sentence at all. Emphasis is conveyed just by word order and stressing with the voice (indicated here within bolding): • = "He gave permission to
me" • = "This was done for
us" • = "I did it because of
that" • = "It must be done
this way" In casual speech, the complex cleaving pronoun is often reduced to , just as it is reduced to "that" in English. • • • (preferred: ) • (preferred: ) In the singular, the subordinate clause can agree either with the relative pronoun or with the subject of the main sentence, though the latter is seldom used. However, in the plural, only agreement with the subject of the main sentence is acceptable. Therefore: ;Singular • = "I was the one who drank it" (agreement with subject of main sentence) • (preferred form with same meaning, agreement with ) • = "I am the one who knows" (agreement with subject of main sentence) • = (preferred form with same meaning, agreement with ) ;Plural • = "We are the only ones who do not have even a cent to bet" (agreement with subject of main sentence) (from dialogue of the
Gabriel García Márquez novel ) • = "You girls are the ones who know" (agreement with subject of main sentence)
Clitic se Clitics are a necessary part of syntactic form and representation in Spanish. Defining a specific syntactic role of a clitic in Spanish is cumbersome, as they are used in a variety of ways. Syntactic approaches to this common element have attempted to find a universal way of handling them. For example, all languages are capable of having subjects, objects, and verbs, so a universal methodology to handling
word order, whether SVO, VSO, or OSV, is imperative for a multilingual and universal syntactic representation system to work. As such, there has been great discussion and investigation in the literature for that particular word order element. Clitics, on the other hand, have been given relatively less thought and investigation, particularly an inquiry into an uncomplicated approach in their syntactic distribution. Clitics offer a myriad of functional roles depending upon the language in question, further complicating the situation. Spanish is a diasporic language which also experiences diachronic variation. While Spanish is said to generally have flexible or "free" word order, others such as Pountain assert that the syntax is heavily influenced by
topic and comment identification.
Historical approaches The syntactic role of the
clitic and its forms in Spanish has undergone much debate within the research with no obvious conclusion. Part of the difficulty stems from the variable role and its other forms play with regard to the contextual grammar. Some syntacticians have aptly termed the clitic as "paradigmatic" in reference to the complexity and variance of features and functions. It is utilized in a variety of Spanish grammar contexts, including the following forms:
reflexive pronoun,
reciprocal pronoun, replacive pronoun (direct and indirect object), intrinsic pronoun (without the pronoun, the structure is ungrammatical), "derivational" pronoun, and "stylistic" pronoun. Further, is used in addition with certain intransitive verbs, in reflexive-passive constructions, and in impersonal constructions. As a class, clitics have such a variety of grammatical functions that they are not always pronominal,
anaphoric or related to verbal
arguments. Syntactically, they are most often found in non-argument benefactive
theta-roles, in formation of passive, in formation of
middle voice, and with a completive meaning. They can take the form of either phrasal constituents or words with an independent syntactic structure. Despite being grammatically diverse in Spanish grammatical application, it does certain specific roles. Zagona, author of a comprehensive Spanish syntax textbook, has extensively outlined form and function in depth, stating that: • [sic] the only true subject clitic in Spanish is "impersonal" "one". The impersonal form is clearly defined as it does not double and uses only the third person singular verb form as in the impersonal form example here: {{interlinear|abbreviations=CL:clitic Zagona also notes that, generally, oblique phrases do not allow for a double clitic, yet some verbs of motion are formed with double clitics: {{interlinear|abbreviations=CL:clitic Imperatives in Spanish do not require the use of clitics, but when they are used, a specific word order must be followed. With an affirmative verb, the clitic succeeds the verb. However, in a negative command, word order alters in that the clitic precedes the verb. Another review of sentence positions of in various grammatical constructions offers the following example, demonstrating imperative differences thus: {{interlinear|abbreviations=CL:clitic {{interlinear|abbreviations=CL:clitic With continuous verbs, the clitic can precede the auxiliary verb or follow the participle, as in (1a) and (1b): {{interlinear|number=(1a)|abbreviations=CL:clitic {{interlinear|number=(1b)|abbreviations=CL:clitic The clitic cannot follow a past or passive participle, as in (2b): {{interlinear|number=(2a)|abbreviations=CL:clitic {{interlinear|number=(2b)|abbreviations=CL:clitic Specific issues arise in clitic use and syntactic representation in terms of
animacy. The Spanish language does not explicitly demonstrate in its grammar whether an object, either direct or indirect, refers to an animate or inanimate object. Therefore, the use of two clitics is common, although not always required. In this way, clitics can be doubled or "redundant" when two instances occur within the same phrase. Double clitics are found in instances of phrases with both direct accusative case objects and indirect dative objects in this way: {{interlinear|abbreviations=CL:clitic Regarding
clitic doubling in Spanish, Ordóñez has suggested a "cluster" versus "split" formation, weighing consideration of the double clitic as a single unit (cluster) or a separable unit (split). The syntactic approach maintains a
left-dislocation for the clitics while sustaining a separation from the verb. In the cluster model, both clitics are two adjacent constituents whereas the split model, one clitic has been split from the other, appearing higher on the syntactic tree. Both are still under the same
c-command of the left branch but are no longer
sisters to each other. Ordóñez suggests that when clitics are sisters, they may not even be considered
constituents in the syntax. The hypothesis includes a requirement that a non-third person clitic is located higher on a tree than the third person clitic. In fact,
clitic climbing is a common feature in Romance languages with designation of clitics as unbound
morphemes where the clitic "climbs" to adjoin the verb in a higher position. This widely discussed theory has involved raising of the clitic as an
unaccusative because of the lack of external argument in the grammar structure. The object clitic begins in the subject position of the verb, moving up to attach to the verb via adjunction on the left. Another theory is the "base-generation" which considers clitics to be
affixes. However, both approaches fail when there is clitic doubling.
Recent approaches As recently as 2021, Cuervo has suggested that, for clitic doubling, the solution is considering the dative clitic to be the head of an Applicative Phrase with care taken in identifying whether the form is
proclitic or
enclitic. Cuervo addresses the difference by positing the following: if the process is proclitic, there is climbing; if the process is enclitic, there is no climbing. The clitic adjoins the verb and undergoes
head movement to check its
features. Additional structures for direct and indirect objects have been suggested. Other views include the use of AgrS and AgrO for Spanish when clitics are involved. Daussá states that can block features as it travels attached to the appropriate verb form from the
feature geometry which alters the nodes. Daussá’s realization of syntactic structure presents a solution for the paradigmatic issue of using AgrO and AgrS. This model includes a
Determiner Phrase that is
nominative with verbal agreement in both person and number. Romain has also offered a thorough examination of the various theories, concluding that is part of a Determiner Phrase. While there had been some postulation that clitics are heads of their own phrases, there has not been much support given to those claims. Even more recently, Lewandowski has focused on one function in the use of with reflexive verbs, the completive, wherein with specific verbs the clitic denotes a completion of an action. Lewandowski has proposed an interconnected functionality for the Spanish reflexive pronoun, representing this concept via a cluster map indicating semantic, pragmatic, and grammatical functions. His discussion has centered around the "polyfunctionality" of and how best to syntactically handle this issue, perhaps by not separating the syntax from morphology. Another recent view is that there are two syntactic formations: first, that is a probe for A-movement which results in a paradigmatic and second, that non-paradigmatic is represented by third person singular. This cross-referencing of syntax and morphology overlapping with a communicative stylistic approach has been suggested in the past. == Dialectal variations ==