The 5 TYPES of SYNTAGMAS in Spanish

A phrase is a word or a set of words that are organized around a nucleus and perform some kind of syntactic function within the sentence. In this way, a phrase must always have, among its constituents, an element that functions as nucleus, called syntactic nucleus, which determines the type of phrase and its main characteristics Sentences.

The analysis of the syntagms is carried out through the syntax, part of the grammatical study that focuses on analyzing the way in which the words and syntactic groups are combined, as well as the syntactic relationships established between said units. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will study what are the types of phrases in Spanish, its constituent elements and the functions they perform in prayer.

Schematic: SlideShare

Index

1. How many types of phrase are there and what are they?
2. Nominal Phrase (SN) with examples
3. Verbal Phrase (SV) with examples
4. Prepositional Phrase (S Prep) with examples
5. Adjectival Phrase (S Adj) with examples
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6. Adverbial Phrase (S Adv) with examples
7. Phrase types exercises
8. Exercise solutions

Before entering fully into the lesson, we are going to leave you here a list with the different types of phrases what's in Spanish. It is a summary of them that, in the following sections, you will be able to know in more detail and with concrete examples.

The 5 types of phrases there are:

• Nominal Phrase (SN). The core of these phrases is a name.
• Verbal Syntagma (SV). The nucleus is a verb.
• Prepositional Phrase (S Prep). In this case, we are talking about a phrase whose nucleus is a name with a preposition in front of it.
• Adjectival Phrase (S Adj). These phrases have an adjective as a nucleus.
• Adverbial Phrase (S Adv). The nucleus is an adverb.

The noun phrase (SN) is one whose nucleus is either a noun or a name. This nucleus can be accompanied by modifiers such as, for example, the determinants, which precede the nucleus, or the complements of the name, which are placed after it. Let's look at an example of the structure of the noun phrase:

• The (determinant) days (core) Of summer (complement of the name "days") are longer.

Within the sentence, the noun phrase can fulfill different functions:

• Of subject (Lucia is my cousin)
• Direct complement (My brother has a new car). In this video we give you a lesson about Direct complement.
• Indirect compliment(Tell the truth)
• Attribute (Marta is a wonderful teacher)
• Circumstantial complement (I got up at 12 this morning)

In this video of a PROFESSOR we give you different tricks to identify the direct object of the indirect.

The verb phrase (SV) has as its nucleus a verb. This verbal nucleus can be any of the verb forms: a simple form (I danced) or a compound form (we had danced), among others. The verb phrase corresponds to the predicate, so it includes all its complements.

For this reason, its main function is to be a predicate of the subject. Let's look at the structure of the verb phrase in the following example:

• We ate (core) pasta (direct complement) in the best Italian restaurant (circumstantial complement of place).

Within the types of phrases we also highlight the prepositional. The prepositional phrase (S Prep) is a noun phrase that goes preceded by a preposition, whose structure is the following: Preposition + SN. To better understand this definition, we are going to offer you an example of this construction:

• The son of (preposition) Juan (SN formed by a nominal nucleus) is my new neighbor.

In this way, the preposition indicates the functional value of the phrase, made up of the nucleus and the corresponding modifiers. The most common functions of a prepositional phrase are:

• Direct complement (My friend introduced me to his girlfriend)
• Indirect compliment (I gave flowers to my mother)
• Attribute(The knife is double edged)
• Circumstantial complement (We meet in the square)
• Prepositional complement (I don't remember the last movie I saw at the cinema)

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The adjectival phrase (S Adj) has an adjective as its nucleus, which may or may not be accompanied by one or two modifiers. The structure of the adjectival phrase is (Modifier) ​​+ Core + Adjacent or adjectival complement) as in the following example:

• Pedro is very (modifier) considered (core) with her little sister (complement of the adjective "considered").

The functions of the adjectival phrase They are:

• Attribute (The house is too small)
• Predicative complement (The dog runs happy)
• Within the SN, it also functions as an adjacent nucleus (A very interesting book)

The adverbial is another of the types of phrases in Spanish language. The adverbial phrase (S Adv) is formed by an adverbial nucleus and, optionally, adverbs that function as modifiers of the nucleus. Here is an example of this type of phrase:

• The glass is very (modifier) close (adverbial nucleus) of the dishes (complement of the adverb "near").

The function of the adverbial phrase within the sentence is as a circumstantial complement (Live far from the center). However, on certain occasions, the adverbial phrase can play the role of attribute (We are like this).

To finish this lesson on the different types of phrases, we share with you some training that will help you test your knowledge. In the next section you will have the solutions for them, but we recommend that you do them first without looking at the results and then check your answers.

Statement: Indicates what type of phrase is the part of speech highlighted in bold

1. Food it's too salty for me.
2. My parents They buy milk for breakfast.
3. The grandmother goes to the pharmacy.
4. Home It is very far from the school.
5. Miguel's uncle is the language teacher.

Here we leave you the solutions from the previous exercise so that you can check if you have done the task well.

1. Food it's too salty for me. - (Adjectival phrase)
2. My parents They buy milk for breakfast. - (Verbal Syntagma)
3. The grandmother goes to the pharmacy. - (Noun phrase)
4. Home he is very far from school - (Adverbial Phrase)
5. Miguel's uncle is the language teacher - (Prepositional Phrase)

If you want to read more articles similar to What are the types of phrases - With examples!, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.

• Leborans, M. J. F., & Leborans, M. J. F. (2005). The phrases of Spanish (Vol. 2). Arch Books.
• Hodge, B. (1992). Syntagmatic types and narrative analysis.
• Leborans, M. J. F. (1983). Notes on the phrase in the Spanish language. Saying. Notebooks of Hispanic Philology, (2), 57.