Types of determinants in Spanish

In Spanish there are different types of words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, interjections, etc. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will study in depth the types of determinants in Spanish. For this we begin with the definition of the concept of determinant, that collects the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE): "class of word whose elements determine the noun or the nominal group and are generally placed in a prenominal position". From this definition, we will explain what are the types of determinants in Spanish.

As we have said in the introduction, a determinant is all that word that precedes and determines a noun, limiting and defining its meaning. Thus, the noun "book" can refer to any book, a book in general, while if we say "our book", we are determining, that is, we refer to a specific, particular and specific book, "the book that is ours and not a book any".

For this reason, one of the defining characteristics of determinants in Spanish is that agree in gender and number with the noun

to which they accompany: "my shirt", "cars", "a dog", "a vacation", and so on.

In Spanish there are different types of determinants. Next we are going to classify them according to their typology:

Defined determinants

All those determiners that are used to delimit the noun they accompany. In Spanish the most common are the articles "el", "la", "lo", "los", and "las", which always have to agree in gender and number with the name they determine.

Undefined determinants

It serves to limit nouns that have not been previously named in the speech or that are not known by the interlocutors. The indefinite determiners are: "un", "una", "some" and "unas", which, like the previous ones, must always agree in gender and number with the noun. Thus, we cannot say * a cats, but some cats.

Demonstrative determinants

Those that indicate the spatio-temporal relationship of the noun with respect to the position of the speaker at the moment of enunciation, in a way that if a person says "This is my brother" he is referring to a person who is close in space and time in which he says bliss sentence.

On the other hand, if it says "That is my neighbor", we understand that it refers to a person who is further away, for example, at the end of the street if we are in a city. The demonstrative determinants are: "this", "this", "these", "these", "that", "that", "those", "those", "that", "that one", "those" and " those".

Exclamatory determinants

Those words that determine a noun within a phrase or exclamatory expression, such as That's great! or How nice!

Interrogative determinants

Those determinants that allow form phrases or interrogative sentences such as What time is it?

Possessive determiners

They are the determinants that indicate possession or belonging with respect to the noun, "my jacket" refers to mine and that of no one else. The possessive determiners in Spanish are: "mi", "tu", "su", "Nuestro", "vuestro" and "su".

Relative determinants

They are all those that perform a syntactic function within a sentence subordinate to the one that precedes. The DRAE collects the following example "How much is a relative determinanton It will resolve any doubts that arise ".