Adjectives and Verbal Periphrases in Spanish

Degrees of Adjectives

Adjectives have three degrees:

• Positive
• Comparative (inferiority, equality, superiority)
• Superlative

Kinds of Adjectives

There are two main kinds of adjectives:

• Explanatory: Inherent to the noun, expressing a familiar quality.
• Specified: Highlights a distinctive quality.

The Word

Definition

Semantically, a verb expresses action, state, or process. Morphologically, it involves inflections, lexemes, and morphemes, which determine its syntactic function as a verb phrase.

Verb Morphemes

• Number
• Person
• Tense
• Mode
• Aspect:
  • Perfective: Action completed (all compound verbs and the present perfect simple indicative)
  • Imperfective: Action not completed (other verbs)

Descriptive Text

Definition

Descriptive text represents reality through words; time is not a crucial element.

Types

• Technical: Objective, uses denotative language (dictionary meaning), follows a logical order, and employs technical vocabulary with predominant adjectives.
• Literary: Subjective, emphasizes poetic and emotional function, uses connotative language (beyond the dictionary), features evaluative and explanatory adjectives, and doesn't follow a strict logical order.

Specific Descriptive Texts

• Prosopography: Physical description of a person.
• Etopeya: Description of a person's character.
• Topography: Description of a place.

Linguistic Characteristics

• Abundance of adjectives and nouns.
• Use of lists (asyndeton and polysyndeton).
• Plenty of connectors.
• Frequent coordinated sentences.
• Predominance of present and past tenses (especially imperfect aspect).

Verbal Periphrases

Verbal periphrases consist of an auxiliary verb + preposition or conjunction + a non-personal verb form.

Periphrases of Manner

These periphrases indicate the speaker's attitude towards the action.

Obligation

• Have to + infinitive
• Must + infinitive
• Be obliged to + infinitive

Doubt

• May + infinitive
• Might + infinitive
• Could + infinitive

Aspectual Periphrases

Inceptive

• Go to + infinitive
• Be about to + infinitive

Inchoative

• Start to + infinitive
• Begin to + infinitive
• Set out to + infinitive
• Get down to + infinitive
• Commence + infinitive

Repetitive

• Return to + infinitive

Durative

• Be + gerund (playing)
• Continue + gerund
• Keep + gerund
• Go on + gerund
• Carry on + gerund

Completive

• Leave + past participle (played)
• Keep + past participle
• Have + past participle
• Manage to + infinitive
• Finish + infinitive