Exploring Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs in Language

Kinds of Nouns

Common Nouns

Words for realities that form classes.

Proper Nouns

Words used to identify and refer to individual beings.

Concrete Nouns

Show realities that may be perceived by any of our senses.

Abstract Nouns

Designate things not perceived by the senses but only by the mind.

Collective Nouns

Singular words that refer to sets of individuals of the same nature.

Individual Nouns

Refer to each of the elements within a set, opposing groups that do not presuppose the existence of a set.

Uncountable Nouns

Realities that do not support designating numerals.

Adjectives

Morphological Viewpoint

Adjectives have morphemes of gender and number, allowing them to agree with the nouns they accompany. They can be derived or compound.

Semantic Viewpoint

Adjectives express the qualities of nouns or classify them.

Syntactic Viewpoint

Adjectives can function as complements to the noun, as attributes, and as predicates.

Types of Adjectives

Specifying Adjectives: Limit the meaning of the noun by setting it apart from others in the same class.

Explanatory Adjectives: Do not limit the meaning of the noun but highlight a quality.

Degrees of Comparison

Positive

A neutral or average quantification of a quality.

Comparative

Compares a quality with the quality of other magnitudes.

• Superiority: e.g., thinner than you
• Inferiority: e.g., less nervous than him
• Equality: e.g., as content as me

Superlative

Expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. Can be absolute or relative.

Verbs

Morphological Viewpoint

Formed by a root or stem, theme, and vocal inflections. Contains the root lexical meaning of the verb. Verbal endings express grammatical number values and person. The thematic vowel determines the conjugation.

Semantic Viewpoint

Indicates action or state/event.

Syntactic Viewpoint

The verb is the nucleus of the predicate and agrees in number and person with the nucleus of the subject. It is essential; there is no sentence without a verb.

Verb Forms

Infinitive (Non-Personal)

Built by joining the verbal root to endings (-ar, -er, -ir). Can be simple (e.g., to love) or compound (e.g., having loved). Performs the functions of a noun phrase.

Gerund

Built by linking the root verb to endings (-ing, -iendo). Can be simple (e.g., loving) or compound (e.g., having loved). Acts as a circumstantial complement in a sentence.

Participle

Built by linking the root verb to endings (-ado or -ido; e.g., loved, lived). Has gender and number morphemes. Functions as an adjective.