The Spanish alphabet is a variation of the same alphabet used by English. The letters in order are: a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, rr, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.
The names of the letters are: a, be, ce, che, de, efe, ge, hache, i, jota, ca, ele, elle, eme, ene, eñe, o, pe, cu, ere, erre, ese, te, u, ve, doble ve, equis, i griega, zeta. Che and elle are now considered to be digraphs instead of separate letters.
Words ending in a vowel are stressed on the penultimate syllable (el diccionario). Words that end in a consonant other than n or s are stressed on the last syllable (correr, to run). A vowel with an accent mark is used to show that the stress has been moved to this syllable (el ratón, mouse).
Spanish nouns have two genders, masculine and feminine, and two numbers, singular and plural. Spanish forms most plurals by adding -s or -es, with some internal changes occasionally being necessary (el libro>los libros; la noche>las noches; la luz>las luces).
Masculine nouns usually end in a consonant or an -o, such as el alemán (the German language) and el libro (the book). Other masculine nouns include those that end in -ista (el dentista, or la dentista for a female dentist) and those that end in -ma (el cinema); many nouns that end in -e (el nombre, name) are also masculine.
Feminine nouns end in -a (la niña, the girl), but also -z (la luz, la paz), -ad (la claridad, clarity; la universidad, university), -ión (la antención, attention; la canción, song) and sometimes -e (la noche). When a feminine noun begins in a stressed -a sound, the masculine article is used (el agua, water; el alma, soul).
Some nouns have unexpected genders, such as la mano (hand) and el día.
A neuter form can be used to talk about abstractions. Lo bello, for instance, means "that which is beautiful." Some common expressions like "lo peor" (the worst thing) and "lo mejor" (the best thing) make use of this neuter form.
Adjectives agree with nouns in gender and number. Masculine adjectives end in -o (viejo, old), feminine adjectives end in -a (vieja), and plurals are created by adding -s (viejos/viejas). Adjectives that end in -e or a consonant do not changes form in the feminine singular (inteligente/s; inútil/inútiles, useless).
Nominative Spanish pronouns are: yo (I), tú (you singular informal), él/ella (he/she), nosotros (we), vosotros/vosotras (you plural informal masculine/feminine--used mostly in Spain), Usted/Ustedes (you formal singular/plural--Ustedes replaces vosotros outside of Spain) and ellos/ellas (they masculine/feminine).
Spanish also makes use of accusative and dative forms. The accusative pronouns of Spanish are: me, te, se/lo/la, nos, vos, Usted/Ustedes, los/las; dative forms are the same except for the third person singular, which collapses into le.
Yo and tú have special forms after a preposition (mí and ti), and yo, tú and the third person have special forms that combine with the preposition con (with): conmigo, contigo, consigo.
Spanish verbs are conjugated for person and number in a full complement of tenses, both simple (one-word forms) and compound (made with helping verbs). Verbs in Spanish also show indicative or subjunctive aspect, and have imperative forms as well a gerund and a past participle.
Spanish adverbs are generally formed either by adding -mente to the feminine form of an adjective (lentamente, slowly) or by using the masculine form of the adjective plus the preposition con (con gusto, willingly or eagerly). Some of the most common adverbs, such as muy (very) and mal (poorly) do not follow this model.