Spanish Sentence

Written by qualified Spanish expert Inma Sánchez BA

Last updated: 2018-01-28

A sentence is a group of words that is meaninful on its own, contains a main verb (i.e. contains at least one main clause), begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (or other strong punctuation). Sentences are used to make statements, ask questions, make requests, give orders, and express exclamations.

There are two types of sentences in Spanish:

• A simple sentence (oración simple) consists of an independent clause.
  • El bebía una pinta de cerveza. - He was drinking a pint of beer.
    
    
• A complex sentence (oración compuesta) contains a main clause and at least one other clause. Clauses can be linked in different ways:
   
  
  • Coordination (linked by a coordinating conjunction)
       Ella tenía un trabajo genial y ella estaba muy contenta - She had a great job and she was very happy.
     
  • Subordination (linked by a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun): 
       Yo sabía que él te diría la verdad. - I knew that he would tell you the truth.
     
  • Juxtaposition (linked by punctuation)
       Los niños juegan, se divierten, se cansan. - Children play, enjoy themselves, get tired.

Oraciones no verbales (non-verbal sentences) are organised around something other than a conjugated verb. For example:

• Terribles inundaciones en Londres. - Terrible floods in London.
• De nada, Susana. - Not at all, Susana.
• ¡Imposible! - Unbelievable!
• ¡Qué tontería! - What complete nonsense!