Lección 61
Word Division Rules and Punctuation in Spanish
Paisaje de España
Un río seco sobre el que cae un sol de plomo, inclemente. Por el fondo de su lecho de piedras pasan, en fila india, unos pollinos montados a la amazona por unas mujeres vestidas todas de oscuro, teniendo en la mano cada una un paraguas negro.
El calor es abrumador. La luz, de une intensidad que daña, el paisaje está hecho de un montón alucinante y desordenado de guijarros y de rocas amarillentas, sin otra mancha de color que estos insólitos champiñones negros que desfilan con una lentitud majestuosa. Tal es la imagen que, de un golpe, se me impone, cuando evoco a España, en donde he vivido este verano dos semanas exaltantes, maravillosas, en un mundo de contrastes duros, en cuyo umbral se termina Europa...
Vocablos
| el | paisaje | landscape, scenery |
| el | río | river |
| seco, -a | dry | |
| el | plomo | lead |
| inclemente | harsh, inclement | |
| el | lecho | bed (of a river) |
| la | piedra | stone |
| la | fila | line, row, file |
| indio, -a | Indian; here: single (expression) | |
| el | pollino | donkey |
| montado, -a | mounted; horse (adj.) | |
| la | amazona | Amazon |
| oscuro, -a | dark | |
| cada uno, -a | each one | |
| el | paraguas | umbrella |
| abrumador | overwhelming | |
| la | luz | light |
| la | intensidad | intensity, strength |
| dañar | to damage, to harm, to hurt | |
| el | montón | lot, pile, bunch |
| alucinante | amazing, awesome, mind-blowing; hallucinatory | |
| desordenado, -a | messy, untidy; disorderly | |
| el | guijarro | pebble |
| la | roca | rock |
| amarillento | yellowish | |
| sin otra | without another, with no other | |
| la | mancha | stain, spot |
| insólito, -a | unusual, extraordinary | |
| el | champiñón | mushroom |
| desfilar | to parade; to march past | |
| la | lentitud | slowness |
| majestuoso, -a | majestic | |
| la | imagen | image |
| el | golpe | hit, blow |
| de un golpe | at once; with one blow | |
| imponerse | to impose | |
| evocar | to evoke, to recall | |
| exaltante | exciting | |
| maravilloso, -a | wonderful, marvelous | |
| el | contraste | contrast |
| duro | hard, tough | |
| cuyo, -a | whose, of which | |
| el | umbral | threshold |
Notes
The meaning of words and expressions
tal such; such (a thing); so
The word tal in a combination with a noun is an adjective and is translated as such, e.g.:
Nunca he visto tal hombre.
I have never seen such a man.
Tal can also be a pronoun, e.g.:
No haré yo tal.
I will do no such thing.
Moreover, tal can be an adverb with the meaning so, e.g.:
Tal estaba de distraído que no me saludó.
He was so distracted that he did not greet me.
Grammar points
1. Punctuation
In Spanish, punctuation marks perform two functions:
- a logical function, i.e. by separating some parts of a sentence, they give a better readability and understanding of the content of the sentence.
- a phonetic function, by giving a certain intonation when pronouncing separate parts or words of a sentence.
In Spanish, the follwong punctuation marks are used:
coma [,] — comma
punto y coma [;] — semicolon
punto final [.] — full stop
dos puntos [:] — colon
puntos suspensivos [...] — ellipsis
principio de interrogación [¿] — question mark at the beginning of a sentence
fin de interrogación [?] — question mark at the end of a sentence
principio de admiración [¡] — exclamation mark at the beginning of a sentence
fin de admiración [!] — exclamation mark at the end of a sentence
paréntesis [()] — brackets
diéresis о crema [..] — separating character
comillas [” ”] — quotation marks
guión [-] — dash, hyphen
raya [—] — pause
dos rayas [ = ] — double pause
Usage of comma [,]
coma [,]
The most typical uses of comma in Spanish are:
a) A comma is used to denote forms of address that go at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence, e.g.:
Julián, óyeme.
Julian, listen to me.
Repito, Julián, que oigas lo que te digo.
I repeat, Julian, so that you listen to what I am telling you.
b) A comma is not used if homogeneous members of a sentence joined with the conjunctions: y (and), ni (nor), o (or), e.g.:
Juan, Pedro у Antonio.
Juan, Pedro and Antonio.
sabio, prudente y cortés
wise, prudent and courteous
ni el joven ni el viejo
neither young nor old
bueno, malo o mediano
good, bad or average
If independent clauses joined with the aforesaid conjunctions in compound sentences are not closely connected in meaning, then comma is used before the conjunctions y, o, ni, e.g.:
Al apuntar el alba cantan las aves, y el campo se alegra, y el ambiente cobra movimiento.
At the crack of dawn, the birds sing, and the field rejoices, and the environment takes on movement.
c) A comma separates the inverted part of a sentence, e.g.:
Jugando en todos los sorteos de la lotería, se arruinó Pepita.
Playing in all the lottery draws, Pepita was ruined.
If the inverted part of a sentence is limited, then a comma is not used, e.g.:
Jugando se arruinó Pepita.
Pepita was ruined by playing.
Usage of semicolon
Punto y coma [;]
A semicolon is used:
a) If clauses of a compound sentence are extended and have a comma inside.
Vinieron los aquilones de noviembre, glaciales y recios; arrebataron sus hojas a los árboles.
The November north winds came, icy and harsh; they snatched their leaves from the trees.
b) If clauses of a compound sentence are extended and introduced by the conjunctions: más, pero (but), aunque (although). A semicolon is usually placed before the aforesaid conjunctions, e.g.
Salieron los soldados a media noche y anduvieron nueve horas sin descansar; pero el fatal estado de los caminos malogró la empresa.
The soldiers left at midnight and walked nine hours without resting; but the fatal state of the roads spoiled the enterprise.
c) In compound sentences if the content of the second clause is not closely connected with the first clause. A semicolon is usually placed before the conjunction, e.g.:
No hubo manera de terminar el sitio, hasta que concluyó el invierno; y se observó con asombro que las mujeres excitaban a continuar la resistencia.
There was no way to end the siege, until the winter was over; and it was observed with astonishment that the women excited to continue the resistance.
Dos puntos
[:]
colon
Punto final
[.]
full stop
Guión
[-]
dash, hyphen
The rules for colon, full stop, dash and the other punctuation marks are the same for Spanish and English, however, note the difference in opening of a letter. In English, we usually put comma after greeting someone in the letter, in Spanish, we put colon, for example:
Amigo mio:
En contestación a la carta ...
My friend,
In reply to the letter ...
Either a capital letter or a lower-case letter can be used after the colon.
2. Word Division Rules
A word at the end of a line of text can be divided so that to move one of its part to the next line. Only full syllables can be moved, for example:
con-ca-vi-dad; sub-si-guien-te
In addition to the foregoing, you need to remember the following:
- You cannot carry over to the next line letters that are parts of diphthongs or triphthongs because they form one syllable, e.g.:
gra-cio-so; tiem-po; no-ti-ciáis
- The prefix des, for example, in the word desamparo, forms one syllable, so you cannot divide it, e.g.:
des-ovar; des-am-pa-ro
- In the words nosotros, esotros, vosotros you cannot divide nos, vos, es: nos-otros; vos-otros; es-otros.
- In compound words with a Spanish or a Latin prefix after which the consonant s follows, the consonant s stays with the prefix when carrying over, e.g.:
constante is divided — cons-tan-te perspicacia „ — pers-pi-ca-cia inspirar „ — ins-pi-rar - The digraphs ch, ll and also rr are never divided when carrying over, e.g.:
coche is divided co-che calle „ ca-lle carreta „ ca-rre-ta perro „ pe-rro
