How to search words in a dictionary

3. Masculine – el / un Feminine – la / una A noun is an object or a thing, which can usually be preceded by ‘a’ or ‘the’ in English. E.g. Dog, Table, Bottle. Bear in mind that in the language you are studying, the word for ‘a’/’the’ depends on the gender. You can recognise these in a dictionary by the letter ‘ n ’...and in most dictionaries a m / f (/ n ) will tell you if its gender

4. ..un gat o negr o mi herman a es alt a Las matemáticas son interesant es An adjective is a word which describes a noun. E.g. A short story, the friendly doctor, the wooden table. Remember, in a foreign language, you may have to change the endings depending on the gender of a word. You can recognise these in a dictionary by the letters ‘ adj ’...

5. Most verbs in Spanish end in er / ir / ar e.g. habl ar , com er , sent ir A verb is a doing or action word. E.g. do, went, will, to eat. Verbs that are in the main section of the dictionary are in the infinitive (in the form “to drink”/”to sing”) so if you find a verb in the Foreign Language, you will probably have to change the verb using the endings you have learnt in class. You can recognise these in a dictionary by the letters ‘v’/ ‘vt’ / ‘vi’...

6. Tip – many adverbs in Spanish end in - mente An adverb is something that complements a verb, giving details about how the action was done. E.g. slowly, punctually You can recognise these in a dictionary by the letters ‘adv’..

9. Possibly the most useful thing about the grammar section of the dictionary are the verb tables. In some dictionaries, there is a list of verbs giving the page reference to look for. Present Indicative – actions which you are doing/or do regularly Imperfect – actions which used to happen / things which set the scene (in the past) Perfect – actions which are completed /which can be translated by “I have done/played” in English. The past participle is the ‘eaten’ / ‘done’ / ‘played’ Future – actions which you are going to do in the future / which will happen in the future Conditional – things which would happen if something else occurs e.g. I would go to the dentist if I had toothache.