C.HA P. VII.

Of Adverbs, Conjunctions, and Interjections.

A

DVERBS of quality, as was said before, are formed by adding mente to the Feminine Gender of Adjectives, as is done in English by the addition of the syllable ly. When two of these adverbs are together in a sentence, mente is taken off from the first of them; as, Obró prudénte y felizmente, He acted prudently and happily.

The Adverbs in Spanish are placed in a sentence ́either before or after the Verb; but when the Adverb is negative, then it must go before the Verb, to avoid the two negations, which would, as in Latin, make an affirmation. Thus, instead of No véo a nadie, you must say, A nadie véo, I see nobody; Nada entiéndo de esto, I do not understand any thing of this; Nunca le he visto, I have never seen him: but do not say, No entiendo nada, nor No le he visto nunca.

The principal Conjunctions used in Spanish are either copulative, disjunctive, causative, conditional, or exceptive.

Y, è, signifying and, are Conjunctions copulative; but with this difference, that y is used before all words excepting those that begin with i, when they make use of è; as, Los Francéses è Ingléses, The French and the English; Los Españoles è Italiános, The Spaniards and the Italians, &c. Como, as, tambien, also, are likewise Copulatives.

Conjunctions disjunctive are, ni, neither, tampoco, neither; as, Ni Pedroni Juan, Neither Peter nor John. Oori, signifying, or, either, are also disjunctive; as, Orico ò pobre, either rich or poor; De qualquier colór, ò blanco, o negro, Of-any colour, either white or black; O redondo à óvalo, round or oval.

Observe, That ù is required when the word before it ends with an o, and the word after begins with the same Vowel, in order to avoid the bad sound resulting from it.

Ya,

Ya, either, is also a Disjunctive; as, yá esto, yá aquéllo, either this or that.

Causative; as, porqué, why, wherefore.

Conditional; as, si, if; dado que, granting that; supuesto que, supposing that; and they govern the Subjunctive Mood, as mentioned before.

Exceptive; as, si no, if not; mas, but; de otro modo, otherwise, &c.

There are also some other sorts; as, à lo menos, at least; aunque, although; todavía, notwithstanding, nevertheless.

Interjections are parts of speech that discover the mind as affected with some passion, such as joy, pain, admiration, aversion, &c.

To express joy, they say, Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!; to express pain or grief, Ay! Alas! Ay de mi! Alas for me!

O is made use of in Spanish to express several affections of the soul, viz. Of admiration; as, O que hermóso témplo! What a handsome temple! Of exclamation; as, O suma bondád, O great goodness! Of compassion; as, O que lastima! What a pity! Of indignation; as, O ruin hómbre! O base man!

O is also used ironically; as, O que linda cosa! A fine thing indeed! &c.

Observations upon. the modern Orthography now used and established by the Royal Spanish Academy.

The b is commonly confounded with the v in the pronunciation, which causes the greatest confusion in the Orthography of these two letters; therefore it is necessary to shew their difference, and their true pronunciation and difference in writing.

Bought to be pronounced only by closing the lips, and by touching the superior teeth with the inferior lip. The difference is sensible, yet by a certain affinity or likeness between these two letters, in speaking as well as in writing, there has always been the greatest confusion. Nebrixa says, in his Castillan Orthography,

Orthography, that in his time, some people could scarce make any distinction between these two letters.

Notwithstanding this, they anciently established a certain difference between the b and v, though not founded on the origin of words: in the beginning of a word they used the b, and at the end the v; and if the word taken from the Latin had only one syllable wrote with o, it was changed into b; so from vespa they used to write abíspa: from vérnice, barníz; and from verrére, barrér : but, if in the root there were two syllables wrote with b, the second was changed into v, as from bibere, bevér; but when there were in the primitive word two syllables with v, the second was changed into b; as from vivere, they used to write bivir.

The confusion of these two letters has not been. peculiar to our language, because the beth among the Hebrews, and the beta or 'bita among the Greeks, was pronounced as the v and, in very ancient inscriptions, we find birit, instead of vixit; abe for ave, and likewise vase for base, devitum for debitum.

Yet, with this confusion, we find, that, in some circumstances, the difference between the b and v has been constantly preserved in writing; for the b has always been made use of before the land the r, as in the words, bloquéo, bravéza. Likewise, at the end of a syllable, the v has never been used in writing; therefore absolvér, abstinéncia,obtenér, obstár,and such words, have constantly been written with the original b. For which reasons, in order to establish a true and necessary distinction in writing these two letters, the following rules have been made :

1. The b is made use of in words in whose original there is a b; as, bebér, from bibere; escribír, from scribere, &c. Likewise, some words, though written with a v in their etymology, require the b, for the common and constant practice of spelling them so; as, abogado, baluarte, borla, búytre, &c. If the origin of the word is uncertain, the b has the preference in writing; as in bálago, besúgo.

2. The p found in some words, originally Greek or Latin is changed in Spanish into a b; so, with it are wrote obispo, from episcopus; cabello, from capillus ; except some few words which have constantly been written with a v, as Sevilla, &c.

3. Lefore an / or an r, it has always been usual, as we have said, to write the words with a b; as in blándo, dóble, brávo, brónce, &c.

The c has in Spanish, as in other languages, twodifferent sounds; it is hard or strong before the Vowels a, o, u, as in these words, cabo, cota, cura; but before e or i this letter is sounded soft, as in the words, censo, ciento.

The difficulty of its use in writing is, that other letters have the very same pronunciation; for if the c stands before the a, it sounds like the k; so is the first syllable pronounced in the word camarin; as in kalendário, though the syllable ca in the first is written with a c, and in the second, ka, with a k. When the c is before o, it is confounded with the 9 and the k, 9. aş in cotidiano, cohécho. When before the u, it sounds as a q; as in cuajo, cúyo, &c. In order to avoid the confusion arising from the similarity of sounds, the following rules must be observed:

1. The syllable will always be written with a c, except in words which, by a constant use, have been wrote with their primitive k or ch, as some Nouns proper, or others, which are preserved without alteration, and as we have taken them from foreign languages, as kan, cháribdis.

2. The syllable ce, ci, should be written always with c, except in some few words that must be spelled with, from constant use, and consonant with their origin; zelo, zizaña.

3. When the Nouns Singular end with a z, their Plural must be terminated in ces, and this syllable must be written with c; as, felices, from feliz; luces, from lúx; veces, from véz, and the same in the words derived from them. The reason is, that the pronunciation being the same in these cases, the usage of

our

our language, following the origin, requires the c, rather than the .

4. The syllable co must always be written with a c, except in some few words, which, according to their original and usage, are spelt with a 9; as quodlibéto, quociente.

5. The syllable cu before a Consonant is expressed with a c; as, in cuna, cuño, cura, cuyo; likewise when it is followed by someVowel forming a Diphthong, as in cuajo, cuénta, cuidado ; but observe, that several words are excepted, which for their origin, and the common use, must be written with a q, as quando, quánto; and some with the syllable que as aqüeducto, qüestor, conseqüénte, qüestion, and their derivatives.

The c followed by an h, is a double letter in Spanish, as well as in English; and in both languages ch is the sign of a sound, which is analysed into tsh ; as church, much, chin, crutch: it is the same sound that the Italians give to the e simple before i and as citta, cerro.

e,

Ch is sounded like k in words derived from the Greek, as, chimera, chimica, máchina, &c. and their derivatives. These words must be written with ch, in order to preserve the etymology to the eye, though some erroneously write them with the syllable qui. Ch is also pronounced as a k in these words: archangél, architector, architrabe, and their derivatives.

The g in Spanish has two different pronunciations; the first is soft, when this letter is before the Vowels a, o, u, as in the words gana, gota, gusto; or when between the g and the Vowels e, i, an u is found, as in guerra,guia, where the uloses almost its sound, which is the common pronunciation: therefore, when the u after the g has its full sound; as in the words agüero, vergüenza, then to distinguish this pronunciation from the other more in use, two points are put upon the ❞ as above, in the words agüero and vergüenza. If an / or r between the and a Vowel, then it has a soft pronunciation, as in the words glória, grácia. The second sound of the g is guttural and strong,

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