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This is a list of Spanish words of uncertain origin. Some of these words existed in Latin and/or Ancient Greek , but are thought by some scholars to ultimately come from some other source. Many of these words have alternate etymologies and may also appear on a list of Spanish words from a different language .
Many grammars of Spanish suggest that nouns ending in -a are feminine, [14] [15] but there is no requirement that Spanish nouns ending in -a be feminine. [10] Thus, grammars that pose such a requirement also typically include a long list of exceptions, such as el alerta 'alert', el bocata 'sandwich', el caza 'fighter plane', and many others.
Teherán = Tehran (تهران Tehrân, Iranian capital), from Persian words "Tah" meaning "end or bottom" and "Rân" meaning "[mountain] slope"—literally, bottom of the mountain slope. tulipán = tulip, from Persian دلبند dulband Band = To close, To tie.
This word ending—thought to be difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce at the time—evolved in Spanish into a "-te" ending (e.g. axolotl = ajolote). As a rule of thumb, a Spanish word for an animal, plant, food or home appliance widely used in Mexico and ending in "-te" is highly likely to have a Nahuatl origin.
Spanish is a grammatically inflected language, which means that many words are modified ("marked") in small ways, usually at the end, according to their changing functions. Verbs are marked for tense , aspect , mood , person , and number (resulting in up to fifty conjugated forms per verb).
For example, a Latinate word might enter English by way of Old French, but enter Spanish directly from Latin. Such differences can introduce changes in spelling and meaning. Although most of the cognates have at least one meaning shared by English and Spanish, they can have other meanings that are not shared.
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There are many more words that can be used as determiners in Spanish. They mostly end in -o and have the usual four forms (-o, -a, -os, -as) to agree with the noun. ¡Otra cerveza, por favor! = "Another beer, please!" Mucha gente pasa por aquí = "Many people pass through here" No hay tanta gente como en verano = "There are not as many people ...