Galician Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Galician grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Galician and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Galician and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Galician.

Prepositions - Galician
and e
above arriba
under abaixo
before antes
after despois
in front of diante de
behind atrás
far from lonxe de
near preto
in en
inside dentro
outside fóra
with con
without sen
about sobre
between entre
but pero
for para
from de
to a

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Galician
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] eu como sen coitelo
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] ela vive preto da igrexa
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] é máis alto que ela
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] veu co seu can pequeno
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] pode vir comigo?

Negation in Galician

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Galician
I understand you [affirmative form] enténdoo
I don't understand you [negation + verb] non o entendo
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] esta non é a palabra correcta
don't leave me [imperative negation] non me deixe
no problem [negation + noun] ningún problema

Negative Sentences - Galician
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] eu non falo francés
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ela non visitou alemaña
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] non nos pode ver
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] ela non sabe xogar ao xadrez?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] non imos chegar tarde

Questions in Galician

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Galician
how? como?
what? o que?
who? quen?
why? por que?
where? onde?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Galician
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] onde vive vostede?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] ela fala chinés?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] canto custa isto?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] podo axudar?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] como se chama?

Adverbs in Galician

It's time to learn the adverbs in Galician. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Galician
now agora
yesterday onte
today hoxe
tonight esta noite
tomorrow mañá
soon logo
quickly rapidamente
slowly lentamente
together xuntos
very moi
almost case
always sempre
usually xeralmente
sometimes ás veces
rarely raramente
never nunca

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Galician
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] enténdeme agora?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] necesito axuda inmediatamente
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] ela é moi intelixente
I will always love you [verb + adverb] eu sempre te vou amar
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] podemos aprender alemán xuntos?

Pronouns in Galician

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Galician. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Galician
I eu
you ti
he el
she ela
we nós
they eles

Object Pronouns - Galician
me me
you ti
him a el
her a ela
us nos
them os

Possessive Pronouns - Galician
my meu
your teu
his seu
her súa
our noso
their seus

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Galician
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] eu son o seu amigo
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] fala moi rápido
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] ten tres cans
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] sabe falar alemán
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] non imos chegar tarde
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] eles mercaron leite e pan

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Galician
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] pode dicirme o seu nome?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] vou darlle diñeiro
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ela escribiulle unha carta
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] eles visitárona onte
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] pode axudarnos?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] deulles comida

Possessive Pronouns - Galician
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] chámome maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] seu irmán vive aquí
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] súa nai cociña para nós
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] o seu hobby é ler libros
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] o noso soño é visitar parís
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] a súa casa non está lonxe

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Galician
this is my house esta é a miña casa
that restaurant is far ese restaurante está lonxe
these apples are delicious estas mazás son deliciosas
those stars are shiny as estrelas son brillantes

I hope you learned a lot about the Galician grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!