Anything in Spanish grammar that is easier than English?

Question

Is there anything in Spanish grammar that is easier than that of English?

Answer 1

There are far more than 50 irregular verbs in English. Being a lover of language, and bored, I came up with 90 in common usage without breaking a sweat and I know that there are at least 300 which is more than any other modern Language. The ten most common English verbs are all irregular. Plus, far more English irregular verbs are radically irregular compared to the relatively few radical irregular verbs in Spanish. Eat, ate, eaten; fly, flew, flown; give, gave, given; see, saw, seen; bite, bit, bitten, etc. And keep in mind, in English we also have irregular nouns (knife vs. knives; mouse vs. mice; city vs. cities; wolf vs. wolves; ox vs. oxen; tooth vs. teeth; etc.).

Answer 2

If nothing else, the silent "e" and the number of pronunciations for different letters in English are so very difficult. How many ways can you pronounce the letter A alone in English for goodness sakes.

• I think it is 5 or 6 - ian-hill Sep 25, 2009

Answer 3

English spelling and pronunciation, e.g. double o in "book", "blood", "good", "flood", all the exeptions. Grammar... well, easy because I've dealt with it so many times, but for beginners from my country it's a killer. Aspects: continuous, perfect - it's all Greek to some people. Generally, if you have nothing to compare with when learning new structures and your rather hard.

Answer 4

This is not grammar per se, but the vowel sounds are much consistent. There are only five basic sounds versus the thirteen or so sounds that English vowels make.

• Many more than that - over 20. - ian-hill Sep 25, 2009

Answer 5

English grammar is more complex and convoluted than that of most other languages. In comparison, Spanish grammar is much easier.

I am biased, though I must admit, since I have always been a bit of a grammar-geek

Spanish sometimes seems more difficult, of course because it is different, but then there are things such as Estar vs Ser, Por vs Para, and a fairly long list of other examples that, to English speakers, seem difficult.

Shoe on the other foot, however, English is one of, if not the most difficult language to learn because of it's awkward and sometimes illogical grammar rules ... and exceptions to rules unlike almost any other tongue as well.

All this to say that once things start to click for you, you may begin to see that Spanish grammar actually makes a lot of sense

Buena Suerte

• I disagree, English grammar is simple in comparison to Spanish. The number of irregular verbs in English is no more than 50. The subjunctive in English doesn't require the verb to be conjugated. English grammar is a cinch compared to Spanish. - peterpierre Sep 22, 2009
• The most difficult aspect of English for foreign students is the pronunciation, which is irregular. But my question is specifically about gammar, not pronunciation. - peterpierre Sep 22, 2009
• Maybe it's just my personal take on it but I still feel that English is much harder for Hispanics to learn that Spanish is for English speakers to learn :) - jonnyt1963 Sep 22, 2009
• I meant grammar, not gammar :-) - peterpierre Sep 23, 2009
• There are many more than 50 irregular verbs in English. In my opinion Spanish is much harder to learn than English or Scandinavian languages for example. - ian-hill Sep 23, 2009
View 1 more commments >>

Answer 6

Everything?

OK - kidding, but for me Spanish grammar "behaves", unlike English one.

Of course - from the point of view of complete beginner...

Answer 7

Actually I have found a tiny aspect of Spanish grammar which is simpler or easier than English. It's about the use of "Question Tags". Spanish question tags are simply "¿verdad?" or "¿no?". Nothing too complicated for a change. Whereas English question tags have to agree in tense and form (singular or plural) For example: They are good, aren't they? It wasn't hot, was it? He will be here, won't he?

¿No?

• I agree with this. There are some things that are simpler. - ian-hill Sep 23, 2009

Answer 8

I am advanced learner of english, and just begginer of spanish... And as i can see the begging of spanish was better, easier... grammar also sims to be clear, but...maybe it is all just because it is my second foreign language... what do you think?

• English isn't my first language either. Spanish is my fourth language after French. I think Spanish Grammar is definitely more complicated than English Grammar (not pronunciation). - peterpierre Sep 23, 2009

Answer 9

I think what the problem is is that when you know Spanish grammar then it makes sense whereas much of English grammar seems to have lots of exceptions and/or be illogical. One area where Spanish is easier is prepositions - there are more in English than Spanish and that can be confusing.