Actor / Source Subject Agent Causer basic Scene core #1 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: In basic English clauses, the actor is usually before the verb and can trigger subject-verb agreement. She opened the door. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: The actor is often recoverable from verb agreement, so subject pronouns are frequently omitted unless needed for emphasis or contrast. María prepara café.
Action / Event Verb Predicate Event basic Scene core #2 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English events are centered on verbs, often supported by auxiliaries for tense, aspect, voice, or questions. The children are playing. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: The verb is the main event carrier and is richly inflected for person, number, tense, mood, and aspect-like contrasts. Los niños juegan en el parque.
Target / Affected One Object Patient Theme Direct object basic Scene core #3 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English usually identifies the affected target by position after the verb, with pronoun case still visible in forms like him and her. The dog bit the man. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Targets are expressed by object position, object pronouns, and the personal 'a' with specific human objects. Veo a María. La veo.
Thing / Participant Noun Noun phrase Pronoun basic Scene core #4 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English participants are usually expressed as noun phrases or pronouns, often with articles and number marking. The small dog is sleeping. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Spanish participants are usually noun phrases or pronouns; articles and gender/number agreement are highly visible. El perro pequeño duerme.
State / Existence Stative predicate Existential Copula Predicate adjective basic Scene core #5 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English usually requires the verb 'be' for states, locations, existence, and many descriptions. There is a problem. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Spanish distinguishes identity/essence, temporary state/location, and existence with ser, estar, and haber. La puerta está abierta. Hay tres sillas.
Identity / Classification Copular clause Predicate nominal Classification basic Scene core #6 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English identity and classification commonly use 'be', often with an article before singular count nouns. She is a doctor. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Identity and classification are usually built with 'ser', often with article rules and gendered occupational nouns. Sofía es médica.
Theme / What We Say Something About Subject Topic Theme basic Scene core #7 English Status: medium Relevance: Difficulty: English has topic-comment patterns, but ordinary subject-verb-object order is more common than strong topic marking. This book, I really enjoyed. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Spanish can place a topic at the beginning and may resume it with a clitic. A Juan, lo vi ayer.
Recipient / Beneficiary Indirect object Recipient Benefactive Dative intermediate Scene core #8 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English marks recipients with double-object order or with prepositions such as to and for. I gave her a book. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Recipients and beneficiaries are commonly expressed with 'a/para' and indirect object clitics such as me, te, le, nos, les. Le di el libro a Ana.
Experiencer / Perceiver Experiencer Dative subject Psychological subject intermediate Scene core #9 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English often puts the experiencer as the subject, but some patterns use objects or prepositional phrases. I like music. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Experiencers are very important in Spanish, especially in gustar-type verbs where the experiencer is encoded like an indirect object. Me gusta esta canción.
Instrument / Mediator Instrumental Instrument Means intermediate Scene core #10 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English usually expresses instruments with prepositions, especially with. She cut the bread with a knife. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Instruments are usually expressed with 'con' or another prepositional phrase. Cortó el pan con un cuchillo.
Time Point / Time Span Time adverbial Temporal phrase basic Context #11 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English uses time adverbs and prepositions such as at, on, in, for, and since to locate events in time. I arrived at six yesterday. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Time points and spans are expressed with adverbs, prepositions, temporal phrases, and often reinforced by tense. Nos vemos mañana a las ocho.
Time Direction / Tense Tense Temporal reference basic Context #12 English Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: English finite verbs normally show present or past tense; future is usually expressed with auxiliaries or context. She worked yesterday. Spanish Status: strong Relevance: Difficulty: Spanish strongly marks time direction through verb inflection and future/periphrastic constructions. Hablo, hablé, hablaré.
