Analysis of Spanish Inflection

Spanish is a language with many inflectional affixes. Words often have both gender inflection and number inflection. Gender inflection precedes number inflection. Let us illustrate.

The word negro means black. It is the word for the colour black and is also the masculine singular. It can thus be considered the underlying form.

The feminine singular is negra. The plural forms are negros and negras. Here are examples:

Mi cepillo de dientes es negro. (My toothbrush is black)

Mi bolsa es negra. (My bag is black)

Mis tulipanes son negros. (My tulips are black)

Mis rosas son negras. (My roses are black)

Here are the rules to derive the four forms:

1) negro + 0 negro (zero affixation)

2) negro + a negroa (affixation)

    negroa negra (vowel deletion)

3) negro + 0 negro (zero affixation)

    negro + s negros (plural affixation)

4) negro + a negroa

    negroa negra (vowel deletion)

    negra + s negras (plural affixation)

Inflection is a very common morphological process in Spanish. Spanish adjectives can be inflected for both gender and number. The rules for gender and number inflection are ordered because gender inflection always precedes number inflection.