The Definition of Inflection

The Definition of Inflection Definition of Inflection The change in the form of a word to indicate a change in its grammatical usage. In both English and Spanish, a noun can be inflected to indicate a change in number (that is, to indicate whether it is singular or plural) or gender (although changes in gender are unusual in English). In both languages,  conjugation  is the inflection of verbs to indicate tense, mood,  and  person. In Spanish, adjectives are inflected to indicate gender and number. The inflection can take the form of a prefix,  a suffix, a change in the word ending or beginning, or a change in the way the word root is formed. (In both English and Spanish, prefixes arent used for inflection, although they can change the meanings of words.)  In both languages, the suffix and changed word ending are the most common inflections. For example, both languages typically add an -s or -es to indicate that a word is plural, and Spanish frequently changes word endings to indicate gender. Similarly, both languages can add a suffix or change the word ending to indicate verb tenses (although English does so only for the past tense). In both languages, changes in the root word are also used in some irregular verbs. For example, the difference in tense can be seen in changing I go to I went, the same as the corresponding Spanish term,  voy,  changes to  fui  to indicate the change in tense. Greek and Russian are examples of highly inflected languages. Spanish is moderately inflected, more so than English, but not as much as Greek or Russian. Chinese is an example of a language that has little inflection. In general, word order tends to be more important in languages that have more inflection. You can see how this plays out in English and Spanish: Spanish, the more inflected language, also requires more attention to word order. There is also a second meaning for inflection. It can refer to how words are stressed or given tone. For example, a question is often inflected in raising the tone at the end of a sentence. Inflection is known as either inflexià ³n  (change of voice) or flexià ³n (grammatical change) in Spanish. Examples of Inflection Inflected differences are shown in boldface: Tengo un coche rojo. Tengo dos coches rojos. (I have a red  car. I have two red  cars.) Pablo es actor. Ana es actriz. (Pablo is an actor. Ana is an actress.) Samuel es abogado. Katarina es abogada. (Samuel is a lawyer. Katarina is a lawyer.) Abre la ventana. Le gusta ventanear. (She is opening the window. She likes being by the window.) Soy rico. Si fuera rico, comprarà ­a otro coche. (I am rich. If I were rich, I would buy another car.) Como  carne. Comà ­ la carne. (I eat meat. I ate the meat.) La mujer est  feliz. Las mujeres estn felices. (The woman is happy. The women are happy.) Corre cada dà ­a. Le gusta correr. (He ru ns daily. He likes running.)