1 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept.

of Spanish Language and

Literature (I.E.S. Ministry)
MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS.

I. DEFINITION OF 'MORPHOLOGY'

Morphology is the part of Grammar that has the following dual purpose:

On the one hand, ANALYZE the relationships that are established within a word,
among units smaller than it; that is, to analyze how it is constituted
formally a word. Thus, we can say that the word is made up of
smaller units (morphemes) such as the lexeme and, normally, one or more
morphemes; e.g.: the word 'verdoso' is formed by smaller units: verd-
(lexeme) / -os-(morpheme) / -o(morpheme).

On the other hand, CLASSIFY the words into various groups (CATEGORIES), according to their
FORM, its meaning and the syntactic function that they could fulfill.

II. UNITS OF MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. THE MONEMES

Words are made up of smaller units endowed with meaning, the
morphemes; according to the type of meaning they contribute, these morphemes are classified into:

LEXEMES: are monemes that have lexical meaning (that meaning that points to a
extralinguistic referent; the one that, upon hearing a word, allows us to think of a
certain reality). It is usually the invariable part of a word, so that the
Terms that share the same lexeme form what is known as a family.
lexical1Within the same lexical family, there can be words of different categories.
grammatical.

For example, the word 'casita' can be broken down, initially, into two morphemes (cas- / -ita); the first
monema (cas-) is the lexeme, the part of the word that has lexical meaning, the one that allows us to think.
in a certain reality (a house).

If we look at other words like "caserón" (cas- / -erón), "caseta" (cas- / -eta), "casilla" (cas- / -illa),
"big house" (cas- / -ona), "homemade" (cas- / -ero), "shack" (cas- / -ucha), etc., we will see how, in all of them,
the part that never changes is (cas-); that part that remains constant is the lexeme, which makes
All these words, with their variations, make us think of a house. All these words
they belong, therefore, to the same lexical family.

As a general rule, to know the lexeme of a word, we can think of

various terms of the same lexical family, so that the part that does not change
in all of them will be the lexeme.

Allomorph lexemes: however, within the same lexicon family we can

find allomorphs (variants of the same lexeme)2.

For example: if we review the lexical family of the word 'death', we will find allomorphic variations.
of the lexeme:
death death, dead, little death...
mor- to die, dying....

1
Do not confuse lexical family with semantic field; a semantic field is made up of words that refer to
a same sphere of reality, even if they do not share the same lexeme. For example, words like 'guitar'.
"piano", "saxophone", "violin", "double bass", "drums" or "trumpet" do not share the same lexeme (they do not form a family)
lexical), but they refer to the same sphere of reality (that of musical instruments); they therefore belong to the
same semantic field.

2
Normally, this phenomenon occurs due to the existence of doublets. To understand what a doublet is, we must
distinguish between:
a) Heritage words: words that were incorporated early into Spanish and evolved
phonetically, giving rise to terms different from the original Latin; e.g.: homo, hominis → man.
b) Cultisms: Latin words that entered our language late, so they have not undergone any
phonetic change; e.g.: gloria, gloriae → gloria.
Thus, doublets are those words that, coming from Latin, have given rise to two lexical variants: the word
patrimonial and cultism; mirror (heritage) / speculate (cultism); ej.:to place
to hang (patrimonial) / to place (cultism).
 2 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish language and
Literature (I.E.S. Department)
mortal
to shroud

MORPHEMES: are single units with possible initial functions: to contribute a

grammatical meaning, to modify the meaning of a lexeme. Depending on the case,
morphemes are classified into:

a) Flexive morphemes: they have a grammatical meaning (they provide information about)
gender and number in the noun and the adjective; or about person, number, the
time, mood, and aspect in the verb.

For example: if we think of the adjectives 'yellow' and 'yellow', we see that the part they share (that
(remains unchanged) is “amarill-” (which is the root); the parts of both words that have
changed are:

In the first case, "-o" (flexive morpheme that indicates masculine gender) and Ø (the morpheme3zero or the
the absence of a plural inflectional morpheme indicates that the word is in singular form.

-For its part, "amarillas" has a flexive morpheme "–a" (which indicates feminine gender) and another
inflectional morpheme "-s" (which marks the plural number).

b) Derivational morphemes (also called affixes): allow modification of the meaning of

a lexeme.
For example: between the words 'moral' and 'immoral' there is a difference: both share the lexeme 'moral'.
but one of them contains the derivational morpheme (affix) 'in-' which modifies the meaning of the word
to express negation (in- / -moral = not moral).

According to their position relative to the lexeme, affixes are classified as:

-Prefixes: come before the lexeme: immoral, amoral…

-Suffixes: they go after the lexeme: little house, hut, landlord...

Infixes: they really do not modify the meaning of the lexeme; they go between a prefix and the
lexeme ("enlarge") or between the lexeme and a suffix ("little handle") and are usually used
as a mere sound link to avoid cacophony (e.g.: a small heart is not
a "little heart", not a "little heart"; from "sun" → "little sun".
-Interfixes: in compound words, they go between two lexemes ('carricoche').

When a word contains more than one suffix, we should not confuse an infix with a suffix:

For example, in 'rosaleda', since the word 'rosal' exists, we have two suffixes ('al' and 'eda') that modify.
the meaning of the lexeme 'ros-' ('-al' modifies the meaning of 'ros-' to refer to a shrub that
produce roses, while "-eda" allows for speaking of a set of rose bushes). In contrast, in
"lucecita", "-ec" is an infix, since the word *lucez does not exist.

III. WORD FORMATION PROCEDURES

INDEPENDENT MORPHEMES: they have only grammatical meaning; they are unique to
those words whose grammatical category lacks lexical meaning (non-words)
plenas):preposiciones(a, ante, bajo…),conjunciones(que, y, o, porque, etc.),
pronouns (you, who, me, etc.), determinative adjectives (this, his, our, etc.) and
articles (the, the, it, the, the, a, a, some, some).

PRIMITIVE or SIMPLE words: they are formed by a single lexeme that does not go
accompanied by affixes. They can carry inflectional morphemes (e.g.: lion, sun, man, children,
to eat, agile, crocodile...

3
The morpheme is the linguistic manifestation of a morpheme (the morpheme is, in fact, an abstract reality, while
that the morpheme is its linguistic representation).
3 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept. Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Council)

FLEXION: it consists of adding inflectional morphemes that modify the meaning

grammatical of a word.
For example: if we add the inflectional morpheme "-a" to the masculine gender word "professor", we will obtain a
new word with a modification of its grammatical meaning to the feminine ('professor-a'); if to the word
singular "professor" we add another flexional morpheme like "-s", the result will be a word of
plural number ("teachers")

For example: we can obtain the different forms of a verb by adding inflectional morphemes that express the
valores gramaticales de persona, número, tiempo, aspecto y modo: cant- (lexema) / -a- (vocal temática) /
-ba- (flexive morpheme that expresses imperfect past [time] indicative [mood] aspect) / -s
(flexive morpheme that indicates 2nd person [person] of the singular [number]).
DERIVATION: through derivational morphemes (affixes) that accompany a lexeme,
We can form derived words from a primitive word. They can carry
inflectional morphemes. According to the types of affixes involved, derivation can be:

a) Prefixation: -moral → im-moral.

b) Suffixation: easy - → easy-ón.
c) Prefixation and suffixation: -moral- → in-moral-ity.
d) Infixation: given the nature of the infix, this procedure will be accompanied by
prefixation (-anch- → or its suffixation (hum- → hum-ared).

COMPOSITION: the union of two or more lexemes to create a new word, which we call
compuesta(agridulce, cortaplumas, grecorromano, alicorto, chupatintas, espantapájaros,
4
open-mouthed, theoretical-practical, etc.)

Sometimes, between two lexemes of a compound word an interfix tends to appear (e.g.:
go and come

PARSYNTHESIS: we can talk about parasynthetic words in two cases:

a) when they are formed by the combination of composition and derivation (e.g.: pica-pedr-
er-o).

b) when a lexeme is accompanied simultaneously by a prefix and a suffix, if

we remove one of these two affixes, keeping the other one we can obtain
a word intermediary with meaning:

For example: the word 'desalmado' (formed by the lexeme '-alm-', accompanied by the prefix 'des-' and the suffix
"-ad-o" is a parasynthetic word because *desalmar (if we remove the suffix) or *almado (if we...
we remove the prefix)

ABBREVIATION: obtaining a shorter word, according to these procedures:

a) Shortening: it consists of omitting part of the word; it can be:

Apheresis: the initial part of a word is removed (e.g.: bus → bus).

-Apoquation: the final part of a word is removed (e.g.: professor→profe; pen→
boli).

b) Abbreviation: Dr., Co., Adm., Pres., Dir., etc.

COMBINATION: obtaining a new word by combining elements;

it can be:

4
A special type of composition is constituted by lexemes: nominal phrases that, due to their constant use, have
fossilized and cannot be separated without changing their meaning; e.g.: "bull's eye", "life expectancy", "hand of
obra”, “retrato robot”, “cabeza de turco”, “buque insignia”, etc.
 4 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept. Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Ministry)
a) Acronyms: acronyms are words formed by the initials of
different terms, so that we obtain a new unit with
own lexical meaning and that we can pronounce in a way
autonomous5.
For example: the word 'UFO' is an acronym formed from the initials of the words 'unidentified flying object.'
unidentified flying object", so the resulting acronym becomes a word
autonomous that can even be accompanied by a determiner (e.g.: the UFO; those
ufos).

Acronyms can receive inflectional and derivational morphemes (e.g.: from 'UGT')
[it’s an acronym because we can pronounce “ugeté”], we can obtain
"ugetistas".

b) Acronym: in this case, the initials of several words are joined together without
form a new term with lexical meaning (e.g.: U.S.A., G.D.R., S.M., etc.).
The initials are written in uppercase and separated by periods.

IV. THE GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES AND THEIR FLEXIVE MORPHOLOGY

The human being, to better understand the world around him, needs to classify the various
realities that form that world, according to a certain criterion, into different groups or
compartments formed by those elements that share the same characteristics.
A language is also a reality and is made up of countless elements called words.
In order to study these words better, linguists classify them into different groups.
(grammatical categories), so that the words of the same group share
certain common traits such as its shape, its meaning and its potential function in the
breast of the sentence. In this way, we can classify the words into the following categories
grammatical: nouns, qualifying adjectives, determiners (articles and adjectives)
determiners, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions
interjections.

1. THE NOUN AND ITS INFLECTION

The noun (Noun) is the word that allows us to designate, to name

reality (beings, objects, ideas, qualities, feelings...); e.g.: house, dog, love,
Alberto...

We recognize it because it is a variable word (it can change gender [e.g.: boy →
girl} or the number[e.g.:child→children]), can be accompanied by a determiner (article
[e.g.: the boy] or determiner adjective [that boy]) and fulfills the syntactic function of being the core of the
noun phrase.

1.1. Types of nouns (grouped into mutually exclusive pairs):

Commons: generally designate beings, objects, ideas, etc. without distinguishing them from among the
group to which they belong (e.g.: country, woman, mountain, river...).
Own: they designate, in particular, beings, objects, ideas, etc., differentiating them from among
those of their same class. They are always written with a capital letter (e.g.: Spain, Ana, Everest,
Guadalquivir…). Proper nouns are classified into:
Anthroponyms: proper names of people (Juan, Isabel, José Luis, García,
Giménez…).
proper names of places and geographical features (Madrid, France)
Ebro, Teide...
Names of institutions (Royal Spanish Academy), holidays (Christmas)
Fallas...), trademarks (Pepe-Cola), works of art or monuments
(Venus de Milo, Parthenon...), historical periods or events and
artistic currents (Middle Ages, Renaissance, French Revolution)
Romanticism...), etc.

5
Acronymy is also understood as the fusion of two words from which a part is removed; e.g.: from 'to sing' and
"author", we have "singer-songwriter" / from "Europe" and "vision", we get "Eurovision".
5 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept. Spanish language and
Literature (I.E.S. Department of Education)

Concrete: they design those realities that can be perceived by anyone

the five senses (e.g.: book, pencil, table, noise, aroma, sweetness…).
Abstract: they design thoughts, ideas, qualities, or feelings that are not
perceived by the senses (e.g.: love, peace, freedom, time, speed, effectiveness, goodness
early morning, sadness...

Countable: they design those realities that can be counted in separate units.
e.g.: notebook → a notebook, two notebooks […] three hundred fifty-two
notebooks...)
Uncountable: refers to those substances that cannot be counted in units.
separated, but through specific units of measurement (e.g.: flour → three kilos
of flour/water → two liters of water...)

Individuals: its meaning refers to a single being, object, or idea, although

they can appear in plural (e.g.: sheep, wolf, soldier, boat, dog, pig…).
Collectives: their meaning refers to a group of elements, although they may
to appear in singular (e.g.: flock, herd, army, fleet, pack, sounder…).

1.2. The inflectional morphemes of the noun:

Genre: according to gender (masculine or feminine), nouns are classified into

two groups:

a) With gender alternation: they can present both the masculine and feminine forms.
through the following oppositions:

Masculine in -o / feminine in -a: male cat / female cat

- Masculine in -e/ feminine in -a: monk-e/ monk-a
Masculine in -Ø / feminine in -a: professor-Ø / professor-a

Sometimes, the feminine is formed by other endings such as -ina.

(rooster/hen) -esa(abad/abadesa); -isa(poeta/poetisa); -triz
(actor/actress).
In some cases, gender alternation occurs through the article: the
journalist/the journalist.
In others, the alternation of gender occurs through the use of words.
completamente distintas (heterónimos):caballo / yegua; toro / vaca; carnero /
sheep
And in the animal kingdom, sometimes gender is linked to sex, so that the
alternation is marked by the words male/female: male turtle/
female turtle

b) Without alternation of gender: some nouns, due to the nature of reality

that designate, cannot change gender ([the] tree, [the] table, [the] book, [the]
bed…); they can even sometimes alternate the article, without it expressing gender.
the sea

Number: number is a grammatical accident that marks the opposition between a single
element(singular) and more than one element(plural):

a) The singular number is marked by the absence of a morpheme that indicates

plural number; that is, by a morpheme 'zero' (Ø).
6 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Ministry)
For example: we know that the noun 'child' is singular because it does not contain any morpheme that indicates its
plural number; we will mark this absence of a number morpheme with a "zero" morph (child-o-
Ø).

b) The plural number is marked by the allomorphic morphemes.6-s or -es:

- We add '-s' to form the plural of words that end in unstressed vowels.
in -á, -é, -ó (tables, sofas, coffees, etc.). Exceptions: no → noes; a → aes; o →
oes.
We add, indiscriminately, '-s' or '-es' if the singular ends in -í, -ú (ski/s/es,
igloo/igloos). Exceptions: yes→yeses; i→ís; u→ús; menu→menus; shampoo→
shampoos.

-s is added when the singular ends in a consonant -d, -j, -l, -n, -r, -y, -zo
it is a sharp word ending in -s, -x (wall/s, clock/s, paper/s,
truck/s, pair/s, law/s, pencil/s, back/s, fax/es). Exceptions: sweater→
jerseys
yóqueis
I want.
-s is added when the singular ends in other consonants (zigzag/s,
comic/s, tic/s). Exceptions: album→albums; sandwich→sandwiches.

The singular and the plural have the same form in those words that are not stressed.
ending in -s, -x (Thursdays → Thursdays; flint → flints).

The plural number is usually only possible for countable concrete nouns.
so that those uncountable nouns that receive a plural morpheme
they experience a change in their meaning; it also often happens with many
abstract nouns

For example: the uncountable noun 'wine' refers to a substance; on the other hand, 'wines' in a sentence
As 'Yesterday I had two wines' means 'glass of wine' (metonymy container for content).
For example: the noun 'beauty' refers to an abstract and uncountable quality; on the other hand, if we say
That place was full of beauties, we are saying that That place was full of people.
beautiful
2. THE QUALIFYING ADJECTIVE AND ITS FLEXION

The qualifying adjective (Adj. Cal.) is the word that allows us to express a trait (a
characteristic, a quality) or a state referred to a certain noun; e.g.: green,
grande,simpático,horrible, hermoso, generoso...

We recognize it because it is a variable word (it can change gender [e.g.: ugly→ugly feminine])
the number [e.g.: strong→stronger], refers to a noun that it can accompany
(agreeing with him in gender and number) to say how he is or how he feels (the adjective)
A qualifier answers the questions "What is it like?" ["What is the car like?" → "fast"] or "What is it like?
is? 7
How is Juan?
comparative and superlative) and fulfills the function of the nucleus of the adjectival phrase.

1.2. The inflectional morphemes of the qualifying adjective:

Gender: just like the noun, according to gender (masculine or feminine), the
Qualifying adjectives are classified into two groups:

a) With gender alternation: they can present both the masculine and feminine form.
through the same morphological oppositions as in the case of the noun (e.g.:
handsome - beautiful

6
The allomorphs are the possible variants that a single morpheme can present. In this case, the plural morpheme.
It can be marked, depending on the case, by two variants (“-s” or “-es”).

7
We should not confuse, with the answer to the question 'how are you?', an adjective and an adverb; the adverb is a
invariable word, while the adjective can always change its number and, on occasions, its gender. Thus, when
we say 'Juan is fine', the word 'fine' is not a qualifying adjective, as it cannot change in number (the
The word 'bienes' is the plural of the noun 'bien', which means 'wealth or possession'.
7 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Conselleria)
b) Without gender alternation: some adjectives have the same form in both
for the masculine ([car] green) as for the feminine ([table] green).

Number: to mark the number (singular or plural) of the qualifying adjective, the following are followed
the same rules as in the case of the noun (e.g.: small → smalls; voracious →

Degree: it is a grammatical accident exclusive to the qualifying adjective and indicates to us the
amount or intensity with which the quality or state expressed manifests
said adjective. There are three degrees:

a) Positive: expresses a quality or state without specifying its intensity. Its form
coincides with that of the adjective itself (e.g.: Juan is tall).

b) Comparative: allows for comparing realities using a basis of comparison,

the intensity with which a certain quality or state is manifested. It can be
of three types:

- Of superiority: it is formed with the structure 'more + adjective + than' (e.g.: Juan
higher than me).

Some adjectives are, in themselves, comparative; they are the comparatives.

synthetics, which do not allow the morphemes 'more + ... + than':

from 'good' to 'better' from from

worse from "small" → younger inferior

Of equality: it is formed with 'as + adjective + as' or 'equally + adjective'

+ than” (e.g.: Juan is as tall as me. / Juan is equal in height to me).

Of inferiority: it is formed with 'less + adjective + than' (e.g.: Juan is less ...
high queyo.

c) Superlative: expresses a quality or state at its highest degree. It can be of two

types:

Absolute: expresses a quality or state in its utmost degree without relating it to

the other elements (e.g.: Juan is very tall). It can be constructed in various ways.
ways:

. With the morphemes "-ísimo" / "érrimo" 8Juan is exalted. / This field

exuberant.
. With the adverb very o equivalents how extremely
"enormously", "extraordinarily", etc. (e.g.: Juan is very tall.
Juan is extraordinarily tall.
. With the prefixes "super-" or "hyper-" 9Juan is super tall.
super high.)
. Some adjectives are, in themselves, superlatives (synthetic superlatives):

8
It is a variant that is preserved from Latin in a few adjectives: poor → pauperrimo; famous →
most famous

9
Prefixes such as 're-' (used primarily in Latin America; e.g.: You are really strong.), 'ultra-' can also be used.
(ej.:Aquella sociedad eraultraconservadora.); “archi-” (rara vez se utiliza; ej.:Este juego esarchidivertido.)
request-" (it is very colloquial; e.g.: Tuniño isrequesthandsome.)
8 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept. Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Conselleria)
good of 'big' → 'maximum' supreme
from 'bad' to 'terrible' minimum under
infinitesimal

-Relative: expresses a quality or state (at its maximum or minimum degree) that
allows highlighting an element from the set to which it belongs. One can
build in the following ways:

. With 'article + more / less + adjective (than)' (e.g.: Juan is the tallest.)
Juan is the tallest in the class. / They are the least advantaged.
distribution.)
. With "article + synthetic comparative" (e.g.: Pepe is the best of the team.)

3. THE INDEPENDENT MORPHEMES AND THEIR FLEXION

As we pointed out before, independent morphemes only have meaning.

grammatical; they lack, therefore, lexeme. But we must take into account that, among these
types of words, articles (Art.), determinative adjectives (Adj. Det.) and the
Pronouns (Pron.) can receive inflectional morphemes of gender and number:

4. THE VERB AND ITS FLEXION

The verb (V) is the word that expresses actions (running, studying, working…), states (being,
to be, to seem...) or processes (to grow, to pale, to die…) referred to beings, objects, ideas, etc.

We recognize it because it is a variable word (it can change person [e.g.: I sing →
sings, number [ej.:canto→cantamos], tiempo [ej.:canto→cantaré], aspecto [ej.:canté
→sang] or the way [e.g.: sing→sang]) that, therefore, can be conjugated and fulfills the
function of the nucleus of the verbal phrase (predicate).

4.1. A verbal form consists of the following morphemes:

Lexeme (root): it is the moneme that provides the meaning of the action, state or
process. As a general rule, it is obtained by removing the ending "-ar" from the infinitive
1st conjugation), "-er" (2nd conjugation) or "-ir" (3rd conjugation); e.g.: in "we sing", the
The lexeme is "cant-", as it is the result of subtracting the ending "-ar" from the infinitive of the
verb ('to sing')

Many irregular verbs have allomorphic lexemes; that is, variations of

lexeme in its various verb forms; e.g.: the verb 'to have' presents the varieties
alomorphic "ten-" ("we have", "you will have"…) / "tuv-" ("he had", "you had"…) / "tien-"
has
they would have

Vocal thematic: it goes right after the lexeme and indicates the conjugation to which
the verb belongs to:

-1st conjugation: -a- (love-a-r→love-a-mos, love-a-re-mos…).

-2nd conjugation: -e- (tem-e-r→tem-e-mos, tem-e-re-mos…)
-3rd conjugation: -i- (to live - we live, we will live…)

In some verb forms, the thematic vowel undergoes a change.

consists of a change of one vowel for another (sing-a-r→sing-e-mos) or
diphthongization (tem-e-r → tem-ie-ra; part-i-r→part-ie-ra).
9 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Department of Education)

Morphological flexions (endings): express the grammatical accidents of the verb.

what are:

a) Person and number: both grammatical values are expressed in a single

inflectional morpheme that we call syncretic or amalgamated10and tells us if the
The verbal form is conjugated in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person and in singular or plural number.
Thus, in most verb forms, we find:

NUMBER SINGULAR PLURAL

PERSON
A 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd

MORPH
A -Ø -s -Ø -mos -is -n

not to be cant-a-rá- cant-a-rá- can't-a-re- can't-ré- can't sing

EXAMPLE Ø s Ø mos is n

b) Time, aspect, and mood: these three values are also expressed through
a single inflectional morpheme (syncretic or amalgamated):

Time: indicates whether what is expressed by the verb takes place in the past.
present (you will sing) in the future (you will sing).
Aspect: indicates whether the speaker considers the action completed (aspect)
perfective) unfinished (imperfective aspect) with respect to time in
that unfolds. All compound forms and those of
simple perfect tense (therefore, all forms are imperfective)
simple less those of the simple perfect past.
Mode: indicates whether the speaker considers what is expressed by the verb as objective,
certain, sure (indicative mood) or it presents it subjectively as a doubt,
I wish for a hypothesis (subjective mood).

4.2. Verbal conjugation in Spanish:

The non-personal forms: they are those that do not accept a personal pronoun;
therefore lack person and number morphemes. They also do not express time or
mode; they only inform about the appearance and the voice.

a) Infinitive: it is the actual name of the verb. It is identified with the noun. It can be:
Simple (sing; eat; leave…)
Compound (having counted -to) I am news.
newsparty-do...)

b) Gerund: expresses an action that is currently in progress. It is identified with

the adverb.
Simple (singing; having; parting...)
Compound (having sung - having feared - having departed ...).

c) Participle: expresses a completely finished action. It is identified with the

adjective. It can be:
-Simple (can't do; I have; I do...).
Personal forms: these are the ones that allow for a personal pronoun (e.g.:[you]
they sing); therefore, they contain morphemes of person, number, time, aspect and
10
"Syncretic" or "amalgamated" means "condensed, concentrated, combined, fused, inseparable." In fact,
If we look at the suffix ‘-mos’, we will see that it is a morpheme in which the grammatical values of
number and person inseparably (we cannot segment the morpheme '-mos' into '-mo'-'s', assigning the '-s' to
plural, since the morpheme “-mo-” does not exist.
10 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept. Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Conselleria)
They are conjugated in simple and compound tenses distributed in three modes.
(indicative, subjunctive, and imperative).

THE SIMPLE TENSES

PRESENT
The present is the unmarked tense. Its morpheme is Ø.
Indicative
The indicative is the unmarked mood. Its morpheme is also Ø.

can't o they o part o

can't a Ø s tem Ø part e Ø s
cannot a Ø Ø they e Ø Ø part e Ø Ø
can't a Ø mos they e Ø moss part i Ø
can't á Ø is tem é Ø is mos
can't a Ø n they e Ø n part (i) Ø is
part e Ø n

In the 1st person singular, the thematic vowel, the morpheme of tense-aspect-mood, and that of person exhibit syncretism.
in a single morpheme '-o'.
Subjunctive
The indicative mood is marked by the alteration of the thematic vowel.

can't e Ø they a Ø part a Ø

can't e s we a s part a s
can't e Ø them a Ø part a Ø
can't e mos item a mos part a mos
can't é is them á is part á is
can't e n you area n part a n

IMPERFECT PAST
Indicative
The morpheme of the imperfect past indicative is "-ba-" (1st conjugation) and "-a" (2nd and 3rd conjugation).

part í a Ø
can't a ba Ø them í a Ø
part í a s
can't a ba s they í a s
part í a Ø
can't a ba Ø they í a Ø
part í a
can't á ba mos them í a mos
mos
can't a ba is they í a is
part í a is
can't a ba n they are
í a
part í a n

Subjunctive
The morpheme of the imperfect subjunctive has two variants: '-ra-' and '-se-'.

can't a ra/se Ø them ie ra/se Ø part i.e. ra/se

can't a ra/se s they i.e. ra/se s Ø
can't a ra/se Ø they i.e. ra/se Ø part i.e. ra/se
can't a ra/se mos them I havera/se mos s
can't a ra/se is they ie ra/se is part that is
ra/se
can't a ra/se them that is
ra/se Ø
part I am ra/se
mos
part i.e. ra/se
is
part i.e. ra/se
n

The thematic vowel diphthong in the 2nd and 3rd conjugations.

Imperfect Past
The morpheme of the simple past perfect is very complex, as it presents syncretism with the person in the majority of cases.
the shapes.

can't é Ø item (i) í Ø part (i) í

can't a ste Ø they s st Ø Ø
can't ó Ø they i ó Ø part I ste
can't a Ø mos them i Ø mos Ø
can't a ste is them i ste is part i ó
can't a ro n they I want n Ø
part i Ø
mos
part i ste
is
part i.e. ro

FUTURE
Indicative
11 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish language and
Literature (I.E.S. Council)
The future indicative morphemes are '-ré-' and '-rá-', depending on the person.

cannot a re Ø them e re Ø part i re Ø

can't a it is s them e s
Irritable part i day s
can't a spear Ø we are e it Ø part i ray Ø
can't a re mos them e re mos part I
can't a re is them é re is mos
can't a radiantn tem e it is n part i re is
part i he/she ngoes

Subjunctive
It is outdated; it is usually used in legal texts. Its morpheme is 're-'.

cant a re Ø them i.e. re Ø part i.e. re

can't a re s them ie re s Ø
can't a re Ø they ie re Ø part i.e. re
can't á re mos them this re mos part ie re
can't a is you arei.e. re is Ø
can't a re them i.e. re n part Ié re
mos
part i.e. re
is
part i.e. re n

CONDITIONAL (or POTENTIAL)

The conditional morpheme is '-ría-'.

part i river Ø
can't a river Ø they e river Ø
part i river
can't a river s they e river s
part I river Ø
can't a river Ø them e river Ø
part i river
can't a river mos they are
e river mos
mos
can't a river is them e river is
part i is
can't a river n they e river n
part i river n

IMPERATIVE MODE
It only contains exclusive forms of the 2nd person. The rest of the persons are formed with the present subjunctive.

part e Ø (you)
can't a Ø (you) they e Ø (you) part a Ø you
can't e Ø (you) them a Ø you part i d
can't a d you (plural, informal)
them e d you (plural) you (plural, informal)
cannot e n (you all) they a n (you all) part a n
you (plural)

THE COMPOUND TENSES

The compound tenses are formed with the auxiliary verb 'to have' (conjugated in personal form) followed by the
participle of the verb in question, according to the following correspondences:

INDICATIVE
Simple
Compounds
PRESENT (song)
IMPERFECT PAST (was singing) PRESENT PERFECT (I have sung)
SIMPLE PERFECT PAST (I sang) PLUPERFECT TENSE (had sung)
FUTURE (I will sing) PAST ANTERIOR (had sung)
would sing FUTURE PERFECT (will have sung)
COMPOUND CONDITIONAL (would have sung)

SUBJUNCTIVE
Simple Composed
PRESENT (sing) PRESENT PERFECT (has sung)
IMPERFECT PAST (s/he would sing or sang) PLUPERFECT (had)
FUTURE (to sing)
I was delighted
FUTURE PERFECT (will have sung)

Thus, we should conjugate the verb 'haber' in the corresponding simple tense (e.g.: the preterite).
The past perfect tense of the verb 'sing' is formed using the verb 'have' conjugated in the imperfect preterite ['had'].
followed by the participle "sung" → "had sung"). In the compound forms, the verb "to have" functions, therefore,
syncretic morpheme of person, number, and tense.
5. THE ADVERB AND ITS INFLECTION

The adverb (Adv.) is defined as an unchangeable word (therefore, in principle,

would lack morphemes) that complement the meaning of a verb, of an adjective
 12 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Conselleria)
A qualifier or another adverb. It fulfills the function of nucleus of the adverbial phrase.

According to the circumstance expressed by its lexeme, adverbs can be:

Delugar:aquí, acá, ahí, allí, delante, detrás, atrás, encima, debajo, cerca, lejos,
enfrente, dentro, fuera, arriba, abajo, (a)donde, (a)dónde…
Detiempo:antes, ahora, luego, ya, tarde, pronto, temprano, ayer,hoy, mañana, anoche,
never
constantly, when...
Demodo:así, bien, mal, regular,mejor,peor,igual, como, cómo, rápidamente,
effectively...
amount: a lot, a little, quite a bit, very, more, less, nothing, everything, too much, so
almost, barely, just, when, when, exceedingly, abundantly…
Affirmation: yes, also, of course, indeed, well, effectively, naturally...
Denial: no, neither...
doubt: maybe, perhaps, possibly, perhaps, possibly, surely...
I wish: hopefully, like this...

Exclusion, inclusion, addition: only, solely, exclusively, in addition, even

exclusively...

Although we define adverbs as unchanging words (and therefore without

morphemes), some of them escape this definition; in fact, some adverbs are accepted.
diminutive morphemes like "-ita" (e.g.: near → nearby/ now → right now). On the other hand, the
Adverbs ending in '-ly' consist of an adjective in the feminine or neuter gender.
(which contains the lexeme) and the adverb-forming particle '-ly'.

V. TYPES OF SUFFIXES ACCORDING TO THEIR FUNCTION AND MEANING

1. APPRECIATIVE SUFFIXES

They modify the meaning of the lexeme by adding quantitative or affective information.
classified as:
Diminutives11:-ito/ a, -ico/ a, -illo/ a, -ín/ -ino/ -ina, -ete/ -eta, -uelo/ -uela…
-ón/ona, -azo/-aza, -ote/-ota, -azo/-aza…
Derogatory12:-aco/ -aca, -ucho/ -ucha, -acho/ -acha, -ajo/ -aja, -astro/ -astra, -ostro/
-ostra, -arro/ -arra, -anco/ -anca, ujo/ uja...
Combination of affectionate terms can occur: 'voice-arr-ón', 'big-head-ito', 'tiny-ín'...

2. CATEGORIZING AND RECATEGORIZING SUFFIXES

In some cases, the existence of a suffix simply allows for the formation of a word.
belonging to a certain grammatical category; e.g.: the word 'hand' is a noun

11
In some cases, diminutives give rise to words that, through use, have become fossilized (lexicalized), so that
the speaker is not aware that they are using a diminutive. For example, the word 'peseta' comes from the
the word "peso" (currency), to which the diminutive suffix "-eta" was added at one time; since this union has been lexicalized,
In a word like 'pesetita', the lexeme would be 'peset-' and the diminutive suffix '-ita'. The same happens with the term.
bicycle

12
With restrictions: some pejoratives can be combined solely and exclusively with certain lexemes: 'libraco',
“camastro”, “poetastro”, “hierbajo”, “casucha”, “mujeruca”, etc.También debemos tener en cuenta que el diminutivo
“-uelo,” usually preceded by the infix “-ez-” can function as a derogatory term (“mujerzuela”).
13 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Conselleria)
whose lexeme is 'man-' (there are 'manipulate', 'manual', 'little hand', 'big hand', etc.); in this case,

The derivational morpheme '-o' is acting as a mere noun-forming suffix.

In others, however, the suffix allows for the modification of a word's grammatical category.
We are talking, on this occasion, about recategorizing suffixes, which are classified into:

a) Deverbals: they transform a verb into a word belonging to another category:

For example: the noun 'thought' comes from the verb 'to think', through the following derivation process:
pens- (lexeme or root) + -a- (inflectional morpheme of thematic vowel) + -miento (derivational morpheme [suffix)
deverbal form of abstract noun that means 'action' or 'effect'.

For example: the same happens with the noun "valuation": "valua-" (lexeme or root) + "-a-" (flexive morpheme of vowel
theme) + "-ción" (morpheme derived from verbal that forms an abstract noun meaning "action" or "effect").

b) Denominal: transform a noun (or name) into a word belonging to

another category:
For example: if we add the denominal suffix “-al” (which means “quality”) to the noun “nation,” we will obtain the
qualifying adjective 'national'.

For example: if we add the denominal suffix "-os-o" (which means "having") to the noun "doubt," we have the
qualifying adjective 'doubtful'.

c) Deadjectival: they transform a qualifying adjective into a word belonging to another category.
category:
For example: the noun 'purity' comes from the adjective 'pure', through the following derivation process: 'pur-'
(lexeme) + "-eza" (derivational morpheme [adjectival suffix forming an abstract noun that means
"quality"].
For example: the same happens with the noun "evilness": "mal-" (lexeme) + "-dad" (derivational morpheme [suffix)
deadjetival form of the abstract noun that means 'quality'.

In this way, we can start building derived words by combining various suffixes.
recategorizers that will successively modify the grammatical category of the word:
For example: let's think about the noun 'positioning'; this word has been formed by the addition of suffixes.
recategorizers that have been changing the grammatical category from an original verbal lexeme:
Pos-: lexeme (allomorphs: pon-/puest-/post-).
-i-: derivational morpheme (infix).
-cion-: derivative morpheme (denominal suffix forming an abstract noun that means 'action or effect').
-a-: inflectional morpheme of thematic vowel (1st conjugation)13.
-ment-: derivative morpheme (verbal suffix forming a noun that means 'action or effect').
-Ø: inflectional morpheme of number (singular).

This procedure allows us, then, to start building:

a) Nouns: thanks to suffixes like (these are the most commonly used):
-DOR: agentive verbal suffix (indicates the agent of the action), meaning 'agent of the action' ('killer')
"instrument with which the action is performed" ("fork") or even, "place where the action is performed" ("dining room").
-ERO: as a denominative suffix that forms nouns from others, means 'trade or profession in relation to'
"blacksmith"; as a deverbal suffix, it means "place where an action is carried out or something is stored" ("picnic area",
wallet
-ORIO: locative deverbal suffix (indicates the “place of the action”); e.g.: “wake”, “funeral home”.
-ERÍA: means 'place of sale or manufacture' ('bakery') or 'quality of' ('foolishness').
-AL/ -AR/ -EDO/ -EDA/ -EDAL: designates groups of plants (“rose bush”, “pine forest”, “beech grove”, “poplar grove”, “oak grove”).
-AZO: means 'blow given with' ('hammer blow').
-AJE: means 'set of' ('clothing'), 'action' ('skating'), or 'measure, proportion' ('mileage').
-ADA: means "strike given with" ("slap"), in a derogatory tone "action typical of" ("childish behavior") or "collective
youth
-ADO: means “position or office” (“in charge”, “business”) or “place where the position is held” (“marquessate”).
In industrial contexts, it refers to manufacturing processes ('lacquering', 'tongue and groove').
-IDO: suffix for creating nominalized participles that refer to sounds (the participle of "meow" is
meow, which behaves like a noun.
-NTE: suffix that forms active participles meaning “the one who performs an action” (the one who “sings” is the
singer

13
Let's notice how the presence of a thematic vowel acts as a nominal suffix, turning the noun 'position' into
the verb 'to position'.
14 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Council)
-AZO / ÓN: in addition to augmentatives, they mean ‘a blow struck with force’ (‘slap’, ‘punch’) or ‘action
sudden and energetic” (“bronchial attack”). “-On” also means “that exercises the action of a lot” (from “abuse” →
bully
-ISM: means "political or cultural movement, doctrine, belief" ("socialism", "realism", "Christianity") or
"profession" ("journalism").
-ISTA: means "supporter of" ("socialist", "realist") or "a person who is dedicated to" ("journalist").
-IVO: means 'specific to' ('exclusive').
-MENTO/ -MIENTO: suffix derived from verbs that forms abstract nouns meaning 'action or effect'
glue
-TION: suffix of verbal formation that forms abstract nouns meaning 'action or effect' ('voting').
-URA: means 'effect resulting from an action' ('welding', 'clearance', 'support', 'cooking').
-EZ/ EZA/ -ÍA: adjectival suffixes that mean 'quality' (from 'pale' → 'paleness' / from 'delicate' → 'delicateness' /
from "lozano" → "lozanía".
-ANZA: a deverbal suffix that means 'action and effect' (from 'kill' → 'slaughter').
-ANCY/ -ENCY/ -IENCY: verbal suffixes that form abstract nouns such as "ignorance", "resistance" or
experience
-DAD: adjectival suffix that means "quality" (from "good" → "goodness").
-A/ -O/ -E: here we talk about regressive derivation, where a shortening of a word occurs. This vowel
final is not, really, a suffix, as the resulting word coincides with an existing verbal form in the
conjugation; it is a derivation Ø, which occurs in cases such as: the action of 'fighting' is the 'fight'; that of
"deteriorar" is "deterioration"; the one from "cortar" is "cut".

b) Adjectives: thanks to suffixes such as:

- AL/ -AR/ -ERO/ -IL/ -ARIO: means "quality", "related to", "characteristic of" ("national", "alar", "patriot", "monkish")
commissary
- OSO: a denominal suffix that means "that has in abundance" ("doubtful").
- IENTO: means 'having' ('greasy', 'thirsty').
- ISTA means "someone who is a supporter of or habitually practices" ("blackmailer").
- ISTICAL: means 'characteristic of' ('automotive').
- ABLE/ -IBLE: it has a meaning of possibility or obligation: "that can be" or "must be" ("treatable", "possible").
- IZO: it means 'that tends to' or 'that can easily' ('elusive').
- IZO/- UZCO/ - ÁCEO/ -ENTO/ -OSO: mean 'approach to a color' ('reddish', 'blackish', 'grayish',
“amarillento”, “verdoso”).
- OIDE: means 'approximation to a shape' ('ovoide' means 'egg-shaped'; 'humanoid' means 'with
shape of a man

c) Verbs: from nouns and adjectives, verbs can be formed through the
grammatical morpheme vocalizes thematic and the corresponding endings to the various
verbal forms; e.g.: from the noun 'oxide', we can obtain the verb 'to oxidize' (and its
various forms) thanks to the addition of the thematic vowel "-a-".

In some cases, moreover, the prefixes 'en-' (which means 'to enter into') or 'a-' (which
means "to move towards") have a denominal or deadjectival value that forms verbs;
for example: from the noun 'pest', we can derive the verb 'stink' and from the adjective 'dirty',
we can obtain the verb 'to dirty'. Prefixation and suffixation can occur simultaneously
without the intermediate word (parasynthetic) in verbs like weaken (does not exist)
neither "enflaco" nor "flaquecer".

Some of the most productive verb suffixes are:

- EAR: it can mean 'to act as' ('to play the fox'), 'to produce' ('to confuse') or, on occasions, it speaks to us of actions.
repetitive ('to torpedo'). With adjectives, it has the aspectual ingressive meaning of 'to enter a state' or
"to become". Between the lexeme and the suffix "-ear", a diminutive, augmentative, or pejorative suffix can be interspersed.

with an iterative and often derogatory connotation; e.g.: from 'cry-ing', we can obtain 'cry-i(c/qu)-ing'.
- ECER: it is also ingressiv, meaning "to become", "to make something become" ("to bloom", "to dampen").
- IFICAR/-IZAR: they also have the meaning of the ingress aspect of 'making something become', 'to create or
produce
 15 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Ministry)
3. SUFFIXES THAT FORM DEMONYMES
Demonym are qualifying adjectives that express the geographical origin of someone or of
something. Most of such demonyms are formed using the following suffixes:

- ANO: “valenciano”, “gaditano”… - Catalan

- INO: “parisino”, “granadino”… - Mallorcan

- Í/ ITA: “israelí”, “marbellí”, “moscovita”… - Austrian

- ÉS: “francés”, “inglés”… - AICO: "Iberian"...

- abulean - Guatemalan

- Spanish - ITA: “moscovita”, “israelita”…

- EÑO: "from Madrid", "from Cáceres"... - Ibizan

- Chilean - cartagenan

4. QUANTIFYING SUFFIXES
-ble / -ple / -plo (double, triple, quadruple, centuple...)
Partitives: "-th", "-st" ("thirteenth", "tenth", "hundredth", "twentieth"…).

VI. TYPES OF PREFIXES ACCORDING TO THEIR FUNCTION AND MEANING

Of denial or opposition:
A-: indicates negation, deprivation: 'alegal', 'amoral'.
IN-/ IM-: indicates negation, deprivation; with adjectives, it means 'that is not' ('immoral'), with verbs it indicates 'impediment'

("incommunicate") and with nouns it indicates "lack of" ("indecency").

DES-: means 'the opposite of' ('undo', 'uninvite', 'unhinged').
ANTI-: indicates "opposition" ("antisystem", "antibiotic", "antipyretic").
CONTRA-: also indicates "opposition" ("contraception"), but it also has a locative meaning of location in the
space ("plywood") or in a hierarchy ("bosun").

Locatives (express place):

'EXTRA-' means 'outside of' ('extradition'), 'that exceeds' ('extraplane') or 'negation' ('extraofficial').
ANTE-: means 'in front of' in space ('antechamber') or in time ('antecedent').
ENTRE-/INTER: means "between" ("between tracks", "international") or "approximation" ("between dogs").
OVER-/SUPER-: means "above" ("to fly over") and even "addition or excess" ("surtax", "super luxury").
SUB-/SO-: as an antonym of the previous, it means 'below' ('subnormal') or 'incomplete action' ('sofreír').
VICE-: also means 'below' ('vice president').
TRANS-: means 'movement across' ('transatlantic').
CON-: means 'next to' ('to contain').
Temporaries:
ANTE-: means 'anterior to' ('aforementioned').
PRE-: just like the previous one (“prenatal”).
POS-/POST-: means 'after' ('postmodern', 'to postpone').

Of quantity and size (they are of Greek or Latin origin):

MONO-/UNI-: signifies 'unit' ('monosyllable', 'univocal').
BI-/ BIS-/ BIZ-: signifies "two" ("bisyllable", "great-grandfather", "great-grandson").
three
ten
MULTI-/ PLURI-/ POLI-: signify "various" ("multicolor", "plurilingual", "multisport").
SEMI-/HEMI-/DEMI-: means 'half' ('semi-skimmed', 'hemicycle').
MACRO-: means 'large' ('macrostructure').
MICRO-: means "small" ("microstructure").
HIPER-: means "excess of" ("hyperthermia").
HIPO-: means 'below' ('hypothermia').
MINUS-: means 'insufficiency of' ( 'undervalued').

Intensification: certain locative prefixes may have an intensifying value: EXTRA-

extraordinary
far-right

1. THE 'PREFIJOIDS':
 16 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Dept. Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Conselleria)
Certain constituents of Greek or Latin origin give rise to numerous neologisms.
in modern lexicon (especially technical and scientific). There is discussion about its nature, for
sometimes they behave like prefixes and other times like suffixes. In any case, we must have
Present that these elements have full lexical meaning, so they can function.
as lexemes and give rise to isolated words. Examples: TELE: "at a distance" ("television"); FOTO:
“luz” (“fotosensible”);FONO:“sonido” (“teléfono”);AERO: “aire” (“aeroplano”);AUTO:“por sí
same
“odio, rechazo” (“misógino”);ANTROPO:“ser humano” (“misántropo”);LOGO/ LOGÍA: “ciencia,
knowledge, treaty” (“anthropology”) …
To familiarize yourself with these 'prefixoids', consult the tables on the attached sheets with
prefixes and suffixes.

VII. THE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

The morphological analysis of a word consists of the following steps:

I. Morphological segmentation:

1. Locate the lexeme (or lexemes, if the word is compound). To do this, we must form the family.
lexical of the word.
a) If we are dealing with a verb, the lexeme will also be called 'root'.
2. Isolate the various morphemes (derivational and inflectional).

3. In the case of derivational morphemes (affixes), indicate whether they are prefixes, suffixes, infixes or
fixed and, if possible, explain their meaning.
a) Indicate whether these derivational morphemes fulfill a recategorizing function (denominals,
deadjectival, deverbal) and explain what new grammatical category they form.
b) Indicate whether these derivational morphemes are appreciative (diminutives, augmentatives, or derogatory).
or of another type.

4. In the case of grammatical or inflectional morphemes:

a) If we are dealing with a noun, we must mark the grammatical morphemes of gender and
number (let's remember that the absence of gender or number morpheme is marked by the
morph zero: Ø).
b) If we are faced with a qualifying adjective, we must also indicate what the morphemes are.
grammatical gender and number but, in addition, also the degree.
c) If we are dealing with a verb, we must segment the thematic vowel and the syncretic morphemes or
amalgamated (on one hand, of person and number and, on the other, of tense, aspect, and mood).

II. The morphological characterization of the word:

1. Indicate the grammatical category (noun, verb, descriptive adjective, etc.) and grammatical values
(gender and number in the noun; gender, number, and degree in the qualifying adjective; number,
person, tense, aspect and mood in the verb...), as well as any information we consider
relevant for the characterization of the word (if we have to analyze a word like
"ahead", we must pay attention to the context in which this word appears, to know if
it is about a verb [e.g.: “the match was brought forward”] or an adjective, thanks to the use, by
example, of an article [e.g.: “Edison was ahead of his time”].
2. Specify what the word formation procedure is (independent morpheme, word
primitive, inflection, derivation [prefixation, suffixation, infixation, etc.], composition, parasynthesis
, combination…) and as much information as possible about how this has occurred.
procedure.

Examples:
17 Andrés Gómez Arigita. Department of Spanish Language and
Literature (I.E.S. Ministry)

Unpresentable Qualifying adjective in degree

positive (a to leave del verb
Im/in-: derivational morpheme (prefix of negation). "to present"). Singular number. Gender
lexeme. of a single ending.
-a-: flexive or grammatical morpheme of vowel
theme (1st conjugation). Word formed by means of
-ble: derivational morpheme (verb suffix, forming parasyntesis (prefixation +
of an adjective with modal value possibility sufixation a starting from verb
obligation). to present (although exists
-Ø: flexive or grammatical morpheme of number presentable, not so *unpresentable
(singular).

Malnutrition Noun common abstract

Singular number. Feminine gender
Des-: derivative morpheme (prefix, which indicates (unmotivated).
inverse action to that expressed by the lexeme.
-nutr-: lexeme. Word formed by means of
-i-: inflectional morpheme of thematic vowel (3rd conjugation).
derivation (prefixation + suffixation) to
-tion: derivational morpheme (verb suffix, that starting from the verb 'to nourish'.
indicates action and effect, forming names
abstracts).
-Ø: grammatical morpheme of number (singular).

I would be 1st or 3rd person singular of

preterite imperfect of
Estuv-: lexeme (allomorphs: est-/ estuv-). subjuntivo del verbo “estar”.
ie-: inflectional morpheme of diphthong themed vowel
(2nd conj.). Word formed through inflection of
-ra: amalgamated inflectional morpheme (allomorphs: verb
ra/ 'to be'.
tense (imperfect past), aspect
(imperfective) and mood (subjunctive).
-Ø: inflectional morpheme of person (1st or 3rd) and number
(singular).

Consult more examples in the exercise proposals in the annex.