An Intermediate-level Spanish Grammar and Vocabulary Textbook

An Intermediate-level Spanish Grammar and Vocabulary Textbook

✓ Learn to use 13 verb tenses and moods

✓ Expand your vocabulary with over 650 new words, arranged thematically

✓ Review basic grammar and expand to complex concepts and structures

✓ Study the parts of speech in detail, and how to use them in sentences

✓ Learn common expressions and conversational techniques

✓ Master the differentiation of commonly confused words

✓ Become proficient in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and accents

By Joel Poortenga

©2021 Joel Poortenga 2

Index of Lessons 1 – 16

Vocabulary Focus Additional Elements Page #

Lesson 1: Essential word review Subject pronouns, Present tense (regular verbs), 4 Greetings and farewells.

Lesson 2: Family members & adjectives Present tense (IE and UE stem changing verbs), 9 Nouns and their gender, Definite and indefinite articles.

Lesson 3: Clothing & descriptions Present tense (E to I changes, added Y verbs) 16 Adjectives, How are you?

Lesson 4: Items in the house Spelling and pronunciation, Present tense (unique yo forms, 23 spelling changes, inescapable verbs), Comparisons.

Lesson 5: Daily activities Present progressive, Reflexive verbs, Speaking of names. 31

Lesson 6: Taking care of ourselves Reflexive expressions, The reflexive passive, Accents, 37 The present progressive with reflexive verbs.

Lesson 7: Parts of the body Preterit tense (regular verbs, plus Ser, Ir, Dar, Ver), 43 Direct and indirect object pronouns, and their locations.

Lesson 8: Review Preterit irregulars (hacer group, decir group), 49 Double-object pronouns.

Lesson 9: Sickness and medicine Preterit tense (vowel changes, spelling changes), 53 Numbers and fractions.

Lesson 10: Injuries, problems, treatments Verbs that change meaning in the preterit, Date and time. 58

Lesson 11: Common foods The imperfect tense, When to use infinitives. 63

Lesson 12: Baking and measuring Verbs and prepositions, When to use the imperfect. 68

Lesson 13: Regional and typical dishes Preterit versus imperfect, Gustar and similar verbs. 74

Lesson 14: Education The future tense (regular verbs), Possessive adjectives. 79

Lesson 15: Professions The future tense (irregular verbs), Future tense for 84 guessing and wondering, Adverbs.

Lesson 16: Review Prepositions, Prepositional pronouns, Verb tense review. 89

Verbs & Confusions Expressions Page #

Lesson 1: Ir 8

Lesson 2: Ser / estar Está bien, vale 15

Lesson 3: Tener Pues, bueno 22

Lesson 4: Haber Por favor 30

Lesson 5: Poner / vestirse Gracias 36

Lesson 6: Sentirse / sentarse De nada 42

Lesson 7: Perder / poder Estar a punto de 48

Lesson 8: Review Review 52

Lesson 9: Tomar / tocar / jugar Es que, la cosa… 57

Lesson 10: Tomar / sacar / llevar Lo siento 62

Lesson 11: Tiempo / vez / hora Disculpe 67

Lesson 12: Salir / dejar De vez en cuando 73

Lesson 13: Tratar / probar Poco a poco 78

Lesson 14: Enseñar / aprender A lo mejor 83

Lesson 15: Saber / conocer En vez de 88



Index of Lessons 17 – 32

Vocabulary Focus Additional Elements Page #

Lesson 17: Pets, pets, and producers The conditional mood, Forming questions. 94

Lesson 18: Wild animals The conditional for requests, offers and obligations. 100 Demonstrative adjectives.

Lesson 19: Land and sky Discussing the weather, Present perfect tense (regular verbs) 104

Lesson 20: Car parts and problems Present perfect (irregular verbs), Other past participle uses, 109 Positive and negative terms.

Lesson 21: Air and train travel The true passive voice, The past perfect tense. 115

Lesson 22: Around the city The future perfect tense, Relative pronouns. 118

Lesson 23: Money and banking The conditional perfect mood, Speaking on the phone. 124

Lesson 24: Review Bien, bueno, muy, mucho, más; Verb tense review. 127

Lesson 25: Entertainment and culture Traditional instruments, Subjunctive conjugations, 132 Subjunctive rule 1, Indefinite and negative terms.

Lesson 26: Sports Por and para, Subjunctive rule 2 139

Lesson 27: Sharing the good news Subjunctive rules 3 and 4, Punctuation 145

Lesson 28: Church Subjunctive rule 5, Capitalization 150

Lesson 29: Prayer and the Bible Praying in Spanish, Subjunctive rule 6, 154 Present perfect subjunctive

Lesson 30: Armies and war The imperative (positive tú forms), Exclamations 159

Lesson 31: Politics and problems The imperative (all other forms) 163

Lesson 32: Review List of topics to study, Verb tense review 166

Verbs & Confusions Expressions Page #

Lesson 17: Largo / grande A causa de 99

Lesson 18: Bajo / corto Puesto que 102

Lesson 19: Hacer Por eso 107

Lesson 20: Mirar / buscar / cuidar En cuanto a 114

Lesson 21: Volver / devolver / revolver Estar de acuerdo 117

Lesson 22: Dar Sin embargo 122

Lesson 23: Pedir / preguntar En cambio 126


Lesson 25: Foto / imagen ¿De veras? ¿Verdad? ¿En serio? 138

Lesson 26: Pensar / creer Cada vez más 144

Lesson 27: Pescado / pecado O sea 149

Lesson 28: Decir / hablar A ver 153

Lesson 29: Lavar / llamar / llevar Entonces 158

Lesson 30: Mover / mudarse Por lo visto 162

Lesson 31: Lavar / limpiar Por lo menos 165



Lección 1 Contenido de esta lección:

❖ Vocabulario: Essential words ❖ Gramática: Subject pronouns ❖ Tiempos verbales: Present tense (regular verbs) ❖ Otro: Greetings & farewells ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Ir

Vocabulario: Essential Words All the following words are common parts of everyday Spanish conversation, and it is assumed you learned them in your prior Spanish course(s). In this course, these words will be used very frequently, in your homework, in class activities, and on tests and quizzes. Be sure to review them thoroughly and to know them well! As you study these words this week, take special note of the ones you are less familiar with, and focus on those. For the words you already know well, just review them lightly. Required Nouns:

Dios God El país country La estrella star

El abuelo grandpa El pájaro bird La fiesta party

El agua water El pan bread La gente people

El almuerzo lunch El pelo hair La iglesia church

El amigo friend El perro dog La leche milk

El baño bathroom El pez fish La luna moon

El barco boat El pie foot La luz light

El bolígrafo pen El pollo chicken La lluvia rain

El caballo horse El postre dessert La madre mother

El campo field El primo cousin La mano hand

El carro car El río river La manzana apple

El cine movie theater El sol sun La mesa table

El corazón heart El sombrero hat La mujer woman

El cuaderno notebook El tenedor fork La nariz nose

El cuarto room El tío uncle La Navidad Christmas

El cuchillo knife El tren train La oreja ear

El cumpleaños birthday El vecino neighbor La película movie

El desayuno breakfast El vestido dress La pelota ball

El diente tooth El zapato shoe La piscina pool

El dinero money La biblioteca library La playa beach

El examen test La boca mouth La prueba quiz

El gato cat La cabeza head La puerta door

El helado ice cream La calle street La ropa clothing

El hermano brother La cama bed La tienda store

El hijo son La camisa shirt La vaca cow

El hombre man La carne meat La ventana window

El huevo egg La casa house La vida life

El jardín yard, garden La cena dinner Las gafas glasses

El jefe boss La ciudad city Las tareas homework


El lápiz pencil La cocina kitchen Los pantalones pants

El libro book La comida food Los platos dishes

El niño child, kid La cuchara spoon El pueblo town, village

El ojo eye La escuela school

El padre father La espalda back

Required Regular Verbs:

Abrir to open Cuidar to take care of Necesitar to need

Amar to love Escribir to write Olvidar to forget

Aprender to learn Escuchar to listen Orar to pray

Asistir to attend Esperar to wait for Pagar to pay

Ayudar to help Hablar to speak, to talk Recibir to receive

Bailar to dance Lavar to wash Romper to break

Buscar to look for Leer to read Tocar to play (music)

Caminar to walk Limpiar to clean Tomar to take, to drink

Cantar to sing Llamar to call Trabajar to work

Comer to eat Llegar to arrive Vender to sell

Comprar to buy Llevar to wear Viajar to travel

Contestar to answer Manejar to drive Vivir to live

Correr to run Mirar to look, to watch

Creer to believe Nadar to swim

As we learn to conjugate irregular verbs, there will be some new verbs added to this list of verbs that you must know and be able to conjugate. Required Adjectives, Adverbs, and Prepositions:

Aburrido bored Divertido fun Nuevo new

Alto tall Enfermo sick Ocupado busy

Amarillo yellow Enojado angry Pequeño small

Antes de before Fácil easy Poco a little bit, not much

Azul blue Feo ugly Rojo red

Bajo short (height) Fuerte strong Simpático nice

Bien well Grande big, large Sucio dirty

Blanco white Joven young Tarde late

Bonito nice, pretty Largo long Temprano early

Bueno good Lejos de far from Tranquilo calm

Cansado tired Limpio clean Triste sad

Cerca de close to Malo bad Verde green

Corto short (length) Mañana tomorrow Viejo old

Despacio slowly Mucho a lot, many Afuera outside

Después de after Negro black Adentro inside


Gramática: Subject Pronouns Subject pronouns are those that are used to do an action.

I Yo Used just like the English "I."

We Nosotros Used just like the English “We.” (Use “nosotras” for a female-only group)

You Tú This is informal, for friends, family and social equals.

You guys Vosotros This is the plural of "tú," used to casually address two or more people.

You Usted This is formal, showing more respect.

You guys Ustedes This is formal and plural.

Él He Used just like the English "He."

Ellos They Used for mixed-gender groups, or groups of males.

Ella She Used just like the English "She."

Ellas They Used for groups of females.

The formal pronouns usted and ustedes are used for any person or group that you need to show respect to. It is the equivalent of saying sir, ma'am or miss. Use these forms in all work-related situations. Use them with strangers, with those older than you, and with anyone who is of superior rank to you.

Vosotros is only used in Spain. In Latin America, ustedes is the only plural "you." Vosotros will be presented along with the other pronouns in these lessons, and you should know what it is, but you will not be required to learn to use its conjugations. Generally, use ustedes for the plural you.

Important note: For the purposes of this course, always assume that you is singular informal (tú) unless otherwise indicated. You guys or all of you would indicate plural (ustedes) and the word formal would indicate that you should use usted. Omitting Subject Pronouns Because Spanish verb conjugations change for each person, the form of the verb implies who the subject (the doer) is. For this reason, the subject pronoun is very often omitted from the sentence. You only include the subject pronoun if it is needed for clarity or for extra emphasis.

Tengo tres hermanos. (I) have three siblings. No comen el puerco porque son judíos. (They) don't eat pork because (they) are Jewish. Vamos a la playa en el verano. (We) go to the beach in the summer.

No sé si tienes que llegar temprano. (I) don’t know if (you) have to arrive early.


Tiempos verbales: The Present Tense In many ways, the present tense is used the same in Spanish as it is in English. We use it to talk about normal, habitual, or occasional actions that are true at the present time. Ellos viven en Tegucigalpa. They live in Tegucigalpa.

Yo prefiero el café. I prefer coffee. Ella estudia en su dormitorio. She studies in her room.

There are some differences in usage, however. One example is that while English uses the present progressive (he is working, I am travelling) very frequently, Spanish has a strong preference for the present tense (he works, I travel). ¿Qué haces? What are you doing? Ellos estudian la revolución ahora. They are studying the revolution now. ¿Adónde vas? Where are you going? We will study the present progressive in lessons 5 and 6, so you can find out more about the difference there, but here is the basic distinction; use the progressive for things that are actually occurring at the moment. Use the present tense for everything else. Another difference is that English uses the progressive as a future tense. Spanish never does this! Instead, you can use the present tense to refer to actions in the near future. ¡Mis amigos vienen a la casa esta noche! My friends are coming over tonight! Ella sale mañana por la mañana. She is leaving tomorrow. Tocamos en un concierto el sábado que viene. We are playing in a concert next Saturday. How to Conjugate Regular Verbs in the Present Tense

To conjugate a regular verb, take off the last two letters and add the appropriate ending:

AR verbs Hablar ER verbs Comer IR verbs Abrir

Yo o hablo o como o abro

Tú as hablas es comes es abres

Él / ella / usted a habla e come e abre

Nosotros amos hablamos emos comemos imos abrimos

Vosotros áis habláis éis coméis ís abrís

Ellos / ellas / ustedes an hablan en comen en abren

Take special note of the Nosotros forms of ER and IR verbs, since they are different from each other.


Otro: Greetings & Farewells

Spanish English Notes

Greetings Hola Hello Use any time

Buenos días Good morning From when you wake up until noon.

Buenas tardes Good afternoon/evening From noon until around sunset.

Buenas noches Good evening/night From sunset until bedtime.

Meeting Mucho gusto Much pleasure Like saying "nice to meet you"

Mucho gusto en conocerte Much pleasure in meeting you Informal

Mucho gusto en conocerlo Much pleasure in meeting you Formal, masculine

Mucho gusto en conocerla Much pleasure in meeting you Formal, feminine

Encantado/a (I am) delighted Like saying "nice to meet you"

El gusto es mío The pleasure is mine A good response to mucho gusto

Igualmente Equally Response to mucho gusto or encantado

Farewells Adiós Goodbye Standard and universal (and a bit boring)

Hasta luego Until later (see you later) Casual and common

Nos vemos We'll see each other Equivalent of "see you!"

Chao Bye Very casual

Hasta pronto Until soon (see you soon) Casual and common

Ir (to go) The verb Ir is one of the most essential verbs in Spanish, and most of its uses are just like we would expect in English. The conjugations are quite irregular, but other than that, it is fairly simple!

Yo voy Nosotros vamos Tú vas Vosotros vais Él / ella / usted va Ellos / ellas / ustedes van

Yo voy a la tienda los jueves. I go to the store on Thursdays. Ellas van a la playa en julio. They go to the beach in July. ¿Adónde vas con ese sombrero? Where are you going with that hat?

Note: the verb Ir is typically used with the preposition “a” to indicate where people are going to. You can see this in the first two examples above.


Telling the Future Just as in English, the verb “to go” can be used to create a future tense. You conjugate Ir for the person, then the preposition “a,” and finally, the infinitive form of the verb that the person is going to do.

Yo voy a comprar las uvas mañana. I am going to buy the grapes tomorrow. Ellas van a llegar pronto. They are going to arrive soon. ¿Vas a tener una fiesta? Are you going to have a party? Vamos a leer el libro juntos. We are going to read the book together.


❖ Vocabulario: Family members & adjectives ❖ Tiempos verbales: Present tense irregulars ❖ Gramática: Noun gender, plurals ❖ Gramática: Articles ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Ser & estar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Está bien, vale

Vocabulario: Family members & adjectives

Required words

El nieto / la nieta grandson / granddaughter

Chistoso funny, joking

El yerno / la nuera son-in-law / daughter-in-law

Cortés polite

El suegro / la suegra father-in-law / mother-in-law

Hablador(a) talkative

El cuñado / la cuñada brother-in-law / sister-in-law

Leal loyal

El hermanastro / la hermanastra stepbrother / stepsister

Maleducado rude

El padrastro / la madrastra stepfather / stepmother

Mentiroso dishonest, liar

El hijastro / la hijastra stepson / stepdaughter

Pobre* poor

El bisabuelo / la bisabuela great grandfather / mother

Rico* rich, wealthy

Almost every vocabulary lesson will contain a “review and cognates” box. The review words are intended to be a helpful reminder of what you have learned before. The cognates are words you should recognize based on their similarity to English. You should read through these words each week, and they will appear in your workbook lessons, but they are not required vocabulary, in the sense that they will not be specifically tested. Review & Cognates

El amigo / la amiga friend Amable likeable, friendly Paciente patient

El esposo / la esposa husband / wife Generoso generous Perezoso lazy

El hijo / la hija son / daughter Honesto honest Serio serious

El novio / la novia boy/girlfriend, fiancée Impaciente impatient Sincero sincere

El primo / la prima cousin Inteligente smart Tímido shy, timid

El sobrino / la sobrina nephew / niece Nervioso nervous Trabajador(a) hard worker


Tiempos verbales: Present tense irregulars – IE and UE stem changing verbs

IE stem change: The following verbs have an E that becomes an IE when you conjugate them, in all the forms except nosotros and vosotros. If the verb has more than one E, the one that changes is the one closest to the ending, but not in the ending. For example, the underlined E’s will change in the following words: despertar, empezar, perder.

Cerrar (to close) cierro, cierran Mentir (to lie) miento, mienten

Comenzar (to begin) comienzo, comienzas Pensar (to think) piensas, piensa

Confesar (to confess) confiesas, confiesan Perder (to lose) pierde, pierden

Defender (to defend) defiendes, defienden Preferir (to prefer) prefiero, prefiere

Despertar (to wake) despierto, despierta Quebrar (to break) quiebro, quiebras

Divertir (to have fun) diviertes, divierten Querer (to want) quiere, quieren

Empezar (to begin) empiezo, empiezan Sentar (to sit, seat) sientas, sientan

Entender (to understand) entiendes, entienden Sentir (to feel) siente, sienten

Nosotros, Vosotros: cerramos, cerráis, defendemos, defendéis, preferimos, preferís…

As you learn new verbs in our vocabulary lists this year, some of them will have (ie) after them. This means they have an IE stem change. The same goes for (ue). UE stem change: These verbs all have an O that changes to become a UE when conjugated. Again, this does not affect nosotros or vosotros.

Acostar (to lie down) acuesto, acuestan Jugar (to play) juegan, juegas

Almorzar (to eat lunch) almuerzas, almuerzan Morir (to die) mueres, mueren

Colgar (to hang up) cuelgo, cuelga Poder (to be able) puedo, puede

Contar (to tell, to count) cuentas, cuenta Probar (to try on) pruebas, prueban

Costar (to cost) cuesta, cuestan Recordar (to remember) recuerdo, recuerdas

Devolver (to return) devuelves, devuelven Sonar (to ring, to sound) suena, suenan

Dormir (to sleep) duermo, duerme Volar (to fly) vuelas, vuelan

Encontrar (to find) encuentro, encuentras Volver (to return) vuelvo, vuelves

Nosotros, Vosotros: acostamos, acostáis, podemos, podéis, morimos, morís... Verbs you are required to know very well

The following verbs are ones that are used with extreme frequency. You are expected to know them, including their meanings and their conjugations, with little effort.

IE Stem Changing Verbs UE Stem Changing Verbs Cerrar Dormir Empezar Encontrar Entender Jugar Mentir Morir Pensar Poder Perder Volver Preferir Querer


Gramática: Noun gender

All Spanish nouns have gender to them, masculine or feminine. This gender is not related to human gender (the word for beard is feminine, for example). This is why vocabulary lists usually include the definite article (el, la) before the word; it helps you learn the gender of the noun. How Do You Know the Gender of a Noun?

With many words, the ending of the word helps you recognize the gender of the noun. However, even when there is a very strong pattern of gender, such as masculine nouns ending in O, there are exceptions that must be learned on a case-by-case basis. Masculine

Here are four endings that nearly always indicate a masculine word:

O JE OR MA

el perro dog el equipaje luggage el amor love el problema problem

el teléfono phone el paisaje landscape el calor heat el sistema system

el trabajo work el garaje garage el trabajador worker el clima climate

el oro gold el mensaje message el revólver gun el poema poem

Be careful, however, since some words that look feminine are actually masculine as well: El sofá, el mapa, el día, el avión, el camión. There are also hundreds of words that have inconclusive endings which need to be learned individually. Here are some of the most common ones that can tend to get confused:

El árbol tree El mes month El pie foot

El cine movie theater El pan bread El restaurante restaurant

El examen test El parque park El tren train

Feminine

The following four endings tend to indicate feminine words:

A CIÓN and SIÓN D UMBRE

la mesa table la canción song la ciudad city la costumbre custom

la luna moon la pasión passion la amistad friendship la muchadumbre crowd

la riqueza riches la acción action la enfermedad sickness la certidumbre certainty

la caja box la estación season la sed thirst la pesadumbre grief

Just as we saw above, there are some exceptions, where words that look masculine are actually feminine: La foto, la mano, la moto, la radio. Finally, here are some nouns that have inconclusive endings which you will need to learn as feminine:

La calle street La gente people La nieve snow

La carne meat La llave key La noche night

La clase class La luz light La sangre blood

La frase phrase La muerte death La tarde afternoon


Compound Nouns Compound nouns are composed of a verb and a noun, jammed together. They are all almost always masculine, and they nearly always end with an S, even when they are singular. Cumplir = to finish, to fulfill Años = years El cumpleaños = it fulfills years (birithday) Lavar = to wash Platos = dishes El lavaplatos = it washes dishes (dishwasher) Parar = to stop Aguas = waters El paraguas = it stops waters (umbrella) Romper = to break Cabezas = heads El rompecabezas = it breaks heads (puzzle) These words will not get an extra ES to make them plural.

✓ Yo tengo un rompecabezas, pero ella tiene muchos rompecabezas. ✓ El hombre que repara los lavaplatos está aquí para ayudarnos.

Water Words The following nouns are all feminine. However, since they begin with an emphasized A sound, Spanish gives them a masculine article when singular ("el agua" sounds better than "la agua"...). Nevertheless, these words receive feminine articles when plural, and feminine adjectives no matter what. We call these “water words” because “el agua” is the most common word in this category.

Singular Plural With Adjectives

el agua las aguas el agua fría

el águila las águilas el águila bonita

el ama de casa las amas de casa el ama ocupada

el arpa las arpas varias arpas

el hambre las hambres mucha hambre

Gramática: Plurals

There are a few simple rules for how to make nouns and adjectives plural:

If a noun ends with a vowel, simply add an S to the end. El gato, los gatos La mesa, las mesas El hombre, los hombres

If it ends with a consonant, add ES to the end. Un árbol, dos árboles Un patrón, dos patrones. Un reloj, dos relojes

When a noun ends with a Z, it changes to a C before you add the ES. Un pez, dos peces Una nariz, dos narices El lápiz, los lápices

When one item is described with a “noun of noun” phrase, only the first noun becomes plural. El fin de semana, los fines de semana El reloj de oro, los relojes de oro

When you speak about a family, you do not make the last name plural like English does. Los Martínez van a viajar a España este verano. Mi amigo dice que los Ortega tienen un perro enorme.

The days of the week that end in S do not have a plural form, but for Saturday and Sunday, you need to add an S. Ella tiene sus lecciones de piano los viernes. Ellos practican el drama los sábados.


Gramática: Articles

Definite Articles English has one definite article: the. Spanish has four versions of this, which always have to match in gender and number with the noun that they precede.

masculine singular el the el abrigo the coat

masculine plural los the los abrigos the coats

feminine singular la the la cuenta the bill

feminine plural las the las cuentas the bills

When to use definite articles. We learn early on that Spanish includes definite articles far more than English does. This is a tricky aspect of grammar that has many rules and exceptions, and some of them are quite subtle. We are going to look only at some of the most important of these. Use a definite article… when speaking of nouns in general or as a category ✓ Los carros cuestan mucho dinero. ✓ Me gusta hablar con los hispanos. ✓ Mi madre dice que las peras son deliciosas. ✓ A Carlitos le gusta la escuela.

But don’t use it… if an unspecified amount of that noun is the object of a verb. ▪ Ella lleva los pantalones negros para la entrevista. ▪ Comemos los frijoles con salsa verde. ▪ Esa tienda vende los teléfonos.

Use a definite article… before dates, days of the week, and seasons ✓ Vamos a la casa de mi abuela los miércoles. ✓ Ellos van a visitar el 13 de marzo. ✓ Nadamos mucho en el verano.

But don’t use it… when you say the identity of a day, using the verb ser. ▪ Hoy es el 22 de abril. ▪ Mañana va a ser el miércoles. ▪ Ayer fue el sábado, ocho de febrero.

Use a definite article… before the names of clothing and body parts (instead of a possessive adjective) ✓ ¿Te duele la cabeza? ✓ Ellos se ponen la chaqueta y salen. Use a definite article… before titles such as doctor, señor, and presidente ✓ El presidente Fernandez ayuda la economía. ✓ ¿Quién está hablando con la señora Patraño?

But don’t use it… if you are speaking to the person with that title. ▪ Hola, el presidente Fernandez. ¿Cómo está usted hoy? ▪ La Señora Patraño, ¿tiene usted un momento para hablar?

Finally, DO NOT USE a definite article after numbers, possessives, demonstratives, or adjectives of amount:

▪ ¿Dónde están mis los zapatos? ▪ Ellos tienen muchas las amigas en Europa. ▪ Sarah compra siete los libros. ▪ ¿Puedo usar su el lápiz?


Contractions

While English has numerous contractions (can't, don't, wasn't...), Spanish only has two. When you say "to the" or "from the" and the item is masculine singular, this contraction happens.

a + el = al We are going to the park Vamos al parque.

de + el = del The gift is from the teacher. El regalo es del profesor.

Indefinite Articles English has three indefinite articles: a, an, & some. In Spanish, the indefinite articles are un, unos, una and unas.

As a general rule, use an indefinite article in Spanish whenever you would in English. This will be correct in most cases. There are some exceptions however: DO NOT USE an indefinite article… when you use ser to say someone’s job, religion, or relationship title.

▪ Ella es una profesora. ▪ ¿Tú eres un médico? ▪ Creo que Pedro es un mormón. ▪ Mi hermana tiene un bebé, entonces ¡yo soy una tía ahora!

However, you WILL use one… if you use an adjective to modify that job, religion or relationship title.

✓ Ella es una profesora simpática. ✓ ¿Tú eres un médico famoso? ✓ Él es un católico sincero. ✓ Solo tengo 12 años, pero soy tía. ¡Soy una tía joven!

DO NOT USE an indefinite article… before the words cierto (certain) or otro (other).

▪ Ellos buscan un cierto niño. ▪ El hombre compra una otra camisa.


Ser / Estar Ser and Estar both mean “to be.” However, they have very different uses, so it is important to learn how they are distinct from each other. Ser is used to discuss the identity and essential qualities of a noun. It is used for things that make you who and/or what you are.

Character traits Yo soy competitivo. Ella es generosa.

Physical traits Mi prima es alta. Ellos son muy fuertes.

Profession ¿Quieres ser ingeniero? Mi padre es electricista.

Religion Ella es bautista, y su hermana es católica.

Political party Mi abuelo es demócrata, y mi padre es republicano.

Relationships Elena es la amiga de Juana. Tú eres mi tío.

Origin Nico es de Bolivia. Yo soy nicaragüense.

Belonging Esa bicicleta es de Sandra.

Composition La chaqueta es de cuero. Los calcetines son de lana.

Time Son las tres y veinticinco de la tarde.

Date Hoy es lunes. El trece de marzo es mi cumpleaños.

Location of event El servicio es en la iglesia. La reunión es en Colorado. Estar is used to discuss states or conditions that can happen to you, but are not part of who or what you are by nature.

Physical conditions Ellos están cansados. La mesa está mojada (wet).Yo estoy enfermo.

Current state El perro está muerto. El carro está sucio.

Emotional conditions Estamos contentos. Ellas están preocupadas.

Location of person Hipólito está en la biblioteca. Abel y yo estamos en el avión.

Location of object El lápiz está en el escritorio. La oficina está en Nueva York.

Current activity Patricia está corriendo. Tú estás tocando la flauta. Careful! Some adjectives change their meaning based on whether they are used with Ser or Estar.

Ser Estar Aburrido Soy aburrido. I am boring. Estoy aburrido. I am bored.

Listo Ella es lista. She is smart. Ella está lista. She is ready.

Rico Mi tío es rico. My uncle is rich. La comida está rica. The food is tasty.

Seguro El edificio es seguro. The building is safe. ¿Estás seguro? Are you sure?


Está Bien / Vale

Both these expressions are the equivalent of saying “Okay” in English, when you are either indicating or asking for agreement. Persona 1: Vamos a salir a las siete y media. Persona 2: ¡Está bien! Persona 1: Tomamos té, ¿está bien? Persona 2: No, prefiero café. Persona 1: La película empieza a las ocho. Persona 2: ¡Vale! ¡Te veo a las ocho! Latin Americans tend to say “Está bien” very frequently, while “Vale” is primarily used in Spain.

Lección 3

Contenido de esta lección:

❖ Vocabulario: Clothing and descriptions ❖ Tiempos verbales: Present tense irregulars ❖ Gramática: Adjectives ❖ Otro: How are you? ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Tener ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Pues / bueno

Vocabulario: Clothing and descriptions

Required words:

El cinturón belt El anillo ring El traje (de baño) (bathing) suit

El chaleco vest El arete earring De moda in style, fashionable

El pañuelo handkerchief/tissue El tacón heel Liso smooth, straight

El gorro/la gorra hat / cap La manga sleeve Rizado curly

La pulsera bracelet Los anteojos glasses Ancho wide, loose-fitting

La cadena chain (necklace) La bota boot Ajustado tight-fitting

➢ El traje is any kind of suit. El traje de baño is a bathing suit. ➢ High heeled shoes are zapatos de tacón alto.

Review & Cognates:

La blusa blouse El suéter sweater Guapo good-looking Débil weak

La camisa shirt La bufanda scarf Hermoso good-looking de algodón of cotton

La corbata tie El paraguas umbrella Pelo rubio blonde hair de cuero of leather

El calcetín sock El collar necklace Pelo rojo red hair de lana of wool

Las medias nylons, tights La bolsa bag/purse Pelo moreno brown/black hair de oro of gold

La chaqueta jacket La mochila backpack Gordo fat de plata of silver

El abrigo coat El reloj watch Delgado slim, slender


Tiempos verbales: Present tense irregulars – E to I changes and added-Y verbs

E to I stem change: In these verbs, the last E before the ending will become an I when you conjugate them. Once again, Nosotros and Vosotros are exceptions to this pattern.

Elegir (to choose) elige, eligen Repetir (to repeat) repito, repites, repiten

Freír (to fry) frío, fríe Seguir (to follow/continue) sigues, sigue, siguen

Medir (to measure) mides, miden Servir (to serve) sirvo, sirve

Pedir (to request) pido, pides Sonreír (to smile) sonrío, sonríes, sonríe

Reírse (to laugh) me río, te ríes, se ríen Vestirse (to get dressed) me visto, te vistes

Nosotros, Vosotros: elegimos, elegís, medimos, medís, repetimos, repetís…

Extra Y: The following verbs get a Y added before the ending of all present tense conjugations, except for Nosotros and Vosotros. This applies to all verbs ending in uir (but not those ending in guir, since the U is silent in that case).

Construir (to build) construyo, construyes Incluir (to include) incluyo, incluye

Destruir (to destroy) destruye, destruyen Oír (to hear) oye, oyen

Nosotros, Vosotros: construimos, construís, oímos, oís… On our vocabulary lists, verbs with an E to I stem change will be indicated with (i), and those with an added Y will have a (y) after them. Verbs you are required to know very well


E to I Stem Changing Verbs Added Y Verbs Elegir Construir Repetir Destruir Pedir Oír Seguir Servir

Gramática: Adjectives

Adjectives, or describing words, have two main differences in Spanish, compared to how they are used in English. First, they typically come after the noun (house big), where English would put them in front (big house). Second, adjectives have gender and number in Spanish, and they always need to match the noun they describe. This is called agreement, and we will examine it first. Making Adjectives Match the Nouns they Describe If an adjective ends with an O… Hombre alto

• Change it to an A to make it feminine Mujer alta

• Make it OS for masculine plural Hombres altos

• Make it AS for feminine plural Mujeres altas


If an adjective ends with an E…

• There is no change for gender El libro grande, La mesa grande

• Just add an S to make it plural Los libros grandes, Las mesas grandes If an adjective ends with an R… Niño hablador

• Add an A to make it feminine Niña habladora

• Add ES to make it masculine plural Niños habladores

• Add AS to make it feminine plural Niños habladoras If an adjective ends with a Z…

• There is no change for gender Profesor feliz, Profesora feliz

• Change it to CES to make it plural Profesores felices, Profesoras felices Adjectives that get shortened: A select group of adjectives have a shortened form that is used only if the adjective appears immediately before a masculine singular noun:

▪ Primero (first) > Primer El primer hombre en la luna ▪ Tercero (third) > Tercer El tercer mes del año ▪ Bueno (good) > Buen Es un buen libro ▪ Malo (bad) > Mal Ella está de mal humor ▪ Uno (a / one) > Un El gato está en un árbol

The word “grande” is shortened regardless of the gender and number of the noun

▪ Grande (great) > Gran Esa no fue una gran idea Do Adjectives Go Before or After the Noun? In Spanish, your automatic reflex should be to put an adjective after a noun. This will be correct for most adjectives in most situations (though there are exceptions, as we will see).

<> Ella tiene pelo largo. She has long hair.

<> El oso viejo camina lentamente. The old bear walks slowly.

<> Queremos una casa amarilla. We want a yellow house. Adjectives of amount, number or order come before the noun. Any adjective that says how much of something there is (half, some, many, few...) come before a noun. So do ordinal numbers and adjectives (first, fourth, seventh, last...).

<> Yo comí media manzana. I ate half of an apple.

<> Ellos tienen muchos sobrinos. They have a lot of nephews.

<> Ella tiene poca fe. She has little faith.

<> El cuarto día es el peor. The fourth day is the worst.

<> La primera calle en la izquierda. The first street on the left.

<> El último vuelo salió. The last flight left.

<> Yo tengo bastantes zapatos. I have enough shoes.

<> Tú tienes demasiada confianza. You have too much confidence.


Possessive and demonstrative adjectives come before the noun.

possessive Ellos traen sus libros. They bring their books.

adjectives Mi perro se escapó ayer. My dog escaped yesterday.

El profesor cambió nuestro examen. The teacher changed our exam.

demonstrative Este bolígrafo no tiene tinta. This pen doesn't have ink.

adjectives Ellos no quieren ver esa película. They don't want to see that movie.

Muchas personas viven en aquella ciudad. Many people live in that city.

Expected or assumed traits can go in front of the noun. When you are describing something and the adjective you are using is a common or expected characteristic for that noun, the adjective will often go in front of the noun. For example, we expect mountains to be tall, all blood is red and pillows are supposed to be soft.

Ellos miraron las altas montañas. They looked at the tall mountains.

La roja sangre manchó el mantel. The red blood stained the tablecloth.

Se acostó la cabeza en la suave almohada. He laid his head on the soft pillow.

Sus blancos dientes brillan cuando sonríe. Her white teeth shine when she smiles.

El hombre abrazó a su bella esposa. The man embraced his beautiful wife.

Sandra miró a su amada hija. Sandra watched her beloved daughter.


Some adjectives change meaning based on their position The following adjectives will mean one thing if they come before a noun, and something else if they come after. Typically, the adjective is more literal if it comes after, and less literal if it comes before.

After a Noun (literal) Before a Noun (figurative)

Bueno Morally good, well-made Pleasant, positive

Grande Big, large Great, excellent

Nuevo New (recently made) New-to-me (just got it)

Pobre Poor (not having money) Unfortunate, pitiable

Viejo Elderly, old Previous, former

Amigo bueno = the friend is a good person Un buen amigo = a close friend, a friend I like

Una fiesta grande = a huge party Una gran fiesta = a great party

Un carro nuevo = the car was made recently Un nuevo carro = I just got the car, but it is used

El hombre pobre = the penniless man El pobre hombre = the unlucky man

Mi escuela vieja = the school has existed a long time Mi vieja escuela = the school I used to go to How to Use a Noun as an Adjective In English, we can take a noun and make it an adjective, simply by putting it before a noun. For example, the noun "school" becomes an adjective when we put it before books: "Where are my school books?" This does not work in Spanish. Instead, you need to use "de" to do this. So "school books" would be "books of school" and "wool socks" would be "socks of wool." Look at the following examples. Notice that the second noun (the one pretending to be an adjective) does not change gender or number.

La clase de ciencia science class El campamento de verano summer camp

Los platos de papel paper plates Las chaquetas de lluvia rain jackets

La camisa de algodón cotton shirt El libro de ficción fiction book

How to Use an Adjective as a Noun In English we sometimes want to avoid saying a noun twice, and instead we make an adjective function as a noun by saying, "the (adjective) one." Spanish does the same thing, except without saying "one" after the adjective. Look at the following examples, and notice that the article (the) and the adjective need to match in gender and number with the noun they represent.

Yo tengo los zapatos blancos. ¿Dónde están los rojos? Where are the red ones?

Ella prefiere la casa vieja, pero ella prefiere la nueva. She prefers the new one.

Carlos tomó el helado grande, y yo tuve el pequeño. I got the small one.

Mamá hizo las galletas, y el gato comió la última. The cat ate the last one.


Otro: How are you?

The following expressions are commonly used in conversations. There are many more expressions that you may hear, but these are some of the most popular. Make sure to use formal version of the question when necessary.

Questions ¿Cómo estás? How are you (informal)

¿Cómo está usted? How are you? (formal)

¿Qué tal? How's it going? (similar to “What’s up?”)

¿Cómo te va? How's it going for you? (informal) (change te to le for formal)

Responses Bien, gracias. Well, thanks

Más o menos More or less equivalent of "ok" or "so-so."

Regular Regular equivalent of "fine, normal, ok"

Todo bien All well equivalent of "everything is fine"

Pues, nada Well, nothing common response with no real meaning

Como siempre As always equivalent of "fine" or "normal"

In addition to the common responses above, you can also use the verb Estar with an adjective. For example, here are some of the most common ones:

Estoy aburrido I'm bored Estoy frustrado I'm frustrated

Estoy cansado I'm tired Estoy ocupado I'm busy

Estoy contento I'm happy Estoy preocupado I'm worried

Estoy enfermo I'm sick Estoy triste I'm sad

Estoy feliz I'm happy Estoy de buen humor* I'm in a good mood * To say you are in a bad mood, make it “estoy de mal humor.” Additionally, there are ways to say how you are feeling using Tener expressions, which we will see below.

Tener (to have) The verb Tener is one of the most common in all of Spanish, so we need to know it extremely well. Many of its uses are just like English: Ella tiene tres amigos de Argentina. Tengo muchas tareas esta semana. Tenemos un sofá nuevo. Sus primos tienen una casa de árbol muy divertida. Caution: One way that English uses “to have” is with the present perfect tense. For example, “I have eaten the salad” or “We have seen the play.” Spanish has this same tense, but it does NOT use Tener. You can look at lesson 19 if you are curious to see how this tense does work in Spanish.


Idiomatic Expressions with Tener In addition to its literal uses, the verb Tener also has many idiomatic uses in Spanish. This means that if you translate the phrase literally into English, it sounds strange or nonsensical, yet to Spanish speakers, these phrases are perfectly natural. First, here are some phrases that you probably learned in prior Spanish classes:

Spanish expression English equivalent Literal meaning Example

Tener # años To be # years old (to have # years) Ella tiene siete años.

Tener calor, frío To feel hot, cold (to have heat, cold) Tengo frío. ¿Dónde está mi chaqueta?

Tener hambre, sed To be hungry, thirsty (to have hunger, thirst) ¿Tienes sed? ¿Quieres agua?

Tener prisa To be in a hurry (to have hurry) No puedo hablar ahora; tengo prisa.

Tener sueño To be sleepy (to have sleepiness) Luisa tiene sueño esta mañana. Note: Since all of these conditions are nouns, they will not change gender or number. Yo tengo prisa, él tiene prisa, ellas tienen prisa, etc. Additionally, the verb Tener is used to speak about obligations, what someone has to do. You conjugate Tener, then you use “que” and the infinitive of the other verb: Carlos tiene que vender su bici. Carlos has to sell his bike. Tengo que cambiar los calcetines. I have to change my socks. Here are some common Tener expressions that are probably new to you. They are all important and well worth learning:

Spanish expression English equivalent Literal meaning Example

Tener cuidado To be careful (to have caution) Mi padre tiene cuidado cuando maneja.

Tener éxito To be successful (to have success) Ella tiene éxito en todo su trabajo.

Tener ganas de (verb) To feel like (verb) (to have desire) ¡Tengo calor! Tengo ganas de nadar.

Tener miedo To be scared (to have fear) Él tiene miedo de los perros.

Tener razón To be right (to have reason) Tu madre tiene razón; ¡esa camisa es fea!

Tener suerte To be lucky (to have luck) ¿Tienes un iPhone nuevo? ¡Tienes suerte!

Tener vergüenza To be embarrassed (to have shame) Tengo vergüenza cuando canto en público.

Pues, bueno

When we speak, we often insert meaningless words while we pause to think, or as a way to introduce a thought informally. These are often called “crutch words.” Some prime examples of these would be well, so, okay, um, you know, and so on. In Spanish, pues and bueno are two of the most common crutch words. Literally, pues means “so” and bueno means “good,” though when used as crutch words, they really have no meaning. Bueno, ¿sabes cuánto tiempo tenemos? So, do you know how much time we have? Pues, creo que es mejor pedir antes. Well, I think it’s best to ask first.



❖ Vocabulario: Items in the house ❖ Gramática: Spelling and pronunciation rules ❖ Tiempos verbales: Present tense irregulars; unique yo forms, spelling changes, inescapable verbs ❖ Otro: Using the present tense to make requests ❖ Gramática: Comparisons and superlatives ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Haber ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Please!

Vocabulario: Items in the house

Required words:

El cuadro painting El piso floor La cortina curtain

El espejo mirror El sillón armchair La ducha shower

El florero vase El asiento seat La lámpara lamp

El inodoro toilet El tocador dresser / dressing table La manta blanket

El jabón soap La alfombra carpet La sábana bedsheet

El lavamanos / el lavabo sink La almohada pillow La toalla towel

El papel higiénico toilet paper La bañera bathtub

Review and cognates:

el comedor dining room el armario closet la llave key

el dormitorio bedroom la silla chair la radio radio

el garaje garage el periódico newspaper la revista magazine

la sala living room la foto picture el escritorio desk

Gramática: Spelling and pronunciation rules

Here we will highlight the ways that Spanish spelling and pronunciation differ from English. If a letter is not mentioned here, you can assume it is used the same way as English. Vowels

Unlike in English, every vowel is always perfectly consistent in Spanish. For example, “a” always says “ah,” no matter what comes before or after it. Also, there are never silent vowels like English has, with the exception of the occasional U (which we will see in a few moments)

A = ah (as in “father”) O = oh (as in “open”) E = eh (as in “sailor”) U = oo (as in “boom”) I = ee (as in “wheel”)


Consonants (the capital letters indicate where the emphasis falls in the word) The letter C will normally make a hard sound, like the English K. However, it will be softened to sound like an S if it is followed by the vowels E or I.

Hard C (K sound) Soft C (S sound) Words with soft and hard C Cuidar = “kwee THARr” La ciudad = “la syou THATH” El calcetín = “el kal say TEEN” El calor = “el ka LOR” La cena = “la SAY na” Califico = “kal ee FEE ko” La finca = “la FEEN ka” La piscina = “la pee SEE na” La cocina = “la ko SEE na” La alcoba = “la al KO ba" Encima = “ain SEE ma” Cerca = “SARE ka” Recuperar = “ray koo pare AR” Celebrar = “say lay BDAR” El cáncer = “el KAHN sare”

The combination CH sounds just like it does in English: La cuchara = “la koo cha da” The letter D sounds like we would expect when it starts a word. However, when it comes in the middle of a word it is softer, sounding more like a TH (as in “though”). When it comes at the end of a word, it is extremely soft, and you may not hear it at all. Hard (normal) Soft (like a TH) Very soft (barely heard) Dar = “dar” Adorar = “a thor AR” Libertad = “lee bare TA(th) Disco = “DEE sko” Idea = “ee THEY ah” Buscad = “boos KA(th)” The letter G is normally hard, like in the English word gas. The vowels E and I will soften it, however, just like they do with a C. The soft G sounds like an English H, but with a throaty sound. Hard (G sound) Soft (H sound) La ganga = “la GAN ga” Registrar = “ray hee STRAR” El regalo = “el ray GA lo” Gitano = “hee TA no” Regular = “ray goo LAR” Recoger = “ray ko HARE” Pagar = “pa GAR” Fingir = “feen HERE” La goma = “la GO ma” Gemelos = “hem EH los” Spanish does not have a sound like the soft G you would hear in English words like “generate” and “gym.” Generar = “hen eh RAR” Gimnasio = “heem NA syo” In the combinations GUE and GUI, the letter U makes no sound. It is only there to stop the E or I from softening the G. Seguir = “say GEAR” Guerra = “GARE uh” Guitarra = “gee TAR uh” Guisante = “gee SAN tay” Guepardo = “gay PAR tho” Hamburguesa = “am boor GAY sa” The letter H is always silent, and never makes any sound in Spanish. La hembra = “la EMbda” La hormiga = “la or MEE ga” La almohada = “la al mo AH tha” The letter J sounds like an English H, but with a throaty sound (like the soft G) Enojado = “en o HA tho” Jugar = “WHO gar” Jota = “HO ta” The letter L sounds just like it does in English, but a double L sounds like a Y. Single L (L sound) Double L (Y sound) Pelo = “PAY lo” Bello = “BAY yo” Lavar = “la BAR” Llamar = “ya MAR” Bailar = “buy LAR” Ballena = “ba YE na” Alquilar = “al kee LAR” Estrella = “eh STDAY ah”


The letter N is exactly like English, but the Ñ sounds like NY. It is considered a separate letter, and it is very important, since it changes the sound and the meaning of the word. Ene (N) Enye (Ñ) Ano = “AH no” Año = “AN yo” Sonar = “so NAR” Soñar = “sone YAR” Heno = “EH no Dueño = “DWEY nyo”

The letter Q never appears in Spanish without the U beside it. When this happens, they sound like the letter K. Unlike English, they will never make a KW sound. Requerir = “ray kay REAR” Quiero = “KYAY do” Química = “KEE mee ka” Tranquilo = “tdan KEE lo” Quepo = “KAY po” Alquilar = “al kee LAR”

The letter R is made with the tip of the tongue on the back of the teeth (unlike the English R, which is formed by raising the back of the tongue at the rear of the mouth). It sounds just like the DD in “ladder” or the TT in “butter.” La cara = “la KA da” La tarima = “la ta DEE ma” El aroma = “el a DOE ma”

One of the worst English sounds you can import into Spanish is if you make a CH sound in words with a TR in Spanish, or a JR sound in words with DR. El tren = “el tden” (don’t say “chrain”) Nosotros = “nos OH tdos" (don’t say “nosochros”) Tres = “tdays” (don’t say “chrase”) Otro = “O tdo” (don’t say “ochro”) Madre = “MA d-day” (don’t say “majray”) Padre = “PA d-day” (don’t say “pajray”) Drama = “d-DA ma” (don’t say “jrama”)

When an R is doubled, or when it comes at the beginning of a word, it is a rolled R. This is made by a fluttering of the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, right behind the teeth. If you can make this sound, fantastic! If you have trouble with it, that will not affect your grade in this class, nor your ability to be understood in Spanish.

The letter V is basically indistinguishable from a B in Spanish. They both sound like an English B. La vaca = “la BA ka" La boca = “la BO ka” Evocar = “eh bo KAR” El burro = “el BOO ro”

The letter Z never make the English “buzzing” sound. Instead, it sounds like an S. Corazón = “ko da SONE” Zapato = “sa PA to” Empezar = “em pay SAR”

In some parts of Spain, the soft C and the Z both make a TH sound, like a lisp. Corazón = “ko da THONE” Zapato = “tha PA toe" Empezar = “em pay THAR” Cero = “THEY doe” Felices = “fay LEE thes” El cine = “el THEE nay”

The letter Z is (amost) never found before an E or an I in Spanish. If this ever happens, the Z changes to a C. El pez, los peces Feliz, felices Empezar, empecé Other Spelling Notes

Spanish rarely uses a repeated consonant, like DD, TT, SS, PP, and so on. We have already seen that there is an LL (to make a Y sound) and an RR (to make a rolled R sound). Also, there can be a double C. When you have a CC, the first one is hard and the second one is soft, just like in English. La acción = “la ak SYON” El accidente = “el ak see DEN tay” Spanish never uses the letters PH to make an F sound. The F sound is always and only made with an F. El elefante El teléfono Fenomenal La física


Tiempos verbales: Present irregulars; unique yo forms, spelling changes, inescapable verbs

Unique Yo forms Many Spanish verbs have a first person singular (Yo) form that is nothing like the other present tense conjugations: ZC – For verbs ending with a vowel followed by CER or CIR, only the yo form gets a Z added before the C.

Agradecer (to thank) Agradezco, agradeces… Obedecer (to obey) Obedezco, obedeces… Conducir (to drive) Conduzco, conduces… Traducir (to translate) Traduzco, traduces… Conocer (to know) Conozco, conoces…

Some verbs have a random-seeming G that appears only in the Yo form.

Caer (to fall) Caigo, caes… Traer (to bring) Traigo, traes… Hacer (to do/make) Hago, haces… Salir (to exit) Salgo, sales… Poner (to put/set) Pongo, pones Oír (to hear) Oigo, oyes…

Finally, there are the unique Yo forms best categorized as “other”:

Saber (to know) Yo sé Dar (to give) Yo doy Ver (to see) Yo veo

Spelling Changes with C and G Whatever sound (soft or hard) the letters C and G make in the infinitive, they must make the same sound in all other conjugations. For example, the soft G in “elegir” cannot be allowed to be a hard G in the yo form, which has an O. This means that for verbs ending in GER and GIR, the Yo form has a problem. Instead of ending with GO (which would be hard), they will end with a JO. This only applies to the Yo form.

Dirigir (to direct) dirijo, diriges, dirige… Proteger (to protect) protejo, proteges, protege… Elegir (to choose) elijo, eliges, elige… Recoger (to pick up) recojo, recoges, recoje…

Verbs ending with GUIR have a hard G and a silent U, so the ending sounds like “gear.” However, if there is a conjugation without an E or an I in the ending, the U will not be needed, and it will drop out. This only happens in the Yo form. Seguir (to follow, to continue) Sigo, sigues, sigue, seguimos, siguen Conseguir (to get, to obtain) Consigo, consigues, consigue, conseguimos, consiguen The Six Inescapable Verbs The following irregular verbs are all so common, you can hardly make a sentence in Spanish without them! Unfortunately, all of them are also very irregular in the present tense. We should know all these verbs so well that we can conjugate them without hesitation.

Ir (to go) Ser (to be) Estar (to be) Tener (to have) Venir (to come) Decir (to say)

yo voy soy estoy tengo vengo digo

tú vas eres estás tienes vienes dices

él / ella / usted va es está tiene viene dice

nosotros vamos somos estamos tenemos venimos decimos

vosotros vais sois estáis tenéis venís decís

ellos / ellas / ustedes van son están tienen vienen dicen


Verbs you are required to know very well


Unique Yo Form Verbs Inexcapable Verbs Caerse Decir Conducir Estar Conocer Ir Hacer Ser Obedecer Tener Poner Venir Saber Salir Traer

Otro: Using the present tense to make requests

Spanish often uses the present tense to make simple requests or offers. In English, we generally do this using auxiliary verbs, like “can,” “do,” or “will.” While it is possible to do this in Spanish, it is generally more common to make the requests without the extra verb. Take a close look at the following examples. The translations in English are not literal, but they illustrate what the English equivalent might be.

¿Me ayudas, por favor? Can you help me, please? ¿Me explicas este problema, por favor? Will you explain this problem to me, please? ¿Nos cuentas lo que pasó? Can you tell us what happened? ¿Le diriges a la oficina, por favor? Will you direct him to the office, please? ¿Pongo la ensalada en la mesa? Shall I put the salad on the table? ¿Les ofrezco algo de beber? Can I offer you (plural) something to drink? ¿Te ayudo con eso? Can I help you with that?

As you can see, the verb is conjugated for the person who will do the action, and the person who receives the favor is represented by an object pronoun.

Gramática: Comparisons and superlatives

Comparisons of Inequality

When two nouns are being compared and they are not equal, you always use one of the following formulas: ______ is more (adjective) than ________ ______ es más (adjetivo) que ________ ______ is less (adjective) than ________ ______ es menos (adjetivo) que ________

❖ I am smarter than a computer! ¡Yo soy más inteligente que una computadora! ❖ She is nicer than her brother. Ella es más simpática que su hermano. ❖ The car is not as dangerous as the motorcycle. El carro es menos peligroso que la motocicleta. ❖ You are not as tall as my horse. Tú eres menos alta que mi caballo.

One important detail to note: in English we often incorrectly use object pronouns in comparisons. We should actually use subject pronouns here, and this concept is followed in Spanish.

Incorrect Correct

Ella es más fuerte que mí. Ella es más fuerte que yo.

Ellos son menos rápidos que nos. Ellos son menos rápidos que nosotros.

Yo soy más creativo que ti. Yo soy más creativo que tú.


Comparisons of equality

If we want to express that one person is equal to someone else in some way, we will use a slightly different formula: English Spanish ______ is just as (adjective) as ________ ______ es tan (adjetivo) como ________

❖ She is just as kind as he is. Ella es tan simpática como él. ❖ We are just as tired as you guys. Estamos tan cansados como ustedes. ❖ You are as pretty as a princess! ¡Tú eres tan bella como una princesa!

Comparing adverbs

To compare how people do things, we need to be able to compare adverbs. Fortunately, this works the same way as the comparison of adjectives.

❖ We wait more patiently than them. Nosotros esperamos más pacientemente que ellos. ❖ He flies more dangerously then I do. Él vuela más peligrosamente que yo. ❖ He comes in as noisily as a bull! ¡Él entra tan ruidosamente como un toro! ❖ They walk as slowly as a snail. Ellos caminan tan despacio como un caracol.

Comparing amounts of a noun

Comparing unequal amounts When you are comparing what two people have, the formula for inequality is the same as what we have been seeing in the sections above.

❖ I have more books than Rodolfo. Yo tengo más libros que Rodolfo. ❖ This park has more benches than that park. Este parque tiene más bancos que ese parque. ❖ They have fewer cars than we do. Ellos tienen menos carros que nosotros. ❖ There are more dogs than cats. Hay más perros que gatos.

Comparing equal amounts Comparing equal amounts works just like comparing equal adjectives, but with one important difference. Instead of using "tan," you will use "tanto." This word needs to match in gender and number with the noun you are comparing.

❖ We have just as many bills as you do. Tenemos tantas cuentas como tú. ❖ He has as many books as a library! ¡Él tiene tantos libros como una biblioteca! ❖ I don't use as much salt as you. No uso tanta sal como tú.


Saying "more than" or "less than" a number

When you are saying that there is "more than" or "less than" a certain number, Spanish uses de rather than que. Look at the following examples:

❖ She has more than 50 pencils on her desk. Ella tiene más de 50 lápices en su escritorio. ❖ You have less than ten minutes! ¡Tienes menos de diez minutos! ❖ There were more than 1,000 people there! ¡Había más de mil personas allí!

Irregular comparative terms

In English we can't say that something is "gooder" or even "more good." Instead, we have the term "better" to indicate that idea. Spanish also has a few irregular comparative tems like that. Mayor and menor are typically just for people. Más viejo and más nuevo would be used for other items.

Incorrect Correct better más bueno mejor El carro rojo es mejor que el negro. The red car is better than the black one.

worse más malo peor El cáncer es peor que la gripe. Cancer is worse than the flu.

older más viejo mayor Mi abuelo es mayor que tu tío. My grandpa is older than your uncle.

younger más joven menor Tú eres menor que Elizabeth. You are younger than Elizabeth.

Superlatives

The superlative in English is when we put "est" on the end of an adjective: the fastest, biggest, smallest, ugliest, and so on. To do this in Spanish, we use the formula "the noun most/least adjective." La manzana más sabrosa The tastiest apple El problema más difícil The hardest problem Las vacas menos gordas The least fat cows Las computadoras menos caras The least expensive computers If you want to indicate that the thing you are describing is the most in a group (biggest in the world, fastest in the country, etc.), we typically use "de" to express that in Spanish.

❖ I'm the tallest boy in my family. Soy el niño más alto de mi familia. ❖ You took the biggest cookie! ¡Tomaste la galleta más grande! ❖ He's the strictest teacher in the school. Es el profesor más estricto de la escuela. ❖ We're the smallest school in the district. Somos la escuela más pequeña del distrito.


Haber The verb Haber is difficult to translate, but its closest equivalents would be either “to have” or “to be.” However, we do not use it like Ser, Estar, or Tener. Instead, it has its own special uses.

The most common use of the verb Haber is in its present tense form, “hay.” This conjugation is called defective, because it does not change based on the subject of the verb. It is always just “hay.” In a statement, it would be translated “there is” or “there are,” and in a question, it would ask, “is there?” or “are there?”

¡Hay una serpiente en mi bota! There's a snake in my boot!

Hay muchas flores en el jardín. There are a lot of flowers in the garden.

¿Hay un lápiz en la mesa? Is there a pencil on the table?.

Be careful! It is very common to forget to use hay, and instead people use "ser" or "estar." Look at the examples here:

Incorrect Correct

Es una fiesta en el parque hoy. Hay una fiesta en el parque hoy.

Están dos refrescos en el refrigerador. Hay dos refrescos en el refrigerador.

The way to avoid this error is to remember that Ser and Estar need an object, something to do the “being” in the sentence. They would say “It is” rather than “there is.” Obligation

When you are saying in a general sense what must be done, the expression Hay que (infinitive) is very useful. It's like saying, "You have to _____," but it does not refer to "you" specifically. Rather, it is more like saying, "One must ______." The verb that follows this will always be infinitive.

Hay que estudiar mucho para aprobar. You have to study a lot to pass.

En este trabajo hay que descansar a menudo. In this job one must rest often.

Las instrucciones dicen que hay que enchufarla. The instructions say you have to plug it in.

Por favor (Please)

When compiling a list of essential expressions, the word Please should definitely come near the top! It is somewhat like asking that the other person do something “as a favor.” Just like in English, it can come at the beginning or end of a request. It generally would not come in the middle. Por favor, ¿puedo tener una quesadilla? Please may I have a quesadilla? ¿Puedo tener una quesadilla por favor? May I have a quesadilla, please? ¿Puedo por favor tener una quesadilla? May I please have a quesadilla?



❖ Vocabulario: Daily activities ❖ Tiempos verbales: The present progressive ❖ Gramática: Reflexive verbs ❖ Otro: Talking about names ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Ponerse / vestirse ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Thanks!

Vocabulario: Daily Activities

Required words:

Gastar to spend Guardar to put away

Malgastar to misspend, to waste Ordenar to straighten up, to order

Los quehaceres chores Organizar to organize

Alimentar to feed Pasar el rato to hang out, to spend time

Aspirar to vacuum Pasar por to stop by (a place)

Barrer to sweep Poner la mesa to set the table

Charlar to chat Quitar la mesa to clear the table

Cortar el césped to cut the lawn Recoger to pick up

Descansar to rest Reunirse to meet, to get together

Doblar to fold, to turn Sacar la basura to take out the trash

Note: In English, we talk about “spending” time in various ways, but Spanish prefers to talk about “passing” the time. Thus, we use “gastar” for spending money, but we use “pasar” for spending time.

Review and Cognates:

Estudiar to study El fin de semana weekend La oficina office

Planchar to iron Los platos dishes Limpio clean

Secar to dry La lección lesson Sucio dirty

Acompañar to go with El trabajo work Ir de compras to go shopping


Tiempos verbales: Present progressive

What is it, and when do we use it?

The progressive, as the name implies, is for actions that are in progress. They are in the midst of happening during the time we speak of. The English form of this uses the verb "to be" and then the ING verb endings (the present participle). Yo estoy comiendo. I am eating. Ella está saliendo. She is leaving.

We need to be careful, however. English uses the progressive far more than Spanish does. Look carefully at the following examples:

▪ A present action that is not taking place at the moment: We are reading Macbeth in Literature this week. ▪ An action happening in the near future: He is giving a lecture in Spain next month.

Both of the above sentences would use the present tense, NOT the progressive, in Spanish.

English also has some other unique uses for the present participle. NONE of these are allowed in Spanish: ▪ As an adjective: That is a fishing boat. He is a fascinating person. It was a daring rescue. ▪ As a noun: Smoking is bad for your health. He goes to Chicago for training. I like riding horses. ▪ After a preposition: Don't swim immediately after eating. He ran into the road without looking.

To summarize, only use the progressive if the action is literally in the middle of taking place, and if you use am, is or are in front of it. How to conjugate regular verbs

Use "estar" as your auxiliary verb: estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están. For the present participle, take off the last two letters of the verb. For AR verbs, replace them with ando. For ER and IR verbs, replace them with iendo.

Trabajar Eliza está trabajando en el jardín. Liz is working in the garden.

Aprender ¿Estás aprendiendo la geografía? Are you learning geography?

Escribir Estoy escribiendo una carta a mi senador. I am writing a letter to my senator. Irregular verbs and spelling changes

Verbs that get a Y in the present participle: Because I is a weak vowel, it cannot come between two other vowels (unless it has an accent on it). When you conjugate a verb and it makes this kind of vowel combination, the I will change to a Y. For example, destruiendo isn't allowed; it would become destruyendo.

Caer (to fall) cayendo Destruir (to destroy) destruyendo Oír (to hear) oyendo

Construir (to build) construyendo Incluir (to include) incluyendo Traer (to bring) trayendo

Creer (to believe) creyendo Leer (to read) leyendo

Verbs that get a stem change in the present participle: All IR verbs that have present tense stem changes will also get a stem change in the present participle. There are no IE changes or UE changes, though. There are only E to I or O to U changes.

Decir diciendo Medir midiendo Reírse riendo Sonreír sonriendo

Divertir divirtiendo Mentir mintiendo Repetir repitiendo Venir viniendo

Dormir durmiendo Morir muriendo Seguir siguiendo Vestir vistiendo

Elegir eligiendo Pedir pidiendo Sentir sintiendo Freír friendo Preferir prefiriendo Servir sirviendo

Unusual changes: Poder has a stem change (pudiendo) and Ir is yendo.


Gramática: Reflexive verbs

A reflexive verb is one that you do to yourself: I get myself ready; You wash yourself; She looks at herself. In order to express this correctly in Spanish, you need to do two things:

1. Conjugate the verb for the person who is doing the action. 2. Use a reflexive pronoun to show that the same person is receiving the action.

Yo me Yo me miro en el espejo. I look at myself in the mirror.

Tú te Tú te bañas en la mañana. You bathe yourself in the morning.

Él / ella se Ella se habla cuando trabaja. She talks to herself when she works.

Usted se ¡Usted se viste rápido! You dress yourself quickly!

Nosotros nos Nosotros nos llamamos los Tigres. We call ourselves the Tigers.

Ellos / ellas se Ellos se compran un pez. They buy themselves a fish.

Ustedes se Ustedes se preparan para salir. You guys prepare yourselves to leave.

In English we often skip reflexive pronouns. For example, if I say, "He gets dressed for work," you assume that he is getting himself dressed, not dressing someone else. In Spanish, however, many of those things that we assume in English need to be made explicit with a reflexive pronoun. For instance, if I say "Ella despierta" you will understand it means She wakes, but you will wonder, "whom did she wake?" That is why the reflexive pronoun is necessary. "Ella se despierta" means She wakes herself, or She wakes up. The following verbs are some of the most common reflexive verbs in Spanish.

acostarse (ue) to lie down ducharse to shower secarse to dry yourself

afeitarse to shave maquillarse to put on makeup sentarse (ie) to sit down

bañarse to bathe peinarse to do your hair sentirse (ie) to feel (an emotion)

despertarse (ie) to wake up prepararse to get ready vestirse (i) to get dressed

When you conjugate a reflexive verb, you always start by taking the “se” off the end, and put it in front. Then you can conjugate the verb as normal. Finally, change the “se” to match the person doing the verb, if necessary. Here are some examples of them in sentences:

➢ Los niños se bañan los sábados por la noche. The children bathe on Saturday nights. ➢ Yo me seco con la toalla roja. I dry myself with the red towel. ➢ Él se ducha después de jugar al fútbol. He showers himself after playing soccer. ➢ ¿Cómo te preparas para el examen? How do you get yourself ready for the exam? ➢ Nos sentamos en las sillas en la cocina. We sit down in the chairs in the kitchen.

If a reflexive verb is used with a plural noun or pronoun, it can also mean "each other."

➢ Ellas se hablan todo el tiempo. They talk to each other all the time. ➢ Mis amigos y yo nos ayudamos con el trabajo. My friends and I help each other with the work. ➢ Carla y Etán se mandan mensajes a menudo. Carla and Ethan send each other messages often.


Using definite articles after reflexive verbs

Another distinctive feature of reflexive verbs in Spanish is that they are very frequently followed by a definite article (the), when English would use a possessive adjective (my, your, his, their...). This happens most often when you do something to a body part, or to clothing.

Spanish Literal English Normal English

Él se afeita la cara. He shaves himself the face. He shaves his face.

Ella se seca el pelo. She dries herself the hair. She dries her hair.

Yo me pongo la ropa. I put myself the clothing. I put on my clothes.

Tú te quitas el sombrero. You take yourself off the hat. You take off your hat.

Nos lavamos las manos. We wash ourselves the hands. We wash our hands.

Another aspect of this that may seem curious to English speakers is this: if each person in a group only has one of that body part or one of that item of clothing, the noun will be singular when plural people do it. Ellas se lavan la cara. (plural girls, but each person only has one face) Nosotros nos ponemos la corbata. (plural people, but each one only has one tie) Verbs that change their meaning when reflexive

There are a number of Spanish verbs that change their meaning when they are used with a reflexive pronoun. Some of them make perfect sense, and others seem a little more random. It is important to know these meaning changes so that you can understand (and be understood) accurately.

> dormir to sleep > dormirse to fall asleep

> ir to go > irse to leave, to go away

> levantar to lift/raise > levantarse to get up (out of a bed or chair)

> llamar to call > llamarse to call yourself (to be called)

> poner to place/set > ponerse to put on (an item of clothes)

> probar to test/try > probarse to try on (an item of clothes)

> quitar to take away/clear > quitarse to take off (an item of clothes)

> sentir to feel (sense of touch) > sentirse to feel (an emotion or internal sensation)

Ella llama el perro. She calls the dog. Ella se llama Julia. She calls herself Julia.

Ellos quitan la mesa. They clear the table. Ellos se quitan el abrigo. They take off their coats.

Yo pruebo la sopa. I taste the soup. Yo me pruebo la corbata. I try on the tie.

Él siente la pared con la mano. He feels the wall with his hand. Él se siente enfermo. He feels sick.

Levantamos el sofá. We lift the couch. Nos levantamos del sofá. We get up from the couch.


Otro: Talking about names

Using “llamar”

In Spanish (especially in Spain), we often don’t ask what someone's name is. Instead, we ask how the person calls him or herself. The verb "llamar" means "to call," and it is used with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos). When you use this, remember two main things:

1. Conjugate the verb for the person whose name it is (because they are doing the calling) 2. Use the reflexive pronoun for the person (so they are calling themselves, not someone else).

¿Cómo te llamas? How do you call yourself? (What is your name?)

¿Cómo se llama usted? How do you call yourself? (What is your name?)

¿Cómo se llama _____? How does ____ call him/herself? (What is _____'s name?)

Me llamo _____. I call myself _____. (My name is ______)

Él se llama _____. He calls himself _______. (His name is ______)

Ella se llama _____. She calls herself _______. (Her name is ______)

Hola, me llamo Ronaldo. ¿Cómo te llamas tú? ¡Buenos días! Yo me llamo Sol. ¿Cómo se llama tu perro? Ah, él se llama Motín. Tiene mucha energía. Y ¿cómo se llaman tus amigas? Pues, la con pelo rubio se llama Elisa, y la de pelo moreno se llama Yolanda.

Caution! There are two very common errors that you MUST avoid in order to not sound ridiculous:

1. Using the verb "es" after the verb "llamar" 2. Using a possessive adjective (mi, tu, su, nuestro) instead of a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos).

Why are these so bad? Look at how it translates into English if you do it:

Incorrect Translation Correct

Mi llamo es Juan. My I call is John. Me llamo Juan.

Mi vecino llama es Carlos. My neighbor calls is Carlos. Mi vecino se llama Carlos.

Su llama es Teresa. Her calls is Theresa. Ella se llama Teresa. Other ways to talk about names In Latin America, many people use a phrase that will sound more natural to English speakers: ¿Cuál es tu nombre? (informal) ¿Cuál es su nombre? (formal) Using this method, the correct way to say your same is simply “soy _____.” Hola, soy Denis. ¿Cuál es tu nombre? ¡Mucho gusto! Soy Oscar.


Ponerse / Vestirse Ponerse = to put on (you must mention an article of clothing after this) Vestirse = to get dressed (you can mention the article, or this can just generally mean “to get dressed”) Ellos se visten después de ducharse. They get dressed after showering. Ellos se ponen la ropa cálida. They put on warm clothing. The verb Vestir can also be used without a reflexive pronoun. In this case, it would mean “to wear.” The verb Llevar has the same meaning. Ellas visten sombreros y sandalias. They wear hats and sandals. Él lleva un traje de baño y gafas del sol. He wears a bathing suit and sunglasses.

¡Gracias! (Thanks!)

There are some words that many people seem to learn before they have officially studied Spanish, and Gracias (thank you) is a great example. It works in every setting and situation, formal or informal. However, there are some other ways you can amplify your thanks, to express even more appreciation:

¡Muchas gracias! Thanks a lot! ¡Mil gracias! A thousand thanks! Muchas gracias, muy amable. Many thanks, very kind. (most often used in Mexico)



❖ Vocabulario: Taking care of ourselves ❖ Gramática: Reflexive expressions ❖ Gramática: The reflexive passive ❖ Otro: Accents ❖ Tiempos verbales: The present progressive with reflexive pronouns ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Sentirse / sentarse ❖ Expresiones esenciales: You’re welcome!

Vocabulario: Taking care of ourselves

Required Words:

Cortar to cut La navaja knife, razor

El corte cut (noun) La crema (de afeitar) (shaving) cream

Corto short (adj) Peinarse to do one's hair

Teñir (i) to dye El peine comb

La barba beard Las tijeras scissors

El bigote mustache La peluquería hair salon, barber shop

El cabello, el pelo hair El barbero barber

Cepillar to brush Secarse el pelo to dry one's hair

El cepillo (de dientes) (tooth) brush El secador de pelo hair dryer

La pasta de dientes toothpaste Ducharse to shower

El champú shampoo La ducha shower

In Mexico, many people use the verb “lavarse” to speak of cleaning their teeth, while most other areas use “cepillar.” They are both easily understood. Yo me lavo los dientes. Sandra y Lisa se lavan los dientes. Yo me cepillo los dientes. Sandra y Lisa se cepillan los dientes. Teñir has an E to I stem change in the present tense (tiño, tiñes, tiñe, teñimos, tiñen). Note: Spanish does not use the “ñie” letter combination, so in the progressive, you say tiñendo (not tiñiendo) and in the past tense, you say tiñó and tiñeron (not tiñió or tiñieron). Use definite articles (not possessive adjectives) before body parts and articles of clothing, unless the sentence is unclear that way:

▪ Me seco el pelo. ▪ Se quitan los zapatos.

▪ ¿Te pones el abrigo? ▪ Nos afeitamos las piernas.


Gramática: Reflexive expressions

Using reflexive verbs as an equivalent of "get"

In English we use the verb "to get" when we mean "to become." We do this when we are becoming some emotion or condition: I get sick, you get angry, she gets worried, they get wet. Spanish does not have a single verb that is used this way. Instead, Spanish uses reflexive verbs.

casarse (con) to get married (to) lastimarse to get hurt

enfermarse to get sick mojarse to get wet

enojarse to get angry preocuparse to get worried

➢ Ellos se mojaron cuando caminaban en la lluvia. They got wet when they walked in the rain. ➢ Miguel se casó con Anita la semana pasada. Miguel got married to Anita last week. ➢ Yo me mojo cuando lavo mi perro. I get wet when I wash my dog. ➢ Tú te enojas muy fácilmente. You get angry really easily.

Verbs that don't seem to have a good reason for being reflexive

Spanish has some verbs that don't seem to have any clear reason for being reflexive; they simply are, and we have to accept it. When we ask why, Grammar tells us, "Because I said so!" We simply need to learn and remember that these verbs need to be used with a reflexive pronoun.

Some of the verbs have specific prepositions that go with them, which are shown here in parentheses.

caerse to fall down graduarse to graduate

divertirse to have fun olvidarse (de) to forget (to/about)

equivocarse to make a mistake reírse (de) to laugh (at/about)

➢ Ellos no se enteraron de la reunión. They didn't find out about the meeting. ➢ ¿Te diviertes con tus amigos? Do you have fun with your friends? ➢ Ellos se ríen toda la noche. They laugh all night. ➢ Los bebés se caen cuando aprenden a caminar. Babies fall down when they are learning to walk. ➢ Carlos se olvidó de alimentar el perro. Carlos forgot to feed the dog. ➢ El banquero se equivocó con mi cuenta. The banker made a mistake with my account.

Gramática: The reflexive passive

In English, a passive sentence is one that eliminates or deemphasizes the one who does the verb, focusing instead on the recipient of the action. The ball was hit by the player. The lost keys were found by the dog. I was sued by my neighbor. We were entertained by the play. Spanish does have a passive voice that works just like that, but it is not as common in Spanish as it is in English. (If you would like to see a preview, you could glance at lesson 21). Instead, Spanish prefers to use the reflexive passive. As the name implies, this construction uses the reflexive pronoun Se to make it look as if the item is doing the action to itself.

Reflexive Passive Literal translation English equivalent

Se celebra la fiesta en abril. The festival celebrates itself in April. The festival is celebrated in April.

Los carros se hacen en Japón. The cars make themselves in Japan. The cars are made in Japan.

El error se encontró por fin. The error found itself at last. The error was found at last.

Las casas se construirán pronto. The houses will build themselves soon. The houses will be built soon.


Another interesting aspect of the reflexive passive is that the order of noun and verb is totally interchangeable: Las galletas se comen con té. The crackers are eaten with tea. Se comen las galletas con té. The crackers are eaten with tea. The reflexive passive is very often seen on signs and in written advertisements, emphasizing what is being sold, sought, required or forbidden:

Reflexive Passive Literal translation English equivalent

Se vende casa. A house sells itself. House for sale.

Se habla español. Spanish speaks itself. Spanish spoken here.

Se buscan camareros. Waiters look for themselves. Now hiring waiters.

Se prohibe fumar. Smoking prohibits itself. No smoking.

The “impersonal se”

English often uses the "mysterious they" or the "generic you" to talk about common customs. They say the economy is improving. They don't believe in traditional medicine. You can't get in there without a ticket. How do you tie a shoe? Spanish uses the pronoun "se" to represent this vague, generic third person. The verb is always conjugated in the third-person singular. Look at the following examples and the English equivalents to learn more about this usage:

Se dice que la educación es importante. They say that education is important.

No se sabe cómo la vida empezó. They don't know how life began.

No se usa el "vosotros" en Latinoamérica. They don't use "vosotros" in Latin America.

¡No se abre una puerta con un martillo! You don't open a door with a hammer!

¿Cómo se dice "bailar" en chino? How do you say "bailar" in Chinese?

¿Cómo se va a la biblioteca? How do you get to the library? This construction is almost identical to the reflexive passive. However, unlike the reflexive passive, this construction puts the emphasis on the habits and practices of people, rather than on the recipient of the verb. Also, the verb will always be conjugated in the singular.


Otro: Accents

In Spanish, there is a standard rule for where the emphasis falls in every word. This is based on the last letter of the word.

• For words ending in a vowel, N or S, the emphasis will be on the second-to-last syllable.

• For all other endings, the emphasis will fall on the last syllable. This chart uses an underline to show where the verbal emphasis will be placed when the word is spoken.

Vowel N and S Other letters

Dinero Comen Bistec Capaz

Roberta Caminas Felicidad Salud

Cubierto Despertamos Reloj Frijol

Contentamente Examen Caracol Amor

Baile Invertieron Informar Eficaz

What a written accent does is change the pronunciation so that the verbal emphasis falls on the accented letter. This makes it so that a word can break the normal pattern of emphasis, putting the emphasis on an ending vowel, or on an earlier syllable that would not normally be emphasized. In the following chart, the accented letter will get the verbal emphasis. The underlined part shows where the emphasis would have fallen if the accent had not been added.

Caminé Jonás Búsqueda Término

Volvió Tomás Lápiz Móvil

Colibrí León Árboles Músculo

Sofá Camión Fácil Miércoles

Perú Campeón También Código

One detail that is sometimes confusing is words that end with ia. Because I is a weak vowel, it wants to blend in to the A in a single syllable. Therefore, an IA will say "ya." However, if there is an accent on the I, it will be emphasized more, becoming its own syllable. In this case, ÍA will say "ee ah."

No accent Accent Familia fa MEE lya Armonía arm oh EE ah

Farmacia far MAH sya Energía ehn air HEE ah

Consecuencias kon say KWEN syas Soberanía soh bare ah NEE ah

Justicia hoo STEE sya Tendría ten DREE ah


Adding or dropping accents when words become plural

Words that end with a consonant are made plural by adding an ES. This can change the pronunciation of the word in some cases, because it adds a whole new syllable to the word. One example of this is words that end with an án, ín or ón, all of which will lose the accent when they become plural. This is because the addition of the ES means that the emphasis will now naturally fall where it is supposed to, and the accent is unneeded. The emphasized syllable is underlined for demonstration on the following chart.

Bailarín Bailarines Motín Motines

Burlón Burlones Campeón Campeones

Capitán Capitanes Afán Afanes

Canción Canciones Avión Aviones

There are a few words that are the reverse of this, needing accents added when they are made plural. These words usually end with EN.

Joven Jóvenes Examen Exámenes Imagen Imágenes Words that change meaning with accents

Some words do not change pronunciation with the addition or subtraction of an accent. Rather, they change meaning. The accent appears on the written form to show which meaning it is. In the spoken form, you can only tell the meaning by the context, since the pronunciation is identical. Bebé, Papá and Mamá will change their pronunciation with the accent.

no accent accent te object pronoun "you" té tea, the drink

tu your (possessive) tú you (subject)

el the él he

se reflexive pronoun sé I know (saber)

si if sí yes

bebe 3rd person of "beber" bebé baby

la papa potato el papá dad

mama 3rd person of "mamar" mamá mom

mamar = to nurse (as in, to be breastfed)

Accents we tend to forget

The following words always need the accent or the ñ that is shown here, but we often tend to forget them. Take the time to learn them well!

Easily-forgotten accents

adiós goodbye difícil difficult país country

árbol tree fácil easy también also, too

después after inglés English teléfono phone

día day más more último last, most recent

Easily-forgotten Ñ

año year baño bathroom, bath señora missus, ma'am

niño child señor mister, sir señorita miss


Tiempos verbales: The present progressive with reflexive pronouns

We have previously learned that a reflexive pronoun goes before a conjugated verb.

Ella se pone los calcetines. Ella se está poniendo los calcetines. Yo me afeito la cara. Yo me estoy afeitando la cara.

Conversely, reflexive pronouns remain attached to the end of infinitive verbs (though they still change to match the person who does the verb).

Ella necesita ponerse los calcetines. Tú tienes que maquillarte rápido. Yo quiero afeitarme la cara. El vecino va a cortarse el pelo mañana.

A unique characteristic of the present progressive is that it is one of the only situations where you can put a reflexive pronoun attached to the end of a non-infinitive verb. If you do so, the added pronoun makes the emphasis shift one syllable to the right, which we cannot allow. To prevent this, you add an accent in the spot where the emphasis was originally: the second to last syllable. This always ends being ándo or iéndo. Ella está poniéndose los calcetines. Tú estás maquillándote rápido. Yo estoy afeitándome la cara. El vecino está cortándose el pelo. Alfonso está tiñéndose el pelo. Los niños están divirtiéndose en la piscina. Un momento – estoy vistiéndome. Estamos sintiéndonos enfermos. This puts us in an unusual situation; normally there is only one place a reflexive pronoun can go, but in this case, you get to choose! The conjugated Estar wants the pronoun before it, and the present participle (the “ing” conjugation) wants it after, so you get to decide. Both versions are identical in meaning and equally correct. Tú te estás maquillando rápido. Tú estás maquillándote rápido. El vecino se está cortando el pelo. El vecino está cortándose el pelo.

Los niños se están divirtiendo en la piscina. Los niños están divirtiéndose en la piscina. Nos estamos sintiendo enfermos. Estamos sintiéndonos enfermos.

Sentirse / Sentarse These two verbs are so similar, they are very easy to mix up. In fact, since their Yo forms in the present are identical, it is only by the context we know which one people are saying sometimes!

Sentirse = to feel Sentarse = to sit down

Me siento enfermo = I feel sick. Me siento en el sofá = I sit down on the couch. ¡Me siento cuando me siento enfermo! = I sit down when I feel sick!

When you are hearing or using these verbs, pay careful attention to whether it has an IR or an AR ending; that detail makes all the difference!

Se sientan en la sala de espera. Se sienten mal después de comer el pollo viejo.


You’re Welcome

In the last two lessons, we learned Please and Thank You. Logically, the next step is You’re welcome! The phrase “de nada” is the most common way to say “You’re welcome” in Spanish. It literally means “of nothing,” but it communicates an idea similar to “it was nothing” Another way to respond that you were sincerely happy to do the thing you’re being thanked for is Con mucho gusto (with much pleasure).


❖ Vocabulario: Parts of the body ❖ Tiempos verbales: The preterit tense – regular verbs, plus Ser, Ir, Dar, and Ver ❖ Gramática: Object pronouns ❖ Otro: Locations of object pronouns ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Perder / poder ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Estar a punto de

Vocabulario: Parts of the body

Required Words:

El cerebro brain El músculo muscle La cintura waist

El cuerpo body El muslo thigh La costilla rib

El estómago stomach El páncreas pancreas La garganta throat

El hígado liver El pulmón lung La sangre blood

El hueso bone El riñón kidney El dolor pain

El intestino intestine El tobillo ankle Doler (ue) to hurt / to be sore

El labio lip El vientre womb, abdomen Crecer (zc) to grow

When you use the verb doler, conjugate it for the body part that hurts (either duele or duelen) and use an indirect object pronoun for the person who feels the pain. Me duele el riñon. My kidney hurts (me). ¿Te duelen los pies? Do your feet hurt (you)? Le duele la garganta. His throat hurts (him). Nos duelen los huesos. Our bones hurt (us). Careful! El dólar is a dollar (dólares is the plural), while El dolor is pain. Try not to mix them up!


El brazo arm El hombro shoulder La piel skin

El cuello neck La cara face La pierna leg

El dedo finger La espalda back La rodilla knee

El dedo de pie toe La lengua tongue La uña fingernail


Tiempos verbales: The preterit tense – regular verbs, plus Ser, Ir, Dar, and Ver

The preterit tense is the most common past tense in Spanish, simply indicating that something happened before now.

Yo comí el pollo. I ate the chicken. Ella aprendió la lección. She learned the lesson.

Miguel habló. Michael spoke. ¿Tocaste la estufa? Did you touch the stove? Conjugating regular verbs

To conjugate regular verbs in the preterit tense, just remove the last two letters of the verb, then add the appropriate ending. Notice that, unlike in the present tense, the Nosotros form of ER and IR verbs are the same as each other.

AR verbs Hablar ER verbs Comer IR verbs Abrir Yo é hablé í comí í abrí Tú aste hablaste iste comiste iste abriste

Él / ella / usted ó habló ió comió ió abrió Nosotros amos hablamos imos comimos imos abrimos Vosotros asteis hablasteis isteis comisteis isteis abristeis

Ellos / ellas / ustedes aron hablaron ieron comieron ieron abrieron

Note: irregularities from the present tense DO NOT carry over into the preterit (except in one case we will look at later). Present (with irregularities) Preterit (regular) Tú muestras Tú mostraste Ella pierde Ella perdió Yo conozco Yo conocí Ser, Ir, Dar, and Ver

These four verbs are all irregular in various ways. First, none of them have accents. Ser and Ir are very unusual, but at least they are the same as each other! Dar, though it is an AR verb, has ER/IR endings. Ver looks just like we would expect, except that it does not have accents.

Ser Ir Dar Ver

yo fui fui di vi

tú fuiste fuiste diste viste

él / ella / usted fue fue dio vio

nosotros fuimos fuimos dimos vimos

vosotros fuisteis fuisteis disteis visteis

ellos / ellas / ustedes fueron fueron dieron vieron


Gramática: Object pronouns

Object pronouns are used to represent the person or item who receives the action, when one person does something to someone else. Notice that the only difference between them is in the third person: direct objects have gender, while indirect objects do not. Direct object pronouns

The direct object is the one that directly receives the impact of the verb. To determine the direct object, find the verb, and then ask yourself, "What got verbed?" See the examples below. The words on the right-hand side are the direct objects.

What is the verb? What received the verb?

We sent the letters to Marissa. to send the letters

They told him the riddle. to tell the riddle

He brought you a cake! to bring the cake In the following examples, you will see that a noun is being represented by a direct object pronoun. The object pronoun will go before a conjugated verb.

Direct

Object Spanish Sentence English Sentence

Pronoun me me El policía me dirige al hotel. The policeman directs me to the hotel.

you te Ellos te buscaron en el bosque. They looked for you in the woods.

him lo Sí, yo lo conozco. Yes, I know him.

her la Nosotros la vimos anoche. We saw her last night.

us nos ¿Cuándo vas a visitarnos? When are you going to visit us?

them (m.) los Mario los puso en la basura. Mario put them in the trash.

them (f.) las Sandra las llevó a la fiesta. Sandra wore them to the party.

Note: In some regions of Spain, it is considered improper to refer to a person as lo, even if he is the direct object of a verb. In these regions you use "le" to refer to men when they are the direct object. This is not very widespread, but it is worth mentioning.


Indirect object pronouns

It very often happens that when someone does an action, there are other people affected besides the direct object. For example, if "I tell you the truth," the truth is the direct object, but you are also affected; it was told to you. You are the indirect object.

Indirect

Object Spanish Sentence English Sentence Direct Indirect

Pronoun Object Object

me me Ellos me dieron un regalo. They gave me a gift. gift me

you te Yo te mando una carta. I send you a letter. letter you

him, her *le El mesero le trae la comida. The waiter brings her the food. food her

us nos Abuelo nos dijo el cuento. Grandpa told us the story. story us

them (m/f) *les Yo les leo el libro de noche. I read them the book at night. book them

*Note that the indirect object pronouns do not have gender in the 3rd person. In Spanish, indirect object pronouns have some uses that we are not accustomed to in English. One example is that if a person is the indirect object of a verb, you almost always use an indirect object pronoun, even if you also say the person's name in the sentence! In the following chart, you will see that the indirect object is included twice: once as an indirect object pronoun (les or le) and once by name (papá, Felipe...)

Yo le traigo el periódico a papá. I bring the newspaper to dad. le papá

Ernesto le dio el sombrero a Felipe. Ernesto gave the hat to Felipe. le Felipe

¿Les dijiste la verdad a tus padres? Did you tell your parents the truth? les padres

El guardia les trajo la cena a los presos. The guard brought dinner to the prisoners. les presos

Another surprising usage of indirect objects is that they are often used in cases where something is done, not to a person, but on their behalf, or to something they own.

El botones me abre la puerta. The bellboy opens the door for me.

Los coyotes le matan las gallinas. The coyotes kill his chickens.

La profesora te corrige el ensayo. The teacher corrects the essay for you.

El banquero nos abre una cuenta. The banker opens an account for us.

Yo le arreglo la corbata a Juan. I fix (arrange) John's tie for him.

Mi esposa les ata los zapatos a nuestros hijos. My wife ties our kids' shoes for them.


Review of object/reflexive pronouns

Object and reflexive pronouns are used to show who receives the action of a verb. Object pronouns are used when one person does something to someone else. Reflexive pronouns are used when a person does something to him or herself.

Reflexive Direct Indirect

Pronouns Object Object

Pronouns Pronouns

me me me

te te te

se lo, la le

nos nos nos

se los, las les

You will notice that all three of these types of pronouns are the same for Yo, Tú and Nosotros. The differences only exist in the third-person forms.

Otro: Location of object pronouns

As we have mentioned before, all object pronouns (direct, indirect, and reflexive) typically go before conjugated verbs and after infinitives.

Yo la veo. Yo puedo verla. Susana te conoce. Susana quiere conocerte.

I see her. I can see her. Susana knows you. Susana wants to know you. In cases where you have a conjugated verb and an infinitive verb as a single unit, you end up with a conflict. The conjugated verb wants the object pronoun before it, and the infinitive wants the pronoun after it. When this happens, you get to choose. The meanings are identical, and they are equally correct.

Los necesitamos reparar Necesitamos repararlos. We need to repair them.

La tienen que escribir hoy. Tienen que escribirla hoy. They need to write it today.

Ellas la van a construir pronto. Ellas van a construirla pronto. They will build it soon.

Te debo enviar el libro. Debo enviarte el libro. I must send you the book.

We saw this same conflict in the present progressive, where the conjugated Estar wants the object pronoun before it, while the present participle wants the object pronoun after it. Again, you get to choose.

Él lo está reparando. Él está reparándolo. He is fixing it.

¿Me estás mintiendo? ¿Estás mintiéndome? Are you lying to me?

María nos está ayudando. María está ayudándonos. Maria is helping us.

Caution: these are the ONLY two situations where you get to decide the location of the object pronouns. Normally, there is only one correct place to put them.


Perder / Poder The similarity between these two verbs leads to confusion sometimes, but their meanings are very different. Practicing them side by side should help us learn to keep them apart.

Poder = to be able Perder = to lose

Yo puedo I can Yo pierdo I lose

Tú puedes You can Tú pierdes You lose

Él puede He can Él pierde He loses Ella puede She can Ella pierde She loses Usted puede You can Usted pierde You lose Nosotros podemos We can Nosotros perdemos We lose Ellos pueden They can Ellos pierden They lose Ellas pueden They can Ellas pierden They lose Ustedes pueden You guys can Ustedes pierden All of you lose

Estar a punto de (verb)

In English, when we say that someone is “about to” do something, we mean that they will begin that activity very soon. In Spanish, the equivalent expression says that someone is “at the point of” doing something. Estamos a punto de salir. We are about to leave. Ellos están a punto de empezar. They are about to start. Rosana está a punto de llamarlo. Rosana is about to call him. ¡Los niños están a punto de pelear! The kids are about to start fighting! Mira el cielo; está a punto de llover. Look at the sky; it’s about to rain.



❖ Vocabulario: Review ❖ Tiempos verbales: Preterit irregulars – the Hacer group and the Decir group ❖ Gramática: Double-object pronouns

Vocabulario: Review At the end of each quarter, our vocabulary lesson will be strictly review. This should help us learn the most important words even more!

Acostarse To go to bed, to lay down El suegro / la suegra Father/mother in law

Afeitarse To shave El traje Suit

Ajustado Tight-fitting Gastar To spend

Alimentar To feed La barba Beard

Barrer To sweep La bota Boot

Casarse To get married La ducha Shower

Cepillar To brush La garganta Throat

Charlar To chat La manta Blanket

Cortés Polite La navaja Razor

Crecer To grow La sábana Sheet

Descansar To rest La sangre Blood

Despertarse To wake up Las tijeras Scissors

El anillo Ring Lastimarse To get hurt

El cabello Hair Liso Smooth, straight

El cerebro Brain Los anteojos Glasses

El cinturón Belt Los quehaceres Chores

El cuerpo Body Maleducado Rude

El cuñado / la cuñada Brother/sister in law Mentiroso Dishonest

El dolor Pain Mojarse To get wet

El espejo Mirror Pobre Poor

El hueso Bone Recoger To pick up

El jabón Soap Rico Rich

El nieto / la nieta Grandson / Granddaughter Rizado Curly

El piso Floor Sacar la basura To take out the trash

El pulmón Lung Secarse To dry yourself


Tiempos verbales: The preterit tense – the Hacer group and the Decir group

The following verbs are all highly irregular in the preterit tense, but fortunately, they have some features in common.

✓ None of them have accents ✓ They all have the same irregular set of endings

Hacer Poner Poder Venir Querer Estar Tener Saber

yo hice puse pude vine quise estuve tuve supe

tú hiciste pusiste pudiste viniste quisiste estuviste tuviste supiste

él / ella / Ud. hizo puso pudo vino quiso estuvo tuvo supo

nosotros hicimos pusimos pudimos vinimos quisimos estuvimos tuvimos supimos

vosotros hicisteis pusisteis pudisteis vinisteis quisisteis estuvisteis tuvisteis supisteis

ellos / ellas / Uds. hicieron pusieron pudieron vinieron quisieron estuvieron tuvieron supieron The next set of verbs also lacks accents and shares the same endings. The only difference is that there is no I in the third person plural forms.

Decir Traer Conducir Traducir

yo dije traje conduje traduje

tú dijiste trajiste condujiste tradujiste

él / ella / Ud. dijo trajo condujo tradujo

nosotros dijimos trajimos condujimos tradujimos

vosotros dijisteis trajisteis condujisteis tradujisteis

ellos / ellas / Uds. dijeron trajeron condujeron tradujeron

Once you learn these endings, all you need to do is memorize the preterit root for these verbs, and you will do fine!

Gramática: Double-object pronouns

Often in English we want to replace both the direct and the indirect objects of a sentence with pronouns. For example, "I sent her it" has two objects: her and it. There are two important rules for how we use two object pronouns with a verb:

1. The indirect object or the reflexive pronoun comes first, then the direct object pronoun. 2. If we have a choice about the location of the pronoun, both pronouns must go in the same place. They cannot

be split up.

She is going to send me them. Ella me las va a mandar. Ella va a mandármelas.

I can't tell it to you. No te lo puedo decir. No puedo decírtelo.

He wants to read them to us. Él nos los quiere leer. Él quiere leérnoslos.


When do you add an accent?

When we add object or reflexive pronouns to the end of an infinitive or a present participle, we cannot allow the emphasis to shift from where it originally was. As we learned in lesson 6, words that end with an R get the emphasis on the final syllable. That means that all infinitives have the emphasis on the end. Enviar Ella necesita enviarme el libro. She needs to send me the book. Abrir ¿Puedo abrirte la puerta? Can I open the door for you? Contar Debes contarnos lo que pasó. You must tell us what happened. As seen above, when you add one pronoun to the end of an infinitive, it now ends with an S or with a vowel, which means the emphasis goes on the second-to-last syllable. The emphasis is still in the correct place. However, if you add two object pronouns to the end of an infinitive, this would cause the emphasis to shift, which we cannot allow. When this happens, we put an accent on the place where the emphasis was before the pronouns were added (ár, ér, ír). Ella necesita enviármelo. She needs to send me it. ¿Puedo abrírtela? Can I open it for you? Debes contárnoslo. You must tell us it. As we saw on page 48, a present participle will need an added accent, whether it has a single-object or double-object pronoun attached to the end. Ellos están describiéndolo. They are describing it. Ellos están describiéndonoslo. They are describing it to us. What if both object pronouns start with an L?

There is one more minor detail that needs to be mentioned; Spanish does not allow two object pronouns to be next to each other if they both start with L. If this happens, the first one (the indirect object pronoun) will change to Se.

Incorrect Correct

I bring them to her. Yo le los traigo. Yo se los traigo.

We tell it to them. Nosotros les la decimos. Nosotros se la decimos.

He repaired it for you guys. Él les la reparó. Él se la reparó.


Review: Don’t just review the basic meanings listed here; you are also responsible to know the additional information and expressions that went with these parts of the prior lessons.

❖ Ir To go ❖ Ser To be ❖ Estar To be ❖ Tener To have ❖ Haber There is ❖ Ponerse To put on

❖ Vestirse To get dressed ❖ Sentirse To feel ❖ Sentarse To sit down ❖ Poder To be able ❖ Perder To lose

Review:

Don’t just review the basic meanings listed here; you are also responsible to know the additional information and expressions that went with these parts of the prior lessons.

➢ Está bien, vale Okay ➢ Pues, bueno So, well ➢ Por favor Please

➢ Gracias Thanks ➢ De nada You’re welcome ➢ Estar a punto de To be about to…



❖ Vocabulario: Sickness and medicine ❖ Tiempos verbales: The preterit tense – verbs with vowel changes and spelling changes ❖ Otro: Numbers ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Tomar / tocar / jugar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: The thing is…

Vocabulario: Sickness and medicine

Required Words:

El malestar discomfort Toser to cough La pomada ointment, cream

La fiebre / calentura fever Estornudar to sneeze La píldora pill

El resfriado cold Desmayarse to faint La pastilla pill

La salud health La farmacia pharmacy La receta prescription, recipe

Saludable healthy El farmacéutico pharmacist La etiqueta tag, label

Curar to cure El jarabe syrup La dosis dose

Review and Cognates: La gripe flu El doctor doctor El enfermero (male) nurse

El virus virus El médico medic / doctor La enfermera (female) nurse

La bacteria bacteria El hospital hospital El dolor de cabeza headache

El antibiótico antibiotic La clínica clinic El dolor de estómago stomachache

La medicina medicine Sano healthy El dolor de espalda back pain

La aspirina aspirin Enfermarse to get sick

La vitamina vitamin Enfermo sick

Tiempos verbales: The preterit – verbs with vowel changes and spelling changes

Vowel changes

The following group of verbs is composed of IR verbs that have present tense stem changes. In the preterit, they will all have a stem change for the 3rd person only. There is no IE or UE; only E to I, or O to U.

Elegir Medir Mentir Pedir Servir Dormir Morir

yo elegí medí mentí pedí serví dormí morí

tú elegiste mediste mentiste pediste serviste dormiste moriste

él / ella / Ud. eligió midió mintió pidió sirvió durmió murió

nosotros elegimos medimos mentimos pedimos servimos dormimos morimos

vosotros eligisteis medisteis mentisteis pedisteis servisteis dormisteis moristeis

ellos / ellas / Uds. eligieron midieron mintieron pidieron sirvieron durmieron murieron This affects all IR verbs with present tense stem changes: Divertir, Freír, Preferir, Reírse, Repetir, Seguir, Sentir, Sonreír, Vestir and more. If applying a spelling change like this would ever make a double-i, you need to drop one of them. (freír, reír, sonreír) Freir – freí, freíste, friió frió, freímos, friieron frieron


Spelling changes As we saw in lesson 5 when we studied the present progressive, Spanish does not allow an unaccented I to be sandwiched between two other vowels (leiendo). If this happens, the I will change to a Y (leyendo). In the preterit, this affects the él and the ellos forms. For example, leer would become leió in the preterit form, but that is not allowed. Therefore, it would change to leyó.

Yo Tú Él/ella/Ud. Nosotros Vosotros Ellos/ellas/Uds.

Creer creí creíste creyó creímos creísteis creyeron

Leer leí leíste leyó leímos leísteis leyeron

Caer caí caíste cayó caímos caísteis cayeron

Oír oí oíste oyó oímos oísteis oyeron

Construir construí construiste construyó construimos construísteis construyeron

Another common spelling issue applies to verbs ending in GAR, CAR and ZAR. We saw in lesson 4 that when you conjugate a verb, you cannot allow a hard C or G to be softened, nor a soft C or G to become hardened. Because the Yo form of regular AR preterit verbs will always end with É, this would soften the C and G in verbs ending in CAR and GAR. To prevent the softening of the C, it changes to a QU. To prevent the softening of the G, we add a silent U.

Yo Tú Él/ella/Ud. Nosotros Vosotros Ellos/ellas/Uds.

Llegar llegué llegaste llegó llegamos llegasteis llegaron

Pagar pagué pagaste pagó pagamos pagasteis pagaron

Sacar saqué sacaste sacó sacamos sacasteis sacaron

Tocar toqué tocaste tocó tocamos tocasteis tocaron

Empezar empecé empezaste empezó empezamos empezasteis empezaron

Almorzar almorcé almorzaste almorzó almorzamos almorzasteis almorzaron In the case of verbs ending in ZAR, remember that Spanish almost never puts a Z beside a E. If this happens (again, in the preterit Yo form), the Z changes to a C.

Otro: Numbers Cardinal Numbers

The numbers 1 to 30. Note that all of these are one word. Also, 16, 22, 23, 26 have accents.

1 Uno 6 Seis 11 Once 16 Dieciséis 21 Veintiuno 26 Veintiséis

2 Dos 7 Siete 12 Doce 17 Diecisiete 22 Veintidós 27 Veintisiete

3 Tres 8 Ocho 13 Trece 18 Dieciocho 23 Veintitrés 28 Veintiocho

4 Cuatro 9 Nueve 14 Catorce 19 Diecinueve 24 Veinticuatro 29 Veintinueve

5 Cinco 10 Diez 15 Quince 20 Veinte 25 Veinticinco 30 Treinta The number 1 changes to “un” when it comes before a masculine singular noun, and to “una” before feminine singular. In the same way, larger numbers ending in 1 will change. Una casa Ochenta y una casas Dos mil cuarenta y una casas.


The numbers 31 to 99. Besides the multiples of 10, all of these are three words, and none have accents.

30 Treinta Treinta y uno (31), treinta y dos (32)…

40 Cuarenta Cuarenta y tres (43), cuarenta y cuatro (44)…

50 Cincuenta Cincuenta y cinco (55), cincuenta y seis (56)…

60 Sesenta Sesenta y siete (67), sesenta y ocho (68)...

70 Setenta Setenta y nueve (79), setenta y uno (71)…

80 Ochenta Ochenta y tres (83), ochenta y cinco (85)…

90 Noventa Noventa y cuatro (94), noventa y nueve (99)…

The numbers 100 to 999. Note that 100 is cien, but numbers from 101 to 199 begin with ciento. Also, you do not say “un” before cien. Finally, there is no “and” after the hundreds digit, but there is between the tens and the ones digit.

100 Cien, ciento Cien (100), ciento uno (101), ciento diez (110), ciento treinta y dos (132)…

200 Doscientos Doscientos cinco (205), doscientos veinticinco (225), doscientos ochenta y uno (281)…

300 Trescientos Trescientos once (311), trescientos sesenta y nueve (369), trescientos noventa (390)…

400 Cuatrocientos Cuatrocientos treinta (430), cuatrocientos setenta y dos (472)…

500 Quinientos Quinientos dos (502), quinientos cuarenta y siete (547)…

600 Seiscientos Seiscientos sesenta y uno (661), seiscientos noventa y cuatro (694)…

700 Setecientos Setecientos siete (707), setecientos veintinueve (729)…

800 Ochocientos Ochocientos cuarenta y nueve (849), ochocientos trece (813)…

900 Novecientos Novecientos dieciséis (916), novecientos noventa y nueve (999)…

The thousands. To count in the thousands, simply say how many thousands you have. Note that you do not say “un” before a thousand.

Mil One thousand 1,000 Diez mil Ten thousand 10,000 Quinientos tres mil Five hundred and three thousand 503,000 Novecientos once mil Nine hundred and eleven thousand 911,000

The millions. Similar to the thousands, just say how many millions you have. There are two small differences, however. First, if you have just one million, you do include the “un” before it. Also, you need “de” before whatever item you have millions of.

Un millón de carros. A million cars. Quince millones de personas. Fifteen million people. Setecientos diez millones de dólares. Seven hundred and ten million dollars.

The billions. What people in the United States call a billion, in Spanish would be called a thousand millions. Mil millones. 1,000,000,000 Doce mil millones. 12,000,000,000 Quinientos mil millones 500,000,000,000 The trillions. What North Americans call a trillion, in Spanish is called un billón: 1.000.000.000.000 = un billón


Commas and Decimals Most Spanish speaking countries use commas and periods in the reverse way from what English does. Look carefully at the following examples:

English digits Spoken English Spanish digits Spoken Spanish

1.1 One point one 1,1 Uno coma uno

35.45 Thirty-five point four five 35,45 Treinta cinco coma cuatro cinco

1,200 One thousand two hundred 1.200 Mil doscientos

2,034.08 Two thousand thirty-four point zero eight 2.034,08 Dos mil treinta y cuatro coma cero ocho

Ordinal Numbers

The ordinal numbers are those used for putting things in order.

Primero, Primera Voy en el primer taxi. Sexto, Sexta ¿Quién fue el sexto presidente?

Segundo, Segunda El segundo día fue terrible. Séptimo, Séptima Dios no trabajó en el séptimo día.

Tercero, Tercera El tercer estudiante salió. Octavo, Octava La octava pizza estuvo terrible.

Cuarto, Cuarta No fui a la cuarta clase. Noveno, Novena El gato perdió su novena vida.

Quinto, Quinta Mayo es el quinto mes. Décimo, Décima Ellos salieron en la décima hora. Note: The words Primero and Tercero will be shortened to Primer and Tercer, only before a masculine singular noun. El primer día, el primer carro, el tercer teléfono, el tercer caballo Fractions The fractions are almost identical to the Ordinal Numbers, except for "half" and "third."

Medio half Quinto fifth

Tercio third Sexto sixth

Cuarto quarter, fourth And so on!

✓ Él comió media naranja. He ate half an orange. ✓ Dos tercios de mis amigos prefieren ese músico. Two thirds of my friends prefer that musician. ✓ Perdí un cuarto de los documentos. I lost a quarter of the documents. ✓ Siete octavos de los estudiantes aprobaron. Seven eighths of the students passed.

Medio does not need an article (un) or a preposition (de) if you use it before a noun:

o Ella pone media taza de agua en la olla. o Yo como medio sándwich todos los días.

However, it will get an article and de when it is part of a fraction:

• Un medio de los caballos vivió en el campo.

• Yo comí un medio de las zanahorias. If you have a whole unit plus a fraction, use this as your guide:

o Una taza y media. (1.5 cups) o Tres horas y cuarto. (3.25 hours) o Dos cucharadas y media. (2.5 Tablespoons)


Tomar / tocar; Tocar / jugar For some reason, English speakers really like to use Tocar, thinking it means “to take.” Unfortunately, this isn’t even close to correct!

Tomar = to take, to drink Tocar = to touch, to play (music, not games)

Yo tomo una foto. I take a picture. Yo toco la foto. I touch the picture. Tú tomas el libro. You take the book. Tú tocas el libro. You touch the book. Ella toma el piano. She takes the piano. Ella toca el piano. She plays the piano. Tomamos la leche. We drink the milk. Tocamos la leche. We touch the milk.

Jugar is the verb we use when playing sports and games, while Tocar is used for playing music or instruments. Mis hermanos jugaban a Monopoly mientras yo tocaba el piano. My siblings played Monopoly while I played the piano. Siempre tocamos la radio mientras jugamos al tenis. We always play the radio while we play tennis.

The thing is…

When we need to start an explanation, we often begin with a phrase like, “the thing is…” or “the truth is that…” Here are some useful phrases that Spanish speakers often use in this type of situation:

Es que… (it’s that…) La cosa es que… (the thing is that…) La verdad es que… (the truth is that…)

Ejemplos:

❖ No podemos ir a tu fiesta. La cosa es que mis padres no me permiten. ❖ Ellos no saben la verdad. Es que nadie lo explicó a ellos. ❖ Lo siento. La verdad es que no me gustan los frijoles. ❖ Tengo que salir. La cosa es que mi clase empieza pronto. ❖ No jugué en el partido de fútbol. Es que estuve enfermo. ❖ No vamos a estar en la iglesia. La verdad es que nuestros abuelos van a visitar.



❖ Vocabulario: Injuries, problems, and treatments ❖ Tiempos verbales: Verbs that change their meaning in the preterit ❖ Otro: The date and the time ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Tomar / sacar / llevar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Lo siento

Vocabulario: Injuries, problems, and treatments Required Words:

El accidente accident El sobrepeso overweight

El choque crash

Estar en forma To be in shape

Chocar to crash

Flaco skinny / thin

La herida wound / injury

Poner un yeso to put on a cast

Herir (ie) to wound / injure

Usar las muletas to use crutches

El peligro danger

La tensión arterial blood pressure

Peligroso dangerous

La dieta diet

La sala de emergencia emergency room

Hacer ejercicio to exercise

La ambulancia ambulance

El consultorio examining room

Los primeros auxilios first aid

Examinar to examine

La terapia física physical therapy La prueba test

El sobrepeso: In Spanish, this is not an adjective that someone is, but rather a condition that someone has. Él tuvo sobrepeso, pero después se puso a dieta. El director tiene sobrepeso porque come mucha pasta y pan. Estar a dieta = to be on a diet Ponerse a dieta = to go on (to start) a diet Ella está a dieta porque el doctor recomendó algunos cambios por su salud. Me puse a dieta dos veces el año pasado. Mis dietas no tuvieron éxito. Hacer ejercicio: English speakers sometimes try to use the verb “ejercer,” since it does mean “to exercise.” However, the type of exercise it means is like when somebody exercises their right to vote, or an army general puts his troops through military maneuvers (military exercises). When you talk about doing exercise to be healthy, use “hacer ejercicio.” Muchas personas hacen ejercicio en la mañana para estar en forma. Hago ejercicio en el gimnasio con mi amigo.


Fuerte Strong Gordo fat Fumar to smoke

Débil weak Delgado slim, slender Dejar de fumar to quit smoking

Sano healthy El consejo advice La oficina del doctor doctor’s office


Tiempos verbales: Verbs that change their meaning in the preterit

The following verbs do not mean what we expect when they are used in the preterit. That is because the preterit is a tense used for actions or events, but these verbs are not either of those things. Instead, they indicate a steady, ongoing, continuous kind of knowing, wanting, having or being able. Since the preterit does not have that ongoing sense to it, these verbs will gain a new meaning in the preterit that is more like a one-time action. Conocer – to meet (begin to know) a person Sandra conoció a Lorena en el restaurante cubano. Se hicieron amigas rápidamente. Sandra met Lorena at the Cuban restaurant. They became friends quickly. Saber – to find out (begin to know) a fact Lorenzo supo que fue adoptado cuando vio el certificado de su nacimiento. Lorenzo found out he was adopted when he saw his birth certificate. Querer – to attempt (this needs an infinitive verb after it) Quise arreglar la guitarra, pero solo hice el problema peor. I tried to fix the guitar, but I only made the problem worse. No querer – to refuse Ella no quiso entrar en el carro. She refused to get into the car. Poder – to succeed, to manage to do something Con los zapatos nuevos, por fin pudo correr una milla en menos de cinco minutos. With the new shoes, he finally succeeded in running a mile in less than five minutes. No poder – to fail (this needs an infinitive verb after it) No pude recitar el versículo correctamente. I failed to recite the verse correctly. Tener – to get (begin to have) Ella tuvo un mensaje urgente en su teléfono. She got an urgent message on her phone. To use these verbs with their normal, original meanings in the past, use them in the Imperfect Tense (lesson 11).


Otro: The date and time

Discussing the date

Los días de la semana Los meses del año lunes Monday enero January julio July

martes Tuesday febrero February agosto August

miércoles Wednesday marzo March septiembre September

jueves Thursday abril April octubre October

viernes Friday mayo May noviembre November

sábado Saturday junio June diciembre December

domingo Sunday What is the date: ¿Cuál es la fecha?

When saying the date, remember the following requirements:

• Do not capitalize days or months (unless they begin a sentence)

• Use the formula "the (number) of (month)." El cinco de febrero. El veintidós de agosto.

• Use cardinal numbers (tres, nueve...), not ordinal numbers (tercero, noveno...). Exception: you will use primero for the first day of a month.

• In English we use "on" before days and dates. In Spanish, use the definite article instead. (Ellos vienen el jueves. Salieron el dos de mayo. Ellos no trabajan los lunes.)

• In English we use "in" before months and years. This will be "en" in Spanish. (Empezamos el programa en agosto. La organización se formó en 1863)

Publicaron el libro el ventidós de enero. They published the book on January 22.

Empezamos el programa el trece de noviembre. We begin the program on November 13.

Ellos van a llegar el diez de abril. They will arrive on April 10.

¿Tienes tiempo para ayudarme el siete de agosto? Do you have time to help me on August 7? You do not use an article if you are saying what day of the week yesterday was, today is, or tomorrow will be: Hoy es el martes. Ayer fue el lunes. Mañana va a ser el miércoles. If you say the day of the week before you say the date, you will omit the article before the date: Hoy es sábado, el veinte de octubre. La reunión es el jueves, el once de mayo. When you say the year, you do not group the numbers in pairs (eighteen twenty-seven, twenty twenty...). Instead, you say the whole number (one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven, two thousand twenty). Ellos llegaron en mil quinientos setenta y dos. They arrived in 1572. Yo nací el trece de marzo de mil novecientos ochenta y uno. I was born on March 13, 1981. Saying what day of the week something happens on

If you are speaking of an event that is happening once, use "el" before the day. Don't say "on" in Spanish. Ellos van a completar el proyecto el martes. They will complete the project on Tuesday. El dinero fue depositado el sábado. The money was deposited on Saturday. If you are speaking of an event that always happens on that day of the week, use "los" before the day and make the day plural (if it doesn't already end in S). Again, omit the word "on." Yo siempre voy a la biblioteca los lunes por la tarde. I always go to the library on Monday afternoons. ¿Qué haces con tu familia los domingos? What do you do with your family on Sundays?


How to tell time

One of the most important things to know about the time in Spanish is that the number is always preceded by the feminine definite article. If the hour is one o'clock, you will say "la una," and for all of the other times you will use "las."

1:00 la una 8:00 las ocho

2:00 las dos 12:00 las doce To say the minutes, simply say "y" before the number of minutes.

1:23 la una y veintitrés 3:48 las tres y cuarenta y ocho

6:17 las seis y diecisiete 9:51 las nueve y cincuenta y uno An alternate way of expressing the minutes, if the time is closer to the next hour than it is to the previous, is by using subtraction. In English we say "it is ten minutes to six." In Spanish you say "it is six minus ten." This is quite common in many regions, but it is not used at all in others.

1:50 las dos menos diez 9:55 las diez menos cinco

11:55 las doce menos cinco 3:45 las cuatro menos quince Just as in English we often use other words instead of numbers (such as "half-past" instead of thirty, or "quarter" instead of fifteen, "noon" instead of 12:00), Spanish also has some common expressions that are used to replace specific times.

cuarto 15 minutes en punto exactly el mediodía noon

media 30 minutes y pico and a little la medianoche midnight Modelos:

1:15 la una y cuarto 5:00 las cinco en punto

3:30 las tres y media 5:03 las cinco y pico Spanish uses A.M. and P.M. in written form, but not usually in spoken form. Instead, use the following expressions:

de la madrugada in the early morning (before sunrise)

de la mañana in the morning (sunrise to noon)

de la tarde in the afternoon/evening (noon to sunset)

de la noche at night Saying the time in a sentence

There are two ways we refer to time: when we say what time it is, and what time something happens at. Spanish uses the verb "ser" to say what time it is. Ser will be singular if the time is One O'clock (Es la una) or plural for any other time (Son las dos, Son las tres y cinco...). Make sure you always use the feminine definite article.

✓ Son las tres y cuarto de la madrugada. It is three fifteen in the morning. ✓ Es la una y pico de la tarde. It's a little past one in the afternoon. ✓ Son las siete menos diez de la tarde. It's ten to seven in the evening. ✓ Son las once y media de la noche. It's eleven thirty at night.

To say when something happens, we use "a" to mean "at" that time.

✓ Ellos van a llegar a las siete y cuarto. They are going to arrive at seven fifteen. ✓ El fuego empezó a las cinco. The fire started at five. ✓ Almorzamos a la una y media. We eat at one thirty.


To take (tomar / sacar / llevar) There are three different verbs that Spanish uses for taking, depending on what kind of take you mean. Tomar is the most general kind of taking. Él toma sus píldoras antes de acostarse. He takes his pills before going to bed. Tomo la prueba en el escritorio. I take the quiz at the desk. Ellos toman un momento para planear. They take a moment to plan. Los ladrones tomaron el oro. The thieves took the gold. When a person picks up or grabs an item, such as taking a book off a shelf or a candy from a bowl, that kind of taking would also be tomar. El empleado tomó el formulario del escritorio. The employee took the form from the desk. Gisela toma un lápiz de la mesa. Gisela takes a pencil from the table. Sacar means something like “to take out,” in the sense of “to withdraw” or “to remove.” Necesito sacar este bicho de mi ojo. I need to take this bug out of my eye. Ronaldo sacó todo el dinero de su cuenta. Ronald took out all of the money from his account. Ella saca la basura cuando está llena. She takes out the trash when it is full. Llevar means “to take” when you are taking an item with you (it is reflexive in this case), or when you are taking somebody somewhere. Siempre me llevo un paraguas en marzo. I always take an umbrella with me in March. ¿Te llevaste la crema protectora? Did you take the sunscreen with you? Tomo mi carro para llevarlos al aeropuerto. I take my car to take them to the airport. ¿Quién te lleva a la escuela? Who takes you to school?

Lo siento (I’m sorry)

The verb Sentir means “to feel,” but when used in some contexts, it indicates feeling regret about something. That is why Lo siento means “I’m sorry,” or more literally, “I feel it (with regret).” This phrase can be modified to work for other people.

• Ella lo siente mucho. She is very sorry.

• Lo sentimos. We are sorry. If you are going to say what you are sorry for, don’t include the “lo.” Look at these examples:

• Sentimos el error. We are sorry for the error.

• Siento olvidar la ensalada. I’m sorry for forgetting the salad.



❖ Vocabulario: Common foods ❖ Tiempos verbales: The imperfect tense ❖ Gramática: When to use infinitives ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Words for time ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Disculpe

Vocabulario: Common foods

Required Words:

La bebida drink El queso cheese

El hielo ice El tocino bacon

Asar to grill La carne de res beef

Asado grilled La galleta cookie, cracker

Freír (i) to fry La hamburguesa hamburger

Frito fried La mantequilla butter

El brócoli / el brécol broccoli La salsa sauce (any kind, not necessarily spicy)

El chile pepper* (sweet or hot) La sandía watermelon

El jamón ham La torta pie

El panecillo bun, muffin, roll Las espinacas spinach

El plátano banana / plantain Los camarones shrimp

*Chile refers to bell peppers or hot peppers. The kind of pepper you put in a shaker next to the salt is La pimienta.


Desayunar to eat breakfast El pastel cake La leche milk

Almorzar (ue) to eat lunch El pavo turkey La lechuga lettuce

Cenar to eat dinner El pescado fish La limonada lemonade

El agua water El pollo chicken La manzana apple

El arroz rice El postre dessert La naranja orange

El bistec steak El puerco pork La papa potato

El café coffee El refresco soft drink La pera pear

El chocolate chocolate El sándwich sandwich La pimienta pepper

El frijol bean El té tea La piña pineapple

El helado ice cream El tomate tomato La pizza pizza

El huevo egg La carne meat La sal salt

El jugo juice La comida food La sopa soup

El limón lemon La ensalada salad La uva grape

El maíz corn La fruta fruit La zanahoria carrot

El pan bread La hamburguesa hamburger Los vegetales vegetables


Tiempos verbales: The imperfect tense

Spanish has two main past tenses, in comparison with the one that English relies upon. The preterit tense is the more common of them, and it focuses on an action as a completed whole, something that was done and accomplished on a specific occasion. The imperfect, by contrast, indicates that an action in the past was not done yet. Either it was a repeated, habitual action in the past, or it was still in progress during the time period that is being described. The most common ideas communicated by the imperfect tense are that this action “used to” happen (regularly occurring in the past) or this action “was happening” (was in progress). Some examples may be helpful:

Preterit: Yo fui a la tienda. (I went to the store) Imperfect: Yo iba a la tienda. (I used to go to the store) or (I was going to the store) Preterit: Ella compró pan. (she bought bread) Imperfect: Ella compraba pan. (she used to buy bread) or (she was buying bread) Preterit: Ella leyó esa novela. (she read that novel) Imperfect: Ella leía esa novela. (she used to read that novel) or (she was reading that novel)

As you look again at the preterit sentences above, you can see that the preterit simply communicates that the thing happened, and it was over. All of the imperfect sentences, however, communicate that the action was still going on in some way. Either it was a habitual action (used to), or it was in the middle of happening. Conjugating the imperfect tense

Just like with the present and the preterit, you begin conjugating the imperfect by removing the last two letters. Then add the appropriate endings. ER and IR verbs have identical endings. Note that all ER and IR verbs get accents, while on the the Nosotros form does for AR verbs.

AR verbs Tomar ER verbs Comer IR verbs Vivir

yo aba tomaba ía comía ía vivía

tú abas tomabas ías comías ías vivías

él / ella / Ud. aba tomaba ía comía ía vivía

nosotros ábamos tomábamos íamos comíamos íamos vivíamos

vosotros abais tomabais íais comíais íais vivíais

ellos / ellas / Uds. aban tomaban ían comían ían vivían

Probably the best thing about the imperfect tense is that is has very few irregular verbs: only three!!

Ser Ir Ver

yo era iba veía

tú eras ibas veías

él / ella / Ud. era iba veía

nosotros éramos íbamos veíamos

vosotros erais ibais veíais

ellos / ellas / Uds. eran iban veían


How to say There Was

In the present tense we use Haber (hay) to say “there is” or “there are.” In the past tense, we have two choices for “there was.”

Imperfect: Había Preterit: Hubo

Since the imperfect is used for ongoing or continuous verbs, we use había to say that something existed in the past. In contrast, the preterit is used for actions, so we use hubo to say that an event occurred. Hubo una tormenta de nieve ayer. (The storm is an even that happened in the past.)

Después, había mucha nieve en la tierra. (The snow is something that existed in the past.) En su casa, había tres dormitorios. (Three bedrooms existed in their house.) El año pasado hubo un fuego en la cocina. (The fire occurred on a specific occasion in the past.)

Gramática: When to use infinitives

Usually, when you use a verb, you need to conjugate it. This should be your default, automatic reflex with any verb in any sentence, unless you know you have a good reason no to conjugate it. Here are the three situations when you will not conjugate a verb (in other words, when you will use the infinitive form):

1. When a verb is the object of another verb. 2. When a verb is the object of a preposition. 3. When evaluating an action in theory.

If a verb is not being used in one of those three ways, make sure you conjugate it! Use infinitives when a verb is the object of another verb

All the following verbs will be followed by an infinitive. The pattern is always that you conjugate the first verb (the one in the box here), but not the verb that is its object.

Acabar de to have just finished doing something Pensar to intend to do something

Aprender a to learn to do something Poder to be able to do something

Ayudar a to help to do something Preferir to prefer to do something

Deber must Querer to want to do something

Decidir to decide to do something Saber to know how to do something

Hay que one must do something Tener que to have to do something

Ir a going to do something Terminar de to stop doing something

Necesitar to need to do something Tratar de to try to do something

Olvidarse de to forget to do something


Here are some examples of these expressions used in sentences:

~ Ellas acaban de llegar. They just arrived.

~ Aprendo a nadar. I learn to swim.

~ Ellos nos ayudan a empacar para el viaje. They help us pack for the trip.

~ Yo decidí reparar el carro viejo. I decided to fix the old car.

~ Hay que estudiar. One must study.

~ ¿Te olvidaste de comer? You forgot to eat?

~ ¿Piensas dormir allá? Do you plan to sleep there?

~ Ellos no pueden hablar. They can't speak.

~ Ella prefiere manejar en la carretera. She prefers to drive on the highway.

~ ¿Sabes mandar un email? Do you know how to send an email?

~ Ellos tienen que pagar mucho dinero. They have to pay a lot of money.

~ Ella termina de trabajar cuando tiene hambre. She stops working when she's hungry.

~ Trato de convencer a mis amigos. I try to convince my friends. Using infinitives after prepositions

In Spanish, it is quite common to use a preposition followed by an infinitive verb. Take note: in English, we almost always use a present participle (walking, driving, singing) in this situation. In Spanish, this is never done! Always use the infinitive after prepositions!

antes de before sin without

después de after al upon

para in order to gracias por thanks for

~ Ella se maquilla antes de salir. She puts on makeup before leaving.

~ Después de mirar la película, me acuesto. After watching the movie, I go to bed.

~ Él miente para vender el producto. He lies in order to sell the product.

~ Entró en la casa sin ver la ventana rota. He entered the house without seeing the broken window.

~ Al oír el teléfono, Marcos se despertó. Upon hearing the phone, Marcos woke up.

~ ¡Gracias por arreglar mi bicicleta! Thanks for fixing my bike! It is important to note that for almost all these expressions, the same person needs to be doing both actions. For example, I watch the movie, and I go to bed. Marcos hears the phone, and Marcos wakes up. The only exception is "gracias por," which will often only have one verb in the sentence.


Using infinitives when evaluating a verb in theory

We often talk about verbs, giving some opinion about the action when no one is actually doing it in the sentence. In English we use the progressive for this: Smoking is bad for you; She likes flying in airplanes; They think watching movies is a waste of time.

In this kind of phrase in Spanish, always use the infinitive:

▪ Es difícil aprender el cálculo. It is hard to learn calculus. ▪ Leer es muy importante. Reading is very important. ▪ Ella dice que correr es aburrido. She says that running is boring.

The verb Gustar is one of the most common ways that we evaluate verbs:

• ¿Te gusta montar en bicicleta? Do you like riding a bike?

• Les gusta participar en los recitales. They like participating in recitals.

• Me gusta escribir con lápiz. I like writing with pencil.

Time Spanish has four different words for time, depending on how you mean it; no wonder we get confused! Tiempo = amount of time (phrases like how much time, not enough time, a lot of time)

➢ Ellos pasan mucho tiempo en el laboratorio. They spend a lot of time in the lab. ➢ ¿Cuánto tiempo toma el vuelo? How much time does the flight take?

Reminder: Tiempo also means weather.

Hora = the time of day (when we refer to what time it is, or what time something happens) ❖ ¿Qué hora es? What time is it? ❖ ¿A qué hora termina el programa? At what time does the show end? ❖ Necesitamos cambiar el servicio a otra hora. We need to change the service to another time. ❖ No me dijeron la hora de su vuelo. They didn't tell me the time of their flight.

Vez = an instance, an occasion (talking about the first time, the last time, how many times…)

✓ Puedes hacerlo una vez más. You can do it one more time. ✓ Sí, yo fui una vez. Yes, I went once (one time). ✓ ¡Me has mentido dos veces! You have lied to me twice (two times)! ✓ ¿Podemos mirarlo otra vez? Can we watch it again (another time)? ✓ Esta es la última vez. This is the last time. ✓ Necesitas lavarte las manos cada vez. You need to wash your hands each time.

Rato = a short time, a little while

o Tomamos un café y charlamos un rato. We have a coffee and chat for a while. o ¿Puedes ayudarme un rato? Can you help me a moment (a short time)? o Vimos a Clarisa un rato después. We saw Clarissa a short time later.


Disculpe (pardon)

The verb Disculpar means “to forgive,” or more literally, to “disblame.” When used as an exclamation, the closest equivalents in English might be “Pardon” or “Excuse me.” It is a very handy word to be polite in a number of circumstances. If you are speaking to a friend or family member, the informal version is “disculpa.” If the person you are addressing is someone you should treat with extra respect, say “disculpe.” Use “Disculpe” if you need to interrupt someone and get his or her attention, or if you have committed some very minor offense.


❖ Vocabulario: Baking and measuring ❖ Gramática: Which verbs go with which prepositions? ❖ Tiempos verbales: When to use the imperfect tense ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Salir / dejar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: De vez en cuando

Vocabulario: Baking and measuring Required Words:

La harina flour La cucharada tablespoon (T)

El aceite oil

La cucharadita teaspoon (t)

El azúcar sugar

Medir (i) to measure

La levadura yeast

Añadir to add

La levadura en polvo baking powder

Mezclar to mix

El bicarbonato de sodio baking soda

Retirar to take out/withdraw

La masa dough

Verter (ie) to pour

La canela cinnamon

Derretir (i) to melt

La vainilla vanilla

Hornear to bake

La cuchara spoon El horno oven


Review and Cognates: Cocinar to cook La taza cup El cuchillo knife La botella bottle

La cocina kitchen El vaso drinking glass El plato plate El mantel tablecloth

El cocinero chef / cook El tenedor fork La servilleta napkin La estufa stove

Tiempos verbales: When to use the imperfect tense

General considerations

The imperfect tense is used for three main types of situations. Notice that they are all ongoing or incomplete in some way:

➢ Saying what people or things were like in the past (used to be...) ➢ Saying what was done repeatedly or regularly in the past (used to go, used to have, used to work...) ➢ Saying what was happening continuously in the past (was eating, were living, was driving...)

The preterit, in contrast, is used for actions that were completed (not ongoing). It is used for actions that happened on a specific occasion (not repeatedly). Look carefully at the examples in the following chart, paying attention to the contrast in the usage of the two tenses.

imp Asistía a todas las clases de baile. I attended all of the dance classes. (repeated)

pret Yo asistí al concierto de jazz. I attended the jazz concert. (specific occasion)

imp Ellos iban al cine los viernes. They went to the theater on Fridays. (habitual)

pret Ellos fueron al cine anoche. They went to the theater last night. (specific occasion)

imp Ellos lavaban la ropa en el río. They used to wash the clothes in the river. (habitual)

pret Ellos lavaron el perro el lunes. They washed the dog on Monday. (specific occasion)


imp Mi padre era divertido y guapo. My dad used to be funny and handsome. (ongoing)

pret Él se cayó y se lastimó. He fell down and injured himself. (completed)

imp Llovía y hacía fresco en la ciudad. It was raining and cool in the city. (ongoing)

pret Llovió anoche. Un árbol cayó. It rained last night. A tree fell. (completed)

imp Ellos jugaban y gritaban. They were playing and shouting. (continuous)

pret Bateó la pelota y corrió a la base. He batted the ball and ran to the base. (completed) Specific times to use the preterit or imperfect

Interrupted actions When an action was in progress, and then was interrupted by a new action, the ongoing one will be imperfect, and the interruption will be preterit.

Carlota escuchaba la música cuando las luces se apagaron. Carlota was listening to music when the lights went out.

Ellos leían y comían cuando el vendedor llegó. They were reading and eating when the salesman arrived.

El policía escribía una multa cuando vio al criminal. The officer was writing a ticket when he saw the criminal. Simultaneous actions If two or more actions were happening at the same time in the past, they should both be in the imperfect tense.

Yo limpiaba mientras ellos cocinaban. I cleaned while they cooked.

Ella caminaba por la calle y hablaba por teléfono. She was walking down the street and talking on her phone.

El profesor hablaba, pero los alumnos no escuchaban. The teacher talked, but the students weren't listening. Consecutive actions If two or more actions happen in sequence (one after another), they should all be expressed in the preterit tense.

Se lavaron los dientes y se acostaron. They brushed their teeth and went to bed.

Me caí y me lastimé el brazo izquierdo. I fell down and injured my left arm.

Él dijo una broma y todos se rieron. He told a joke and everyone laughed.


Gramática: Which verbs go with which prepositions?

It can take a lot of practice to become consistent with matching the right verbs and preposition, in English as well as in Spanish. For example, we write things down, we cut things up, and we talk things over. When you think about those phrases carefully, do those prepositions really make literal sense? Not really! The following verbs are generally paired with specific prepositions in specific situations. We have seen a lot of these before, but the extra practice should be good for us! Prepositions between a conjugated verb and an infinitive Verbs that have to do with initiating an action almost always have “a” after them.

Aprender a To learn to do an action Juan aprende a manejar. Juan learns to drive.

Ayudar a To help to do an action El libro nos ayuda a arreglarlo. The book helps us to fix it.

Comenzar a To begin to do an action Comenzamos a correr. We begin to run.

Empezar a To begin to do an action Ellos empiezan a discutir. They start to argue

Enseñar a To teach to do an action Ella me enseña a cantar. She teaches me to sing.

Ir a To be going to do an action Vamos a salir pronto. We are going to leave soon.

Verbs that have to do with ending an action nearly always use “de” before the infinitive.

Acabar de To just have done something Ellos acaban de cortar la fruta. They just finished cutting up the fruit.

Dejar de To stop or quit on action Sus padres dejan de comer postres. His parents stop eating desserts.

Olvidarse de To forget to do something Me olvidé de lavarme los dientes. I forgot to brush my teeth.

Terminar de To finish doing something Terminan de construir el edificio. They finish building the building.

This does not fit with the others in meaning, but “tratar de” (to try to do something) also uses “de.” Yo trato de dormir = I try to sleep.


These next verbs do not get any preposition after them if they are followed by a verb. They mostly have to do with preference or ability.

Gustar To like to do something Les gusta dormir tarde. They like to sleep in.

Necesitar to need to do something Necesitas limpiar la estufa. You need to clean the stove.

Pensar To intend to do something Pienso plantar el árbol allá. I intend to plant the tree there.

Poder To be able to do something Podemos hablarle más tarde. We can talk to her later.

Preferir To prefer to do something Prefiero tomar té por la mañana. I prefer to drink tea in the morning.

Querer To want to do something ¿Quieres escuchar esa canción? Do you want to hear that song?

Saber To know how to do something Ella sabe arreglar la moto. She knows how to fix the motorcycle.

Prepositions between a conjugated verb and a noun Verbs of movement towards something use the preposition “a.”

Asistir a To attend an event Asisten a la reunión. They attend the meeting.

Entrar a To enter a place Entramos a la panadería. We enter the bakery.

Ir a To go somewhere Ellas van a las montañas. They go to the mountains.

Llegar a To arrive somewhere Llegan a la casa de Isidro. They arrive at Isidro's house.

Viajar a To travel somewhere ¿Cuándo viajas a Roma? When do you travel to Rome?

Verbs of movement away from something use “de.”

Salir de To leave from a place Martín salió de la sala. Martin left the living room.

Venir de To come from a place Esta lana viene de Turquía. This wool comes from Turkey.

Volver de To return from a place ¿Cuándo volvieron de Australia? When did they return from Australia?

The following verbs get no preposition after them, even though we would expect one because we use one in English. The exception is that they will get an “a” after them if the direct object is a person.

Buscar To look for something Yo busco por mis zapatos. I look for my shoes. Yo busco a mi profesor. I look for my teacher.

Escuchar To listen to something Ella escucha a la radio. She listens to the radio.

Esperar To wait for something Ellos esperan por el autobús. They wait for the bus. Ana espera a su primo. Ana waits for her cousin.

Mirar To look at something Los niños miran a la foto. The kids look at the picture.

Pedir To request or ask for something ¡Pides por muchas cosas! You ask for lots of things!


Salir / dejar While both these verbs can mean “to leave,” they actually mean very different things: Salir = to leave (as in to go away, to exit) Dejar = to leave (as in to leave something behind) Cuando ella salió de la biblioteca, dejó su bolsa por accidente. When she left the library, she left her purse by accident. Dejan a los niños con una niñera y salen para cenar en un restaurante. They leave the kids with a babysitter and they leave to eat in a restaurant. As we saw above, “dejar” can also mean to stop or quit an action, in which case it is followed by “de.” Cuando la música termina, ellos no dejan de bailar. When the music stops, they don’t stop dancing.

De vez en cuando

De vez en cuando would best be translated as “once in a while” or “from time to time.” Soy tímido, pero me gusta conocer a personas nuevas de vez en cuando. I’m shy, but I like meeting new people from time to time. No es suficiente cepillarse los dientes de vez en cuando. It is not sufficient to brush your teeth once in a while.



❖ Vocabulario: Regional and typical dishes ❖ Tiempos verbales: More about the preterit versus the imperfect ❖ Gramática: Gustar and similar verbs ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Tratar / probar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Poco a poco

Vocabulario: Regional and typical dishes Required Words:

Spain

La paella A saffron-flavored rice dish with vegetables, shrimp, scallops and other meats.

El gazpacho Smoothly blended, tomato-based vegetable soup, served cold in the summer.

El jamón serrano Dried, cured ham served in thin slices on sandwiches (bocadillos) or with cheese / vegetables.

Las tapas Small appetizers, usually meat or cheese with bread or crackers. Served in bars with drinks.

La tortilla de patata Sliced potatoes and eggs fried into a round cake with onions, salt and oil. Eaten hot or cold.

Mexico

La carne asada Grilled beef, usually flavored with lime and spices and served with pico de gallo on a tortilla.

Pico de gallo A mixture of chopped tomato, cilantro, onion, garlic and peppers, with lime juice and salt.

El mole A term for a variety of thick sauces, usually used to flavor meat. Most contain chili peppers, and many contain unsweetened chocolate.

El tamal (los tamales) Shredded, spiced pork steamed inside a corn-flour bread, steamed inside a banana or palm leaf.

Los chilaquiles Fried tortilla pieces topped with salsa or mole and cheese, often with eggs or chicken.

Central America

El pastel de tres leches A sponge cake made with condensed milk, cream and evaporated milk; served wet, but not soggy.

Arroz con habichuelas Very similar to Gallo Pinto; habichuelas is a common term for beans in the Caribbean region.

El gallo pinto A very simple dish of beans and rice, sometimes served with tortillas or alongside meat.

El plátano frito Plantains sliced and fried in oil, they can be salted or sweetened with sugar.

El nacatamal Similar to a tamal, this is a traditional dish in Honduras and Nicaragua. It is usually served with coffee.

Colombia, Venezuela

La arepa A flatbread made of corn or wheat flour, used to make sandwiches or as a side with cheese, avocado or jelly.

Southern Cone*

El mate Holly tea drunk from a hollow gourd through a straw (bombilla).

Spain & Latin America

El flan A custard dessert topped with liquid caramel

El arroz con leche Milky rice pudding, sweetened with sugar and flavored with cinnamon. Often includes raisins.

El churrasco Thin, boneless, grilled steaks

El chorizo Pork sausage, flavored with peppers and other spices

*The Southern Cone refers to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay



Dulce sweet Sabroso tasty La cuenta bill Pedir to order

Picante spicy El mesero waiter La propina tip El menú menu

Tiempos verbales: More about the preterit versus the imperfect

Setting versus plot

When you are describing a story or an event in the past, the context or setting will be in the imperfect, while the events or action of the plot will be preterit. The setting would be the time, the weather, what people or things were like, and what background actions were happening during that period of time. The plot is the actual events that make up the story, the things people do and say, and the things that happen to them.

Setting/context Plot

Eran las tres de la tarde, y Miguel tenía sueño. El teléfono sonó, y Miguel lo contestó.

It was three in the afternoon, and Miguel was tired. The telephone rang, and Miguel answered it.

Hacía sol, y la luz reflejaba sobre el mar. Una ballena saltó del agua con un ruido enorme.

It was sunny, and the light reflected over the sea. A whale jumped from the water with an enormous noise.

Sara era joven e impulsiva. Vivía en Valencia. Un día salió a buscar aventuras en el campo.

Sarah was young and impulsive. She lived in Valencia. One day she left to seek adventures in the country.

Preferences and tastes

If you are talking about what someone used to like, use the imperfect. However, to mention a specific instance or occasion when someone was pleased by something, use the preterit.

General preference in the past (imperfect) Opinion on a specific occasion (preterit)

A ella le gustaban las películas. Ella vio esa película, pero no le gustó.

She used to like movies. She saw that movie, but she didn't like it.

A mis padres les gustaba bailar el disco. A mis padres no les gustó el baile esa noche.

My parents used to love to dance disco. My parents didn´t like the dance that night.


Gramática: Gustar and similar verbs

Gustar and its friends use a structure that is backwards to how we think in English. These verbs are used to communicate somebody's opinion about an item or an action. What we need to remember is that the Gustar-type verb will always be conjugated for the item or action, and not for the person who has the opinion.

Gustar means "to please," so instead of saying "I like concerts" or "She loves music," we need to change the sentence to say "Concerts please me" or "Music delights her."

Always use an indirect object pronoun to represent the person who has the opinion (the person being affected by the action). The indirect object pronouns are me, te, le, nos, and les. Never use "se" with a gustar-type verb.

Me gustan las casas viejas. Old houses please me. Les gusta la ropa nueva. New clothing pleases them. ¿Te gustan las mariposas? Do butterflies please you?

As you can see above, the Spanish order of the sentence is reversed. The person (object) comes first, then the verb, then the item or action (subject). You will always use that same formula for these types of sentences:

Indirect Object Pronoun Gustar-type verb Item or action

Me gustan los zapatos rojos (Red shoes please me)

Te gusta la película (The movie pleases you)

Le gustan las manzanas (Apples please him/her)

Nos gusta leer (Reading pleases us)

Les gusta mirar los deportes (Watching sports pleases them)

Here are some of the most common gustar-type verbs, all of which use the same structure as Gustar:

Gustar to please Fascinar to fascinate

Chocar* to bother, annoy Importar to matter

Disgustar to displease Interesar to interest

Encantar to delight Molestar to bother Modelos:

➢ Me chocan los debates polémicos. Controvercial debates bother me (strongly). ➢ Me disgustan los libros de ciencia ficción. Science fiction books displease me. ➢ Les encanta el chocolate. Chocolate delights them. ➢ Le fascinan los remedios naturales. Natural remedies fascinate him/her. ➢ Nos importan las tradiciones viejas. Old traditions matter to us. ➢ ¿Te interesa el fútbol? Soccer interests you? ➢ Les molesta correr. Running annoys them.

* Chocar has such a strong meaning that it communicates the idea of hating. For example, “Le choca el queso” could be accurately translated as “He hates cheese.” To summarize, there are three steps you always follow, in this order, when using a gustar-type verb.

✓ Step 1: The indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, les). ✓ Step 2: The gustar-type verb (conjugated for whatever comes in step 3). ✓ Step 3: The action or item that is being evaluated.

Reminders:

❖ If you have a noun in step 3, you need a definite article (el, la, los, las) before it. ❖ If you have a verb in step 3, it should be infinitive, and the gustar-type verb in step 2 will be conjugated in the

singular


How to add a name or pronoun to a gustar-type sentence

Because the person who has the opinion is actually the object of the sentence, you will use "a" before the name or pronoun. This helps to avoid confusion, because it makes it obvious that the person is receiving the action, not doing the action. The correct pronouns to use in this case are the prepositional pronouns (a mí, a ti, a él, a ella, a usted, a nosotros, a ellos, a ellas, a ustedes).

A mí me gustan los tacos. A Carmen le gusta el helado. A ti ¿te molestan los mosquitos? A Martín y a Sebastián les importa el béisbol. A nosotros nos choca el tocino. A mis padres les fascina el cine.

The addition of a name adds clarity to the sentence, so that we know who the "le" or "les" refers to. In the case of mí, ti and nosotros, the use of the pronoun adds emphasis. This is usually done when you are comparing one person's opinion to someone else´s.

Antonio: "Me encantan las bananas." Román: "Pues, a mí, no me gustan." Jacinta: "A mí me gustan las películas románticas, pero a mi hermano le molestan." Romeo: "No como los huevos porque me disgustan. ¿A ti te gustan?" How to say “I like it” or “I don’t like them”

We often want to say that someone likes "it" or "them," referring to a previously mentioned noun. The complication is that the "it" or "them" is the subject, since it is doing the pleasing in the sentence. Lo, la, los and las are object pronouns, and they cannot be used with Gustar.

No quiero comer la ensalada. No me la gusta. (trying to say "I don't like it")

Ella no escucha la música clásica. No le gusta la. (trying to say "She doesn't like it")

Quiero llevar mis zapatos blancos. ¡Los me encantan! (trying to say "I love them") Instead of trying to insert a pronoun this way, just leave the pronoun out. We know what you mean!


Tratar / probar These two verbs are easily confused, since they can both be translated as “to try.” However, they have very different uses. Probar = to try or test a noun. This could be testing a computer to see how fast it operates, or trying a food to see if you like it. When it is reflexive, it means to try something on to see if it fits. Tratar de = to try to do an action.

Ella prueba la sopa y dice que necesita más sal. She tries the soup and she says it needs more salt. Probé el barco y descubrí un problema. I tried/tested the boat and found a problem. Marco se probó el sombrero. Era muy pequeño. Marco tried on the hat. It was too small. Mariela trata de recordar la contraseña. Mariela tries to remember the password. Mi bisabuela trata de usar el teléfono inteligente. My great grandma tries to use the smartphone. Traté de hablar con el camarero en inglés. I tried to speak with the waiter in English.

Poco a poco

The phrase “poco a poco” means “little by little,” or “a little bit at a time.” You could even understand it to mean “gradually.” It is a very helpful expression (and a very good method for tackling a big task!). La muchacha abrió la puerta poco a poco. The girl opened the door little by little. Alimentamos el gatito hambriento poco a poco. We fed the starving cat a little bit at a time. La cultura cambió poco a poco. The culture changed gradually.



❖ Vocabulario: La educación ❖ Tiempos verbales: The future tense – regular verbs ❖ Gramática: Possessive adjectives ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Enseñar / aprender ❖ Expresiones esenciales: A lo mejor

Vocabulario: La educación Required Words:

Los estudios studies Las notas grades

Especializarse (en) to major (in) Las calificaciones grades

La especialización major Contestar to answer

El título degree La respuesta the answer

Inscribirse to register / sign up Aprobar (ue) to pass

La beca scholarship Suspender to fail

La matrícula tuition La materia subject

El requisito required course / requirement Hacerse to become

Tomar apuntes to take notes Llegar a ser to become

Aprobar and Suspender mean passing and failing in an academic setting. They would not be used for “passing” the salt at the dinner table, nor for a part “failing” in a car or computer. Hacerse and Llegar a Ser both mean “to become” in the sense of obtaining a new job or taking on a new role. Después de siete años, ella se hace doctora por fin. After 7 years, she finally becomes a doctor. Mi yerno llegó a ser biólogo, ¡y le encanta! My son-in-law became a biologist, and he loves it! Different levels of schooling

The terms and divisions used in education in Spanish-speaking countries is not consistent everywhere. For example, middle school does not exist in many places, but it does in some. Also, the term bachillerato means high school in some places, and college in others. However, the following terms are all helpful, and you should be familiar with them:

La escuela primaria elementary school La universidad college / university

La escuela intermedia middle school La licenciatura bachelor's degree

La escuela secundaria high school La maestría master's degree

El colegio high school El doctorado doctorate degree (PhD)


Academic subjects

Fortunately, most academic subjects are cognates, and we can learn them without much extra effort. One exception to that is the word “derecho.” Literally, this means “right,” as in human rights or civil rights. When it is used as an academic subject, it is the equivalent of law, so that la escuela de derecho would be law school. Also, notice that “politics” is always singular in Spanish.

El arte art La biología biology La literatura literature

El álgebra algebra La ciencia science La medicina medicine

El cálculo calculus La educación education La política politics

El derecho law La filosofía philosophy La psicología psychology

El español Spanish La física physics La química chemistry

El inglés English La geometría geometry La sociología sociology

La arquitectura architecture La historia history Las matemáticas math

Tiempos verbales: The future tense – regular verbs

We have already learned to talk about the future using Ir and an infinitive verb (voy a llegar, vamos a salir...). There is another way to describe the future using only one word, rather than three. When you translate the Spanish future tense into English, it could be understood as "will" or "going to."

Ellos saldrán They will leave They are going to leave Yo compraré I will buy I am going to buy Nosotros iremos We will go We are going to go

Conjugating regular verbs

The future tense is one of the easiest ones to conjugate for a couple reasons:

✓ You use the whole infinitive, not removing the last 2 letters! ✓ There is only one set of endings, which is the same for AR, ER and IR verbs! ✓ There are not many irregular verbs!

Endings Estar Comer Vivir Ser Ir Dar

Yo é estaré comeré viviré seré iré daré

Tú ás estarás comerás vivirás serás irás darás

Él / ella / Ud. á estará comerá vivirá será irá dará

Nosotros emos estaremos comeremos viviremos seremos iremos daremos

Vosotros éis estaréis comeréis viviréis seréis iréis daréis

Ellos / ellas / Uds. án estarán comerán vivirán serán irán darán


Gramática: Possessive adjectives

Normal possessive adjectives

The following possessive adjectives are by far the most common, and they work very much like their English versions.

my mi ¿Dónde están mis apuntes? Where are my notes?

your (tú) tu Yo tengo tus gafas aquí. I have your glasses here.

your (usted) su ¿Cuál es su dirección? What is your address?

his/her su Ella trajo sus perros. She brought her dogs.

our nuestro Mis padres vendieron nuestra casa. My parents sold our house.

their su Ellos perdieron su dinero. They lost their money.

your (ustedes) su ¿Tienen ustedes sus boletos? Do you guys have your tickets?

Take Careful Note! The following items are very common mistakes that you should work hard to avoid. The gender and number match the owned item, not the owner.

~ Two brothers with one grandma: nuestra abuela ~ Three people with one dog: su perro ~ Two sisters with two grandpas: nuestros abuelos ~ One person with two dogs: sus perros

The informal "your" is tu, not tú or su.

~ Amigo, tus zapatos no están atados. ~ Rafael, limpia tu dormitorio. ~ Señor, sus zapatos no están atados. ~ Señor Robles, su dormitorio está aquí.

If you use a possessive adjective, don't use an article after it.

~ Mamá, Carolina tomó mis los calcetines. ~ ¿Dónde está tu la bicicleta? Emphatic possessive adjectives

In English we can say "my friend" or "a friend of mine." Likewise, we can say "it is our car" or "the car is ours." Spanish also has a second set of possessive adjectives. Unlike the normal ones, these possessive adjectives all need to be adjusted for gender and number. Normal Emphatic Example

mi mío, mía, míos, mías ¡El libro es mío!

tu tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas ¿Qué hiciste con la chaqueta tuya?

su suyo, suya, suyos, suyas No, la maleta no es suya.

nuestro nuestro, nuestra, nuestros Sí, Ana y Elena son amigas nuestras.

When would you use these possessive adjectives? This type of possessive adjective is more emphatic than the regular ones. In English, we usually do this by verbally stressing the word my, your, his, her, our or their. It creates a contrast between what belongs to one person and what belongs to someone else.

❖ Eso no es mi desorden, ¡es el desorden tuyo! It's not my mess, it's your mess! ❖ Su bicicleta es nueva, pero yo prefiero la bicicleta mía. Her bike is new, but I prefer my bike. ❖ La casa nuestra es vieja. ¿Cómo es tu casa? Our house is old. What's your house like?

The emphatic possessive adjectives are also used simply to add more variety or style to a sentence.

❖ No conozco a Marisa. ¿Es amiga tuya? I don't know Marissa. Is she a friend of yours? ❖ Ellos siempre insisten en los derechos suyos. They always insist on their rights. ❖ El propósito nuestro es eliminar la deuda nacional. Our purpose is to eliminate the national debt.


Possessive pronouns

Sometimes we want to refer to an item without repeating the name of that item. For example, "Our files are saved. What about yours? I could have said "your files," but this way is less repetitive. When we do that, the possessive (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs) is acting as a pronoun. To make possessive pronouns in Spanish, simply use the emphatic possessive adjective with a definite article in front.

el mío, la mía, los míos, las mías

el tuyo, la tuya, los tuyos, las tuyas

el suyo, la suya, los suyos, las suyas

el nuestro, la nuestra, los nuestros, las nuestras

➢ Ellos tienen una casa grande. La nuestra es más pequeña. They have a big house. Ours is smaller. ➢ A ella le gusta la chaqueta roja. Yo prefiero la mía. She likes the red jacket. I prefer mine. ➢ Aquí están los lápices de Elena. ¿Dónde están los tuyos? Here are Elaina's pencils. Where are yours?

Use these pronouns any time the possessed item is the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or preposition. Using "de" to show possession

Spanish NEVER uses the "apostrophe S" method of showing belonging. John's job needs to be "el trabajo de Juan" and the dog's breakfast has to be "el desayuno del perro." In English we sometimes refer to an item simply by mentioning the person who owns it, with the apostrophe S on the end (see examples below). In Spanish we do this by using a definite article (el, la, los, las), then "de" and the person's name.

I found my hat. Where is Sarah's? Encontré mi gorra. ¿Dónde está la de Sara?

Your dresses are short, but Alisha's are longer. Tus vestidos son cortos, pero los de Alicia son más largos.

My phone is broken, and Dad's is lost. Mi teléfono está roto, y el de Papá está perdido.


Enseñar / aprender Enseñar and Aprender are related verbs, but opposite to each other. As we learned previously, if you put a verb after either of these, you will need the preposition “a.” Enseñar = to teach Aprender = to learn Los profesores usan métodos tradicionales para enseñar la investigación. The professors use traditional methods to teach research. Mi cuñado me enseñó a cambiar el aceite en el carro. My brother-in-law taught me to change the oil in the car. Sebastián aprendió a recoger algodón. Sebastian learned to harvest cotton. Isabel quiere aprender la guitarra, pero no tiene un amigo para enseñarle. Isabel wants to learn the guitar, but she doesn’t have a friend to teach her.

A lo mejor

A lo mejor could be translated as hopefully, probably, or maybe. It always introduces a guess or a hope. Papá no está en casa todavía; a lo mejor está comprando pizza. Dad isn’t home yet; maybe he is buying pizza. Tenemos un picnic mañana. A lo mejor no va a llover. We are having a picnic tomorrow. Hopefully, it is not going to rain. El vicepresidente de la compañía nunca llegó a la reunión. A lo mejor se perdió. The vice president of the company never arrived at the meeting. He probably got lost.



❖ Vocabulario: Professions ❖ Tiempos verbales: The future tense – irregular verbs ❖ Otro: Using the future tense for guessing and wondering ❖ Gramática: Adverbs ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Saber / conocer ❖ Expresiones esenciales: En vez de

Vocabulario: Professions

Required Words:

El dueño owner El / la oficinista office worker

El bombero fireman El político politician

El gerente manager Programar to program

El vendedor salesman El programador programmer

El contador accountant Invertir (ie) to invest

El escritor writer El inversionista investor

El científico scientist Los negocios business (as in, an idea or subject)

El biólogo biologist La empresa business (as in, a company)

El juez judge Tener éxito to succeed

El ama de casa homemaker* Exitoso successful

El administrador administrator Ganarse la vida to earn a living

El secretario secretary Arreglar to fix / repair

* This might more traditionally be translated as housewife, though homemaker is more often the preferred term now. Note that this is a “water word;” even though it is a feminine noun, it gets a masculine article when singular. Review lesson 2 if you would like a reminder of how that works.


El arquitecto architect El jardinero landscaper El farmacéutico pharmacist

El / la artista artist El abogado lawyer El piloto pilot

El asistente assistant El cartero mailman El policía police officer

El / la deportista athlete El mecánico mechanic El secretario secretary

El empresario businessman El médico medic El taxista taxi driver

El cocinero chef El músico musician el maestro / profesor teacher

El director director / principal El enfermero nurse El mesero waiter

El ingeniero engineer El pintor painter El obrero laborer, worker


Jobs and gender

For jobs ending in O, the feminine form just changes to an A, and the plural adds an S. El dueño, la dueña, los dueños, las dueñas.

For jobs ending with an E, there is no feminine form, but the plural adds an S. El gerente, la gerente, los gerentes, las gerentes.

Jobs ending in R will add an A if they are feminine, ES for masculine plural, and AS for feminine plural. El vendedor, la vendedora, los vendedores, las vendedoras.

Jobs ending in ISTA have no masculine form, but add an S for plural. El artista, la artista, los artistas, las artistas.

Some people make Juez become Jueza in the feminine, but others would say La juez. The plural is Jueces.

Tiempos verbales: The future tense – irregular verbs

The following list covers almost all irregular future tense verbs in Spanish. Notice that in the first four, they simply drop the E from the infinitive. The next four verbs change the E or I to a D. The last two verbs drop the C and the E. These simple changes happen to the root, but the endings are all still the same.

Yo Tú Ella Nosotros Vosotros Ellos

Haber habré habrás habrá habremos habréis habrán

Poder podré podrás podrá podremos podréis podrán

Querer querré querrás querrá querremos querréis querrán

Saber sabré sabrás sabrá sabremos sabréis sabrán

Poner pondré pondrás pondrá pondremos pondréis pondrán

Salir saldré saldrás saldrá saldremos saldréis saldrán

Tener tendré tendrás tendrá tendremos tendréis tendrán

Venir vendré vendrás vendrá vendremos vendréis vendrán

Decir diré dirás dirá diremos diréis dirán

Hacer haré harás hará haremos haréis harán

Otro: Using the future tense for guessing and wondering

One unexpected use of the future tense in Spanish is to wonder or to guess about the present. When you ask a question in the future tense, it can be understood as the equivalent of "I wonder who/where/what... etc."

¿Dónde estarán mis llaves? I wonder where my keys are.

¿Cómo terminará tan rápido? I wonder how she gets done so fast.

¿Dónde comprarán la ropa? I wonder where they buy clothes. Similarly, a statement in the future tense can be understood as a supposition, an assumption, or a guess, such as "He must be..." or "Probably..."

Las llaves estarán en el sofá. The keys are probably in the couch.

Ella estudiará mucho. She must study a lot.

Comprarán la ropa en Ecuador. They probably buy their clothes in Ecuador. When the future tense is used this way, it is the context that helps us understand whether it is actually referring to the future, or if there is a guess happening.


Gramática: Adverbs

Forming adverbs from adjectives

In English we can turn many adjectives into adverbs by adding "ly" to the end. In Spanish this ending is "mente." If the adjective ends with an O, change it to an A before you add this ending. If the adjective ends with anything else, leave it as it is.

Generoso Generous Generosamente Generously

Lento Slow Lentamente Slowly

Inteligente Intelligent Inteligentemente Intelligently

Indolente Lazy Indolentemente Lazily

Final Final Finalmente Finally

Feroz Ferocious Ferozmente Ferociously

➢ Las vacas comen lentamente. The cows eat slowly. ➢ ¡Finalmente! ¡Todos estamos aquí! Finally! We're all here! ➢ Ella da los regalos generosamente. She gives gifts generously.

Adverbs of time and frequency

a menudo often temprano early

a veces sometimes tarde late

de nuevo again mientras while

nunca never hoy today

otra vez again ayer yesterday

siempre always anoche last night

ya already anteayer the day before yesterday

todavía still, yet anteanoche the night before last

ya no not anymore esta noche tonight

pronto soon mañana tomorrow

ahora now pasado mañana the day after tomorrow

Most of the above phrases can come in a variety of places within a sentence, except for "ya no," which must come before a verb. "Otra vez" and "De nuevo" will commonly come after the verb.

▪ Los Márquez ya no viven allá. The Marquez family doesn't live there anymore. ▪ Mientras ellas juegan, yo tengo que trabajar. While they play, I have to work. ▪ Empezamos a pelear de nuevo. We began to fight again. ▪ Ella todavía tiene la llave. She still has the key. ▪ Ella no tiene la contraseña todavía. She doesn't have the password yet. ▪ ¡No queremos llegar tarde! We don't want to arrive late!


Adverbs of direction and location

Cerca (de) close (to) Aquí, Acá here

Lejos (de) far away (from) Allí, Allá there

Adentro (de) inside (of) Arriba upwards, upstairs

Afuera (de) outside (of) Abajo downwards, downstairs

▪ Miramos arriba para ver el avión. We looked up to see the plane. ▪ Los vecinos que viven abajo son ruidosos. The neighbors who live downstairs are loud. ▪ Por favor, jueguen afuera. Please, play outside. ▪ La oficina está cerca del río. The office is close to the river. ▪ ¡No vayan lejos! Don't go far!

Be careful not to confuse cerca de (close to) with acerca de (about).

✓ Hablamos acerca del contrato We talk about the contract. ✓ Estamos cerca del edificio. We are close to the building.

Adjectives that are used as adverbs

The following words are all adjectives, but they can also serve as adverbs, modifying verbs and adjectives in various ways. When they function as adverbs, they never change gender or number. For example, notice that “algo” ends with an O, even though the sentence is about a girl, and “demasiado” is singular, even though the sentence is about multiple people.

Modifying an adjective Algo somewhat Ella es algo estricta. She is somewhat strict.

Bastante quite Ellos son bastante altos. They are quite tall.

Demasiado too Somos demasiado perezosos. We are too lazy.

No… nada not at all ¡No eres nada egoista! You are not selfish at all!

Modifying a verb Alto loudly ¡No cantes tan alto! Don't sing so loudly!

Bajo quietly Tocamos la música bajo. We play the music quietly.

Duro hard Ellos trabajan muy duro. They work very hard.

Rápido quickly Él maneja muy rápido. He drives very fast.

Caution: Alto only means “loudly” when it is modifying a verb. It means “tall” or “high” when it modifies a noun. Use “fuerte” as the adjective for “loud.” Ella toca el piano muy alto. She plays the piano loudly. Ella no puede cantar esas notas altas. She cannot sing those high notes. Mi hermano toca la música alto en su carro. My brother plays music loudly in his car. ¡Esa radio está muy fuerte! That radio is very loud! (estar means it is loud now, not always)


Saber / conocer While English only has one word for knowing, Spanish has two! They are used in very different ways, however: Saber = to know facts, to know ideas, to know how to do things Conocer = to know people, to be personally familiar with places or things through experience Marlena sabe acerca de la reunión. Nadie sabe la verdad. Marlena knows about the meeting. No one knows the truth. Nicolás sabe pintar. ¿Sabes dónde está mi teléfono? Nicholas knows how to paint. Do you know where my phone is? ¿Conoces a mi primo Ernesto? Conocemos a muchas personas en esa escuela. Do you know my cousin Ernest? We know many people in that school. Conozco la música de Beethoven, pero no de Brahms. ¿Conoces este programa? I know Beethoven’s music, but not Brahms’. Are you familiar with this program? Ella sabe mucha información acerca de Santiago, Chile, pero no conoce la ciudad. She knows a lot of information about Santiago, Chile, but she does not know the city. Ellos no conocen al presidente, pero saben su dirección. They don’t know the president, but they know his address.

En vez de (instead of)

This expression works almost exactly like it does in English. The only difference is that you cannot shorten it to just “instead,” like we do at the end of sentences sometimes.

Queremos ir a Perú en vez de Guatemala. We want to go to Peru instead of Guatemala. Es mejor orar en vez de preocuparse. It is better to pray instead of worry. En vez de la playa, ellos van al río. Instead of the beach, they go to the river.



❖ Vocabulario: Review ❖ Gramática: Prepositions ❖ Otro: Prepositional pronouns ❖ Tiempos verbales: Review ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Review ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Review

Vocabulario: Review

Alimentar to feed El pulmón lung La manta blanket

Añadir to add El queso cheese La matrícula tuition

Aprobar to pass El resfriado cold La pastilla pill

Arreglar to fix, to arrange El título degree La salud health

Casarse to get married El tocino bacon La sangre blood

Cortés polite El traje suit Las notas grades

Descansar to rest Especializarse to major Los apuntes notes

El aceite oil Estar en forma to be in shape Los camarones shrimp

El anillo ring Flaco skinny Los estudios studies

El azúcar sugar Frito fried Los negocios business

El choque crash Ganarse la vida to earn a living Los primeros auxilios first aid

El cinturón belt Hacerse to become Maleducado rude

El colegio high school Hornear to bake Medir to measure

El cuerpo body La bebida drink Peligroso dangerous

El derecho right, law La beca scholarship Poner un yeso to put on a cast

El dolor pain La empresa business Recoger to pick up

El dueño owner La fiebre fever Saludable healthy

El hielo ice La galleta cookie, cracker Suspender to fail

El hueso bone La harina flour Toser to cough

El jabón soap La herida wound, injury Verter to pour


Gramática: Prepositions

a to (sometimes “at”) después de after

al lado de beside detrás de behind

alrededor de around, approximately durante during

antes de before en in, on, at

con with encima de on top of, over, above

contra against entre between

cerca de close to, near hacia towards

acerca de about hasta until, as far as

de from, of según according to

debajo de under sin without

delante de in front of sobre above, over, on, about

desde ever since, starting from

A most commonly means "to," and it is used to show where someone is going. In regards to time it means "at." But to say where someone is or where they do something, always use “en.”

o Yo compro la leche en la tienda. o Ellas están en la oficina del doctor. o Él corre en la playa.

Desde and Hasta are often a pair. They indicate the beginning point and end point, either in terms of time, or in terms of travel. Durante is very often uses to mean “for” when someone does something “for” some amount of time. Ella trabajaba para McDonalds durante tres años. La clase discutió el concepto durante 45 minutos. Según should not be followed by “a.” Según mi madre, los vegetales son deliciosos. Sobre is similar to acerca de, in that they both can mean "about," whether you talk about, read about, or learn about something. Otherwise, sobre means similar to "encima de." If a preposition is listed with "de" behind it, then something needs to come after it (a verb or a noun). If you want to end a phrase with "around" or "in front," you would not include the "de."

o Los niños juegan detrás de la casa. o El gato está encima de la chimenea. o El lago bonito está entre dos montañas. o Ellos caminan hacia el centro de la ciudad. o Vivimos aquí desde 1983. o Según el doctor, ella necesita quedarse en la cama. o Ellos hablan sobre el problema por mucho tiempo. o La compañía tiene alrededor de 150 empleados.


Using prepositions in statements

English has a pesky rule that we almost never listen to. We are never supposed to put prepositions at the end of a phrase or sentence. Therefore, my first sentence here should have said, "English has a pesky rule to which we almost never listen." Spanish has that same rule, with one important difference: people actually obey it! In Spanish it is incorrect, awkward and uncommon to end a phrase, sentence or question with a preposition. Instead, the preposition will come before the verb, usually with a relative pronoun (which, whom).

Incorrect The car they arrived in was old and ugly. Incorrect I don't know the guys he works with.

El carro que llegaron en era viejo y feo. No conozco a los hombres que trabaja con.

Correct The car in which they arrived was old and ugly. Correct I don't know the men with whom he works.

El carro en que llegaron era viejo y feo. No conozco a los hombres con quienes trabaja.

Incorrect They don't know what they are fighting for. Incorrect She didn't want to say where she comes from.

No saben lo que pelean para. No quiso decir dónde viene de.

Correct They don't know for what they fight. Correct She didn't want to say from where she comes.

No saben para qué pelean. No quiso decir de dónde viene.

Using prepositions in questions

In questions it is even harder for English speakers to use prepositions correctly, because we nearly always put them at the end. In a Spanish question, the prepositions will almost always come before the interrogative word.

Incorrect Who do you travel with? Which boat did you go in?

¿Quién viajas con? ¿Qué barco fuiste en?

Correct With whom do you travel? In which boat did you go?

¿Con quién viajas? ¿En qué barco fuiste?

Incorrect Where will they jump from? How many days are we leaving in?

¿Dónde van a saltar de? ¿Cuántos días salimos en?

Correct From where will they jump? In how many days do we leave?

¿De dónde van a saltar? ¿En cuántos días salimos? The "Personal A"

Spanish has a "sortof" preposition that doesn't have any translation in English. It is called the "Personal A," and it is only used when a person is the direct object of a verb. You put the "a" right before the name or pronoun, but remember, it is only if the person is a direct object of the verb.

He helps the company. He helps the children. I watch the movie. I watch the workers.

Él ayuda la compañía. Él ayuda a los niños. Yo miro la película. Yo miro a los trabajadores.


Otro: Prepositional pronouns

Spanish mostly uses subject pronouns if a person is the object of a preposition, but there are some exceptions. Yo and tú have special pronouns when they are after a preposition.

me mí Ellos recibirán muchas cartas de mí. They will receive lots of letters from me.

you ti ¡El pastel es para ti! The cake is for you!

him/her él/ella Ella habla acerca de él mucho. She talks about him a lot.

us nosotros Ellos viajaron con nosotros. They travelled with us.

them ellos/ellas El corriente trabaja contra ellos. The current works against them.

The preposition "con" has its own special preposition that applies to yo and tú.

with me conmigo ¿Quién va a practicar conmigo? Who will practice with me?

with you contigo ¿Quién fue contigo? Who went with you?

This blending also applies to the reflexive forms of he, her, you (usted) and you (ustedes). They would all be "consigo." For example, they are upset with themselves: Ellos están enojados consigo. However, this only applies when it is reflexive. If one person does something with him, with her, or with them, it is con él, con ella, or con ellos.

Tiempos verbales: Review

To help with reviewing all the tenses we have studied so far, here is a comparison of two regular verbs in each of the tenses. Present Present progressive Preterit Imperfect Future

Re

gula

r A

R v

erb

Yo hablo estoy hablando hablé hablaba hablaré

Tú hablas estás hablando hablaste hablabas hablarás

Él/ella/Ud. habla está hablando habló hablaba hablará

Nosotros hablamos estamos hablando hablamos hablábamos hablaremos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. hablan están hablando hablaron hablaban hablarán

(speak) (is speaking) (spoke) (used to speak) (will speak)

Re

gula

r ER

ver

b

Yo como estoy comiendo comí comía comeré

Tú comes estás comiendo comiste comías comerás

Él/ella/Ud. come está comiendo comió comía comerá

Nosotros comemos estamos comiendo comimos comíamos comeremos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. comen están comiendo comieron comían comerán (eat) (is eating) (ate) (used to eat) (will eat)


Next, we have a side-by-side comparison of some of the most common irregular verbs in each of the tenses. This chart only contains the yo forms, and it only has 10 verbs, so it is not a complete study guide. Nevertheless, you may find it to be a helpful reminder.

Present Present progressive Preterit Imperfect Future

Ir Voy Estoy yendo Fui Iba Iré

Ser Soy Estoy siendo Fui Era Seré

Estar Estoy Estoy estando Estuve Estaba Estaré

Hacer Hago Estoy haciendo Hice Hacía Haré

Tener Tengo Estoy teniendo Tuve Tenía Tendré

Venir Vengo Estoy viniendo Vine Venía Vendré

Saber Sé Estoy sabiendo Supe Sabía Sabré

Poner Pongo Estoy poniendo Puse Ponía Pondré

Decir Digo Estoy diciendo Dije Decía Diré

Dar Doy Estoy dando Di Daba Daré

Review As you review these, do not just focus on the basic meaning of the word, but on all that you were taught about these words in the lessons.

➢ Ir ➢ Ser ➢ Estar ➢ Tener ➢ Haber ➢ Ponerse ➢ Vestirse

➢ Sentirse ➢ Sentarse ➢ Perder ➢ Poder ➢ Tomar ➢ Tocar ➢ Sacar

➢ Llevar ➢ Tiempo ➢ Vez ➢ Rato ➢ Salir ➢ Dejar ➢ Tratar de

➢ Probar, probarse ➢ Enseñar ➢ Aprender ➢ Saber ➢ Conocer

Review

➢ Está bien ➢ Vale ➢ Pues ➢ Bueno ➢ Por favor ➢ Gracias

➢ De nada ➢ Con mucho gusto ➢ Estar a punto de ➢ Es que, la cosa es que ➢ Lo siento ➢ Disculpa, disculpe

➢ De vez en cuando ➢ Poco a poco ➢ A lo mejor ➢ En vez de



❖ Vocabulario: Pets, pests, and producers ❖ Tiempos verbales: The conditional mood ❖ Gramática: Asking questions ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Largo / grande ❖ Expresiones esenciales: A causa de

Vocabulario: Pets, pests, and producers Required Words:

El burro donkey La cerca fence

La cabra goat

La araña spider

El cerdo pig

La cucaracha cockroach

El gallo / la gallina rooster / hen

La hormiga ant

El conejo rabbit

La mariposa butterfly

El pez de color, el pez de oro goldfish

La mosca fly

La finca / la granja farm

La pulga flea

El granjero farmer

La mascota pet

El granero barn

Criar to raise (a child or animal)

El pasto lawn, pasture Montar to ride (an animal, a bike)

Note: You would not use Montar for riding a train or bus. Use Tomar instead. Review and Cognates:

el gato cat el ratón mouse la oveja sheep

el perro dog

el caballo horse el campo field

el pollo poultry / chicken

el pájaro bird alimentar to feed

la vaca cow el mosquito mosquito el pesebre manger


Tiempos verbales: The conditional mood

The conditional mood expresses what a person would do in a theoretical situation. Most of the time if you would put "would" before the English verb, that is the conditional in Spanish. When you use "poder" in the conditional, it means "could." Yo saldría la fiesta temprano. I would leave the party early. Ellos no manejarían tan rápido. They would not drive so fast. ¡Ella podría comer todo el día! She could eat all day! Caution: English sometimes uses the word "would" to indicate what someone did habitually in the past (He would always arrive late for work. They would ask for cookies every afternoon.) In Spanish, this would be the imperfect tense, not the conditional (Él siempre llegaba tarde al trabajo. Ellos pedían las galletas cada tarde.). Conjugating regular verbs

The conditional tense is very easy to learn, because it is very similar to the future tense. It uses the whole infinitive, just like the future, and it even has the same irregular roots.

Endings Estar Comer Vivir Ser Ir Dar

Yo ía estaría comería viviría sería iría daría

Tú ías estarías comerías vivirías serías irías darías

Él / ella / Ud. ía estaría comería viviría sería iría daría

Nosotros íamos estaríamos comeríamos viviríamos seríamos iríamos daríamos

Vosotros íais estaríais comeríais viviríais seríais iríais daríais

Ellos / ellas / Uds. ían estarían comerían vivirían serían irían darían

Conjugating irregular verbs

As mentioned above, the conditional has the same irregularities as the future tense:

Yo Tú Él Nosotros Vosotros Ellos

Haber habría habrías habría habríamos habríais habrían

Poder podría podrías podría podríamos podríais podrían

Querer querría querrías querría querríamos querríais querrían

Saber sabría sabrías sabría sabríamos sabríais sabrían

Poner pondría pondrías pondría pondríamos pondríais pondrían

Salir saldría saldrías saldría saldríamos saldríais saldrían

Tener tendría tendrías tendría tendríamos tendríais tendrían

Venir vendría vendrías vendría vendríamos vendríais vendrían

Decir diría dirías diría diríamos diríais dirían

Hacer haría harías haría haríamos haríais harían


When do you use the conditional?

Just by itself, to say what someone would or wouldn't do: Yo no diría algo así. I wouldn't say something like that. No les gustaría mirarlo. They wouldn't like to watch it. With a prepositional phrase that implies a non-real circumstance En tu lugar, yo llevaría un regalo. In your place, I would bring a gift. Con más tiempo para practicar, tocaría mejor. With more time to practice, I would play better. Sin su GPS estaría perdido. Without his GPS he would be lost. Before a "but" phrase that explains why the action can't happen. Yo saltaría del puente, pero no quiero morir. I would jump from the bridge, but I don't want to die. Comería la galleta, pero su madre se enojaría. He would eat the cookie, but his mom would get mad. In conjunction with a hypothetical clause, using the imperfect subjunctive mood (learned in Spanish 3). Si él tuviera un carro, iría al gimnasio. If he had a car, he would go to the gym. Si yo fuera presidente, cambiaría la ley. If I were president, I would change the law.

Gramática: Forming questions

Most questions will begin with an interrogative (a question word).

Who Quién Where Dónde How Cómo

What Qué/Cuál When Cuándo How much Cuánto/cuánta

Which Qué/Cuál Why Por qué How many Cuántos/cuántas Usually the verb will come after the interrogative.

¿Quién tomó el libro? Who took the book? ¿Qué dijiste? What did you say?

¿Por qué llamaron? Why did they call? ¿Cuándo empieza? When does it begin? If you include the noun who is doing the verb, it should come after the verb, or at the end of the sentence.

¿Dónde viven ellos? Where do they live? ¿Qué come ella? What does she eat?

¿Cuántos tíos tienes tú? How many uncles do you have? ¿Cómo llegaron ellos? How did they get here?

¿Cuándo comienza la clase? When does the class begin? ¿Por qué salió Marcos? Why did Marcus leave? Very important: Spanish questions do not use the words do, does, did and so on. Just skip that part when translating questions. See the examples above for illustration of this. Not all questions will begin with a question word. If this is the case, just go straight to the (conjugated) verb:

¿Tienen una casa en la playa ellos? Do they have a house at the beach?

¿Sabes la respuesta? Do you know the response?

¿Recibió bastante apoyo Roberto? Did Robert receive enough support?

¿Pusiste la mesa? Did you set the table?


Punctuation and accents

All questions need an opening and closing question mark. The opening question mark can come wherever the actual question begins (not necessarily at the beginning of the sentence).

When you were young, did you have a lot of toys? Cuando eras joven ¿tenías muchos juguetes?

And you, what is your name? Y tú, ¿cómo te llamas?

The book I was reading, where is it? El libro que estaba leyendo, ¿dónde está?

Who has the instructions? ¿Quién tiene las instrucciones? The interrogative words need an accent when they are used in questions, and in implied questions (where the word indicates a lack of information). The accents will not appear on these words when they are used in statements. See the following examples:

Question ¿Quién es el amigo de Sarah? Who is Sarah's friend?

Implied question Ellos no saben quién va a hacerlo. They don't know who will do it.

Statement El ladrón quien lo robó esá en la cárcel. The thief who stole it is in jail.

Question ¿Dónde trabajan ellos? Where do they work?

Implied question No recuerdo dónde puse mis gafas. I don't remember where I put my glasses.

Statement Van a vivir donde viven sus abuelos. They will live where their grandparents live. Questions with prepositions

In English we often use prepositions at the end of a question (What are you talking about? What would you do that for?). In Spanish this is not allowed. Instead, the preposition will come before the interrogative. Notice that in the case of to where, the preposition actually becomes part of the interrogative.

¿Adónde vas? Where are you going to?

¿De dónde es ella? Where is she from?

¿Con quién practican ellos? Who do they practice with?

¿Para qué cría las cabras? What does he raise goats for?

¿De quién recibiste la carta? Who did you get the letter from?

¿Hasta cuándo trabajas? When do you work until?


Qué or Cuál?

Qué and Cuál can both be translated as "what" or "which" in English, so how do you know which one to use? Generally, you will use Qué before nouns and most verbs. Cuál usually only appears before the verb Ser (though it is sometimes used before other verbs).

Qu

é

What ¿Qué haces los jueves? What do you do on Thursdays?

¿Qué juegas con tu hermano? What do you play with your brother?

¿Qué buscas en el armario? What are you looking for in the closet?

Which ¿Qué carro es el tuyo? Which car is yours?

¿Qué libro prefiere tu papá? Which book does your dad prefer?

¿Qué rodilla te duele? Which knee hurts?

Cu

ál

What ¿Cuál es tu película favorita? What is your favorite movie?

¿Cuál es la fecha hoy? What is the date today?

¿Cuál es tu dirección? What's your address?

Which ¿Cuál es tu casa? Which is your house?

¿Cuál es la computadora correcta? Which one is the right computer?

¿Cuál prefieres? ¿El rojo o el azul? Which do you prefer? The red or the blue? The only time you will use Qué with the verb Ser is if you need a definition of something, because you don’t actually know what the thing is. ¿Cuál es tu teléfono inteligente favorito? I want to know what your favorite smartphone is. ¿Qué es un teléfono inteligente? I need you to explain to me what a smartphone is.


Largo / grande Largo is a false friend, a backstabbing betrayer, a false cognate. That means it looks like an English word, but it does not mean what it looks like. Largo = long (a description of length) Grande = large, big Un lápiz no es grande, pero es largo. A pencil is not large, but it is long. Un árbol es grande y alto, pero no es largo. A tree is big and tall, but it is not long. El elefante grande camina una distancia larga. The big elephant walks a long distance. La niña con pelo largo es una gran amiga. The girl with long hair is a great friend. This last example is a reminder of what we learned in lesson 3; the word “grande” means great or grand when it is put in front of a noun. It is also shortened to “gran” when this happens.

A causa de (because of)

We know that porque means because, and that would logically lead us to think that porque de means because of. However, Spanish speakers don’t say porque de. Instead, they say a causa de. This useful phrase is used to introduce the reason or cause of something, and it is used very much like its English equivalent. Just don’t confuse it with porque. The grammatical key to keeping them separate is that a causa de comes before a noun, but porque comes before a verb phrase. A causa de la nieve, cancelaron la clase. Because of the snow, they cancelled the class. Cancelaron la clase porque nevó. They cancelled the class because it snowed. Nos perdimos a causa de nuestro GPS roto. We got lost because of our broken GPS. Nos perdimos porque nuestro GPS está roto. We got lost because our GPS is broken. A causa de la avalancha, la senda de esquí se cerró. Because of the avalanche, the ski trail was closed. Porque hubo una avalancha, la senda se cerró. Because there was an avalanche, the trail closed.



❖ Vocabulario: Wild animals ❖ Tiempos verbales: The conditional for requests, offers, and obligations ❖ Gramática: Demonstrative adjectives ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Bajo / corto ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Puesto que

Vocabulario: Wild animals Required Words:

El águila eagle El zorro fox

El búho owl

La ballena whale

El delfín dolphin

La jirafa giraffe

El león lion

La pantera panther

El lobo wolf

La serpiente snake

El loro parrot

Feroz / ferozmente Ferocious / ferociously

El mono monkey

Salvaje wild

El puma cougar

Matar to kill

El tiburón shark

Pescar to fish

El venado deer Cazar to hunt

Note: Although “salvaje” looks like the word “savage,” it does not necessarily have this connotation. For example, a tame pet rabbit would be “un conejo doméstico” and a wild rabbit would be “un conejo salvaje.” It doesn’t mean the rabbit is savage!


El oso bear El cocodrilo crocodile El hipopótamo hippo El toro bull La llama llama

El armadillo armadillo El elefante elephant El tigre tiger La cebra zebra La tortuga turtle


Tiempos verbales: The conditional for requests, offers, and obligations

The conditional tense is a good one to use for requests and offers. This works quite close to how English does:

✓ ¿Podría usted ayudarme? Could you (formal) help me? ✓ ¿Podrías acompañarnos? Could you come with us? ✓ ¿Te gustaría venir para la cena? Would you like to come for dinner? ✓ ¿Les gustaría un postre? Would you (plural) like a dessert? ✓ ¿Me dirigiría a la carnicería, por favor? Would you (formal) direct me to the butcher shop, please? ✓ ¿Nos traerías una bebida, por favor? Would you bring us a drink, please?

Also, the conditional is used to talk about what people should do. When the verb Deber is used in most tenses, it means “must” or “owe.” However, in the conditional it means “should.”

➢ ¿Debería llevarme una maleta? Should I take a suitcase with me? ➢ Deberías empezar pronto. You should start soon. ➢ ¿Deberíamos enviarle otro mensaje? Should we send him/her another message? ➢ Ustedes deberían limpiarlo bien. You (plural) should clean it well.

Gramática: Demonstrative adjectives

In English we have two demonstrative adjectives, this and that, plus their plural forms: these and those. Spanish also has forms for this and that, but there is an extra form of that for items that are far away. Also, each of the Spanish demonstratives has four forms: masculine and feminine, singular and plural.

This este, esta These estos, estas

That ese, esa Those esos, esas

That (far away) aquel, aquella Those (far away) aquellos, aquellas

The common question is "how do I know if something is far away or not?" It is simply a matter of perspective. When you point to something and say "that one," you decide if you think it is far or not! Modelos:

➢ Me gusta esa foto. ¡Esos colores son bonitos! I like that picture. Those colors are pretty! ➢ Quiero olvidar aquel día. I want to forget that (long ago) day. ➢ Esa escuela no enseña esas clases. That school doesn't teach those classes.

Caution: many people get confused because the masculine singular forms don't end with O, but the plural ones do. You may be tempted to say "aquello libro" or "eses zapatos." Remember that the plural forms get an O, but the singular forms don't.


Demonstrative pronouns In English we can use demonstratives as pronouns, simply by not putting a noun after them. "I want those; those are prettier than these." Here we get to an outdated grammatical rule in Spanish. It used to be that demonstrative pronouns in Spanish needed to have an accent on the first E to set them apart. This is no longer considered necessary by the Royal Academy of Spanish, but you may still come across it in written forms.

Older rules Modern rules

Éste es mi amigo Juan. Ése es su hijo Martín. Este es mi amigo Juan. Ese es su hijo Martín.

Esta película es aburrida. Yo quiero ver ésa. Esta película es aburrida. Yo quiero ver esa.

Ese árbol es alto, pero éste es más viejo. Ese árbol es alto, pero este es más viejo.

Esta casa es bonita. Aquélla es grandísima. Esta casa es bonita. Aquella es grandísima. In this course, we will operate by the modern rules. If you want to use a demonstrative as a pronoun, go ahead! You do not need to add an accent or modify it in any way. Neuter demonstratives Sometimes we use demonstratives to refer, not to a specific item, but to a situation or an idea. To do this in Spanish, use the neuter (genderless) demonstrative pronouns.

Esto es muy difícil. This is really difficult. ¿Qué es esto? What is this?

¡Eso fue divertido! That was fun! ¿Por qué dijo eso? Why did he say that?

Aquello fue un plan terrible. That was a terrible plan. Ya aprendimos esto. We already learned this.

Bajo / corto In English, the word short can indicate the lack of length, or the lack height. In Spanish, there are two separate types of shortness: Bajo = short (in height) Corto = short (in length, as a measurement of distance or time) La niña baja tiene pelo corto. The short girl has short hair. El libro es corto, pero es muy interesante. The book is short, but it is very interesting. Los días son cortos en el invierno. The days are short in the winter. El árbol es bajo ahora, pero será alto algún día. The tree is short now, but it will be tall someday.


Puesto que (since, seeing as)

In the same way that a causa de introduces a cause, puesto que does the same thing. The only difference is that it comes before a verb phrase, while a causa de comes before a noun. In this way, puesto que is almost interchangeable with porque in some settings. Puesto que están enfermos, no salen de la casa. Since they are sick, they don’t leave the house. Porque están enfermos, no salen de la casa. Because they are sick, they don’t leave the house. A causa de su enfermedad, no salen de la casa. Because of their sickness, they don’t leave the house. Puesto que rompí la ventana, estoy en problemas. Seeing as I broke the window, I’m in trouble. Porque rompí la ventana, estoy en problemas. Because I broke the window, I’m in trouble. A causa de la ventana rota, estoy en problemas. Because of the broken window, I’m in trouble. Puesto que terminaste temprano, puedes descansar. Since you finished early, you can rest. Porque terminaste temprano, puedes descansar. Because you finished early, you can rest. A causa de tu productividad, puedes descansar. Because of your productivity, you can rest. Caution: Remember that “since” in the sense of “starting from” or “ever since” is desde in Spanish, not puesto que. Ellos tienen esa case desde 1975. They have had this house since 1975.



❖ Vocabulario: Land and sky ❖ Gramática: Discussing the weather ❖ Tiempos verbales: The present perfect tense – regular verbs ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Hacer ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Por eso

Vocabulario: Land and sky Required Words:

El mar sea La hoja leaf El universo universe

El lago lake

la roca rock

La nube cloud

El bosque forest

La tierra earth / dirt

La tormenta storm

La palmera palm tree

El cielo sky / heaven

Soplar to blow

La flor flower

El espacio space

Brillar to shine

El ave* bird

El sistema solar* solar system

Recoger to pick

La hierba grass El planeta* planet Esconder to hide

*Ave is a feminine word with a masculine article, but sistema and planeta are truly masculine words. If a person or animal hides something, you use esconder, but when the person or animal hides itself, it becomes reflexive. Review and Cognates:

El río river El campo field, countryside Las estaciones seasons

El océano ocean

El cerro hill

La primavera spring

La playa beach

La selva jungle

El verano summer

La montaña mountain

El sol sun

El otoño fall

La isla island

La luna moon

El invierno winter

La arena sand La estrella star El viento wind

Gramática: Discussing the weather

Many of the most common weather expressions use the verb Hacer:

¿Qué tiempo hace? What's the weather like? Hace viento It's windy

Hace frío It's cold outside Hace sol It's sunny

Hace calor It's hot outside Hace buen tiempo The weather is nice

Hace fresco It's cool/chilly outside Hace mal tiempo The weather is bad

To amplify these expressions, we would use “very” in English (very cold, very windy…). In Spanish, however, you would only use muy in the last two expressions (muy buen tiempo, muy mal tiempo). For the rest of them, you would use mucho. Hace mucho frío, ayer hacía mucho viento, mañana hará mucho sol.


There are a number of important expressions that do not use Hacer, however:

Está húmedo It's humid/muggy Estar a ____ grados It is _____ degrees

Está despejado It's clear (not cloudy) Llueve / está lloviendo It rains / it is raining

Está nublado It is cloudy Llueve a cántaros It rains by pitcher-fulls

Está soleado It is sunny Nieva / está nevando It snows / it is snowing

About Rain and Snow: Spanish speakers traditionally use the present tense (llueve, nieva) to say it rains or snows, rather than the progressive (it is raining, it is snowing) the way English speakers do. The phrase llueve a cántaros is a popular expression that is similar to saying it's raining buckets or it's raining cats and dogs in English. Also, don’t forget the noun forms of rain and snow. La lluvia (rain – the noun) Llueve (it rains – the verb) La nieve (snow – the noun) Nieva (it snows – the verb) Regarding the Degrees: If you are talking about what temperature it is where you are, then conjugate estar for Nosotros. However, to talk about the degrees somewhere else, use the él/ella form. ¡Uf, qué día! ¡Estamos a 35 grados! Ugh, what a day! It’s 35 degrees outside! En Caracas está a 11 grados hoy. In Caracas it is 11 degrees today. Some types of weather expressions can be said in multiple ways. They can be used interchangeably, as long as you use the correct verb with each term. Hace sol It is sunny Está soleado It is sunny Está nublado It is cloudy Hay muchas nubes It is cloudy Está despejado It is clear El cielo está claro The sky is clear No hay nubes There are no clouds Cultural Note: All Spanish-speaking countries use the metric system, and thus they measure degrees in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. Here are a few equivalents, to help you have a general idea how they compare.

Celsius Fahrenheit 0° 32° 5° 41° 10° 50° 20° 68° 30° 86° 35° 95° 40° 104°


Tiempos verbales: The present perfect tense – regular verbs

The present perfect tense in English is when someone has done something: I have seen, they have visited, we have known, and so on. Grammatically speaking, the word "perfect" means complete, so the name of the tense means "completed before the present time." In other words, when we say "He has eaten the grapes," we mean that the action of eating them was completed at some time before now. This tense consists of two parts:

• Auxiliary verb: "to have"

• Past participle: usually ends in "ed," "t," or "n" (looked, wasted, brought, thought, broken, written...) in English To find the past participle in English, ask yourself "what version of the word can I say have in front of?" The following chart shows the past participles underlined.

infinitive present preterit present perfect

To sing I sing I sang I have sung

To bring I bring I brought I have brought

To lift I lift I lifted I have lifted

To break I break I broke I have broken

To know I know I knew I have known

To write I write I wrote I have written

To run I run I ran I have run As you can see, the English past participle is very inconsistent in form. Sometimes it is the same as the preterit (lifted, lifted), sometimes it is the same as the present (run, run), and sometimes it is unique from both (sing, sang, sung). Fortunately, as you are about to see, the past participles in Spanish are much more predictable! How do you conjugate regular verbs?

The Spanish version of the present perfect has the same two elements: an auxiliary verb and a past participle. The auxiliary verb is Haber, which means "to have." The conjugations are yo he, tú has, él ha, nosotros hemos, vosotros habéis, ellos han. To form the past participle, remove the last two letters from the verb. For AR verbs, add "ado" to the end. For ER and IR verbs, add "ido" to the end.

Comprar, yo he comprado I have bought

Trabajar, tú has trabajado You have worked

Bailar, él ha bailado He has danced

Salir, ella ha salido She has left

Vivir, usted ha vivido You have lived

Tener, nosotros hemos tenido We have had

Dirigir, vosotros habéis dirigido You guys have directed

Ser, ellos han sido They have been

Dar, ellas han dado They have given

Mentir, ustedes han mentido You guys have lied


Rules for using the present perfect

There are two important rules to remember when using the present perfect in a Spanish sentence.

1. Object and reflexive pronouns will always go before the auxiliary verb Haber. This is the same rule for nearly all conjugated verbs.

Ellos me han dicho la contraseña. They have told me the password.

¿Te has lavado las manos? Have you washed your hands?

Mi abuelo nos ha contado la historia muchas veces. My grandpa has told us the story many times.

Ellos se han quitado los zapatos. They have taken off their shoes.

2. Nothing can ever come in between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. This is different from English, so it will take some practice to plant this firmly in your mind. Notice how English allows a word to separate the participle from the auxiliary verb in the following examples.

Ellos ya han visto la película. They have already seen the movie.

Yo nunca he ido a Inglaterra. I have never gone to England.

Mi padre siempre ha dicho eso. My father has always said that.

Él ha llegado tarde a veces. He has sometimes arrived late.

¿Han comprado un carro nuevo tus primos? Have your cousins bought a new car?

Hacer (to do, to make) Besides its literal uses, we have also seen that Hacer is used in a lot of weather expressions. Beyond that, it is also used in many other idiomatic (non-literal) expressions: Hacer caso a To pay attention to Hacer la maleta To pack one’s suitcase Hacer una pregunta To ask a question Hacer daño To damage

▪ Ella nunca hace caso a la hora. She never pays attention to the time. ▪ ¡Necesitas hacer la maleta pronto! You need to pack your suitcase quickly! ▪ Los tornados hacen mucho daño a las casas. Tornados do a lot of damage to houses. ▪ Melisa hace muchas preguntas en la clase. Melissa asks a lot of questions in class.


Additionally, hacer is often used to talk about time. For example, to say how long ago something happened, you use “hace” and the amount of time.

Hace poco A little while ago Hace 10 minutos 10 minutes ago

Hace un año A year ago Hace dos semanas 2 weeks ago

▪ Ellos llegaron hace poco. They arrived a little bit ago ▪ Terminé el proyecto hace dos días. I finished the project two days ago. ▪ Lo siento, salieron hace cinco minutos. Sorry, they left five minutes ago.

How much time it makes

For an action that began in the past and continues in the present, use the following formula:

Hace (amount of time) que (present tense verb phrase).

Hace tres meses que ellas practican el baile. They have practiced the dance for three months.

Hace un año que vivimos en esta casa. We have been living in this house for one year.

Hace dos semanas que no tomo café. I haven't drunk coffee for two weeks. As you see in the examples above, English uses the present perfect for this (have practiced, have been...) for this. Don't let that throw you off – Spanish just uses the present tense, which is far simpler. To ask a question about how long something has been happening, use this formula:

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que (present tense verb phrase)?

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que tienes ese perro? How long have you had that dog?

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que cantas con el grupo? How long have you sung with the group?

Por eso (that’s why)

When you are explaining something, the phrase por eso comes in between the cause and the effect. Había mucha construcción. Por eso llegamos tarde.

There was a lot of construction. That’s why we arrived late. No encontramos ni un pedazo de leña. Por eso no tuvimos una hoguera. We didn’t find even a single piece of firewood. That’s why we had no bonfire. Los invitados tenían otros planes ese día. Por eso cambiamos la fecha. The guests had other plans that day. That’s why we changed the date.



❖ Vocabulario: Car parts and problems ❖ Tiempos verbales: The present perfect – irregular verbs ❖ Otro: Other uses for the past participle ❖ Gramática: Positive and negative terms ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Mirar / buscar / cuidar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: En cuanto a

Vocabulario: Car parts and problems Required Words:

La llanta tire El volante steering wheel

La rueda wheel El maletero trunk

La rueda de repuesto spare wheel El parabrisas windshield

El pinchazo puncture (flat tire) El limpiaparabrisas windshield wiper

El parachoques bumper El gato jack

El freno brake El capó hood

El acelerador gas pedal El taller shop

El cinturón de seguridad safety belt Fallar to malfunction

El asiento delantero front seat Llenar to fill

El asiento trasero back seat Sobrecalentarse (ie) to overheat

La bocina horn Descargarse to go dead

There are many terms for car parts and problems that vary from place to place. The terms above are the ones you will be required to know this year, but it may come in very handy for you to be aware of some more common terms.

El combustible = gas El tanque = tank El depósito = tank El neumático = tire La goma = tire

Desinflado = flat Pinchado = flat Ponchado = flat El claxón = horn La moto = motorcycle, dirt bike, scooter


El carro / el auto / el coche car La luz / las luces light / lights La derecha right La motocicleta motorcycle El espejo mirror La izquierda left El taxi taxi La calle street / road La gasolinera gas station El metro subway El semáforo stop light Chocar to crash El autobús bus La dirección address El accidente accident El motor motor El mapa map Doblar to turn


Tiempos verbales: The present perfect – irregular verbs

There are a number of ER and IR verbs that have irregular past participles in Spanish. Here are the most common, important ones that we should know:

Abrir abierto opened El hombre ha abierto la tienda. The man has opened the store.

Cubrir cubierto covered ¿Has cubierto la ensalada? Have you covered the salad?

Decir dicho said, told ¡Te he dicho mil veces! I have told you a thousand times!

Escribir escrito written Sara ha escrito un libro. Sarah has written a book.

Freír frito fried ¿Quién ha frito el salmón? Who has fried the salmon?

Hacer hecho done, made No he hecho la cena todavía. I haven't made dinner yet.

Morir muerto died Su abuelo ha muerto. Her grandpa has died.

Poner puesto put, set Ellos han puesto la mesa. They have set the table.

Resolver resuelto resolved ¿Has resuelto el problema? Have you resolved the problem?

Romper roto broken, torn ¡Has roto mi computadora! You have broken my computer!

Ver visto seen ¿Has visto mis zapatos? Have you seen my shoes?

Volver vuelto returned ¿Han vuelto tus padres? Have your parents returned?

Also, any past participles that end in aido, eido or oido will get an accent on the i:

Caer caído Leer leído Reír reído Traer traído

Creer creído Oír oído Sonreír sonreído

Otro: Other uses for the past participle

Past participles are very often used as adjectives. When used this way, they will need to change in gender and number to match the noun they describe. Don't let this confuse you when using them in the perfect tenses, though; they always end with an O when they come after Haber.

Cansar (to tire) Estamos cansados después del trabajo. We are tired after work.

Enojar (to anger) Marisa estaba enojada ayer. Marissa was angry yesterday.

Romper (to break) Las trompetas están rotas. The trumpets are broken.

Poner (to set) La mesa está puesta. The table is set.

Aburrir (to bore) Ese libro es muy aburrido. That book is really boring. The rule of thumb is quite simple: if the participle comes after a “be verb,” then it acts like an adjective and it must match the noun. If it comes after Haber, then it functions like a verb and it has no gender or number. El mecánico ha reparado la llanta. Hemos horneado las galletas. La llanta está reparada. Las galletas están horneadas. Past participles are also used in the true passive voice (La casa fue reparada por el carpintero – The house was repaired by the carpenter). See lesson 21 for more details.


Gramática: Positive and negative terms

Yes and No (Sí y no)

Where do you put the No? The word No always come after the name of the subject, or the subject pronoun (if it is included). It comes before the verb, and before the object pronoun if there is one.

With a subject pronoun Yo no voy al cine. I don't go to the theater.

Without a subject pronoun. Hoy no hacemos los quehaceres. We don't do chores today.

With an object pronoun. Ellos no me dieron la llave. They didn't give me the key. How do you say "no" and "don't?" To express the double no, you simply say "no" twice in Spanish. The first one is the equivalent of the English No, and the second one is equivalent to the "don't" or "doesn't."

No, no tenemos una idea No, we don't have an idea.

No, ella no sabe bailar. No, she doesn't know how to dance.

No, no te creo. No, I don't believe you. How do you imply a verb phrase using Sí or No? To contrast one person's actions with someone else's, English uses do, don't and doesn't. In Spanish, you can just use the word Sí or No to do this.

No tengo teléfono, pero mi hermano sí. I don't have a phone, but my brother does.

Ellas no bailan, pero nosotros sí. They don't dance, but we do.

Pedro sabe esquiar, pero Isabel no. Pedro knows how to ski, but Isabel doesn't.

Ellos conocen a un actor famoso, pero nosotros no. They know a famous actor, but we don't. Using "sí que" for emphasis. English often uses "do" or "does" to give more emphasis to a verb phrase. This might happen if one person says something is not true, and someone else disagrees and says it is true. Other times, the speaker will simply place verbal emphasis on a word to create this effect. Spanish uses "sí que" to create these kinds of emphasis.

Los dramas no son interesantes. ¡Sí que son interesantes!

Plays aren't interesting. Yes, they are interesting. Marcos no sabe nada. ¡Sí que Marcos sabe muchas cosas!

Marcus doesn't know anything. Marcus knows lots of things! Ellos no miran la tele, pero sí que leen muchos libros.

They don't watch TV, but they do read a lot of books. Él no canta mucho, pero sí que toca la guitarra.

He doesn't sing much, but he does play the guitar.


And & Or

Two forms of the Spanish word And The Spanish word for and is simply the letter Y. It is used just like the English version, with one exception. The word changes to an E before words starting with I or HI.

Mario es inteligente y divertido. Mario es divertido e inteligente.

Yo hiervo el agua y corto los vegetales. Yo corto los vegetales e hiervo el agua.

Ella come hígado y cebollas. Ella come cebollas e hígado. Two forms of the Spanish word Or Just as the word And changes if it is followed by an I sound, the Spanish word Or changes as well. Normally, it is the letter O, but it changes to a U if it is followed by an O or an HO.

Ella tiene ocho o nueve gatos. Ella tiene siete u ocho gatos.

Tu amigo ¿es hombre o mujer? Tu amigo ¿es mujer u hombre?

¿Son hormigas o termitas? ¿Son termitas u hormigas? Either, or

The Spanish word O can be used to present two options, as the equivalent of saying either... or.

¡O comemos pronto, o yo salgo! Either we eat soon, or I leave!

Puedes elegir o la sopa o la ensalada. You can choose either soup or salad.

Pues, o Alberto o Javier te puede ayudar. Well, either Albert or Javier can help you. Also and neither (También y Tampoco) The Spanish word También can be translated as too, also or as well. One caution: the word también cannot be used in the sense of "too many" or "too much." That would be Demasiado. The placement of también in a sentence is flexible.

Yo quiero ir al zoológico también. Yo también quiero ir al zoológico. I want to go to the zoo too.

Él es doctor, y es profesor también. Él es doctor, y también es profesor. He is a doctor, and also a teacher.

¡Yo creo en extraterrestres también! ¡Yo también creo en extraterrestres! I believe in aliens too! The word Tampoco is the opposite of También. It would usually be translated as "neither." If Tampoco comes after the verb, you must have "no" before the verb as well. Look at the following examples and their translations:

Ella no corre, y tampoco baila. She doesn't run, and she doesn't dance either.

¿Tú no tienes una computadora tampoco? You don't have a computer either?

No pudieron salir de la casa ayer tampoco. They couldn't leave the house yesterday either.

"No bebo el café" "¡Yo tampoco!" "I don't drink coffee." "I don't either!"

"Quieres ese?" "No." "¿Esta?" "Tampoco." "You want that one?" "No." "This one?" "Neither." Neither, nor

Just as the Spanish O can be used to say "either, or," the Spanish Ni is used to say "neither, nor."

No es ni inteligente ni seguro jugar con fuego. It is neither smart nor safe to play with fire.

Ella no es ni gorda ni flaca. She is neither fat not skinny.

Ni salimos ni hacemos nada para el día de las brujas. We neither go out nor do anything for Halloween.


But (pero)

The Spanish word Pero functions just like the English conjunction "But." One caution: students often tend to confuse pero with porque, which means "Because."

A mí me gustan las fiestas, pero a ella no. I like parties, but she doesn't. No podemos ir a Japón, pero podemos ir a México. We can't go to Japan, but we can go to México. Ellos dijeron que sí, pero entonces no lo hicieron. They said yes, but then they didn't do it.

All & Every (todo) Todo is usually translated as "all" or as "everything," and the plural form Todos would usually mean "every" or "everyone." There are many standard expressions that use this term. Notice that it does not need "of" after it, though the English translation often inserts it.

Todo el día All day Todo está bien Everything is fine

Todo el año All year Sobre todo Above all

Todo el tiempo All the time Todos los días Every day

Todo el mundo Everyone (all the world) Todos mis amigos All of my friends

Todo es posible Everything is possible Todos los estudiantes All of the students

Todos quieren ver el drama. Everyone wants to see the play. Ellos hacen ejercicio todos los días. They exercise every day. Lidia y Manuel discuten todo el tiempo. Lydia and Manuel argue all the time. Todo el mundo dice que él es loco. Everyone says he is crazy. Pedro estudió toda la noche. Pedro studied all night. Mi hermana perdió todos sus libros de escuela. My sister lost all of her schoolbooks. Todas las flores murieron. All the flowers died.

As you can see in the examples here, the word todo will change gender and number to match what it describes.


Mirar / buscar / cuidar Mirar is generally an easy verb to translate, meaning either “to watch” or “to look.” However, there are some uses of the verb that are not as straightforward, which actually require different translations in Spanish.

Mirar = to watch (a show, a play, etc.) Cuidar = to watch (in the sense of “watching/taking care of children”)

Ellos miran el partido de fútbol en la tele. They watch the soccer game on TV. Los niños mayores cuidan a los niños menores. The older kids watch the younger kids.

Mirar = to look (at something) Buscar = to look (for something)

Miramos el pájaro bonito en el río. We look at the pretty bird in the river. Buscamos el pájaro en el libro de referencia. We look for the bird in the reference book.

En cuanto a (regarding)

The phrase en cuanto a is used to draw the listener’s attention to a specific topic. It could be translated in a few different ways, including regarding, in regard to, as for, and with respect to. En cuanto al coronavirus, es muy contagioso. With respect to the coronavirus, it is very contagious. Yo no quiero ir, pero en cuanto a mi hermano, sí. I don’t want to go, but as for my brother, he does. El problema está claro, pero en cuanto a la solución… The problem is clear, but in regard to the solution… En cuanto a lo que dijiste antes, ¿puedes aclararlo? Regarding what you said before, can you clarify it?



❖ Vocabulario: Air and train travel ❖ Gramática: The true passive voice ❖ Tiempos verbales: The past perfect tense ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Volver / devolver ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Estar de acuerdo

Vocabulario: Air and train travel Required Words:

Volar (ue) to fly El destino destination

Parar to stop, to stand El pasajero passenger

Subirse a to get in / on La aduana customs

Bajarse de to get out / off La inmigración immigration

Hacer escala to stop * Extranjero foreign, foreigner

Hacer transbordo to transfer** Procedente de coming from

Declarar to declare Con destino a going towards

Facturar to check *** El pasaporte passport

El andén bus/train platform El equipaje luggage

La sala de espera waiting room La demora delay

* This is when a train, bus, boat or plane bound for one destination makes a stop somewhere else on the way. ** This is when you transfer from one bus, train or airplane to another in order to continue your journey. *** This is when your give your luggage to the airline personnel, and they take charge of getting it to your destination. Review and Cognates:

La estación de tren train station De ida y vuelta round-trip El turista tourist El aeropuerto airport El horario schedule La llegada arrival La primera clase first class El pasaje / el boleto ticket La puerta door/gate La segunda clase second class El avión airplane La salida exit/departure La maleta suitcase El vuelo flight La seguridad security


Tiempos verbales: The past perfect (pluperfect)

The past perfect (also called the pluperfect) tense is very similar to the present perfect. It has all the same rules and structures that are true of the present perfect. The only difference is that instead of talking about what someone has done before now, it is talking about what someone had done prior to some moment in the past: we had seen, they had gone, she had driven, I had opened... Conjugating the past perfect

To form the past perfect tense, simply conjugate the auxiliary verb Haber in the imperfect tense. The past participle is formed just the same as it was in the present perfect tense.

Yo había llegado temprano. I had arrived early.

Tú habías dejado tu bicicleta en el parque. You had left your bike in the park.

Ella había preparado la lección de antemano. She had prepared the lesson in advance.

Nosotros no habíamos conocido al Papa. We had not met the Pope.

¿Habíais visto el anuncio? Had you guys seen the advertisement?

Ellos ya se habían despertado. They had already woken up. When to use the past perfect

The past perfect tense is generally used in conjunction with some reference to a time or an event in the past. It indicates that the past perfect verb was already done before that time or event. Look at the following chart which illustrates this. The time or event reference is underlined. The past perfect verb is in bold. Note that in each case, the past perfect verb took place before the time or event reference.

Cuando llegamos al río, el sol ya había puesto. When we arrived at the river, the sun had already set.

Todos habían terminado para las tres y media. Everyone had finished by three thirty.

Encontré el sándwich, pero un ratón lo había masticado. I found the sandwich, but a mouse had chewed it.

Cuando mamá volvió habíamos limpiado la casa. When mom returned, we had cleaned the house.


Gramática: The true passive voice

We learned back in lesson 6 that a passive sentence is one where the emphasis is put on the recipient of the verb, and the person who actually does the verb is deemphasized or omitted. As a quick review, the most common way to do this in Spanish is with the reflexive passive voice: Spanish: Literal English: English equivalent: La cueva se exploró el año pasado. The cave explored itself last year. The cave was explored last year. Spanish also has a passive voice that is an exact equivalent of the English passive. While this is a less common construction to use in Spanish, it is definitely worth knowing. It is often called the “true passive” or the “full passive.” In the true passive voice, the recipient is put at the beginning of the sentence, then there is a "be verb," then a past participle. Note that the past participle needs to match the item in gender and number.

Recipient Be verb Past Participle By Doer

El carro fue arreglado por el mecánico.

The car was fixed by the mechanic.

Las flores fueron compradas por el novio.

The flowers were bought by the groom.

El precio es determinado por el gobierno.

The price is determined by the government.

La ciudad ha sido destruida por un monstruo.

The city has been destroyed by a monster.

Volver / devolver / revolver Volver means to go back or to return to a place you have been before. Regresar is a synonym for this, and it is a word we should know. Devolver means to return an item to where it came from. Revolver means to stir, to spin or to revolve. Selina volvió a la oficina para ver al doctor. Selina went back to the office to see the doctor. Los niños volvieron temprano de la excursión. The kids returned early from the tour. Regresamos a Toledo cada año. We return to Toledo each year. Necesito devolver los libros a la biblioteca. I need to return the books to the library. ¿Has devuelto el vestido de Susana? Have you returned Susan’s dress? Ella revolvió la sopa lentamente. She stirred the soup slowly.


Estar de acuerdo (to agree)

Estar de acuerdo literally means “to be of agreement.” This is the best way to say that one person agrees with another. You will conjugate Estar for the person who agrees, but acuerdo will never change gender or number. No estoy de acuerdo con tu punto de vista. I don’t agree with your point of view. Juan y Timoteo no estuvieron de acuerdo. John and Timothy did not agree. ¿Estás de acuerdo con el dueño? Do you agree with the owner? Many Spanish speakers use the expression de acuerdo as an equivalent of “okay” or “alright.” This can be a statement or a question. Salimos a la una. ¿De acuerdo? We leave at one o’clock. Okay? “Yo voy primero, ¿está bien?” “¡De acuerdo!” “I’ll start, OK?” “Okay!” De acuerdo, empecemos. Alright, let’s begin.


❖ Vocabulario: Around the city ❖ Tiempos verbales: The future perfect tense ❖ Gramática: Relative pronouns ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Dar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Sin embargo

Vocabulario: Around the city Required Words:

El edificio building La carnicería butcher shop

El ascensor elevator

El carnicero butcher

El vestíbulo lobby

La joya jewel

El mostrador counter/desk

La joyería jewelry store

La cuadra / la manzana city block

El joyero jeweler

Cruzar to cross

La panadería bakery

Seguir derecho to continue straight

El panadero baker

La milla mile

La zapatería shoe store

El kilómetro kilometer

El juguete toy

La esquina corner

La juguetería toy store

Caro expensive

La librería bookstore

Barato cheap La ferretería hardware store

La joya can mean “the jewel” or it can refer to one item of jewelry, like a watch. For jewelry in general, use Las joyas.


Review and Cognates: El dependiente clerk El centro downtown El cine theater (for movies) El cliente customer El museo museum El teatro theater (for plays) El precio price La biblioteca library El mercado market ¿Cuánto cuesta… how much does … cost? El zoológico zoo El helado ice cream La tienda store El correo post office La heladería ice cream shop El centro comercial mall El parque park

To ask the price of a singular item, use “¿Cuánto cuesta (item)?” However, if the item is plural, use “¿Cuánto cuestan (items)?”, since the verb “costar” is conjugated for the item.

Tiempos verbales: The future perfect tense

Once you know the present perfect and the past perfect, the future perfect is a very small step to make. The future perfect indicates what someone will have done prior to a specific moment in the future. To conjugate the future perfect, just put Haber in the future tense. All the other rules work just like the present and the past perfect tenses.

Yo habré salido cuando ellos llegan. I will have left when they arrive.

Cuando tienes 19 años, habrás empezado la universidad. When you are 19, you will have started college.

Habrá arreglado el carro para las seis de la tarde. He will have fixed the car by six in the afternoon.

Nos habremos conocido antes de la conferencia. We will have met before the lecture.

Vosotros habréis crecido mucho cuando os veo. You will have grown a lot when I see you.

Los ladrones se habrán escapado cuando llega la policía. The thieves will have escaped when the cops arrive. Notice that just like the past perfect tense, most sentences with a future perfect verb will also have a time or event reference. The future perfect verb has not been done yet at the present moment, but it will already be done before the future time or event. The future perfect when wondering or assuming

You may remember that the future tense can be used to express wondering or assumptions about the present (Lesson 15). Similarly, the future perfect can be used to wonder or assume about the past. Look at the following examples and translations carefully:

Wondering English equivalent Literal translation

present ¿Dónde estarán? I wonder where they are. Where will they be?

past ¿Dónde habrán estado? I wonder where they have been. Where will they have been?

present ¿Qué comerá Samuel? I wonder what Sam eats. What will Sam eat?

past ¿Qué habrá comido Samuel? I wonder what Sam has eaten. What will Sam have eaten?

Assuming English equivalent Literal translation

present Tendrá quince conejos. He must have fifteen rabbits. He will have fifteen rabbits.

past Habrá tenido quince conejos. He must have had fifteen rabbits. He will have had fifteen rabbits.

present Ellos saldrán temprano. They must leave early. They will leave early.

past Ellos habrán salido temprano. They must have left early. They will have left early.


Gramática: Relative pronouns

A relative pronoun is a word that creates a connection between ideas, showing how they are related. The relative pronouns in Spanish are Que, Quien and Cual. There are a variety of ways that they are used. Creating a compound subject (a noun phrase) with Que or Quien

The relative pronouns Que and Quien can be used to link a noun to a verb phrase, creating a compound noun, or a noun phrase. Que can be used for people or objects, but Quien can only be used for people. Look at the following examples:

El hombre que lleva la corbata es mi padre. The man that wears the tie is my father.

Los platos que hiciste rompieron anoche. The plates that you made broke last night.

Las mujeres quienes viven allá son amigos de Sarita. The women who live there are Sarah´s friends.

El profesor con quien estudias latín está enfermo. The teacher (that) you study Latin with is sick. In each of the above sentences, the subject (the noun that does the main verb) is underlined. This compound subject consists of a noun, a relative pronoun, and a verb phrase.

El hombre que/quien lleva la corbata

Los platos que hiciste

Noun Relative Pronoun Verb Phrase

Together, the whole phrase forms a single subject (noun), which does the main verb of the sentence (is my father; broke last night; are friends of Sarah; is sick.) Using Que or Cual to refer to a previously mentioned noun

Another function of a relative pronoun is to refer to a noun in one clause, making it part of a new clause. Consider this example:

Ella no sabe dónde puso sus libros, los cuales son muy importantes.

She doesn't know where she put her books, which are very important. In this sentence, "los cuales" refers to "los libros." While the books were the object of the first clause, here they become the subject of the second clause. "Los cuales" is the relative pronoun, and "sus libros" is the antecedent, or the previously mentioned noun. Here is another example:

Ellos trabajan en el proyecto ahora, el que yo completé la semana pasada.

They're working on the project now, which I completed last week. In this second example the relative pronoun "el que" refers to the antecedent "el proyecto." The project is the object of both clauses, but since I used the relative pronoun in the second clause, I didn't need to say "el proyecto" again. Here is one more example for illustration:

Las políticas fueron aprobadas por la directora, la cual no tiene miedo del cambio.

The policies were approved by the director, who is not afraid of change. Here, the relative pronoun "la cual" refers to the antecedent "la directora." As you may have noticed in these examples, this kind of construction uses the relative pronouns Que and Cual with a definite article, and it will become plural if the antecedent is plural. It doesn't matter at all whether you choose Que or Cual in this circumstance; they are completely interchangeable. To summarize, here are the options for relative pronouns that refer to a previously mentioned noun: El que, la que, los que, las que El cual, la cual, los cuales, las cuales


Using Lo Que or Lo Cual to refer to a previously mentioned idea

The neutral (genderless) forms of the relative pronouns use "lo" instead of the definite articles (el, la, los, las). When you use "lo que" or "lo cual" in a sentence, it does not refer to a noun in the previous clause, but rather to the whole idea or situation of the previous clause. Look at the following examples:

Marcos compra la ropa en París, lo que es muy caro.

Marcos buys his clothing in Paris, which is very expensive.

Yo pierdo mis llaves todos los días, lo cual me enoja.

I lose my keys every day, which makes me angry. In the first example, "lo que" does not refer to clothing, or to Paris, or to Marcos. Rather, it refers to the whole idea of buying clothes in Paris. Likewise, in the second example it is not the keys that anger me, but the whole situation of losing them daily. Lo que and Lo cual can be used interchangeably to refer to a whole idea that was just mentioned. Another use of Lo Que

In English we often use the word what to function as a noun in a sentence. It could be rephrased as "the thing" or "the things."

Did you hear what she said? He didn't tell me what he does on the weekend. They planned what they will do tomorrow. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing.

In Spanish the phrase "lo que" is used for this situation. The "lo" will never change in gender or number, and "cual" cannot be used instead of "que."

¿Oíste lo que dijo ella? Él no me dijo lo que hace los fines de semana. Ellos planearon lo que van a hacer mañana. No te preocupes, sé lo que hago.

Using Que after verbs of speech, belief or knowledge

In Spanish, the word Que is always necessary when you repeat someone's words, beliefs, opinions, or knowledge. In English, this used to be common, but it is becoming less so. In Spanish, we can't let that slip out of the sentence!

❖ Ellos dicen que la vida es difícil. They say that life is difficult. ❖ Yo creo que la guerra es terrible. I believe that war is terrible. ❖ Ella piensa que estamos listos. She thinks that we are ready. ❖ Mamá sabe que rompiste el plato. Mom knows that you broke the plate. ❖ Aprendemos que algunas personas no son confiables. We learn that some people are not trustworthy.


Dar (to give) Dar seems like a simple verb, and in many ways, it is. We use it whenever one person gives something to someone else.

Ellos me dan un premio. They give me a prize. Ya le di un postre. I already gave him/her a dessert. La enfermera te dará una inyección. The nurse will give you a shot.

Dar also has some idiomatic expressions that go with it, which are very helpful to know. Darse cuenta de = to notice, to realize

Always use "de" with this expression. If you put a verb after it, use "que" as well. Note: The words "realizar" and "noticiar" are frequent problems for Spanish students, since they don't mean what they look like.

▪ Lorena no se dio cuenta de las nubes oscuras. Lorena didn't notice the dark clouds. ▪ Nunca me doy cuenta de la hora cuando juego. I never notice the time when I play. ▪ ¿Te diste cuenta de que perdiste tu cartera? Did you realize that you lost your wallet? ▪ Ellos se dan cuenta de que la cuenta está vacía. They realize that the account is empty.

Darse prisa = to hurry up

This literally means "to give yourself hurry." It is frequently heard in the imperative form, "Date prisa" (give yourself hurry).

▪ Ellos se dan prisa los domingos por la mañana. They hurry on Sunday mornings. ▪ Él se dio prisa para llegar a tiempo. He hurried to arrive on-time. ▪ Ellos vienen pronto... ¡date prisa! They are coming soon... hurry up!

Dar con = to find, to run into

This expression has a sense of finding by accident. It does not literally mean "to run into" in the sense of crashing or tripping, but rather "to come across or meet by coincidence." You can use it for finding objects or for meeting people.

▪ El policía dio con el ladrón en el callejón. The police officer ran into the thief in the ally. ▪ Yo di con mis juguetes viejos en el ático. I stumbled across my old toys in the attic. ▪ Ella dio con la solución anoche. She found the solution last night.

Dar una vuelta = to take a walk, to go for a ride

This is similar to the older English expression, "to take a turn" or our more recent phrase, "to go for a spin." It gives the idea of going out for the purpose of enjoying a walk or ride, and not for the purpose of getting to any specific destination.

▪ ¿Quieres dar una vuelta conmigo en bici? Do you want to go for a bike ride with me? ▪ Ellos dan un paseo en el parque ahorita. They´re taking a walk in the park right now. ▪ Jacinta da una vuelta con* el perro cada día. Jacinta walks her dog* every day.

*You don't "walk the dog" in Spanish... instead, you walk with the dog.


Dar un paseo = to take a walk This is basically the same as "dar una vuelta," except that it is somewhat more specifically for walking, while vuelta is more general.

▪ Mario y su novia dan un paseo todos los días. Mario and his girlfriend take a walk every day.

Sin embargo (however)

When one fact is true in spite of another fact, we often use the words “however” or “nevertheless” to connect those facts in English. In Spanish, the phrase Sin embargo is used for this task:

➢ No me gusta la historia. Sin embargo, hago caso al profesor. I don’t like history. However, I pay attention to the teacher.

➢ Ella sabe que no tendrá éxito, pero trabaja, sin embargo.

She knows she won’t succeed, but she works, nevertheless.

➢ Estoy de acuerdo con su resumen del problema. Sin embargo, creo que su solución hará mucho daño. I agree with their summary of the problem. Nevertheless, I think their solution will do a lot of damage.



❖ Vocabulario: Money and banking ❖ Tiempos verbales: The conditional perfect mood ❖ Otro: How to speak on the phone ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Pedir / preguntar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: En cambio

Vocabulario: Money and banking Required Words:

La caja cash register Cuenta corriente checking account

El cajero cashier

Cuenta de ahorros savings account

La etiqueta price tag/label

Tarjeta de crédito credit card Cambiar to change/exchange

Tarjeta de débito debit card

El cambio change (noun)

El préstamo loan El cheque check

La hipoteca mortgage

Cobrar* to charge, to cash

El interés interest El formulario form El mercado de valores stock market

Firmar to sign El banco bank

Depositar to deposit El banquero banker

Ahorrar to save up/not spend Los impuestos taxes

* In the context of amounts of money, cobrar means “to charge.” Ellos cobran 500 pesos para reparar la radio. La biblioteca cobra 20 dólares si pierdes un libro. If you are talking about cashing a check, then cobrar means “to cash.” Ella cobró el cheque y salió del banco con su dinero. Review and Cognates:

Abrir to open Retirar to withdraw/take out Comprar to buy Dinero money Devolver to return an item Pagar to pay Dólar dollar Probarse to try on Ir de compras to go shopping Invertir (ie) to invest Vender to sell El precio price


Tiempos verbales: The conditional perfect mood

The conditional perfect tense is used to express an imaginary situation in the past. It is the exact equivalent of saying what someone would have done in English. It is used in all of the same situations as the conditional mood (lessons 17 and 18), except that it is in the past. To form this tense, conjugate the verb Haber in the conditional, and then follow all the other rules you have learned for the perfect tenses.

Yo habría comido la sopa, pero estaba tibia. I would have eaten the soup, but it was lukewarm.

¿Qué habrías dicho en mi lugar? What would you have said in my place?

Ella habría añadido más azúcar. She would have added more sugar.

Habríamos practicado más, pero no tuvimos tiempo. We would have practiced more, but we didn't have time.

Habrías visto el zorro si hubierais llegado más temprano. You would have seen the fox if you had arrived earlier.

Ellos habrían dejado las luces encendidas. They would have left the lights on. The thing to be careful with in this tense is the similarity to the past perfect. The difference between habían and habrían (they had, they would have) is slight, but very important.

Otro: Speaking on the phone

When you pick up the phone, the following phrases are all used as greetings:

Aló Bueno Dígame Diga

To ask who is calling, you say ¿Quién habla? and to say who you are, say “Habla (your name)”. Here are a few more useful terms related to the phone:

Colgar (ue) to hang up Tengo el número equivocado I have the wrong number

Descolgar (ue) to pick up

La línea está ocupada The line is busy

Saludar to greet

Una llamada internacional An international call

Marcar to dial

Dejar un mensaje To leave a message

Contestar to answer Dejar un mensaje de voz To leave a voicemail

Modelo: ¡Dígame! Hola, habla Ernesto. Buenos días. Buenos días. ¿Está en casa Luisa? Lo siento. Ella está en la oficina. Está bien. ¿Podría dejar un mensaje? Por supuesto...


Pedir / preguntar In Spanish, there are two types of “asking” that we need to keep separate:

Preguntar = to ask a question Pedir = to ask for something

▪ Los niños preguntan a la profesora cuando no entienden.

The kids ask the teacher when they don’t understand.

▪ Ayer él me preguntó de dónde vinieron los bebés. Yesterday he asked me where babies come from.

▪ Arturo siempre pide chocolate; ¡le encantan los dulces!

Arthur always asks for chocolate; he loves sweets!

▪ Usted puede pedir más información en el mostrador. You can ask for more information at the counter.

Reminder: The phrase “to ask a question” is “hacer una pregunta” in Spanish.

En cambio (in contrast)

The phrase En cambio is very useful to show the contrast between two items or ideas. It can be translated as “in contrast” or “on the other hand.”

o Soy bastante bajo. En cambio, mi padre es muy alto. I’m quite short. In contrast, my dad is very tall.

o El pastel de tres leches es muy delicioso, pero en cambio, no es muy saludable.

Three milks cake is very delicious, but on the other hand, it is not very healthy.



❖ Vocabulario: Review ❖ Gramática: Bien, bueno, muy, mucho, más ❖ Tiempos verbales: Review ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Review ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Review

Vocabulario: Review

El burro donkey El jabón soap La harina flour

Ahorrar to save El mar sea La herida wound

Arreglar to fix, to arrange El mono monkey La llanta tire

Bajarse de to get out of El pasajero passenger La manta blanket

Barato cheap El préstamo loan La nube cloud

Cambiar, el cambio to change, change El queso cheese La pastilla pill

Caro expensive El taller shop La rueda wheel

Cazar to hunt El traje suit La sala de espera waiting room

Criar to raise El venado deer La salud health

Cuenta corriente checking account Esconder to hide La sangre blood

Descansar to rest Extranjero foreign La serpiente snake

El ascensor elevator Fallar to malfunction La tierra earth

El bosque forest/woods Firmar to sign Las notas grades

El cajero cashier Flaco skinny, thin Los impuestos taxes

El cerdo pig Hacerse to become Los negocios business

El cinturón de seguridad seatbelt La bebida drink Maleducado rude

El cuerpo body La beca scholarship Matar to kill

El destino destination La cabra goat Peligroso dangerous

El edificio building La cerca fence Pescar to fish

El equipaje luggage La demora delay Recoger to pick / to pick up

El freno brake La esquina corner Salvaje wild

El gallo rooster La etiqueta tag, label Subirse a to get into

El granjero farmer La finca farm Tarjeta de crédito credit card

El hielo ice La flor flower Toser to cough

El hueso bone La gallina hen Volar to fly



To help with reviewing all the tenses we have studied so far, here is a comparison of two regular verbs in each of the tenses. Present Present progressive Preterit Imperfect Future Conditional

Re

gula

r A

R v

erb

Yo hablo estoy hablando hablé hablaba hablaré hablaría

Tú hablas estás hablando hablaste hablabas hablarás hablarías

Él/ella/Ud. habla está hablando habló hablaba hablará hablaría

Nosotros hablamos estamos hablando hablamos hablábamos hablaremos hablaríamos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. hablan están hablando hablaron hablaban hablarán hablarían

(speak) (is speaking) (spoke) (used to speak)

(will speak) (would speak)

Re

gula

r ER

ver

b

Yo como estoy comiendo comí comía comeré comería

Tú comes estás comiendo comiste comías comerás comerías

Él/ella/Ud. come está comiendo comió comía comerá comería

Nosotros comemos estamos comiendo comimos comíamos comeremos comeríamos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. comen están comiendo comieron comían comerán comerían (eat) (is eating) (ate) (used to eat) (will eat) (would eat)

Present perfect Past perfect Future perfect Conditional perfect

Re

gula

r A

R v

erb

Yo he hablado había hablado habré hablado habría hablado

Tú has hablado habías hablado habrás hablado habrías hablado

Él/ella/Ud. ha hablado había hablado habrá hablado habría hablado

Nosotros hemos hablado habíamos hablado habremos hablado habríamos hablado

Ellos/ellas/Uds. han hablado habían hablado habrán hablado habrían hablado

(have spoken) (had spoken) (will have spoken) (would have spoken)

Re

gula

r ER

ve

rb

Yo he comido había comido habré comido habría comido

Tú has comido habías comido habrás comido habrías comido

Él/ella/Ud. ha comido había comido habrá comido habría comido

Nosotros hemos comido habíamos comido habremos comido habríamos comido

Ellos/ellas/Uds. han comido habían comido habrán comido habrían comido (have eaten) (had eaten) (will have eaten) (would have eaten)


Again, as a reminder, here are the irregular past participles:

Abrir abierto opened El hombre ha abierto la tienda. The man has opened the store.

Cubrir cubierto covered ¿Has cubierto la ensalada? Have you covered the salad?

Decir dicho said, told ¡Te he dicho mil veces! I have told you a thousand times!

Escribir escrito written Sara ha escrito un libro. Sarah has written a book.

Freír frito fried ¿Quién ha frito el salmón? Who has fried the salmon?

Hacer hecho done, made No he hecho la cena todavía. I haven't made dinner yet.

Morir muerto died Su abuelo ha muerto. Her grandpa has died.

Poner puesto put, set Ellos han puesto la mesa. They have set the table.

Resolver resuelto resolved ¿Has resuelto el problema? Have you resolved the problem?

Romper roto broken, torn ¡Has roto mi computadora! You have broken my computer!

Ver visto seen ¿Has visto mis zapatos? Have you seen my shoes?

Volver vuelto returned ¿Han vuelto tus padres? Have your parents returned?

Also, any past participles that end in aido, eido or oido will get an accent on the i:

Caer caído Leer leído Reír reído Traer traído

Creer creído Oír oído Sonreír sonreído

Gramática: Bien, bueno, muy, mucho, más

Bien versus bueno, mal versus malo

In both English and Spanish, the difference between Bien and Bueno (well and good) is troublesome for us. The key is recognizing that Bien is an adverb (well), so it can only modify verbs and adjectives. Bueno is an adjective (good), so it can only modify nouns. Mal and Malo work the same way. Mal is an adverb (poorly), while Malo is an adjective (bad).

Ella tiene una guitarra buena. She has a good guitar.

Ella toca la guitarra bien. She plays the guitar well.

Él es un profesor bueno. He is a good teacher.

Él enseña muy bien. He teaches very well.

Ella se siente mal. She feels badly.

Ella tiene una enfermedad mala. She has a bad sickness. These words can sometimes be more easily confused because they are shortened when they come before a masculine singular noun. Bueno becomes buen, and malo becomes mal.

Hace buen tiempo hoy. The weather is good today.

¡Buen trabajo! Good work!

Papá tuvo un mal día. Dad had a bad day.

Ellas están de mal humor. They are in a bad mood.


Remember that bueno and malo also change their meaning when they come before a noun. When they are after a noun (the normal adjective position), they have a literal meaning. In this case, the thing is objectively, measurably good or bad, judged by a standard that most people would agree on. When they come before a noun, they indicate a subjective, personal opinion, either favorable or unfavorable. Es una clase buena. It is a (literally) good class. Es una buena clase. It is a good class (in my own opinion). Esa una cancion mala. It is a bad song (by technical or moral standards). Es una mala cancion. It is a bad song (in my own opinion). Muy, mucho, más

These three words are often confused, and because they are all so common, it is important to be able to use them correctly.

muy very Ella es muy inteligente. She is very smart.

La puerta es muy fuerte. The door is very strong.

mucho a lot, often Tengo muchas corbatas. I have a lot of ties.

Vamos a la playa mucho. We go to the beach often.

más more ¡Comes más que un caballo! You eat more than a horse!

¿Tienes más de ocho zapatos? You have more than eight shoes?

How do you say "very, very"?

In English we often use the word very twice to be extra emphatic. Spanish doesn't do this! Instead, use the suffix "ísimo" to make an adjective very emphatic.

Incorrect Correct muy, muy cansado cansadísimo ¡Uf! Estoy cansadísimo.

muy, muy alto altísimo ¡Esa montaña es altísima!

muy, muy grande grandísimo Los problemas son grandísimos



➢ Ir ➢ Ser ➢ Estar ➢ Tener ➢ Haber ➢ Ponerse ➢ Vestirse ➢ Sentirse ➢ Sentarse ➢ Perder ➢ Poder

➢ Tomar ➢ Tocar ➢ Sacar ➢ Llevar ➢ Tiempo ➢ Vez ➢ Rato ➢ Salir ➢ Dejar ➢ Tratar de

➢ Probar, probarse

➢ Enseñar ➢ Aprender ➢ Saber ➢ Conocer ➢ Largo ➢ Grande ➢ Bajo ➢ Corto ➢ Hacer

➢ Mirar ➢ Buscar ➢ Cuidar ➢ Volver ➢ Devolver ➢ Revolver ➢ Dar ➢ Pedir ➢ Preguntar

Review

❖ Está bien ❖ Vale ❖ Pues ❖ Bueno ❖ Por favor ❖ Gracias ❖ De nada ❖ Con mucho gusto

❖ Estar a punto de ❖ Es que, la cosa es que ❖ Lo siento ❖ Disculpa, disculpe ❖ De vez en cuando ❖ Poco a poco ❖ A lo mejor ❖ En vez de

❖ A causa de ❖ Puesto que ❖ Por eso ❖ En cuanto a ❖ Estar de acuerdo ❖ Sin embargo ❖ En cambio



❖ Vocabulario: Entertainment and culture ❖ Otro: Traditional instruments ❖ Tiempos verbales: The present subjunctive mood, rule 1 ❖ Gramática: Indefinite and negative terms ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Foto / imagen ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Verdad

Vocabulario: Entertainment and culture Required Words:

El compositor composer Disfrutar to enjoy

La orquesta orchestra El papel role

El actor actor El rol role

La actriz actress El ensayo rehearsal

El cantante singer Ensayar to rehearse, to practice

El protagonista main character El tambor drum (a single drum)

Protagonizar to star/play a lead role La batería drums (drum set)

El público audience El bajo bass

El escenario stage El campamento camp


Bailar to dance La tragedia tragedy

El baile dance (noun) El arte art

Debatir to debate El boleto ticket

El debate debate (noun) La banda band

El director director El concierto concert

El museo museum La ópera opera

El teatro theater (for plays) El coro choir

El drama play, drama el cine theater (for movies)

La comedia comedy la película movie, film


Otro: Traditional instruments

La marimba: This Central American instrument is similar to a xylophone, but each of the notes has a hollow tube below it. It can be played as a solo instrument, but more often it is played in groups. You can have multiple people on a single marimba, or several marimbas playing at once. La zampoña: Also called “la antera,” this instrument is traditional to the native peoples of the Andes mountains, primarily the Inca culture. It is known in English as a pan flute, made with a series of hollow tubes tied together in a row. They can be made from reeds or bamboo, and they can be in a single or a double row. This instrument has at least 1500 years of history in that region. El güiro: This percussion instrument is native to the Caribbean region, specifically Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is made from a hollow gourd with notches cut into the side. The player uses a stick to hit the gourd or to rub along the notches, making a variety of sounds that are popular in salsa, son, cumbia and other traditional types of music. El charango: This small guitar-like instrument is also used in the region of the Andes mountains. The body of the guitar can be made of wood, but often it is made from an armadillo shell. The people of the Andes developed this hundreds of years ago, after the Europeans introduced guitars to the region. El cajón: Another percussion instrument, this was developed in Peru during the colonial period. For a time, the Spanish colonists prohibited the playing of drums. This was intended to cut the ties of the African slaves and the South American natives to their ancestral heritage. The word cajón simply means box, and this is exactly what the oppressed people used as covert percussion instruments to take the place of drums. A cajón could be made out of any available scrap wood and be disguised as a piece of furniture when not in use. La vihuela: There are many variations of the guitar, used in different styles of music in different Latin American regions. One example is the vihuela, which is a rhythm guitar used in mariachi music in Mexico. It is adapted from the European vihuela, which was used in Spanish classical music in the medieval period. Another mariachi guitar is the guitarrón. Additionally, there is a guitar called el tres, which has a Cuban and a Peruvian version, and el cuatro, which is traditional to Puerto Rico. The tres and the cuatro got their names from the number of strings they originally used. Review and Cognates:

El músico / la música musician El clarinete clarinet El violoncelo cello

La música music El piano piano La flauta flute

El instrumento instrument El saxofón saxophone La guitarra guitar

El acordeón accordion El trombón trombone La trompeta trumpet

El arpa harp El violín violin La tuba tuba


Tiempos verbales: The present subjunctive mood, rule 1

Most of the verb tenses we have learned so far are part of the indicative mood. The subjunctive mood is another set of tenses that express a unique attitude toward a verb. There is the present subjunctive, the present perfect subjunctive, the imperfect subjunctive, and the pluperfect subjunctive. We will study the first two of these in the upcoming lessons. The main challenge in using the subjunctive is knowing when to use it. This will be dealt with extensively in coming lessons. For now, we will begin by learning how to conjugate the present subjunctive. Conjugating the present subjunctive

There is a 3-step process that can be used to conjugate almost every Spanish verb in the present subjunctive, with very few exceptions. While it may seem like an unnecessarily complicated process for regular verbs, you will see that it is very important for irregular verbs. Step 1: Conjugate the verb in the present tense Yo form, and remove the O or OY from the end. This will be your root for the new conjugation.

Hablar habl Pensar piens Conocer conozc

Cantar cant Perder pierd Conducir conduzc

Comer com Contar cuent Tener teng

Aprender aprend Dormir duerm Seguir sig

Abrir abr Pedir pid Oír oig

Vivir viv Servir sirv Traer traig Step 2: Put on the appropriate present tense ending. Make sure it matches the pronoun correctly.

Hablar tú hablas, él habla Pensar tú piensas, él piensa Conocer tú conozces

Cantar nosotros cantamos Perder ella pierde Conducir nosotros conduzcemos

Comer él come, ellos comen Contar ellos cuentan Tener tú tenges, ellos tengen

Aprender tú aprendes Dormir tú duermes, él duerme Seguir ella sige, ellos sigen

Abrir nosotros abrimos Pedir tú pides, ellos piden Oír nosotros oigemos

Vivir tú vives, ellos viven Servir ella sirve, ustedes sirven Traer tú traiges, ella traige Step 3: Reverse ending of the verb. AR verbs will end up having an ER ending, and ER/IR verbs will end up with an AR ending. This is the subjunctive conjugation.

Hablar tú hables, él hable Pensar tú pienses, él piense Conocer tú conozcas

Cantar nosotros cantemos Perder ella pierda Conducir nosotros conduzcamos

Comer él coma, ellos coman Contar ellos cuenten Tener tú tengas, ellos tengan

Aprender tú aprendas Dormir tú duermas, él duerma Seguir ella siga, ellos sigan

Abrir nosotros abramos Pedir tú pidas, ellos pidan Oír nosotros oigamos

Vivir tú vivas, ellos vivan Servir ella sirva, ustedes sirvan Traer tú traigas, ella traiga Yo forms: These will be the same as the él/ella/usted forms: hable, coma, viva, conozca, tenga, traiga


Nosotros forms: The forms with zc and g in the root will also apply to nosotros: traduzcamos, caigamos, etc. However, only IR verbs will get vowel changes in the nosotros forms in the present subjunctive.

Pensar Pensemos Dormir durmamos Morir muramos

Perder Perdamos Pedir pidamos Mentir mintamos

Contar Contemos Servir sirvamos Sentir sintamos Conjugating verbs with spelling changes: As we saw in lesson 4, there are special spelling issues related to the letters C, G and Z. This will be important in the present subjunctive, since we are putting the opposite ending on the verb from what it normally has. Whatever sound the C or G makes in the infinitive, that sound must be preserved in the present subjunctive. Verbs ending in GAR – because an E in the ending will soften the G, it is necessary to add a silent U to the subjunctive conjugations.

present tense present subjunctive

Jugar juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, juegan juegue, juegues, juegue, juguemos, jueguen

Pagar pago, pagas, paga, pagamos, pagan pague, pagues, pague, paguemos, paguen Verbs ending in GER and GIR – an A in the ending wil harden the G, so you must change the G to a J to maintain the correct sound.


Proteger protejo, proteges, protege, protegemos, protegen proteja, protejas, proteja, protejamos, protejan

Dirigir dirijo, diriges, dirige, dirigimos, dirigen dirija, dirijas, dirija, dirijamos, dirijan

Elegir elijo, eliges, elige, elegimos, eligen elija, elijas, elija, elijamos, elijan Verbs ending in CAR – an E in the ending will soften the C, so the C will change to a QU in order to keep the K sound it is supposed to have.


Sacar saco, sacas, saca, sacamos, sacan saque, saques, saque, saquemos, saquen

Tocar toco, tocas, toca, tocamos, tocan toque, toques, toque, toquemos, toquen Verbs ending in ZAR – a Z always wants to become a C if it has the chance. Because the subjunctive will put an E in the verb ending, the Z will change to a C.


Empezar empiezo, empiezas, empieza, empezamos, empiezan empiece, empieces, empiece, empecemos, empiecen

Alcanzar alcanzo, alcanzas, alcanza, alcanzamos, alcanzan alcance, alcances, alcance, alcancemos, alcancen

Conjugating irregular verbs There are only a few verbs that cannot be conjugated using the steps outlined above. Haber, Ir, Saber and Ser have an irregular root, and Dar and Estar need accents in some forms.

root conjugations

Dar d dé, des, dé, demos, den

Estar est esté, estés, esté, estemos, estén

Haber hay haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayan

Ir vay vaya, vayas, vaya, vayamos, vayan

Saber sep sepa, sepas, sepa, sepamos, sepan

Ser se sea, seas, sea, seamos, sean


When to use the subjunctive: Rule 1

Use the subjunctive whenever one person has a role in causing or preventing somebody else's action.

If somebody requires, requests, directs, suggests, allows or recommends that somebody else do something, this counts as causing the action, and it will trigger the subjunctive. Likewise, to prohibit or forbid is preventing somebody's action, and it will also trigger the subjunctive.

This subjunctive rule will always use the same sentence structure. First, you have the "causing or preventing" verb, conjugated in the present indicative (regular present tense). Then you will use the relative pronoun que. Then you will end with the verb phrase for whatever is being caused or prevented.

indicative subjunctive Mi padre requiere que yo limpie el garaje. My dad requires that I clean the garage.

Yo sugiero que tú practiques más. I suggest that you practice more.

Ellos piden que nosotros lleguemos temprano. They ask that we arrive early.

Tú recomiendas que ella asista a la clase. You recommend that she attend the class.

Ella prohíbe que yo vaya al partido. She forbids that I go to the game.

Insistimos en que Carla se lave los dientes. We insist that Carla brush her teeth.

El director manda que no hablemos. The principal insists that we don't talk. Note: English does not consistently use the subjunctive. Often, we will use the infinitive instead. For example, some of the sentences from above could be translated using the infinitive: my dad requires me to clean the garage; they ask us to arrive early; she forbids me to go to the game. Don't let this fool you when translating into Spanish; just because English used the infinitive, don't assume Spanish will also. If one person is causing or preventing somebody else's action, use the subjunctive!

The following verbs are all ones that will usually cause the subjunctive:

Decir que* to tell, to say Permitir que to allow/permit

Dejar que to allow/permit Prohibir que to forbid/prohibit

Insistir en que to insist Recomendar que to recommend

Mandar que to order/command Requerir que to require

Pedir que to request/ask Sugerir que to suggest

*Decir is a special case. If you are simply passing along information, don't use the subjunctive. However, if you are passing along instructions from someone else, you will use the subjunctive.

information Ella dice que no comes mucho. She says that you don't eat a lot.

command Ella dice que no comas mucho. She says not to eat a lot.

information Papá dice que limpiamos bien. Dad says we clean well.

command Papá dice que limpiemos bien. Dad says to clean well.

Ejemplos:

• Ellos siempre insisten en que nos estiremos bien. They always insist that we stretch well.

• Laurencia dice que lleves tu abrigo más grande. Laurencia says to wear your biggest coat.

• Sus padres no dejan que ellos miren esa película. Their parents don't let them watch that movie.

• El jefe prohíbe que comamos mientras trabajamos. The boss doesn't allow us to eat while we work.

• Los representantes mandan que paguemos pronto. The representatives require us to pay soon.

• Mis hijos piden que yo juegue al baloncesto. My children ask me to play basketball.

• Sugiero que vayan a la oficina antes de las cuatro. I suggest that you go to the office before 4.


Gramática: Indefinite and negative terms

Indefinite terms (positive statements, questions) Negative terms (negative statements)

Algo Something, anything Nada Nothing, not anything

Alguien Someone, anyone Nadie No one, not anyone

Somebody, anybody Nobody, not anybody

Algún, algunos Some, any Ningún, ningunos None, not any

Alguna, algunas Ninguna, ningunas

One of the confusing aspects of the negative and indefinite terms is that the versions with "any" in them can be positive or negative. For example, we can ask "is anyone there?" or we can say "There wasn't anyone there." If we want to say "anyone," how do we know if we want to say Alguien or Nadie?

With all these words, the indefinites will be used in positive statements and questions. Generally, the negatives will be used only in negative statements.

Yo tengo algo que necesito hacer ahora. I have something I need to do now.

¿Quieres decir algo? Do you want to say anything?

Ella no hizo nada. She didn't do anything.

Alguién me llamó a las dos de la mañana. Someone called me at two in the morning.

¿Hay alguien en casa? Is there someone home?

Nadie sabía las respuestas. Nobody knew the answers.

Ellos tienen algunos amigos en Toledo. They have some friends

¿Conoces a algunos marineros? Do you know any sailors?

Él no tiene ninguna corbatas. He doesn't have any ties.

Note: If the negative term is before the verb, it can be the only negative term in the sentence. If a negative term comes after the verb, however, you must put No in front of the verb.

Nadie conoce a Juanito. No one knows Juanito.

Juanito no conoce a nadie. Juanito doesn´t know anyone.

Nada puede arreglar este problema. Nothing can fix this problem.

No tenemos nada en el refrigerador. We don't have anything in the fridge.

Ellos no vieron ningún pájaro. They didn't see any birds.

A negative sentence often has many negative terms. A negative sentence won't use indefinite terms.

Nunca ayudamos a nadie con ninguna respuesta. We never help anyone with any answer.

Él nunca trae ningún regalo a nadie. He never brings any gifts to anybody. Expressions using Algún and Ningún

somewhere algún lugar someday algún día

nowhere ningún lugar sometime / ever alguna vez

Algún día me gustaría ser actor. Someday I would like to be an actor. Ellos no fueron a ningún lugar. They didn't go anywhere. ¿Alguna vez viste una ballena? Did you ever see a whale?

Caution: English often uses these indefinite and negative terms for uncounted/uncountable nouns, in phrases like “Do you want some water?” or “They don’t have any hope anymore.” In Spanish, skip this and go straight to the noun. Do you want some water? ¿Quieres agua? They don’t have any hope. Ellos no tienen esperanza. There isn’t any milk in the fridge. No hay leche en el refrigerador. Do you have any cheese? ¿Tienes queso?


Superlative phrases

In English we make superlative phrases such as "more than ever" or "more than anything." In Spanish, these kinds of phrases use the negative term, not the indefinite one.

He is smarter than anyone! ¡Él es más inteligente que nadie!

Now we are more ready than ever! ¡Ahora estamos más listos que nunca!

She wants that more than anything! ¡Ella quiere eso más que nada!

Foto / imagen Much to the dismay of many English speakers, the word pictura does not actually exist in Spanish! If we want to speak about pictures, there are a few different terms we could use: La imagen = image, picture (this is the most generic equivalent of how we use “picture” in English) La foto = photograph, picture El dibujo = drawing, picture El cuadro = painting, picture

Las instrucciones serían de más ayuda con imágenes. The instructions would help more with pictures. Ella me mostró la foto en su móvil. She showed me the picture on her cell phone. La profesora vio el dibujo en mi cuaderno. The teacher saw the drawing in my notebook. El cuadro es de algunos pastores en un campo. The painting is of some shepherds in a field.

Verdad

When we are surprised by what somebody says in English, we often respond with words like really? or seriously? These can indicate that we really doubt the person, or just that we are surprised by their statements. Here are some popular ways to say this in Spanish:

¿Verdad? Truly? ¿De veras? Really? ¿En serio? Seriouly?

In addition to this, the word Verdad is often used as a crutch word at the end of phrases, similar to “right?” or “you know?” La marimba originó en Centroamérica, ¿verdad? The marimba originated in Central America, right? Ella es muy alta, ¿verdad? She is really tall, you know?



❖ Vocabulario: Sports ❖ Tiempos verbales: Subjunctive rule 2 ❖ Gramática: Por and Para ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Pensar / creer ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Cada vez más

Vocabulario: Sports Required Words:

La cancha / la pista court Practicar to practice

El estadio stadium

La práctica practice (noun)

El entrenador coach

Agarrar to catch

El equipo team, equipment

Marcar to score

El árbitro referee

Empatar to tie

El portero goalie

El empate tie (noun)

La portería soccer/hockey goal

Patear to kick

El receptor catcher/receiver

Batear to bat

El lanzador pitcher/quarterback

El bate bat

Lanzar / tirar to pitch/throw/shoot

La base base

El tiro shot (noun) El guante glove


Ganar to win, to beat El partido game El béisbol baseball Perder (ie) to lose el gol goal El fútbol soccer Jugar (ue) to play el punto point El fútbol norteamericano football El balón inflated ball el campo field El voleibol volleyball La pelota any kind of ball La piscina pool El tenis tennis El jugador Player Nadar to swim La gimnasia gymnastics El deporte Sport La raqueta racket El gimnasio Gymnasium El deportista Player El baloncesto basketball


Tiempos verbales: Subjunctive rule 2

Use the subjunctive when one person has a desire or emotion regarding someone else's action.

If someone wants, needs, or hopes that someone else does something, this would count as desire and it would trigger the subjunctive. If a person is happy, sad, angry, worried, excited, or concerned that someone else does something, this falls into the emotion category and will also cause the subjunctive.

This subjunctive rule uses the exact same structure as rule 1: the indicative phrase expresses the desire or emotion, then there is the relative pronoun que, then comes the subjunctive action.

indicative subjunctive Yo quiero que traigas tu clarinete. I want you to bring your clarinet.

Ella desea que yo diga la verdad. She wants me to tell the truth.

Tú prefieres que nos quitemos los zapatos. You want us to take off our shoes.

Esperamos que ellos no vendan la casa. We hope they don't sell their house.

Estamos felices de que tengas un perro nuevo. We are happy that you have a new dog.

Están preocupados de que llueva tanto. They are worried that it rains so much.

Estoy frustrado de que hables mal de mí. I'm frustrated that you speak badly of me. As we saw in rule 1, English often uses the infinitive when Spanish uses the subjunctive. This is also evident in the first three sentences above. Don't be thrown off by it; Spanish will use the subjunctive when a subjunctive rule applies, even if English uses the infinitive.

Caution: this rule only applies when someone has a desire for someone else's action. If a person desires his or her own action, use the infinitive; yo quiero salir; ella desea comer; nosotros preferimos manejar; ellos necesitan estudiar.

The following are some of the most common verbs and expressions that will trigger the subjunctive with rule 2:

Querer que to want Necesitar que to need

Desear que to desire Esperar que to hope

Preferir que to prefer Ojalá que* hopefully

*the word Ojalá comes from an ancient Arabic expression that basically means "if Allah wills." It no longer has any religious connotations, and it could be translated a number of ways, including hopefully, if only and I hope. It is not a verb, so it cannot be conjugated for a person. There are many expressions that can be used to indicate how someone feels about someone else's action. Here is a sampling of some of them:

Estar alegre de que to be happy Estar frustrado de que to be frustrated

Estar emocionado de que to be excited Estar preocupado de que to be worried

Estar enojado de que to be angry Estar triste de que to be sad

Estar feliz de que to be happy Temer que to fear

Ejemplos:

• Deseamos que usted recupere rápidamente. We wish that you recover quickly.

• Ella quiere que yo busque la culebra perdida. She wants me to look for the lost snake.

• Ojalá que no llueva esta tarde. Hopefully it won't rain this afternoon.

• Esperan que la protesta termine pronto. They hope that the protest ends soon.

• Estoy alegre de que el profesor sea simpático. I'm happy that the teacher is nice.

• Tememos que suspendan la clase. We fear that they are failing the class.

• ¿Estás frustrado de que no recibas más dinero? Are you frustrated that you don't get more money?


Gramática: Por and Para

An oversimplified understanding of the two words could be this: Para talks about destination or purpose. Por is for everything else. Use this as your fallback rule when you’re confused, and you should be right most of the time. When do we use Para?

Towards, in the direction of: When we want to indicate where someone or something is going, physically or metaphorically, we use para. So whether a worker is heading towards the office, a family is leaving for vacation, or a person is headed for destruction, it’s all the same word.

➢ Ella sale para el trabajo a las siete y cuarto. She leaves for work at seven fifteen. ➢ Ellos iban para las montañas. They were going towards the mountains.

For: When a noun is for a purpose, a place, or a person, you use Para to indicate this. If the letter is for you, or the painting is for the living room, or the new collar is for the dog, the huge tent is for the wedding, or the new spark plug is for the car, in any of those cases you would use Para.

➢ Compré un escritorio nuevo para mi oficina. ➢ Este paquete vino hoy para ti. ➢ Necesitamos comprar una chaqueta nueva para Roberta. ➢ Mi hermano trabaja para la compañía de electricidad.

Works for: When speaking about someone’s employment, you also use Para to indicate who someone works for. Mi vecino trabaja para el gobierno. My neighbor works for the government. Gregorio y Luciano trabajan para un restaurante. Gregory and Luciano work for a restaurant. In order to: This comes very frequently before infinitive verbs. Whenever we use an infinitive verb to explain why someone does something, we need para. “I went there to get…” “She works hard to earn…” “They go there often to rest.” The word “to” in all of these sentences would be “para” in Spanish.

➢ Ellas estudian mucho para recibir una nota buena en el examen. ➢ Fuimos al cine muy temprano para conseguir los asientos perfectos. ➢ Tú necesitas practicar más para jugar con el equipo.

Special expressions using Para

para nada not at all para entonces by then, by that time

para siempre forever para (day/time) by (day/time)

▪ Ellos no estudian para nada. They don't study at all. ▪ Vamos a estar con Dios para siempre. We will be with God forever. ▪ Todos estuvimos cansados para entonces. We were all tired by then. ▪ Tengo que entregarlo para el ocho de febrero. I have to hand it in by the eighth of February

Deadlines: Usually the word "by" will be translated as por. The only time you use para to mean "by" is when you are using it as a deadline or time limit: do this by Thursday; make sure you are home by six; by the time you finish the book, we will be ready to go.


When do we use Por?

In exchange for: Use por whenever you pay for something or make some kind of deal or trade.

➢ Ellos compraron este carro por dos mil dólares. ➢ Él siempre cambia su sándwich por las galletas de su amigo.

By, by means of: When you are saying that a book is by an author, or a song is by a composer, use por. Also use it to say “they spoke by phone” or “he sent his money by mail.”

➢ Las chicas hablan por teléfono cada noche. ➢ Cien años de soledad, por Gabriel García Márquez, es muy famoso. ➢ Ellos llegaron por barco.

Through, along, around: This indicates a route of movement. The thief entered through the window, the people walked along the river, the path travelled through the park… it’s quite versatile!

➢ Ellos manejan por la carretera. ➢ Los domingos nos gusta caminar por la playa. ➢ Ando por la yarda en círculos cuando necesito pensar.

Per: Any kind of ratio, such as miles per hour, or slices of pizza per kid…

➢ Esa escuela tiene veinticuatro estudiantes por profesor. ➢ Mi carro no puede ir más rápido de setenta millas por hora.

Because of, for the sake of, for the love of: If I got you something for your birthday, I would say “por tu cumpleaños,” meaning I got it because of your birthday. Or if a young man is inspired to do some great deed for the one he loves, and afterwards says “I did it for you,” it would be “por ti” because the loved one is the cause, the inspiration, the reason behind him that pushes him forward.

➢ ¿Te gusta la pintura? La hice por ti. ➢ Por su amor increíble, Cristo vino al mundo.

On behalf of, in place of: If I’m afraid to talk to the boss, so I want you to go and talk to him on my behalf, I would say, “por favor, habla con el jefe por mí.” And when I say “Cristo murió por mí,” I mean that he died instead of me. If one person cannot fulfil his or her duty so someone else does it in his or her place, this would also be Por.

➢ El grupo dice que habla por los animales, porque los animales no tienen voz. ➢ Estás muy enfermo. Yo puedo cortar el césped por ti hoy.

Special expressions using Por

Ella perdió en anillo por allí. She lost the ring over there. El tornado destruyó la casa por completo. The tornado destroyed the house completely. Por suerte, el perro no salió por la puerta abierta. Luckily, the dog didn’t go out through the open door. Ella se cayó y los papeles fueron por todas partes. She fell and her papers went everywhere.

Note: The phrases por la mañana, por la tarde and por la noche are used to say when someone does something (she runs in the morning, he works at night...). You would not use these phrases for telling time (it's three in the afternoon...).

Por allí around there, over there

Por completo completely

Por fin finally

Por ejemplo for example

Por la mañana in the morning

Por la noche at night

Por la tarde in the afternoon

Por lo general generally, in general

Por suerte luckily

Por supuesto of course

Por todas partes everywhere


When something is for a person

An easy rule of thumb is this: If an item is for a person, use para. If a verb is done for a person, use por. El loro es para mi sobrina. The parrot is for my niece. Yo limpio la casa por mi sobrina. I clean the house for my niece. Using Por and Para with time

Para emphasizes when something happens, while Por indicates how long it occurs.

➢ Ellos fueron a España para el verano. This indicates when they went – in the summer. ➢ Ellos fueron a España por el verano. This tells us how long they were there – for the whole summer.

➢ Los invitados vienen para la Navidad. This indicates when the guests will come. ➢ Los invitados van a quedar por tres días. This tells us how long they will stay.

That said, Spanish speakers are more often likely to use Durante rather than Por to say how long something happens.

Ella estuvo en Puerto Rico durante dos meses. She was in Puerto Rico for two months. Las niñas caminaban en la calle durante una hora. The girls waked in the street for an hour. Cocinaba la comida para la boda durante tres días. I cooked food for the wedding for three days.


Pensar / creer Pensar means “to think,” while Creer means “to believe.” The difficulty is that when people give their opinions about a topic in English, we normally say “I think such and such,” while in Spanish, they would typically say “I believe this or that.” Look at the following examples:

I think the other team is cheating. Creo que el otro equipo está engañando. He thinks she is charming. Él cree que ella es encantadora. They don’t think the wall is high enough. No creen que el muro sea bastante alto. We think the song is nice, but he doesn’t. Creemos que la canción es bonita, pero él no.

So, if Spanish speakers don’t use “think” when they are stating opinions about something, when do they use the verb Pensar? They use it to describe the topic of someone’s thoughts, to indicate what someone is thinking about. He thinks about death a lot. I don’t know why. Él piensa en la muerte mucho. No sé por qué. Are you thinking about the summer? ¿Estás pensando en el verano? We never think about gravity, but it’s there! Nunca pensamos sobre la gravedad, pero ¡está allí! When I think about school, I get nervous. Cuando pienso acerca de la escuela, me pongo nervioso. As you can see in the examples above, when you think about something, you can use the prepositions sobre and acerca de. These both make sense to English speakers, based on what we have learned previously. However, it is important to know that the preposition en is also frequently used with Pensar. As a reminder, Pensar can also mean “to plan” or “to intend,” but only if you put an infinitive verb after it. They plan to lower the flag tomorrow. Piensan bajar la bandera mañana.

Cada vez más (more and more)

When someone or something is continually increasing in some characteristic or adjective, we generally use “more and more” to indicate this. Spanish uses the phrase Cada vez más in this situation. Encontrar a un amigo sincero es cada vez más difícil. Finding a sincere friend is harder and harder. Sus peleas son cada vez más frecuentes. Their fights are more and more frequent.



❖ Vocabulario: Sharing the good news ❖ Tiempos verbales: Subjunctive rules 3 and 4 ❖ Gramática: Punctuation ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Pescado / pecado ❖ Expresiones esenciales: O sea

Vocabulario: Sharing the good news Required Words.

Nacer (zc) to be born El evangelio gospel/good news

La virgen María the virgin Mary

Resucitar to resurrect

Pecar, Pecador to sin, sinner

Justo righteous, just, fair

Morir to die

La vida eterna eternal life

La muerte death

Confesar (ie) to confess

Castigar to punish

Arrepentirse (ie) to repent

El castigo punishment

Confiar to trust

El infierno hell

Compartir to share

Perdonar to forgive

Orar to pray

El perdón forgiveness

La oración prayer

La gracia grace El gozo joy

Review and Cognates

Creer to believe La cruz cross La alegría joy

El creyente believer La fe faith Amar to love

Dios God Santo saint / holy El amor love

Jesucristo Jesus Christ El pecado sin Salvar to save

Jesús Jesus El ángel angel La salvación salvation

El Espíritu Santo Holy Spirit El cielo heaven/sky La verdad truth, true

La Biblia the Bible El precio price El pastor pastor / shepherd



Use the subjunctive with impersonal phrases that evaluate somebody's (or something’s) action.

First consider these three examples, and then look carefully at the explanations of this rule below.

Es divertido que él lleve calcetines diferentes. It's funny that he wears different socks.

Es triste que no tengas ningún primo. It's sad that you don't have any cousins.

Es interesante que ellos no coman la carne. It's interesting that they don't eat meat.

- An impersonal phrase is one that lacks a subject (a doer). Rather than saying "I am interested in the fact that..." or "She feels sad because..." we simply say "it is (adjective) that such and such is true."

- Evaluating someone's action means we are judging it in some way. We are assigning it a quality or value of some kind.

- It has to be an action being done by someone or something. It can't just be an evaluation of an action in general. Someone or something needs to be doing the verb in the sentence.

Here are some more examples to illustrate this rule in action:

• Es interesante que ellos estudien en el gimnasio. It's interesting that they study at the gym.

• Es fascinante que esa ave no vuele. It's fascinating that that bird doesn't fly.

• Es terrible que ella no coma lo suficiente. It's terrible that she doesn't eat enough.

• Es maravilloso que él reciba tantos premios. It's amazing that he receives so many prizes.

• Es bonito que las niñas jueguen tan felizmente. It's nice that the girls play so happily.

• Es cómico que el mono lleve el sombrero. It's funny that the monkey wears the hat.

Caution #1: One common confusion that people have with this rule is the kinds of adjective that work and the kinds that don't. An adjective has to be judging the goodness or badness of the verb in some way for the rule to apply. Verbs that simply indicate the truthfulness of the verb do not count. Use the indicative (non-subjunctive) conjugation in that case.

Examples of adjectives that will cause subjunctive Adjectives that won't

Es bueno que… Es verdad que…

Es malo que… Es obvio que…

Es triste que… Es cierto que…

Es divertido que… Es claro que…

Es fantástico que… Es impresionante que… Es conveniente que…

Caution #2: If nobody/nothing in the sentence is doing the action, then you are just evaluating the action in a general sense. In this case, you will not use "que," and you will not conjugate the evaluated verb.

Subjunctive because someone is doing the action Infinitive, because no one is doing the verb

Es bueno que tú practiques mucho. Es bueno practicar mucho.

Es triste que ellos no tengan una casa. Es triste no tener una casa.

Es conveniente que vivamos cerca del metro. Es conveniente vivir cerca del metro.



Use the subjunctive after phrases that indicate probability, possibility, doubt, or denial.

Whether you are saying that something is probable, possible, unlikely, or impossible, it will cause a subjunctive phrase. On the other hand, if you say that something is certain, undeniable, obvious, or clear, it will not be said in the subjunctive. Likewise, saying that someone is unsure or denying something will make it subjunctive. However, if you say that someone thinks, believes, is sure or is confident of something, it will not be subjunctive. Compare the following examples as an illustration.

Certainty/belief (not subjunctive) Uncertainty/doubt/disbelief (subjunctive)

Yo creo que ellos viven en Valencia. No creo que ellos vivan en Valencia.

Es obvio que ella corre frecuentemente. Es posible que ella corra frecuentemente.

Ellos piensan que la profesora está correcta. Ellos dudan que la profesora esté correcta.

Zoe está segura de que sus abuelos vienen. Zoe niega que sus abuelos vengan.

The following expressions are important ones to learn so that you can use this subjunctive rule correctly:

Es fácil que It's likely that… No es cierto que It's not true that…

Es probable que It's probable that… Dudar que To doubt that…

Es posible que It's possible that… No estar seguro de que To not be sure that…

No es probable que It's not likely that… No estar convencido de que To not be convinced that…

Es dudoso que It's doubtful that… Negar que To deny that…

Es imposible que It's impossible that… No pensar que To not think that…

Es increíble que It's incredible that… No creer que To not believe that…

Es difícil creer que It's hard to believe that… Note: the gender and number of Seguro and Convencido will change based on who is (or is not) sure or convinced. Here are some more examples of subjunctive rule 4 in action:

Es fácil que Clara vaya a la universidad. It's likely that Clair will go to college.

Es probable que nieve esta tarde. It's probable that it snows (will snow) this afternoon.

Es dudoso que los Tigres ganen. It's doubtful that the Tigers will win.

Es imposible que terminemos a tiempo. It's impossible that we finish on time.

Es difícil creer que ella no esté casada. It's hard to believe she's not married.

Dudo que ella cambie su opinión. I doubt she changes her opinion.

No estoy convencido de que la casa valga el precio. I'm not convinced the house is worth the price.

No están seguro de que el presidente sepa los datos. They aren't sure the president knows the facts.

Niego que Sebastián sea consentido. I deny that Sebastian is spoiled.

Laura no cree que sus amigas sean orgullosas. Laura doesn't think her friends are proud.

Caution: Students tend to overapply this rule and use the subjunctive in two circumstances that it doesn't belong. ▪ Don't use the subjunctive with statements of belief, certainty or truth. ▪ Don't use the subjunctive when repeating information from another source.

NOT subjunctive Creemos que Dios es santo y poderoso. Ellos están seguros de que la economía está mejor.

Silvia dice que los caballos son majestuosos. El libro indica que los gatos no pueden manejar.

Los estudios muestran que el cielo es azul. Es claro que su madre está muy enferma.


Gramática: Punctuation

Periods

Spanish uses periods almost exactly like English does. They go at the end of sentences, of course. They also are used with abbreviations like Sr., Sra., Srta., Ud. and Uds. Finally, Spain and many Latin American countries use a period the way English uses a comma in long numbers, so that one thousand is written 1.000. Commas

Commas are slightly less frequent in Spanish than they are in English, but they are mostly used the same way. In general, just follow the English comma rules that you know: - After a direct address: Juan, salimos pronto. - To separate clauses: Los pájaros cantan, pero Luisa está durmiendo. - In dates and locations: Ellos viajan a Bogotá, Colombia, para un concierto este viernes, ocho de mayo. - After an introductory word or phrase: Naturalmente, ellos están enojados. Después de comer, salieron. However, there are some comma rules that you will have to un-learn: - Don't use a comma before the last item in a list: Ellos vieron un león, tres jirafas y dos rinocerontes. - Don't use a comma before a quote: Jesús respondió – Yo soy el camino, la verdad y la vida. Questions and Exclamations

As we have previously seen, Spanish has a couple of special characteristics with questions and exclamations: 1. There is an opening punctuation mark, which is upside down (in addition to the normal one at the end). 2. The opening mark might not be at the beginning of the sentence. It begins wherever the actual question or

exclamation begins.

❖ Ella compró un teléfono nuevo, y entonces ¡lo perdió! She bought a new phone, and then she lost it! ❖ Fuimos al parque y ¡estaba lleno de gente! We went to the park and it was full of people! ❖ Por cierto, ¿cuándo empieza la clase? By the way, when does the class start? ❖ Yo sé que no miras la tele, pero ¿por qué? I know you don't watch TV, but why?

Quotations

Spanish uses three different methods of indicating quotations. This varies somewhat by region, by the technology used to print, and by the preferences of the publisher. One thing to note about all the forms is that it is unusual to put the "So-and-so said," tag before the quote. The tag is more likely to come after. A dash:

–Yo quiero un sándwich de jamón – dijo Lorena–. ¿Dónde está el pan? Martina entró en el cuarto. – ¿Quién tomó mi bolígrafo? – preguntó.

Angular quotes: «Voy a la tienda. ¿Necesitas algo?», preguntó Sara, tomando las llaves de la mesa. English quotes: "¡Ay! Me duele la cabeza", dice Yolanda, con una expresión de angustia.


Pescado / pecado Pescado and pecado might look similar, but their meanings are important to keep separated! El pescado = fish (that has been caught for eating. El pez is the fish while alive.) El pecado = sin Both these nouns are the past participle of a verb. Pescar is “to fish,” and Pecar is “to sin.” Muchos católicos comen el pescado los viernes durante la Cuaresma. Many Catholics eat fish on Fridays during Lent. El pecado es una acción o un pensamiento que viola el carácter de Dios. Sin is an action or a thought that violates the character of God. Algunos veganos creen que es un pecado comer el pescado. Some vegans think it is a sin to eat fish.

O sea (or rather)

The expression O sea uses the subjunctive form of Ser. Translating this literally might go something like, “or it might be.” This phrase is very often used as a meaningless crutch word, thrown in during a moment of hesitation as you speak. It can also be used to change, clarify, or correct something you just said. See how the phrase is translated in a variety of ways in the English versions below. La rana es una criatura acuática, o sea, un anfibio, más concretamente. The frog is an aquatic creature, or rather, an amphibian, more specifically. No me gusta esa música, o sea, no estoy cómoda con lo que dice la letra. I don’t like that music, or in other words, I’m not comfortable with what the lyrics say. El propósito, o sea, la meta de nuestra organización es promover la igualdad. The purpose, that is, the goal of our organization is to promote equality.



❖ Vocabulario: Church ❖ Tiempos verbales: Subjunctive rule 5 ❖ Gramática: Capitalization ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Decir / hablar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: A ver

Vocabulario: Church Required Words:

El anciano elder Casarse to get married El cementerio cemetery

El diácono deacon La boda wedding Apoyar to support

El sacerdote priest El diezmo tithe El apoyo support

Adorar to worship La organización benéfica charity El líder leader

La adoración worship Predicar to preach Dirigir to direct

El canto / la canción song El predicador preacher Reunirse to meet

Bautizar to baptize El funeral funeral La reunión meeting


La iglesia church El himnario hymnal Asistir to attend El pastor pastor El servicio service Alabar to praise La congregación congregation El cristiano Christian Servir (i) to serve El himno hymn El misionero missionary La verdad truth

*In Spanish, the noun for “charity” (la caridad) refers to the characteristic; it is a quality that a charitable person has. It is not an organization or cause that people give to, like it can be in English. That is why we are learning organización benéfica as the term for charity, as in “a charitable organization.”

Una persona con mucha caridad apoya las organizaciones benéficas. A person with a lot of charity supports charities.



Use the subjunctive when describing the attributes of something unspecific or nonexistent. Unspecific: We often describe the attributes of something that a person needs, wants or is looking for. For example, she is looking for a suitcase that will hold all her shoes, or they need a dog that guards the shop. If the person has a specific one in mind, it will not be subjunctive. However, if the person would be satisfied with any item that fits that description (the individual identity of the item is not important), then the subjunctive will be used.

➢ Ella busca la maleta que es bastante grande para todos sus zapatos. (This is not subjunctive because there is a specific suitcase she is looking for.)

➢ Ella busca una maleta que sea bastante grande para todos sus zapatos. (This is subjunctive because she does not have a specific suitcase in mind.)

➢ Yo busco una bicicleta que tiene ruedas grandes. Tiene una etiqueta con mi nombre. (This is not subjunctive because it is a specific bike with big wheels. It is his, and it has his name on it.)

➢ Yo busco una bicicleta que tenga ruedas grandes. ¿Sabes dónde puedo comprar una? (This is subjunctive because he does not have a specific bike in mind. Any bike with big wheels will do.)

Here are some more examples of this rule in action. Notice that each phrase starts by saying that someone needs, wants or is looking for something, then it has the word que, then it uses the subjunctive to describe the characteristics.

❖ Ellos necesitan un carro que no use mucha gasolina. ❖ El profesor está buscando un libro que explique el concepto bien. ❖ Las chicas quieren ver una película que tenga un protagonista guapo. ❖ Me gustaría conocer a una persona que hable italiano.

Nonexistent: When you say that something doesn't exist, and then you describe that nonexistent thing, you use the subjunctive. For example, "There is no penguin that can fly." First, we said that something doesn't exist: There is no penguin. Then, we described this thing that doesn't exist: that can fly.

This rule is not limited strictly to things that don't exist. It could also apply to items you don't have, or people you don't know. Consider the following examples carefully:

No hay un joven en la iglesia que toque la guitarra. There is no young person in the church who plays the guitar.

No conocemos a nadie que juegue al tenis. We don't know anyone who plays tennis.

Roberto no tiene ningunos pantalones que no estén rotos. Roberto doesn't have any pants that aren't torn.

Sus primos no tienen ningún amigo que sea responsable. Her cousins don't have any friends that are responsible.

No hay un cine en la ciudad que dé boletos gratis. There isn't a theater in town that gives free tickets.

Caution: With this subjunctive rule, you need to have a phrase of nonexistence for the rule to apply. For example, if you are describing a nonexistent, mythical creature, you will not use the subjunctive in your description unless you begin with a statement saying that it does not exist.

Not subjunctive Un dragón es un reptil que tiene alas y echa fuego. A dragon is a reptile that has wings and spews fire.

Subjunctive No hay un reptil que tenga alas y eche fuego. There is no reptile that has wings and spews fire.

Note: With this subjunctive rule, you might sometimes use quien rather than que. Quiero conocer a un actor que sea simpático y humilde. Quiero conocer a un actor quien sea simpático y humilde.


Gramática: Capitalization

Spanish does not use capital letters nearly as much as English does. In particular, DO NOT use capital letters for the following items:

Days of the week Trabajo de lunes a viernes.

Months of the year No tenemos clases en junio.

Religions Ella es cristiana, pero su hermano es budista.

Nationalities Hay muchos cubanos en la Florida.

Language names Hablo francés, pero quiero aprender italiano.

Subject pronoun "I" Ellos tienen un perro, pero yo, no. However, Spanish does use capital letters for many of the same things as English.

Beginning a sentence Ellas vienen por autobús.

Place names Yo vivo en los Estados Unidos.

Marta viaja a San Juan, Puerto Rico hoy.

Holiday names Prefiero la Navidad más que el Día de San Valentín.

Other proper nouns Creo que Ernesto maneja una Mazda. There are some rules that are similar to English, but not exactly the same:

Book & movie titles: Capitalize only the first letter of the title. Leí la novela "Cien años de soledad", pero prefiero "El indio". Ellos estudiaron “El coloquio de los perros” en la clase de literatura. Names of geographical features: Capitalize the name, but not the type of feature. Ellos cruzaron el río Amazonas y nadaron en el lago Titicaca. La montaña Everest es muy difícil de escalar. Personal titles: Capitalize them when they are abbreviated, but not in their full forms. Ayer el doctor Cruz examinó a la señora Ruiz porque está enferma. Ayer el Dr. Cruz examinó a la Sra. Ruiz porque está enferma. La señorita Martínez vino para ver el proyecto. La Srta. Martínez vino para ver el proyecto.


Decir / hablar These two verbs are very closely related, but they are not identical in how they are used. Decir = to say or tell (this verb generally has a thing that is said or told) Hablar = to talk or speak (this verb is just about the action of talking, and does not have an object) Ella habla con sus amigos después de la clase. She talks with her friends after the class. Ella les dice sus pensamientos secretos. She tells them her secret thoughts. El doctor habló con el grupo de pacientes. The doctor spoke with the group of patients. Él dijo que necesitan estar en cuarentena. He said that they need to be in quarantine. Hablo mucho, pero no digo nada importante. I talk a lot, but I don’t say anything important. ¿Hablaste con Teodoro? ¿Qué dijiste? Did you talk with Theodore? What did you say?

A ver (let’s see)

Another verbal crutch, the phrase A ver just means “to see.” It is easy to throw into a sentence during a moment of hesitation. Creo que tenemos, a ver, siete u ocho días. I think we have, let’s see, seven or eight days. A ver, ¿dónde estaba ese libro? Let’s see, where was that book?



❖ Vocabulario: Prayer and the Bible ❖ Otro: How to pray in Spanish ❖ Tiempos verbales: Subjunctive rule 6 ❖ Tiempos verbales: Present perfect subjunctive ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Lavar / llevar / llamar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Entonces

Vocabulario: Prayer and the Bible Requires Words:

Agradecer (zc) to thank La voluntad will San Pedro Peter

Proteger to protect La ley law San Pablo Paul

La protección protection Las profetas prophets Santiago James

Sanar to heal Las epístolas epistles Adán y Eva Adam and Eve

Bendecir (i) to bless Los salmos Psalms Noé Noah

Demostrar (ue)* to show El discípulo disciple Moisés Moses

La misericordia mercy San Juan John José Joseph

*Demostrar means to show, in the sense of demonstrating some quality or attribute. It also means to demonstrate. Review and Cognates:

Cuidar Take care of La salvación salvation

Ayudar to help La Biblia the Bible

La ayuda help El Nuevo Testamento New Testament

Salvar to save El Antiguo Testamento Old Testament

Otro: How to pray in Spanish

Opening a prayer

The most traditional way to begin a prayer in Spanish is with Padre nuestro quien estás en el cielo. This is the first line of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father who is in heaven.” Here are some other ways in which people often address God Señor = Lord Padre celestial = Heavenly Father Nuestro padre = our Father


Offering thanks

An easy way to say thanks for something is with “gracias por.” This can go before a noun or before an infinitive verb. Gracias por la protección. Thank you for protection. Gracias por proteger a mi familia. Thank you for protecting my family. It is also very common to use the verb Agradecer. You can use “por” before a noun, or use “que” before a conjugated verb phrase. Te agradezco por la comida y la ropa. I thank you for food and clothing. Te agradezco que tenemos comida y ropa. I thank you that we have food and clothing. Te agradecemos por la protección. We thank you for your protection. Te agradecemos que nos proteges. We thank you that you protect us. Making requests

A very good way to ask God for something is with the verb Pedir. If a noun comes after it, you do not need any prepositions, but if you are asking God to do something, you will need que and the subjunctive. Pedimos la salud y nuestro pan de hoy. We ask for health and daily bread. Pedimos que ayudes a nuestros amigos. We ask that you help our friends. Te pido una actitud de generosidad. I ask you for a generous attitude. Te pido que cambies mi corazón. I ask that you change my heart. You can also say “Por favor,” and then use an imperative conjugation. This is something we will learn in lesson 30, but here is a quick preview. Simply use the él or ella form of the verb from the present tense, and this is almost always the imperative tú form. Por favor, ayuda a mi hermana. Please, help my sister. Salva a nuestros amigos, por favor. Save our friends, please. Por favor, protege nuestra comunidad. Please, protect our community. Demuestra tu gracia a nosotros, por favor. Show your grace to us, please. Closing a prayer

Pedimos en el nombre de Cristo Jesús = We ask in the name of Christ Jesus En el nombre de Jesús = In Jesus’ name Amén = Amen



Use the subjunctive after conjunctions that indicate an action is uncertain or hasn't happened yet.

A conjunction is a word or phrase that is used to join two clauses, and it says something about the relationship between those clauses. Look at the following examples.

She plays and her mom watches. The first clause and the second clause are both true.

She plays because her mom watches. The first clause is true because of the second clause.

She plays unless her mom watches. The first clause only happens if the second one doesn't. Some conjunctions indicate that we don't yet know if the verb that follows it is true or not. In Spanish, the verbs that follow these conjunctions would be subjunctive:

He will call unless his phone is broken. We don't know if the phone is broken or not.

They will come even if their child is sick. We don't know if their child is sick.

You can come as long as you have the money. We don't know if you have the money.

I brought a sandwich in case you are hungry. We don't know if you are hungry. Other conjunctions indicate that a verb has not happened yet. These conjunctions will also cause the verbs that follow to be subjunctive:

You can practice until the next student arrives. The next student hasn't arrived yet.

They will call after we make our decision. We haven't made the decision yet.

We will buy you new shoes as soon as we have the money. We don't have the money yet.

Make sure you mow the lawn before the rain starts. The rain hasn't started yet. Here are some of the most common conjunctions that cause the subjunctive:

A menos que unless Después de que after

Antes de que before En caso de que in case

Aunque* even if Hasta que until

Con tal de que as long as Para que so that

Cuando** when Tan pronto como as soon as

Here are a few examples to illustrate this rule:

Puedes nadar con tal de que tengas un traje de baño. You can swim as long as you have a bathing suit.

Ellos llamarán a la policía a menos que bajes la música. They'll call the cops unless you turn down the music.

Aunque vengan con mil dólares, no vendo la bici. Even if they come with $1,000, I won't sell the bike.

En caso de que veamos un oso, traje una pistola. In case we see a bear, I brought a gun.

Luis se cambia la ropa para que no arruine su ropa buena. Luis changes his clothes so that he doesn't ruin his good clothes.

*Aunque means "even if" when used with the subjunctive. When used with the indicative, it means "even though."

Javier no lleva los zapatos, aunque su mamá insista. Javier doesn't wear shoes, even if his mom insists.

Javier no lleva los zapatos, aunque su mamá insiste. Javier doesn't wear shoes, even though his mom insists.

**Cuando causes the subjunctive if the following action is in the future. It does not cause the subjunctive if the following action is habitual.

Ellos siempre comen la sopa cuando hace frío. They eat soup when it is cold.

Este invierno ellos van a comer la sopa cuando haga frío. This winter they will eat soup when it is cold.


Tiempos verbales: The present perfect subjunctive

The present perfect subjunctive works very predictably and is easy to learn. First, the conjugations are just like all the other perfect tenses. Simply use haber in the present subjunctive, followed by a past participle.

Yo haya vivido I have lived Nosotros hayamos visto We have seen

Tú hayas salido You have left Vosotros hayáis puesto You guys have put

Él haya comprado He has bought Ustedes hayan respondido You guys have responded

Deciding when to use the present perfect subjunctive is also very simple. It uses all the exact same 6 rules as the present subjunctive, except that the sentence has the word "has" in the verb phrase. Here is one example for each of the subjunctive rules we have learned.

El gobierno requiere que hayas firmado el documento. The government requires that you have signed the document.

Tía Carla prefiere que nos hayamos quitado los zapatos. Aunt Carla prefers that we have taken off our shoes.

Es fantástico que ella haya reparado la computadora. It's fantastic that she has fixed the computer.

No creemos que tú hayas dicho la verdad completa. We don't believe that you have told the whole truth.

Ellos buscan un empleado que haya recibido un título. They are looking for an employee that has received a degree.

Salimos tan pronto como hayas lavado los platos. We will leave as soon as you have washed the dishes.


Lavar / llevar / llamar The visual similarity between these three words is what often causes us to confuse them. Even more than the written confusion, however, is the verbal confusion. For example, many English speakers accidentally pronounce Lavar with a Y sound, as if it had a double L. Lavar (la bar) = to wash Llevar (yay bar) = to wear, to take, to carry Llamar (ya mar) = to call Say the following sentences carefully, paying attention to the single and double L’s. Lidia nos llama mientras llevamos la lavadora a la lavandería. Lidia calls us as we take the washing machine to the laundromat. Lavo la llama que lleva a mi yerno. I wash the llama that carries my son-in-law. Llamo a mi mamá quien lleva un delantal y lava los platos. I call my mom who wears an apron and washes the dishes.

Entonces

The word “entonces” has two very useful meanings:

• Entonces = therefore, so

• Entonces = then

No tengo dinero, entonces no voy a la tienda. I don’t have money, so I don’t go to the store. No estudió, entonces suspendió. She didn’t study, therefore she failed. Entonces… ¿qué hiciste? So… what did you do? ¿Qué hiciste entonces? What did you do then? Grité a mi hermana, entonces me sentí culpable. I shouted at my sister, then I felt guilty. Para entonces fue muy tarde. By then it was too late..



❖ Vocabulario: Armies and war ❖ Tiempos verbales: The imperative – positive tú forms ❖ Gramática: Exclamations ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Mover / mudarse ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Por lo visto

Vocabulario: Armies and war Required Words:

El rey king La plaza plaza, town square La reina queen

Conquistar to conquer

El ejército army

La conquista conquest El soldado soldier

Combatir to fight

La guerra war

El combate combat El guerrillero guerrilla fighter

Rescatar to rescue

La guardia guard

El rescate rescue, ransom La bandera flag

Derrotar to defeat

La paz peace

La derrota defeat La victoria victory

Pelear to fight

La batalla battle

La pelea fight La espada sword

Defender (ie) to defend

La pistola handgun/pistol La defensa defense

The term Guerrilla, meaning “little war,” originated in Spain during the Napoleonic era, when the Spanish commoners were fighting against the rule of the French. It is a method of warfare that has no official army or open warfare. Rather it works by doing damage to the enemy in secret, using ambush, sabotage, theft of supplies, and assassination. This is where the English term “guerilla warfare” comes from. While we would call these kinds of fighters “guerrillas” (pronounced like “gorillas”) in English, the correct Spanish term for them is Guerrilleros. Review and Cognates:

Tiempos verbales: The imperative – positive tú forms

The imperative mood is what we use for giving commands, instructions or suggestions. In English we simply use the infinitive, but without the "to" in front: Go to your room! Hold this for a moment, please. Sir, sign your name here and here. In Spanish it is more complicated, unfortunately. Some positive imperatives (Go this way!) will be formed differently from negative imperatives (Don't go that way!), and there are different rules for where to place object pronouns.

El país country El general general El rifle rifle Morir to die La ley law El capitán captain El revólver revolver Matar to kill La capital capital city La revolución revolution El conflicto conflict El enemigo enemy


Positive imperatives for tú

If you are telling someone what to do, and it is someone you would address as tú, most verbs are extremely easy to conjugate. You simply use the present tense tú form of the verb, and remove the S from the end. In effect, this is the same as using the él/ella/usted form as the imperative.

Tomar Alicia, por favor toma esta carpeta al jefe. Alicia, please take this folder to the boss.

Limpiar Limpia tu dormitorio antes de jugar. Clean your room before playing.

Comer Patricio, ¿adónde vas? ¡Come tu cena! Patricio, where are you going? Eat your dinner!

Pensar Adán, por favor, ¡piensa antes de que hables! Adam, please, think before you speak!

Contar, Cerrar Cuenta el dinero y cierra la tienda. Count the money and close the store.

There are just a few verbs that are irregular in this tense, and as you'll see, they are some of the usual suspects. Fortunately, most of them are just a simple shortened form of the infinitive, so they are not difficult to learn.

Decir Di Ser Sé

Hacer Haz Tener Ten

Poner Pon Ir Ve

Salir Sal Venir Ven

¡Ven acá y di la verdad! Come over here and tell the truth!

¡Ve pronto y haz tu cama! Go quickly and make your bed!

Sal del carro y pon las manos en el capó. Get out of the car and put your hands on the hood. Using object pronouns with positive imperatives

With positive imperatives, object and reflexive pronouns must come after the verb, attached as a single word. This is the only time a conjugated verb can have an object pronoun attached to the end of it, like you can do with the present participle (estamos buscándolo, estoy comiéndolas...). This applies to positive imperatives for all pronouns, not just tú.

The addition of the extra pronoun will change which syllable is the 2nd to last. We can't allow this to change where the verbal emphasis falls in the verb, so we need to add a written accent to maintain that emphasis in the original location.

For example, the natural emphasis in "mira" is on the i. If we said "mirame" (look at me), the a is now the 2nd last syllable, and we would say it "mirAme." To avoid this and keep the emphasis on the i, we need an accent: "mírame."

come eat cómelos eat them escribe write escríbelas write them

trae bring tráela bring it aprende learn apréndelo learn it

If there are two object pronouns, or an object and a reflexive pronoun, they will both come after the verb. The indirect or the reflexive pronoun will come first, and the direct object will come second.

pon put póntelos put them on compra buy cómpramela buy me it

abre open ábremelo open it for me explica explain explícaselo explain it to them

Determining where to put the accent: First determine where the emphasis falls in the conjugated form of the verb before the pronouns are added. Then when you add the pronoun(s), put the accent on the letter that previously received the emphasis.

Note: For an imperative that is only one syllable long, you will not need to add an accent if you only put one pronoun on the end. Two pronouns, however, will require an accent.

di dinos dínoslo da dale dásela

tell tell us tell us it give give him give him it


Gramática: Exclamations

Using interrogatives to form exclamations

Spanish exclamations are formed much like Spanish questions: 1. They have opening and closing punctuation 2. They use interrogatives with accents 3. They put the subject after the verb (if there is a verb and a subject)

¡Cuánto dinero tiene ella! How much money she has!

¡Cómo gritan tus hermanos! How your brothers shout!

There are two main differences between English exclamations and Spanish ones: 1. Spanish usually uses Qué (what) where English uses How. 2. Spanish does not use the indefinite article (a, an) between Qué and a noun.

¡Qué día! What a day! ¡Qué triste! How sad!

¡Qué niño! What a kid! ¡Qué interesante! How interesting!

¡Qué tormenta! What a storm! ¡Qué divertido! How funny!

While Qué is used in the majority of Spanish exclamations, there are other options used in specific constructions. Cómo can be used before a verb to exclaim about How that verb is being done. Cuánto can also be used before a verb to exclaim about How much the verb is being done. Cuántos/Cuántas can be used before a noun to exclaim about how much of that noun there is.

¡Cómo trabaja él! How he works! ¡Cuántos zapatos tiene ella! How many shoes she has!

¡Cuánto practicas! How much you practice! ¡Cuántas primas tienes! How many cousins you have! Exclaiming with an adjective and a noun

In English we often use the exclamation "What a (adjective) (noun)!" In Spanish, use the same construction from above, but put the adjective after the noun. To make it more emphatic, you could add más or tan before the adjective.

What an ugly dog! ¡Qué perro feo! ¡Qué perro tan feo! ¡Qué perro más feo!

What a sad play! ¡Qué drama triste! ¡Qué drama tan triste! ¡Qué drama más triste!

What a precious child! ¡Qué niño precioso! ¡Qué niño tan precioso! ¡Qué niño más precioso! Common Spanish exclamations

None of the following expressions are translated literally. Instead, they are translated with an English equivalent that is fairly similar in meaning. I have purposely omitted the expressions that use God's name (Por dios, Dios mío) even though they are extremely common.

¡Qué guay! (Spain) How cool!

¡Qué chévere! (Lat. Am.) How cool!

¡Qué vergüenza! How embarrassing!

¡Qué lástima! What a shame!

¡Qué lío! What a mess! (meaning a messy situation, not a literal mess)

¡Qué bárbaro! ¡Qué barbaridad! Wow! My goodness!

¡Qué locura! That's crazy!

¡No me digas! No way!

¿En serio? Seriously?


Mover / mudarse Mover means to move an item from one place to another, or to move your body, and similar uses. El gato no mueve. ¿Está muerto? The cat isn't moving. Is it dead? ¿Puedes mover tu cabeza? ¡No puedo ver! Can you move your head? I can't see! No puede mover el carro a causa de la nieve. He can't move the car because of the snow. Mudar means to move from one home to another. It is usually reflexive, since we move ourselves, rather than have someone else move us. Mi amigo mejor se mudó a Ecuador. My best friend moved to Ecuador. Él renunció porque no quería mudarse. He quit because he didn't want to move. ¿Cuándo te vas a mudar a Italia? When are you going to move to Italy?

Por lo visto (apparently)

Literally meaning “by that which is seen,” the phrase Por lo visto would most commonly be translated as “apparently.” Por lo visto, ellos tienen muchos invitados. Apparently, they have a lot of guests. El señor Ramírez es el nuevo gerente, por lo visto. Mr. Ramirez is the new manager, apparently. Creen, por lo visto, que no eres responsable. They think, apparently, that you are not responsible.



❖ Vocabulario: Politics and problems ❖ Tiempos verbales: The imperative – all other forms ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Lavar / limpiar ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Por lo menos

Vocabulario: Politics and problems Required Words:

El crimen crime La república republic

La cárcel jail El comunismo communism

Robar to steal, rob El socialismo socialism

El robo theft, robbery Votar to vote

El ladrón thief La elección election

La corte court La libertad liberty, freedom

Protestar to protest La independencia independence

La protesta protest Independiente independent

El gobierno government El candidato candidate

El congreso congress Reformar to reform

La democracia democracy La reforma reform


El criminal criminal La monarquía monarchy La nación nation

El juez judge Comunista communist El país country

El abogado lawyer Socialista socialist El estado state

Democrático democratic Liberal liberal El gobernador governor

Republicano republican Convervador conservative El dictador dictator


Tiempos verbales: The imperative – all other forms

Besides the positive tú form, all imperatives are conjugated exactly like the present subjunctive:

Positive Negative Positive Negative

Tú

Come No comas

Nosotros

Hablemos No hablemos

Habla No hables Despertemos No despertemos

Despierta No despiertes Vengamos No vengamos

Conduce No conduzcas Vayamos No vayamos

Ven No vengas

Ustedes

Coman No coman

Ve No vayas Conduzcan No conduzcan

Usted

Coma No coma Vengan No vengan

Despierte No despierte Vayan No vayan

Venga No venga Vaya No vaya

Here are some examples of these imperatives in use:

Este concierto es importante. ¡No lleguen tarde! This concert is important. Don't arrive late!

Por favor, firme usted este documento aquí. Please sign this document here.

Escuchen con cuidado y repitan lo que digo. Listen carefully and repeat what I say.

Francisco, no frustres a tu hermana. Francisco, don't frustrate your sister.

Oigan, amigos, ¡salgamos! Listen, friends, let's leave!

Sr. Martinez, no conduzca sin sus gafas. Mr. Martinez, don't drive without your glasses.

Niñas, cambien su ropa. No duerman en los vestidos. Girls, change your clothes. Don't sleep in your dresses.

Using object pronouns with negative imperatives

Negative imperatives work just like all other conjugated verbs: object pronouns may only come in front of them.

No me mientas don't lie to me No te la pongas don't put it on

No se caigan don't fall No se la envíen don't send him it

No la toquen don't touch it No me lo tires don't throw me it

No lo crea don't believe it No me lo digas don't tell me it

As a reminder, object pronouns come attached to the end of positive imperatives, no matter who does them.

Estúdienlo Study it Comprémosla Let’s buy it

Véndalas Sell them Escríbale Write to him/her

Repitámosla Let’s repeat it Tíreselo Throw it to him/her

Créanme Believe me Pídanselo Ask him/her it


Lavar / limpiar Lavar = to wash (typically involving soap and water) Limpiar = to clean (which can mean soap and water, but doesn’t have to Esteban limpió el cuarto de baño, pero no lavó el inodoro. Steven cleaned the bathroom, but he didn’t wash the toilet. Limpio el interior de mi carro, pero dejo que la lluvia lave el exterior. I clean the inside of my car, but I allow the rain to wash the outside. Katia se lavó las manos después de limpiar la jaula de los pájaros. Katie washed her hands after cleaning the bird cage.

Por lo menos (at least)

A useful expression for saying that something could have been worse, Por lo menos is a good one to add to your vocabulary! Me caí, pero por lo menos mi teléfono no se quebró. I fell, but at least my phone didn’t break. Juanita no estudió mucho. Por lo menos repasó el vocabulario. Juanita didn’t study much. At least she reviewed the vocabulary.



❖ Vocabulario: Review ❖ Tiempos verbales: Review ❖ Gramática: List of topics to study ❖ Verbos vitales y confusiones comunes: Review ❖ Expresiones esenciales: Review

Vocabulario: Review

Agarrar to catch, grab El guante glove La gallina hen

Agradecer to thank El hielo ice La garganta throat

Alimentar to feed El horno oven La granja farm

Apoyar to support El hueso bone La guerra war

Barato cheap El jabón soap La harina flour

Bendecir to bless El jarabe syrup La hoja leaf

Caro expensive El ladrón thief La independencia independence

Castigar to punish El mono monkey La ley law

Cazar to hunt El nieto grandson La libertad freedom

Chocar to crash El pasajero passenger La llanta tire

Cobrar to charge El peligro danger La mantequilla butter

Compartir to share El pinchazo puncture, flat tire La mosca fly

Confiar to trust El piso floor La navaja razor

Derrotar to defeat El préstamo loan La paz peace

Disfrutar to enjoy El resfriado cold La práctica practice

El aceite oil El rey king La protección protection

El anillo ring El sacerdote priest La receta recipe, prescription

El árbitro referee, umpire El sobrepeso overweight La reina queen

El asiento seat, chair El soldado soldier La rueda wheel

El ave bird El taller shop La sábana bedsheet

El azúcar sugar El volante steering wheel La serpiente snake

El burro donkey Ensayar to rehearse La tarjeta de débito debit card

El cabello hair Esconder to hide La tormenta storm

El cajero cashier Facturar to check Lanzar to throw

El campamento camp Inscribirse to sign up Las calificaciones grades

El cerebro brain Justo fair, just Los apuntes notes

El conejo rabbit La adoración worship Los impuestos taxes

El crimen crime La araña spider Malgastar to waste

El cuñado brother-in-law La ballena whale Mentiroso dishonest

El dolor pain La bandera flag Nacer to be born

El edificio building La barba beard Ordenar to tidy

El ejército army La bebida drink Parar to stop, to stand

El equipaje luggage La beca scholarship Pelear to fight

El equipo team La bocina horn Pobre poor

El escenario stage La boda wedding Protagonizar to star

El espejo mirror La cadena chain, necklace Rizado curly


El evangelio gospel La cancha court Sanar to heal

El freno brake La cárcel jail Tener éxito to succeed

El gerente manager La cuenta de ahorros savings account Tirar to throw

El gobierno government La empresa business Toser to cough


To help with reviewing all the tenses we have studied so far, here is a comparison of two regular verbs in each of the tenses. Present Present progressive Preterit Imperfect Future Conditional

Re

gula

r A

R v

erb

Yo hablo estoy hablando hablé hablaba hablaré hablaría

Tú hablas estás hablando hablaste hablabas hablarás hablarías

Él/ella/Ud. habla está hablando habló hablaba hablará hablaría

Nosotros hablamos estamos hablando hablamos hablábamos hablaremos hablaríamos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. hablan están hablando hablaron hablaban hablarán hablarían

(speak) (is speaking) (spoke) (used to speak)

(will speak) (would speak)

Re

gula

r ER

ve

rb

Yo como estoy comiendo comí comía comeré comería

Tú comes estás comiendo comiste comías comerás comerías

Él/ella/Ud. come está comiendo comió comía comerá comería

Nosotros comemos estamos comiendo comimos comíamos comeremos comeríamos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. comen están comiendo comieron comían comerán comerían (eat) (is eating) (ate) (used to eat) (will eat) (would eat)

Present perfect Past perfect Future perfect Conditional perfect

Re

gula

r A

R v

erb

Yo he hablado había hablado habré hablado habría hablado

Tú has hablado habías hablado habrás hablado habrías hablado

Él/ella/Ud. ha hablado había hablado habrá hablado habría hablado

Nosotros hemos hablado habíamos hablado habremos hablado habríamos hablado

Ellos/ellas/Uds. han hablado habían hablado habrán hablado habrían hablado

(have spoken) (had spoken) (will have spoken) (would have spoken)

Re

gula

r ER

ver

b

Yo he comido había comido habré comido habría comido

Tú has comido habías comido habrás comido habrías comido

Él/ella/Ud. ha comido había comido habrá comido habría comido

Nosotros hemos comido habíamos comido habremos comido habríamos comido

Ellos/ellas/Uds. han comido habían comido habrán comido habrían comido (have eaten) (had eaten) (will have eaten) (would have eaten)


Present subjunctive Present perfect subjunctive Positive tú imperative Other imperatives

Re

gula

r A

R v

erb

Yo hable haya hablado habla

Tú hables hayas hablado no hables

Él/ella/Ud. hable haya hablado hable

Nosotros hablemos hayamos hablado hablemos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. hablen hayan hablado hablen

(speak) (have spoken) (speak!)

Re

gula

r ER

ver

b

Yo coma haya comido come

Tú comas hayas comido no comas

Él/ella/Ud. coma haya comido coma

Nosotros comamos hayamos comido comamos

Ellos/ellas/Uds. coman hayan comido coman (eat) (have eaten) (eat!)

For the final exam, you must be able to conjugate any regular verb in all of the tenses above. However, the focus on the written and multiple-choice tests will be on the following:

• Present

• Present Progressive

• Preterit

• Imperfect

• Future

• Conditional

• Present Perfect

• Subjunctive

• Positive and negative imperatives

Additionally, you need to know the meaning of, and be able to conjugate, the following verbs in the indicated tenses: Verbs with vowel stem changes in the present tense: Cerrar, Empezar, Entender, Mentir, Pensar, Perder, Preferir, Tener, Venir, Querer, Dormir, Encontrar, Jugar, Morir, Poder, Volver, Decir, Elegir, Repetir, Pedir, Seguir, Servir

Verbs that get an added Y in the present tense: Construir, Destruir, Oir

Verbs with unique Yo forms in the present tense: Agradecer, Conducir, Conocer, Obedecer, Decir, Tener, Venir, Dar, Ver, Hacer, Poner, Caerse, Traer, Salir, Oír, Saber

Verbs that get special spelling changes in the present, the preterit, and/or the subjunctive to keep soft C’s and G’s soft, or to keep hard C’s and G’s hard: Dirigir, Elegir, Proteger, Recoger, Seguir, Conseguir, Pagar, Jugar, Sacar, Tocar, Empezar, Almorzar

Other present tense irregulars: Ir, Ser, Estar

Verbs that get stem changes in the progressive: IR verbs that have present tense stem changes

Verbs that get a Y added in the progressive: Those that end up with a combination such as: aie, oie, eie, uie


Verbs to know in the preterit: Hacer, Decir, Tener, Saber, Estar, Poder, Poner, Traer, Querer, Dar, Ver, Mentir, Dormir, Morir, Elegir, Pedir, Seguir, Servir, Ser, Ir, Caer, Creer, Destruir, Construir, Oír

Verbs to know in the imperfect: Ser, Ir, Ver

Verbs to know in the future and conditional: Venir, Poner, Salir, Tener, Hacer, Decir, Haber, Poder, Querer, Saber

Verbs to know in the present perfect: Abrir, Decir, Escribir, Hacer, Morir, Poner, Romper, Ver, Volver

Verbs to know in the subjunctive: Estar, Ser, Ir, Saber, Dar

Positive tú form imperatives to know: Venir, Decir, Salir, Hacer, Tener, Ir, Poner, Ser

Gramática: Items to study for the final exam

✓ Noun gender, especially predictable endings and the most common unpredictable ones (lesson 2) ✓ Changing the gender and number of nouns and adjectives (lesson 2) ✓ When to use and omit definite and indefinite articles (lesson 2) ✓ Adjective placement (lesson 3) ✓ Making comparisons (lesson 4) ✓ Making requests with the present tense (lesson 4) and the conditional (lesson 18) ✓ How to use reflexive pronouns (lesson 5) ✓ Reflexive expressions (lesson 5) ✓ The reflexive passive (lesson 6) ✓ Where to put object pronouns (lesson 6) ✓ Direct and indirect object pronouns (lesson 7) and double object pronouns (lesson 8) ✓ Cardinal and ordinal numbers, and fractions (lesson 9) ✓ The date and the time (lesson 10) ✓ When to conjugate and when to use infinitives (lesson 11) ✓ How to use Gustar and similar verbs (lesson 13) ✓ Normal and emphatic possessive adjectives (lesson 14) ✓ Adverbs (lesson 15) ✓ Prepositions and prepositional pronouns (lesson 16) ✓ How to form questions (lesson 17) ✓ The normal and the neuter demonstrative adjectives (lesson 18) ✓ Positive and negative terms (lesson 20) ✓ The true passive voice (lesson 21) ✓ Relative pronouns (lesson 22) ✓ Bien, bueno, muy, mucho, más (lesson 24) ✓ Indefinite and negative terms (lesson 25) ✓ Por and para (lesson 26) ✓ Exclamations (lesson 30)



➢ Ir ➢ Ser / estar ➢ Tener ➢ Haber ➢ Ponerse / vestirse ➢ Sentirse / sentarse ➢ Perder / poder ➢ Tomar / tocar / sacar / llevar ➢ Tiempo / vez / rato

➢ Salir / dejar ➢ Tratar de / probar ➢ Enseñar / aprender ➢ Saber / conocer ➢ Largo / grande ➢ Bajo / corto ➢ Hacer ➢ Mirar / buscar / cuidar ➢ Volver / devolver / revolver

➢ Dar ➢ Pedir / preguntar ➢ Foto / imagen ➢ Jugar / tocar ➢ Pescado / pecado ➢ Decir / hablar ➢ Mover / mudarse ➢ Lavar / limpiar

Review

❖ Está bien ❖ Bueno ❖ Por favor ❖ Gracias ❖ De nada ❖ Con mucho gusto ❖ Estar a punto de ❖ Es que, la cosa es que ❖ Lo siento

❖ Disculpa, disculpe ❖ De vez en cuando ❖ Poco a poco ❖ A lo mejor ❖ En vez de ❖ A causa de ❖ Puesto que ❖ Por eso ❖ En cuanto a

❖ Estar de acuerdo ❖ Sin embargo ❖ En cambio ❖ ¿Verdad? ❖ ¿De veras? ❖ Cada vez más ❖ Este, em ❖ Por lo visto ❖ Por lo menos

Documents

An Intermediate-level Spanish Grammar and Vocabulary Textbook