User:Mithridates/Spanish

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Dialogue 1

Two good friends - Carmen and Roberto - are meeting:

Flag of Spain Diálogo - ¡Hola!

Carmen: ¡Hola Roberto! ¿Cómo estás? Roberto: Yo estoy bien, gracias. Y tú, ¿cómo estás? Carmen: Estoy bien. Roberto: ¿Hay algo nuevo para contar? Carmen: No mucho. ¡Adiós Roberto! Roberto: Adiós, hasta mañana.

Listen to the dialogue. (139KB)

Vocabulary

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario - ¡Hola!

Greetings hola listen ¿Cómo estás? listen ¿Cómo está? listen (Yo) estoy bien listen (muchas) gracias listen de nada listen y listen tú listen ¿Qué pasa? listen ¿Qué tal? listen ¿Qué hay de nuevo? listen no mucho listen nada ¡Adiós! listen ¡Hasta mañana! listen ¡Hasta luego! listen ¡Nos vemos! hello How are you? (informal) How are you? (formal) I'm fine Thank you (very much) You're welcome and you (informal) What's going on? What's up? What's new? not much nothing Goodbye! See you tomorrow! See you later! See you!

Dialogue 2

Two people - Señor González and Señora Pérez - are meeting for the first time:

Flag of Spain Diálogo - ¡Buenos días!

Señor González: Buenos días. ¿Cómo se llama usted? Señora Pérez: Me llamo Ana Pérez. Y usted, ¿cómo se llama? Señor González: Soy Luis González. Encantado. Señora Pérez: Encantada.

Listen to the Dialogue. listen

Vocabulary

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario - ¡Buenos días!

Good day! Buenos días listen Buenas tardes listen Buenas noches listen Me llamo... listen Soy... listen tú listen ¿Cómo te llamas? listen usted listen ¿Cómo se llama (usted)? listen Encantado/Encantada listen Mucho gusto. listen Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night. My name is... (literally: I call myself...) I am... you (informal) What is your name? (informal) you (formal) What is your name? (formal) Nice to meet you. It's a pleasure [to meet you]

Exercise: Greetings

Grammar: Personal Pronouns

Spanish has six different types of pronouns.

Spanish Flag Gramática - Los Pronombres

Person English equivalent Spanish equivalent 1st person singular (1) I yo 2nd person singular (2) singular you (informal) tú 3rd person singular (3) he, she, you (formal) él, ella, usted 1st person plural (4) we nosotros, nosotras 2nd person plural (5) plural you (informal) vosotros, vosotras 3rd person plural (6) they, you (formal) ellos, ellas, ustedes

A few things to keep in mind:

• It is normal in Spanish to omit the personal pronoun (i.e. you seldom say yo estoy bien but estoy bien, and you ask ¿Cómo se llama? instead of ¿Cómo se llama usted?) because the specific conjugation of a verb usually indicates which person is the subject. However, usted, él and ella all use the same verb form so if you choose to drop the pronoun in this case it must be clear in the situational context which pronoun is being referenced.
• In most of Spain the vosotros form can be used to address a group of familiar people (e.g. friends), and ustedes is used with more formality (e.g. recent acquaintances). In all Latin American countries and parts of Spain ustedes is used also for a familiar group of people; in these countries the "vosotros" form is almost never used.
• In Argentina and parts of Uruguay, the tu form is replaced with vos.
• Usted and ustedes can be abbreviated as Ud. and Uds., respectively.

Grammar: Verbs ser and estar

Spanish has two different words that can be translated with "to be". Ser is used more for more permanent characteristics ("Soy Luis") whereas estar is used for more temporary or changeable conditions, such as location ("La papelera está al lado del escritorio", "The trash can is beside the desk") and feeling ("Estoy bien"). In future lessons we will come back to the uses of ser and estar.

Here we will look at the conjugations in the present indicative.

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario - El verbo ser

Saying "to be" (yo) soy (tú) eres (él, ella, usted) es (nosotros) somos (vosotros) sois (ellos, ellas, ustedes) son I am you are he, she, you is/are we are you all are they, you all are

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario - El verbo estar

Saying "to be" (yo) estoy (tú) estás (él, ella, usted) está (nosotros) estamos (vosotros) estáis (ellos, ellas, ustedes) están I am you are he, she, you is/are we are you all are they, you all are

Ejemplos de los verbos ser y estar (Examples of the Verbs ser and estar)

Spanish (español)	English (inglés)
Yo soy una persona.	I am a person.
Yo estoy en casa.	I am at home
Tú eres un buen hombre.	You are a good man.
Tú estás en el sitio correcto.	You are in the correct place.
Él es mi amigo.	He is my friend.
Él está jugando muy bien.*	He is playing very well.

Note: *This use of estar is the Spanish present progressive which is used for actions in progress. More about the present progressive in Lesson X

Dialect Note: Spanish which uses the vos form conjugates ser with the following irregular form: sos.

Exercise: Verbs ser and estar

Hay

Spanish uses a different verb (haber) to express "there is " and "there are". The form of haber used for this purpose is hay, for both singular ("there is") and plural ("there are").

English (inglés)	Spanish (español)
there is there are	hay

Spanish alphabet

Here is the normal Spanish alphabet. However words aren't alphabetized by it. Please read the notes and sections below. (Blue letters are a part of the normal English alphabet.)

Audio: OGG (646KB)

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	ñ	o	p	q	r	rr	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
Notes about Ñ and RR
Ñ should always be alphabetized after N no matter where it appears in the word (e.g., muñeca goes after mundo). RR is considered a letter in the Spanish language, but there are no words beginning with this letter. It is alphabetized after R (e.g., carro comes after caro).
Notes about CH and LL
CH and LL used to be considered as distinct letters of the alphabet, but in 1994, the Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) declared that CH and LL were not letters but digraphs. Accordingly, words beginning with CH and LL are now alphabetized under C and L, respectively.
Notes about K and W
K and W are part of the alphabet but are mostly seen in foreign derived words and names, such as karate and whisky. For instances, kilo is commonly used in Mexico to refer to a kilogram.

Although the above will get you understood, proper pronunciation of Spanish consonants is a bit more complicated:

Most of the consonants are pronounced as they are in American English with these exceptions:

• b like the English b at the start of a word and after m or n; otherwise closer to v (in Latin America there's no distinction)
• c before a, o, u and other consonants, like English k
• c before i and e like English th in “think” (in Latin America is like English s)
• ch like ch in “cheese”
• d between vowels (even if it starts a word following a word ending in a vowel) or at the end of a word, like English d in dental
• g before e or i like the Scottish pronunciation of ch in “loch”, except that it is voiced
• g before a or o like g in “get”
• h is always silent (except in the digraf ch)
• j like the h in hotel
• ll is pronounced like English y in “yes”
• ñ like nio in “onion” (or gn in French cognac)
• q like the English k
• r slighty trilled; like a soft d except at the beginning of a word or after l, n or s where it is trilled
• rr should be trilled longer than a single r
• v is pronounced like a cross between a v and a b
• z like the English th (in Latin America is like English s)

Vowel pronunciation

The pronunciation of vowels is as follows:

• a [a] "La Mano" as in "Kahn" (ah)
• e [e] "Mente" as the ay in "day" (e)
• i [i] "Sin" as the ea in "lean" (i)
• o [o] "Como" as in "no". (short o)
• u [u] "Lunes" as in "toon" or "loom" (oo)

The "u" is always silent after "q" (as in "qué" pronounced kā).

Spanish also uses the ¨ (diaeresis) diacritic mark over the vowel u to indicate that it is pronounced separately in places where it would normally be silent. For example, in words such as vergüenza ("shame") or pingüino ("penguin"), the u is pronounced as in the English "w" and so forms a diphthong with the following vowel: [we] and [wi] respectively. It is also used to preserve sound in stem changes and in commands.

Semi-Vowels

• y [j] "Rey" as in the y of "yet".

Acute accents

Spanish uses the ´ (Acute) diacritic mark over vowels to indicate a vocal stress on a word that would normally be stressed on another syllable; Stress is contrastive. For example, the word ánimo is normally stressed on a, meaning "mood, spirit." While animo is stressed on ni meaning "I cheer." And animó is stressed on mó meaning "he cheered." [[:Media:|listen]]

Additionally the acute mark is used to disambiguate certain words which would otherwise be homographs. It's used in various question word or relative pronoun pairs such as cómo (how?)& como (as), dónde(where?) & donde (where), and some other words such as tú (you) & tu (your), él (he/him) & el (the).

A	E	I	O	U
á	é	í	ó	ú

Emphasis

The rules of stress in Spanish are:

1. When the word ends in a vowel or in "n" or "s" the emphasis falls on the second to last syllable.

Eg: Mañana, Como, Dedos, Hablan.

2. When the word ends in a consonant other than "n" or "s", the emphasis falls on the last syllable.

Eg: Ciudad, Comer, Reptil.

3. If the above two rules don't apply, there will be an accent to show the stress.

Eg: Fíjate, Inglés, Teléfono.

4. SPECIAL CASE: Adverbs ending in -mente, which are derived from adjectives, have two stresses. The first stress occurs in the adjective part of the adverb, on the syllable where the adjective would normally be stressed. The second stress occurs on the -men- syllable.

Eg: Solamente, Felizmente, Cortésmente.

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The Indefinite Article

In English the indefinite articles are a and an (singular) or some (plural). In Spanish there are different forms for masculine-gender, feminine-gender, singular or plural.

Spanish Flag The Indefinite Article La Grammatica

"A" "Some" un una unos unas a (masculine singular) a (feminine singular) some (masculine plural) some (feminine plural)

Examples:

un niño	a boy
una niña	a girl
unos niños	some boys
unas niñas	some girls

For phonetic reasons some words beginning with accented a may have the article un: un ave blanca (a white bird), las aves blancas (the white birds). This is basically the same idea as el ave blanca (the white bird).

Remember, do not confuse uno (one) with un (a or an).
Also, do not confuse una (a or an) with uña (fingernail).

Exercise: Spanish/Exercises/Articles

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Text

Here are a couple of sentences and short dialogs about people planning/doing leisure activities. Besides the new vocabulary you should also have a look at how the verbs are conjugated depending on the subject of the sentence.

Flag of Spain Diálogo - Los Verbos

Maria viaja a México Luis: ¿Qué hacen por la noche? Ana y Carmen: Nosotras bailamos en la fiesta. Raúl: ¿Qué haces mañana? Carlos: Mañana practico al tenis. Marco mira la televisión porque hace mal tiempo. Pedro y Mario toman unos refrescos. Rosalía escribe a sus padres los domingos.

As you may see, each verb is bolded. These verbs are conjugated, that is, changed by the person(s) to which they are referring. Notice that subject pronouns are not necessary.

Vocabulary for text

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario - Viajar

Travelling viajar hacer la noche bailar la fiesta mañana practicar mirar porque buen tiempo mal tiempo tomar beber el refresco el domingo escribir los padres to travel to do, to make night to dance party tomorrow to practice to watch, to look at because nice weather bad weather to take, to drink to drink soda, soft drink Sunday to write parents

Regular Verbs

Spanish has three different types of regular verbs: -ar, -er, and -ir verbs. The subject pronoun is not necessary and in conversational Spanish it is only used for emphasis, for this lesson, we will omit it. One can still use pronouns, however. The conjugation pattern is the following:

Spanish Flag Gramática - El presente regular

Person -ar -er -ir Infinitive hablar comer vivir English to talk to eat to live 1 hablo como vivo 2 hablas comes vives 3 habla come vive 4 hablamos comemos vivimos 5 hablais comeis vivís 6 hablan comen viven

As one can see, the endings for each person are different. This is similar to other Romance languages, such as Portuguese and Italian (the notable exception is French). This is the reason why we may omit the pronouns while we speak. Remember that sometimes it is best to clarify whether él, ella, or usted is speaking, because they share the same form. However, the context of the rest of the sentence sometimes clarifies this. There are a few steps involved with conjugating a verb. Here are the steps involved:

1. Take the ending off of the infinitive. This is either an -ar, -er, or -ir.
2. Without the -ar, -er, or -ir, the verb is in its base form.
3. Add the appropriate ending to the base of the verb.

Notice that there are only two differences between the conjugations of -er and -ir verbs. The nosotros (4) and vosotros (5) forms are the only differences. Those forms have an "i" in the stem instead of an "e."

Exercise: Regular Verbs

"G" Verbs

The verb hacer means to do or to make. Hacer is irregular in the first person singular form (I) of the present tense only. The irregular form is hago. Hacer is one of the many verbs in Spanish which add a "g" in the first person singular of the verb. This is the present indicative of the verb hacer.

Spanish Flag Gramática - El verbo hacer

Person Verb form 1 hago 2 haces 3 hace 4 hacemos 5 haceis 6 hacen

Note that the verb hacer is translated as to do and to make when referring to activities. But it can also be used to talk about weather conditions:

El Tiempo	The Weather
Hace buen tiempo.	The weather is good.
Hace mal tiempo.	The weather is bad.
Hace frío.	It's cold.
Hace fresco.	It's chilly.
Hace calor.	It's hot.
Hace sol.	It's sunny.
Hace nublado.	It's cloudy.
Hace viento.	It's windy.

When speaking about the weather using hacer, the Ud. form (third singular form) is always used.

El vocabulario (Vocabulary) - Los días (Days)

Los dias de la semana	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
	el lunes	el martes	el miércoles	el jueves	el viernes	el sábado	el domingo

Audio: OGG (157KB)

• The Spanish week begins on Monday (el lunes), unlike the English week (which begins on Sunday/el domingo).

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Una fiesta

Una fiesta entre amigos. Nosotros bailamos y convivimos en el jardín de esta casa.
A party among friends. We dance and enjoy ourselves in the patio (garden) of this house.

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Stem Changing Verbs

In Spanish, some verbs change their stems when they are conjugated. These verbs are known as stem-changing verbs. Many of these verbs are important and often used. There are three different types of stem changing verbs in Spanish:

Spanish Flag Cambios de los Verbos Los Verbos

Types of Stem-Changing Verbs e → ie e → i o → ue

The stem changes for all conjugations, excepting nosotros/as and vosotros/as. The endings are the same as for regular verbs (-o for yo, -as/-es for tú, ...).

Entender
To Understand

I understand	yo entiend	o
You understand	tú entiend	es
He understands	él entiend	e
She understands	ella entiend	e
You understand	Usted entiend	e
We understand	nosotros entend	emos
You (pl.) understand	vosotros entend	eis
They understand	ellos entiend	en
You (pl form) understand	Ustedes entiend	en

Note that the stem change is done for the second 'e' (not the first one) - in general the stem always changes for the last vowel before the -ar/-er/-ir ending.

Example: pedir (e->i) to ask for, to order

Pedir
To Ask For, Order

I ask for	yo pid	o
You ask for	tú pid	es
He asks for	él pid	e
She asks for	pid	e
You (form) ask for	Usted pid	e
We ask for	nosotros ped	imos
You (plural) ask for	vosotros ped	ís
They ask for	ellos pid	en
You (pl form) ask for	Ustedes pid	en

Note: all e->i stem changing verbs are -ir verbs.

Dormir
To Sleep

I sleep	yo duerm	o
You sleep	tú duerm	es
He sleeps	él duerm	e
She sleeps	ella duerm	e
You (formal) sleep	Usted duerm	e
We sleep	nosotros dorm	imos
You (plural) sleep	vosotros dorm	ís
They sleep	ellos duerm	en
You (plural formal) sleep	Ustedes duerm	en

Here is a list of some other common stem changing verbs:

e ? ie	e ? i	o ? ue
cerrar (to close)	competir (to compete)	almorzar (to eat lunch)
comenzar (to begin)	conseguir (to get, obtain)	costar (to cost)
defender (to defend)	pedir (to ask for, order)	encontrar (to find)
empezar (to start, begin)	reir (to laugh)	morir (to die)
mentir (to lie)	repetir (to repeat)	mostrar (to show)
pensar (to think)	seguir (to follow, continue)	mover (to move)
perder (to lose)	servir (to serve)	recordar (to remember)
preferir (to prefer)	sonreír (to smile)	volver (to return)

Exercise: Stem Changing Verbs

Present Participle

The present participle in Spanish is used either for continuous tenses (with estar, e.g. I am running.) and can also be used as an adjective. The Spanish present participle corresponds to the English -ing form of the verb.To form the present participle for regular -ar verbs, add -ando to the stem. For -er and -ir verbs add -iendo:

Spanish Flag El Participio Presente Los Verbos

-ing hablar → hablando comer → comiendo vivir → viviendo speaking eating living

However, not all present participles are that regular. Some verbs add a "y," or change the spelling, to adhere to Spanish orthography (spelling) rules. Here is a list of some common verbs that have an irregular present participle:

Spanish Flag Pariticipios Irregulares Los Verbos

-ing caer decir dormir ir leer oir pedir repetir reír seguir traer cayendo diciendo durmiendo yendo leyendo oyendo pidiendo repitiendo riendo siguiendo trayendo

Present Progressive

Like in English, the Spanish present progressive is used to describe an action in progress. It is formed by conjugating the verb estar and then adding the present participle:

Spanish Flag El Presente Progresivo Los Verbos

Talking about actions occurring right now Yo estoy hablando Tú estás hablando Él/ella/usted está hablando Nosotros estamos hablando Vosotros estáis hablando Ellos/ellas/ustedes están hablando I am talking You are talking He/She/You is/are talking We are talking You are talking They/You are talking

Vocabulary

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario La Familia

Vocabulary for the family los padres el padre, papá la madre, mamá los hijos el hijo la hija los hermanos el hermano la hermana los abuelos el abuelo la abuela los nietos el nieto la nieta los tíos el tío la tía los sobrinos el sobrino la sobrina los primos el primo la prima los cónyuges, marido y mujer el esposo, el marido la esposa, la mujer los suegros la suegra, la nuera el suegro, el yerno los cuñados el cuñado la cuñada los consuegros el consuegro la consuegra parents father mother children son daughter siblings brother sister grandparents grandfather grandmother grandchildren grandson granddaughter uncles and aunts uncle aunt nephews and nieces nephew niece cousins cousin (male) cousin (female) spouses husband wife parents-in-law mother-in-law father-in-law siblings-in-law brother-in-law sister-in-law your child's parents-in-law your child's father-in-law your child's mother-in-law

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Grammar - Questions

Like in English, yes/no questions in Spanish are formed by switching the position of subject and verb (if the subject is explicit). Unlike English, Spanish uses a reversed question mark (¿) at the beginning of a question:

Tú eres de México.	You are from Mexico.
Eres de México.	You are from Mexico.

become

¿Eres tú de México?	Are you from Mexico?
¿Eres de México?	Are you from Mexico?

For other type of questions Spanish uses the following question words (note that all of them have an accent in the word):

¿Cómo...? or ¿Qué...?	How...? or What...?
¿Cuándo...?	When...?
¿Cuánto...?	How much...?
¿Cuántos...?	How many...?
¿Dónde...?	Where...?
¿Por qué...?	Why...?
¿Quién...?	Who...? (singular)
¿Quiénes...?	Who...? (plural)

Here are some Spanish sentences where specific question words are used:

¿Cómo te llamas?	What is your name? (Literally: How do you call yourself?)
¿Cuántos años tienes?	How old are you? (Literally: How many years do you have?)
¿Dónde está el aeropuerto?	Where is the airport?

Questions can also be posed within a sentence:

Y tú, ¿cuántos años tienes?	How old are you? (Literally: And you, how many years do you have?)
Entonces, ¿por qué no puedo jugar con él?	So, why can't I play with him?

Exercise: Questions

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Grammar - Possessive Adjectives

Like English, the Spanish possessive adjectives differ depending on the person they are referring to. Unlike English, the possessive article also changes depending on the number of items that one possesses (for example: mi libro' = my book, mis libros = my books). It can also change depending on the gender of the item (for example: nuestro perro = our dog, nuestra casa = our house). The following table summarizes all Spanish possessive adjectives:

Person	Singular	Plural	English	Examples
yo	mi	mis	my	mi lápiz
tú	tu	tus	your	tu lápiz
él	su, de él	sus	his	su lápiz, el lápiz de él
ella	su, de ella	sus, de ella	her	su lápiz, el lápiz de ella
usted	su, de usted	sus, de usted	your	su lápiz, el lápiz de usted
nosotros/nosotras	nuestro, nuestra, de nosotros	nuestros, nuestras	our	nuestro lápiz, el lápiz de nosotros
vosotros/vosotras	vuestro, vuestra	vuestros, vuestras	your	vuestro lápiz
ellos	su, de ellos	sus, de ellos	their	su lápiz, el lápiz de ellos
ellas	su, de ellas	sus, de ellas	their	su lápiz, el lápiz de ellas
ustedes	su, de ustedes	sus, de ustedes	your	su lápiz, el lápiz de ustedes

• Possessive Pronouns are not used when talking about body parts:
  

mi nariz (la nariz de él)	my nose (his nose)
mi dedo (el dedo de él)	my finger (his finger)
mis manos (las manos de él)	my hands (his hands)
mis ojos (los ojos de él)	my eyes (his eyes)

Exercise: Possessive Adjectives

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Grammar - Comparisons

Equality

Spanish uses three slightly different constructions for comparisons of equality. One for comparing verbs, one for comparing nouns and one for comparing adjectives/adverbs. The following examples show the three different possibilities:

Alberto estudia tanto como Felicitas.	Alberto studies as much as Felicitas.
Yo tengo tanto dinero como mi hermano.	I have as much money as my brother.
La estudiante es tan inteligente como el profesor.	The student is as intelligent as the teacher.

When comparing nouns, the ending of tanto will be modified to tanta, tantos, or tantas in order to match gender and quantity of the noun. The general pattern for comparisons of equality is the following:

{verb} tanto como	{verb} as much as
tanto/a/os/as {noun} como	as much/as many {noun} as
tan {adjective/adverb} como	as {adjective/adverb} as

Inequality

For comparisons of inequality, Spanish uses the same form for both nouns and adjectives/adverbs. There are two types of inequalities: más ... que (more than) and menos ... que (less than):

Trabajo más horas que tú.	I work more hours than you.
Trabajo menos horas que tú.	I work less hours than you.
Tom Hanks es más famoso que Patrick Stewart.	Tom Hanks is more famous than Patrick Stewart.
Patrick Stewart es menos famoso que Tom Hanks.	Patrick Stewart is less famous than Tom Hanks.

In general:

más/menos {noun/adjective/adverb} que

more/less {noun/adjective/adverb} than

Superlatives

Superlatives in Spanish are similar to comparisons of inequality: They use más for the most, menos for the least. Then follows the adjective and finally there is a preposition (de):

Ricardo es el estudiante más alto de la universidad.	Ricardo is the tallest student in the university.
Plutón es el planeta más pequeño del sistema solar.	Pluto is the smallest planet in the solar system.
Los diamantes son las gemas más caras del mundo.	Diamonds are the most expensive gems in the world.
María es la más inteligente de la clase.	Maria is the most intelligent one in the class.
El libro de Jorge es el menos interesante de la clase.	Jorge's book is the least interesting book in the class.

Note that in some cases (la más inteligente) you can just write the article and omit the noun. The general pattern for Spanish superlatives is:

el/la/los/las ({noun}) más/menos {adjective} de

the (most/least){adjective} {noun} in/of

Exercise: Comparisons

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Vocabulario (Vocabulary) - La escuela (School)

La escuela	The school
Nombres	Nouns
el profesor, la profesora	the teacher, the professor
el maestro, la maestra	the primary school teacher
el alumno, la alumna	the student
el/la estudiante	the student
el rector, la rectora	the university president, the school principal
el colegio	the primary school (Spain), the K-12 school (Chile)
la escuela	the school (all senses), the primary School (Chile)
el instituto	the secondary school (Spain)
el liceo	the secondary school (Chile)
la preparatoria	the secondary school (Mexico)
la universidad	the university, the college
la biblioteca	the library
la librería	the book store
el libro	the book
el libro de texto	the text book
el curso, la clase	the course, the class
el examen	the final exam
los deberes, las tareas escolares, la tarea	the homework
Verbos	Verbs
Verbos
aprender	to learn
estudiar	to study
leer	to read
escribir	to write
calcular	to compute, to calculate
hacer un proyecto	to do a project
preguntar	to ask
contestar	to answer
discutir	to argue
Adjectivos	Adjectives
fácil	easy
difícil	difficult
interesante	interesting
aburrido, pesado	boring
inteligente	intelligent
estúpido, tonto	stupid, dumb, silly

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Grammar - Object Pronouns

Direct Object Pronouns

While the subject of a sentence initiates an action (the verb), the direct object is the one that is affected by the action. A direct object pronoun is used to refer to the direct object of a previous sentence:

El chico come la manzana. Él la come.

The boy eats the apple . He eats it .

The following table shows the six types of direct object pronouns:

Subject	Object	English
yo	me	me
tú	te	you
él	le/lo	him/it
ella	la	her/it
usted	lo/la	you
nosotros	nos	us, we
vosotros	os	you (plural)
ellos	les/los	them (masculine)
ellas	las	them (feminine)
ustedes	les/los/las	you

Note: In Spain, le and les are used as the masculine direct object pronoun only when referring to people. If the antecedent of a direct object is masculine but non-human, lo or los are used instead. In most other Spanish speaking places, lo and los are used instead of le and les.

Indirect Object Pronouns

An indirect object is an object that would be asked for with To whom...? or From whom...?. It is called indirect because it occurs usually together with a direct object which is affected directly by the action:

La mujer da una manzana al chico. La mujer le da una manzana.

The woman gives an apple to the boy . The woman gives him an apple.

The apple is given by the woman (direct). The boy gets the given apple (indirect - depends on the apple being given).

Here is a table with all of the Spanish indirect object pronouns:

Subject	Indirect Object	English
yo	me	to/from me
tú	te	to/from you
él/ella/usted	le	to/from him/her/you
nosotros/nosotras	nos	to/from us
vosotros/vosotras	os	to/from you
ellos/ellas/ustedes	les	to/from them/you

Position Of Object Pronouns (Double Object Pronouns)

So far we have only seen sentences with one object pronoun. If there is both a direct and an indirect object pronoun, the indirect pronoun usually comes first:

Te compro una bicicleta . Te la compro.

I buy you a bike. I buy it for you.

Also, when both object pronouns are in the third person (either singular or plural), the indirect pronoun changes from le/les to se:

El profesor le da unos libros. El profesor se los da.

The professor gives her the books. The professor gives them to her.

In sentences that contain an infinitive or a participle, the object pronoun may be either placed before the conjugated verb or it maybe attached to the infinitive/participle:

Carmen puede cantar el himno nacional. Carmen puede cantarlo. or Carmen lo puede cantar.

Carmen can sing the national anthem. Carmen can sing it.

It is possible to have the two rules above working at the same time: A combination of direct and indirect pronouns that is attached to an infinitive/participle:

Quiero mostrarte una casa. Quiero mostrártela.

I want to show you a house. I want to show it to you.

Exercise:Object Pronouns

Vocabulario (Vocabulary) - La comida (The food)

In Spain and several other countries, comida is the midday meal.

Las comidas	The meals
el desayuno	breakfast
desayunar, tomar desayuno	to have breakfast
la comida (el almuerzo)	lunch, main meal
comer	to eat, to lunch
la cena	dinner
cenar	to have dinner

  In other countries, for example Chile, comida is the last meal in the day.

Las comidas	The meals
el desayuno	breakfast
desayunar, tomar desayuno	to have breakfast
el almuerzo	lunch
almorzar	to have lunch
la comida (la cena)	dinner, main meal
comer (cenar)	to eat, to have dinner

Instead of saying desayuno, comida y cena (Spain) or desayuno, almuerzo y comida (Chile, Colombia), it's safer to say desayuno, almuerzo y cena.  

The word comida has several meanings

• food Me gusta la comida mexicana
• meal El desayuno es la principal comida del día
• lunch La comida es a las 2 PM
• dinner La comida es a las 9 PM

 

Las Frutas	Fruits
el plátano (Spain, Chile, Perú)	banana
la banana
el banano
la cereza	cherry
la guinda
el damasco	apricot
el albaricoque (Spain)
el durazno (Sp. Am)	peach
el melocotón (Spain)
la fresa	strawberry
la frutilla (Chile, Argentina)
el kiwi	kiwi fruit
la manzana	apple
la naranja	orange
la pera	pear
la piña	pineapple
ananá (f)
la uva	grape
la ciruela	plum

 

Las Verduras	Vegetables
la cebolla	onion
la lechuga	lettuce
las espinacas	spinach
la papa (Sp. Am.)	potato
la patata (Spain)
el pepino	cucumber
el aguacate	avocado
el tomate	tomato
la zanahoria	carrot
el zapallo (Chile, Argentina)	pumpkin, squash
la calabaza (Spain)
las caraotas	beans
los frijoles
las alubias (Spain)

Note that due to the pervasive influence of English, in many supermarkets there is a section called Vegetales instead of Verduras. They mistranslate vegetable, forgetting that this is not the same as English vegetal (relating to plants).

• Legumbres means the same thing as verduras (vegetables).

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Grammar - Preterite (el pretérito indefinido)

The following table shows the preterite of regular verbs. Regular -er and -ir verbs follow the exact same pattern. Note that the nosotros form is the same as in the present tense for -ar and -ir verbs, so you have to know the context to figure out the time. Also, note that the last letter of comí and viví has an accent mark.

	hablar (-ar)	to talk	comer (-er)	to eat	vivir (-ir)	to live
yo	hablé	I talked	comí	I ate	viví	I lived
tú	hablaste	you talked	comiste	you ate	viviste	you lived
Ud./él/ella	habló	he/she talked	comió	he/she ate	vivió	he/she lived
nosotros/as	hablamos	we talked	comimos	we ate	vivimos	we lived
vosotros/as	hablastéis	you (all) talked	comistéis	you (all) ate	vivistéis	you (all) lived
Uds./ellos/as	hablaron	they talked	comieron	they ate	vivieron	they lived

Here is a list of common verbs that have an irregular preterite:

	dar	decir	estar	hacer
yo	di	dije	estuve	hice
tú	diste	dijiste	estuviste	hiciste
Ud./él/ella	dio	dijo	estuvo	hizo
nosotros/as	dimos	dijimos	estuvimos	hicimos
vosotros/as	disteis	dijisteis	estuvisteis	hicisteis
Uds./ellos/as	dieron	dijeron	estuvieron	hicieron

	ir	poder	poner	querer
yo	fui	pude	puse	quise
tú	fuiste	pudiste	pusiste	quisiste
Ud./él/ella	fue	pudo	puso	quiso
nosotros/as	fuimos	pudimos	pusimos	quisimos
vosotros/as	fuisteis	pudisteis	pusisteis	quisisteis
Uds./ellos/as	fueron	pudieron	pusieron	quisieron

	saber	ser	tener	venir
yo	supe	fui	tuve	vine
tú	supiste	fuiste	tuviste	viniste
Ud./él/ella	supo	fue	tuvo	vino
nosotros/as	supimos	fuimos	tuvimos	vinimos
vosotros/as	supisteis	fuisteis	tuvisteis	vinisteis
Uds./ellos/as	supieron	fueron	tuvieron	vinieron

Exercise: Preterite

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Grammar - Imperfect (el pretérito imperfecto)

The following table shows the imperfect of regular verbs. Note that regular -er and -ir verbs follow the exact same pattern:

	hablar (-ar)	to talk	comer (-er)	to eat	vivir (-ir)	to live
yo	hablaba	I was talking	comía	I was eating	vivía	I was living
tú	hablabas	you were talking	comías	you were eating	vivías	you were living
Ud./él/ella	hablaba	he/she was talking	comía	he/she was eating	vivía	he/she was living
nosotros/as	hablábamos	we were talking	comíamos	we were eating	vivíamos	we were living
vosotros/as	hablabais	you (all) were talking	comíais	you (all) were eating	vivíais	you (all) were living
Uds./ellos/as	hablaban	they were talking	comían	they were eating	vivían	they were living

There are only three verbs that are irregular in the imperfect:

	ir	ser	ver
yo	iba	era	veía
tú	ibas	eras	veías
Ud./él/ella	iba	era	veía
nosotros/as	íbamos	éramos	veíamos
vosotros/as	ibais	erais	veíais
Uds./ellos/as	iban	eran	veían

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Grammar - Preterite vs. Imperfect

Spanish has two tenses that correspond to the English simple past. Roughly speaking, the Preterite is used to tell What happened - it refers to a specific event.

Preterite is used for...	Example
A specific event	Ayer, yo comí una hamburguesa.
Beginning/end of an event	La fiesta terminó a las tres de la mañana.
A series of events	Carlos salió de la universidad, compró unas ropas y volvió a casa.

Preterite	Key words
esta mañana	this morning
anoche	last night
ayer	yesterday
el otro día	the other day
el lunes pasado	last Monday
la semana pasada	last week
el mes pasado	last month
el año pasado	last year
hace dos años	two years ago
en ese momento	at that moment
entonces	then

The Imperfect is used to tell How things were - it refers to the general situation.

Imperfect is used for...	Example
Habitual events	A veces Einstein se equivocaba.
Time in the past	Eran las dos de la tarde.
Conditions (physical or mental)	Era un día muy caluroso.

Imperfect	Key words
siempre	always
generalmente	usually
a menudo	often
muchas veces	many times
a veces	sometimes
nunca	never
todos los días	every day
cada día
cada año	every year

Exercise: Preterite vs. Imperfect

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El vocabulario (Vocabulary) - La casa (The house)

La casa	The house
la habitación / el cuarto / la pieza / la recámara	the room
el dormitorio / el cuarto	the bedroom
el comedor	the dining room
la cocina	the kitchen
el servicio / el baño / el cuarto de baño	the bathroom
las escaleras	the stairs
el sótano / el subterráneo	the basement
el tejado / el techo	the roof
el techo / el cielo raso	the ceiling
el piso / el suelo	the floor
la pared / el muro	the wall
la mesa	the table
la silla	the chair
el espejo	the mirror
la ventana	the window
el armario / el ropero / el clóset	the closet

En la cocina...	In the kitchen...
la nevera / el frigorífico / el refrigerador	the refrigerator
el lavaplatos / la lavadora de platos	the dishwasher
el fregadero / el lavaplatos	the kitchen sink
la estufa / la cocina	the stove
el horno	the oven
el horno microondas	the microwave
la olla	the pot
la sartén / el sartén	the (frying) pan

En el comedor...	In the dining room...
el plato	the plate
la taza	the bowl
el vaso	the glass
la copa	the goblet, the wineglass
el tenedor	the fork
el cuchillo	the knife
la cuchara	the spoon
la servilleta	the napkin

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Grammar - Formal Commands (el imperativo)

Commands are used when you ask someone to do something or give instructions to people. In this lesson we learn the formal commands, which are the ones you say to persons where you use the usted or ustedes form. The following table shows the endings for the regular verbs. Note that the stem changes that occur in the yo form, (e->ie, e->i, o->ue, ar/er/ir->go cer->zco etc., ) apply for formal commands:

	hablar	comer	pedir
Usted	hable	coma	pida
Ustedes	hablen	coman	pidan

The following verbs have irregular formal commands:

	dar	estar	ir	saber	ser
Usted	dé	esté	vaya	sepa	sea
Ustedes	den	estén	vayan	sepan	sean

Like in English, the command is usually put in the beginning of the sentence:

Examples:

Piense antes de hablar.	Think before you speak.
Terminen sus tareas escolares.	Finish your homework.
Dejen la casa inmediatamente.	Leave the house immediately.

Grammar - Informal Tú-Commands

In this lesson we learn the commands you say to someone you would address in the tú form. Spanish distinguishes two different types of tú-commands, the affirmative (do something) and the negative (don't do something). Like the formal commands, we also apply stem changes here:

	hablar	comer	pedir
Affirmative	habla	come	pide
Negative	no hables	no comas	no pidas

The following verbs have irregular informal tú-commands for the affirmative and negative.

	decir	hacer	ir	poner
Affirmative	di	haz	ve/andá (Chile, Argentina)	pon
Negative	no digas	no hagas	no vayas	no pongas
	salir	ser	tener	venir
Affirmative	sal	sé	ten	ven
Negative	no salgas	no seas	no tengas	no vengas

This can be memorized with the rhyming mnemonic device "di haz pon ten, sal sé ve ven."

Examples:

Piensa antes de hablar.	Think before you speak.
Termina tus tareas escolares.	Finish your homework.
No dejes la casa.	Don't leave the house.

El vocabulario (Vocabulary) - La salud (Health)

Los cuidados médicos	Medical attention
la salud	the health
la enfermedad	the disease
el dolor	the pain
el dolor de cabeza	the headache
el dolor de estómago	the stomachache
el resfriado	the chill, the cold
la medicina	the medicine
el jarabe	the syrup
la gripe	the flu
el hospital	the hospital
la cama	the bed
el médico	the physician
la enfermera	the nurse
el catarro	the cold
la tos	the cough
la fiebre	the fever
la quemadura del sol	the sunburn
el dolor de la muela	the toothache

El vocabulario (Vocabulary) - El cuerpo (The Body)

Las partes del cuerpo	Body parts
la cabeza	the head
el ojo	the eye
la oreja	the ear
more...

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Vocabulario

la plaza	plaza
el parque	park
la fuente	fountain
los flores	flowers
el café	café or coffee
la calle	road
la avenida	avenue
la acera	sidewalk
los árboles	trees
el césped	grass/lawn
la gente	people
el perro	dog
caminar	to walk
andar
oír	to hear
oler	to smell
ver	to see
correr	to run
sentarse	to sit

• Por ejemplo (for example)

¿Por qué no vamos al parque? Why don't we go to the park?

La fuente es linda. The fountain is beautiful.

Hay mucha gente en el parque hoy. There are a lot of people in the park today.

Grammar - Past Participle (el participio)

Spanish uses the past participle primarily for present perfect, past perfect, and other similar times. For -ar verbs form the past participle by adding -ado to the stem. For -er and -ir verbs add -ido:

Verb	Past Participle
hablar	hablado
comer	comido
vivir	vivido

If the stem of an -er or -ir verb ends in one of the vowels -a, -e, or -o, the i of -ido gets an accent mark:

Verb	Past Participle
caer	caído
creer	creído
leer	leído
oir	oído
reir	reído

There are a few verbs with an irregular past participle:

Verb	Past Participle
abrir	abierto
cubrir	cubierto
descubrir	descubierto
decir	dicho
escribir	escrito
freír	frito
hacer	hecho
ir	ido
morir	muerto
poner	puesto
romper	roto
satisfacer	satisfecho
ver	visto
volver	vuelto

As in English, the past participle can also be used as an adjective for a noun. In that case the ending has to match gender and number of the noun. Example:

Su barba está afeitada.

His beard is shaved.

Finally, there are a few verbs with both a regular and an irregular past participle. In this case, the irregular past participle is used as an adjective, while the regular form is used for the verb tenses.

Verb	Past Participle
imprimir	imprimido / impreso
ocultar	ocultado / oculto

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Grammar - Present Perfect (el pretérito perfecto)

The Spanish present perfect is formed by conjugating the auxiliary verb haber (= to have) and adding the past participle of the verb.

	Present Perfect	English
yo	he comido	I have eaten
tú	has comido	you have eaten
Ud./él/ella	ha comido	you/he/she has eaten
nosotros(as)	hemos comido	we have eaten
vosotros(as)	habéis comido	you have eaten
Uds./ellos(as)	han comido	you/they have eaten

Here are a few examples of the Spanish Present perfect. Note that in Spanish the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle are never separated:

Carlos y yo hemos jugado fútbol.	Carlos and I have played soccer.
¿Has hecho tus tareas escolares de español?	Have you done your Spanish homework?
Nunca se ha enfermado.	He has never been sick.

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Grammar - Pluperfect (el pretérito pluscuamperfecto)

The Spanish pluperfect is formed by conjugating imperfect of haber (= to have) and adding the past participle of the verb.

	Present Perfect	English
yo	había comido	I had eaten
tú	habías comido	you had eaten
Ud./él/ella	había comido	you/he/she had eaten
nosotros(as)	habíamos comido	we had eaten
vosotros(as)	habíais comido	you (all) had eaten
Uds./ellos(as)	habían comido	you/they had eaten

Here are a few examples of the Spanish pluperfect. It is used to refer to an event that happened before another event in the past. As in the present perfect, the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle are never separated:

Carlos y yo habíamos jugado el fútbol antes la fiesta anoche.	Carlos and I had played soccer before the party last night.
¿Tu habías venido antes a Mexico?	Had you been to Mexico before?
Nunca se había enfermado cuando era un niño.	He had never been sick while he was a kid.

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El vocabulario (Vocabulary) - Los medios (Media)

Spanish Flag El Vocabulario Los medios

Media Vocabulary el artículo la cadena el canal el/la comentarista el/la crítico/a en directo, en vivo la estación de radio las noticias el noticiero el/la periodista el periódico la prensa la primera plana la sección deportiva la sección financiera la radio el/la reportero/a la telenovela la revista la televisión el titular la historieta la música article network channel commentator critic live radio station news newscast journalist newspaper press front page sports section business section radio (As in what you hear on the radio) reporter soap opera magazine television headline comic book music

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