Spanish Lessons

Free Spanish lessons covering the essential aspects of Spanish grammar and verbs. Use the table of contents below to choose a topic.

Table of Contents:

Definite Articles Indefinite Articles Gender of Nouns Making Nouns Plural Subject Pronouns How to Conjugate Verbs The Present Tense Present Tense: Irregular Verbs Stem-Changing Verbs The Personal "A" Adjectives Telling Time Interrogative Adjectives Possessive Adjectives Ser and Estar: To Be The Progressive Tenses Problematic Verbs

The Preterite Tense Preterite Tense: Irregular Verbs The Imperative (Commands) The Imperfect Tense Common Prepositions Forming Adverbs The Future Tense The Conditional Tense Future & Conditional Tense: Irregular Verbs Direct Object Pronouns Indirect Object Pronouns Compound Tenses (Present Perfect, Future Perfect, etc.) Demonstrative Adjectives Demonstrative Pronouns Present Subjunctive Imperfect Subjunctive

Definite Articles

Formation

There are 4 forms of the definite article in Spanish. The definite article must agree in both gender and number with the noun. The only time this is not the case is with feminine nouns that begin with a stressed "a". (See list below)

	singular	plural
masculine	el	los
feminine	la	las

Any noun that begins with a stressed "a" or "ha" will use the definite article el. However, these nouns will use las in their plural form, just like all other plural feminine nouns. Here are some examples:

Usage

In many ways, the definite article in Spanish mirrors the usage of the English definite article. However, there are certain instances where you will use the definite article in Spanish in places where it is omitted in English, such as the following:

Indefinite Articles

There are 4 forms of the indefinite article in Spanish. The indefinite article must agree in both gender and number with the noun. The only time this is not the case is with feminine nouns that begin with a stressed "a". (See list below)

	singular	plural
masculine	un	unos
feminine	una	unas

Any noun that begins with a stressed "a" or "ha" will use the indefinite article un. However, these nouns will use unas in their plural form, just like all other plural feminine nouns. Here are some examples:

The indefinite article in Spanish is equivalent to the English articles "a", "an" and "some/several".

Gender of Nouns

In Spanish, all nouns have a gender.  A noun is either masculine or feminine.  This concept can be difficult for native speakers of English, however there are a few tricks to help memorize the genders of Spanish nouns.

Almost all nouns that end in "o" are masculine.  There are very few exceptions to this rule, listed below:

la mano is feminine.
la radio is feminine.
la moto is feminine.
la foto is feminine.

Most nouns that end in "a" are feminine.  However, there are exceptions.  Some common exceptions are listed below.

Here is a chart that lists noun endings and whether they usually signal a masculine or feminine noun. There are some exceptions to the following rules.

masculine endings	feminine endings
-o	-a
-ma	-ie
-ante	-ión
-ente	-d
-e	-sis
-al	-z
-or

A variety of nouns are always masculine: days, months, numbers, colors, and languages. Also, nouns that refer to someone of obvious male or female gender will be masculine or feminine depending on the gender of the person being referred to.

Making Nouns Plural

If a noun ends in an unstressed vowel (or in a stressed "e"), simply add "s" to the end of the word to make it plural.

If a noun ends in a consonant (or in a stressed "a", "i", "o", or "u"), simply add "es" to the end of the word to make it plural. However if the ending is "s" or "x" and the last syllable is not stressed, "es" is not added.

When a noun ends in "z", the "z" changes to "c" when the noun is made plural.

Subject Pronouns

Pronouns are used to replace nouns and are usually used to avoid repetition. The subject pronouns are used for personal nouns such as I, you, them, etc.

There are some special notes that need to be mentioned when discussing subject pronouns in Spanish:

	singular	plural
first person	yo	nosotros
second person	tú; vos*	vosotros
third person	él, ella, usted	ellos, ellas, ustedes

yo tú, vos él ella usted nosotros vosotros ellos ellas ustedes

I you (familiar singular) he she you (formal singular) we you (familiar plural) they (masculine, or any group including a male) they (feminine) you (plural)

How to Conjugate Verbs

We conjugate verbs in Spanish by first taking the "base" from the infinitive form of the verb.

For example:

hablar is an infinitive.

habl is the base of the verb, because the "ar" ending has been removed from the infinitive. There are 3 types of infinitive verb endings in Spanish:  -ar, -er, and -ir.

Once we have the base of the verb, we add the appropriate ending. The ending we add to the verb will depend on the tense of the verb.

Here is an example of a regular verb ("hablar") conjugated in the present tense:

	singular	plural
first person	hablo	hablamos
second person	hablas	habláis
third person	habla	hablan

The Present Tense

Formation

There are 3 sets of conjugations for regular verbs in the present tense, based on the verb's ending: -ar, -er, or -ir.

Form the present tense by adding the appropriate verb ending to the stem of the verb. The verb endings are listed below, with example verb conjugations below the chart.

Verb Endings

	-ar verbs	-er verbs	-ir verbs
yo	o	o	o
tú	as	es	es
él, ella, usted	a	e	e
nosotros	amos	emos	imos
vosotros	áis	éis	ís
ellos, ellas, ustedes	an	en	en

Usage

In general, the present tense in Spanish will correspond with these English equivalents:

yo hablo = I speak, I do speak, I am speaking, I am speaking (near future)
yo trabajo = I work, I do work, I am working, I am working (near future)

Keep in mind that the present tense is generally used for describing what is happening now, in the present time, but also has a few other uses.

The present tense can also be used to indicate an event in the near future:

Salgo esta noche.  I am leaving tonight.

As well as habitual actions:

Jennifer canta en el coro.  Jennifer sings in the chorus.

Irregular Verbs in the Present Tense

Many verbs are irregular in the present tense. The irregular forms of these verbs must be memorized, especially since a lot of these verbs are very commonly used.

Verbs that are mostly or completely irregular

estar (to be) estoy estás está estamos estáis están

ir (to go) voy vas va vamos vais van

ser (to be) soy eres es somos sois son

Verbs that are irregular in the 1st-person singular

caer caigo caes cae caemos caéis caen	dar doy das da damos dais dan	hacer hago haces hace hacemos hacéis hacen	poner pongo pones pone pinemos ponéis ponen	saber sé sabes sabe sabemos sabéis saben
salir salgo sales sale salimos salís salen	traer traigo traes trae traemos traéis traen	valer valgo vales vale valemos valéis valen	ver veo ves ve vemos veis ven

Verbs ending in -uir

Verbs that end in -uir in the present tense add a "y" after the "u" in all forms except for the first and second-person plural forms. However, this change does not occur if the verb ends in -guir.

 

Examples:

contribuir (to contribute) contribuyo contribuyes contribuye contribuimos contribuís contribuyen

incluir (to include) incluyo incluyes incluye incluimos incluís incluyen

Other verbs conjugated like this:
atribuir (to attribute), concluir (to conclude), construir (to construct), disminuir (to diminish), distribuir (to distribute), huir (to run away; to flee), influir (to influence), sustituir (to substitute)

Other irregularities in the first-person singular

 

Verbs ending in -ucir will add a "z" before the final "c".
conducir (to drive) becomes conduzco

Verbs ending in a vowel + cer/cir will also add a "z" before the final "c".
ofrecer (to offer) becomes ofrezco

Verbs ending in a consonant +cer/cir will have the "z" replace the "c".
ejercer (to exercise) becomes ejerzo

Stem-Changing Verbs (O-UE)

Here is a listing of common verbs that change their stem from O to UE in the present tense, except in the nosotros and vosotros forms.

For example:

almuerzo
almuerzas
almuerza
almorzamos
almorzáis
almuerzan

 

almorzar contar costar doler dormir encontrar morir mostrar poder probar recordar soñar volver

to eat lunch to count to cost to hurt to sleep to find to die to show to be able to to try to remember to dream to return

Stem-Changing Verbs (E-IE)

Here is a listing of common verbs that change their stem from E to IE in the present tense, except in the nosotros and vosotros forms.

For example:

acierto
aciertas
acierta
acertamos
acertáis
aciertan

 

acertar advertir cerrar comenzar empezar entender mentir pensar perder preferir querer sentir sugerir

to get right to warn to close to begin to begin to understand to lie to think to lose to prefer to want to feel to suggest

Stem-Changing Verbs (E-I)

Here is a listing of common verbs that change their stem from E to I in the present tense, except in the nosotros and vosotros forms.

For example:

compito
compites
compite
competimos
competís
compiten

 

competir impedir medir pedir reír repetir seguir servir vestirse

to compete to prevent to measure to ask for to laugh to repeat to continue; to follow to serve to dress (oneself)

The Personal 'A'

It is very important to learn that in Spanish, anytime we refer to a direct object that is a person, we must use the personal 'a'. For the most part, this has no translation in English.

The personal 'a' will precede the direct object, if the direct object is a person.

"Via María" would translate into "I saw María".

 There are exceptions to this rule.

Telling Time

 

To ask what time it is, use: ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?)

To state the time of day in Spanish, the verb ser will be used, as will the feminine definite article (la, las). Use “la” for one o’clock and “las” for all other times. This means that “es” will be used for one o’clock, and “son” for all other times.

For example:

Es la una. It’s one o’clock.
Son las dos. It’s two o’clock.
Son las tres. It’s three o’clock.
Son las cuatro. It’s four o’clock.
Etc…

To add minutes past the hour, use “y”:

Es la una y cinco. It’s 1:05.
Son las dos y doce. It’s 2:12.

To say it is a quarter past or half past the hour, use “cuarto” and “media”.

Son las dos y cuarto. It’s 2:15.
Son las dos y media. It’s 2:30.

 

 

Adjectives

The main difference between adjectives in English versus Spanish is that for the most part, descriptive Spanish adjectives will follow the noun.

Regular adjectives in Spanish will end in "o" and will have 4 different forms. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify (hence the 4 different forms!).

Let's take a regular adjective and create the 4 different forms:

	singular	plural
masculine	loco	locos
feminine	loca	locas

Here is a list of some commonly used adjectives:

absurdo (adj.)   absurd aburrido (adj.)   boring agradable (adj.)   pleasant alegre (adj.)   happy alto (adj.)   high; tall amable (adj.)   kind, polite ambicioso (adj.)   ambitious amistoso (adj.)   friendly antipático (adj.)   unpleasant apretado (adj.)   tight áspero (adj.)   rough bajo (adj.)   low; short brillante (adj.)   bright, shiny bueno (adj.)   good cercano (adj.)   nearby cierto (adj.)   certain cómodo (adj.)   comfortable comprensivo (adj.)   understanding comprometido (adj.)   engaged contento (adj.)   happy cobarde (adj.)   cowardly cortés (adj.)   polite corto (adj.)   short cruel (adj.)   cruel cursi (adj.)   pretentious delgado (adj.)   skinny deprimido (adj.)   depressed difícil (adj.)   difficult divertido (adj.)   fun, amusing egoísta (adj.)   selfish elegante (adj.)   elegant encantador (adj.)   charming enfadado (adj.)   angry enojado (adj.)   angry entusiasmado (adj.)   enthused, excited estricto (adj.)   strict extraño (adj.)   weird falso (adj.)   fake fastidioso (adj.)   annoying feo (adj.)   ugly fiable (adj.)   reliable; trustworthy fiel (adj.)   loyal flaco (adj.)   slender frustrado (adj.)   frustrated fuerte (adj.)   strong generoso (adj.)   generous gordo (adj.)   fat grosero (adj.)   rude grueso (adj.)   thick guapo (adj.)   handsome haragán/ana (adj.)   lazy honesto (adj.)   honest

incómodo (adj.)   uncomfortable indispensable (adj.)   essential inteligente (adj.)   intelligent interesante (adj.)   interesting joven (adj.)   young jovial (adj.)   good-humored largo (adj.)   long lento (adj.)   slow listo (adj.)   smart lleno (adj.)   full loco (adj.)   crazy malo (adj.)   bad mandón/ona (adj.)   bossy materialista (adj.)   materialistic molesto (adj.)   annoying nervioso (adj.)   nervous nuevo (adj.)   new obligatorio (adj.)   mandatory optimista (adj.)   optimistic orgulloso (adj.)   proud pálido (adj.)   pale perezoso (adj.)   lazy pesado (adj.)   heavy (object); tiring (work) pesimista (adj.)   pessimistic pobre (adj.)   poor polvoriento (adj.)   dusty posible (adj.)   possible previo (adj.)   previous profesional (adj.)   professional prudente (adj.)   sensible; careful raro (adj.)   weird realista (adj.)   realistic reciente (adj.)   recent relajado (adj.)   laid-back relajante (adj.)   relaxing repleto (adj.)   full; jam-packed rico (adj.)   rich sagaz (adj.)   shrewed sano (adj.)   healthy soso (adj.)   flavorless suave (adj.)   soft tacaño (adj.)   cheap, stingy tonto (adj.)   silly, dumb trabajador (adj.)   hard-working tranquila (adj.)   calm, tranquil triste (adj.)   sad único (adj.)   only vago (adj.)   lazy válido (adj.)   accepted valiente (adj.)   brave vanidoso (adj.)   vain, conceited viejo (adj.)   old

Interrogative Adjectives

Interrogatives adjectives are used in questions and ask the following questions: what?, which?, how much?, & how many?

1. "Qué" has only one form. It stays the same regardless of gender or number.
2. "Cuál" has only two forms. It does not have a different form for the feminine.
3. "Cuánto" is the only one that has 4 different forms.

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
¿qué?	¿qué?	WHAT?/WHICH?	¿qué?	¿qué?
¿cuál?	¿cuál?	WHICH?	¿cuáles?	¿cuáles?
¿cuánto?	¿cuánta?	HOW MUCH? HOW MANY?	¿cuántos?	¿cuántas?

Examples of usage:

¿Qué libros quiere él? ¿Cuál camisa prefieres? ¿Cuántos años tiene Antonio?

What books does he want? Which shirt do you prefer? How old is Antonio?

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives are used to modify nouns to show to whom a noun belongs. In Spanish, the possessive adjective will agree in number and gender with the noun it modifies, not with the owner.

Note that the forms are the same for third person singular and plural. If it is not c clear from the context of the sentence who the owner is, then you can use "de" plus the pronoun to make it clear.

For example:   el libro de Antonio instead of su libro

Here are the singular forms:

	singular	plural
first person	mi	nuestro/a
second person	tu	vuestro/a
third person	su	su

mi libro tu libro su libro nuestro libro nuestra casa su libro

my book your (familiar) book his book; her book; your (formal) book our book our house their book

Here are the plural forms:

	singular	plural
first person	mis	nuestros/as
second person	tus	vuestros/as
third person	sus	sus

mis libros tus libros sus libros nuestros libros nuestras casas sus libros

my books your (familiar) books his books; her books; your (formal) books our books our houses their books

Ser & Estar

Conjugations

Here are the conjugations for "ser" and "estar" in the present tense:

ser:   soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son
estar:   estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están

Usage

In English there is only one verb for "to be". However, in Spanish there are several verbs that can translate as "to be". The verbs ser and estar are the two main verbs in Spanish that mean "to be".

Main uses of "estar":
1. Estar is used for location. Use estar if you are stating where someone or something is located.
2. Estar is used to describe emotional conditions or to describe what state someone is in.

Main uses of "ser":
1. Ser is used to indentify someone's origin and essential traits such as race, nationality, etc.
2. Ser is used when telling the time and date.
3. Ser is used to answer identifying questions such as "Who is that?"

The Progressive Tenses

The progressive tenses are the equivalent of "-ing" verbs in English. (I am going, I was writing, etc.) Remember that the present progressive will only be used in Spanish when you are presently doing something at the moment in time that you are speaking. For example, if you were in the process of writing a book, you would only say "Estoy escribiendo" if you were actually writing at that very moment. In all other instances, you would just use the regular present tense.

Estar + present participle = To be doing something
Seguir + present participle = To keep on/continue doing something

 

Formation

 

Regularly formed present participles

-ar verbs: drop the “ar” and add “ando”

-er verbs: drop the “er” and add “iendo”

-ir verbs: drop the “ir” and add “iendo”

Irregularly formed present participles

-er & -ir verbs with triple vowels:

atraer (to attract)  atrayendo caer (to fall)  cayendo creer (to believe)  creyendo leer (to read)  leyendo poseer (to possess)  poseyendo traer (to bring)  trayendo construir (to construct)  construyendo contribuir (to contribute)  contribuyendo

destruir (to destroy)  destruyendo fluir (to flow)  fluyendo incluir (to include)  incluyendo influir (to influence)  influyendo ir (to go)  yendo oír (to hear)  oyendo sustituir (to substitute)  sustituyendo

The Progressive Tense with -ir Stem-Changing verbs

O-UE becomes O-U

dormir = durmiendo
morir = muriendo



E-IE becomes E-I and E-I remains the same

advertir = advirtiendo
mentir = mintiendo
sentir = sintiendo

decir = diciendo
repitir = repitiendo

Problematic Verbs

There are quite a few Spanish verbs that seem to give native English speakers problems.

How do I say “to take”?!

From my experiences with native English speakers, most usually just use tomar anytime they are trying to say “to take”. However, when you are talking about taking people or objects to a different location, you must use llevar.

Darse cuenta de vs. Realizar

If you are wanting to say realize, you need to use darse cuenta de. Realizar is used as the equivalent of the English verb to succeed.

Saber vs. Conocer

The difference between these two is that saber will relate to knowing facts, knowing how to do something, etc.  Conocer can better be understood as meaning to be familiar with or to be acquainted with. Use it when you’re trying to say or ask if someone is acquainted with a person, place, or thing.

How to Say You’re Moving

Finally, remember that if you want to say that you are moving (as in changing your residence) that you need to use mudarse instead of moverse.

Pedir or Preguntar?

Preguntar can be translated as either to inquire or to ask a question.
Preguntar + por = to ask about someone
Pedir is translated as to ask for or to request [something].

The Preterite Tense

Formation

There are 2 sets of conjugations for regular verbs in the preterite tense.

The preterite tense is formed by adding the endings to the stem of the verb.

Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -ar.

	singular	plural
first person	é	amos
second person	aste	asteis
third person	ó	aron

yo hablé
tú hablaste
él/ella/usted habló
nosotros hablamos
vosotros hablasteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaron

Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -er or -ir.

	singular	plural
first person	í	imos
second person	iste	isteis
third person	ió	ieron

yo bebí
tú bebiste
él/ella/usted bebió
nosotros bebimos
vosotros bebisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes bebieron

Usage

The preterite tense is a past tense used to describe actions that lasted for a specific amount of time. In other words, the action had a completion point. (This is in contrast with the imperfect tense, which describes habitual, continuous actions in the past.)

Preterite Tense: Irregular Verbs

Orthographic Changes [Yo form only]

Verbs ending in -gar: insert a “u” before the “e”

llegar = llegué
jugar = jugué


Verbs ending in -car: “c” changes to “qu”

buscar = busqué
practicar = practiqué


Verbs ending in -zar: “z” changes to “c”

empezar = empecé
rezar = recé

Irregular Stems & Endings

e	imos
iste	isteis
o	ieron

The following verbs will use the above verb endings in place of the regular endings. They will also use irregular stems, which are listed below:

andar (to walk)            anduv-
estar (to be)                estuv-
tener (to have)                tuv-

caber (to fit)                cup-
haber (to have)            hub-
poder (to be able to)        pud-
poner (to put/place)        pus-
saber (to know)            sup-

hacer (to do)                hic-
querer (to want)            quis-
venir (to come)            vin-

e	imos
iste	isteis
o	eron

decir (to say)                dij-
traer (to bring)            traj-
conducir (to drive)        conduj-
traducir (to translate)    traduj-
producir (to produce)    produj- 

 

-Ir Verb Stem-Changers  [3^rd person singular/plural only]

O->UE becomes O->U

dormir (to sleep)                  durmió             durmieron
morir (to die)                       murió               murieron


E->IE becomes E->I

mentir (to lie)                      mintió              mintieron
sentir (to feel sorry)             sintió                sintieron


E->I remains the same

pedir (to request)                pidió                 pidieron
seguir (to sleep)                   siguió               siguieron


I->Y  [3^rd person singular/plural only]

caer (to fall)                        cayó                 cayeron
caerse (to fall down)            se cayó             se cayeron
creer (to believe)                 creyó                creyeron
leer (to read)                       leyó                  leyeron
oír (to hear)                         oyó                   oyeron
poseer (to possess)               poseyó              poseyeron
proveer (to provide)             proveyó            proveyeron

The Imperative [Commands]

Commands are used in language to give orders. There are both formal and informal forms in Spanish for giving commands.

Formal Commands

To form the formal commands, use the present subjunctive form of "usted" and "ustedes". To form the negative form of the command, simply put "no" in front of the verb.

Regular Forms

		'usted' ending	'ustedes' ending
-ar verbs		e	en
-er verbs		a	an
-ir verbs		a	an

Examples for usted:   compre, beba, escriba
Examples for ustedes:   compren, beban, escriban

Example:
Beba!   Drink!
No beban!   Don't drink!

Irregular Forms

VERB:		'usted' form	'ustedes' form
dar		dé	den
estar		esté	estén
ir		vaya	vayan
ser		sea	sean

 

Informal Commands

The informal commands will simply be the 3rd-person singular (él/ella/usted form) form of the verb. To make an informal command negative, do the following:

1. Take the formal singular form.
2. Add a "no" in front.
3. Add an "s" at the end.

Example:
No bebas!   Don't drink!
No me digas!   Don't tell me!

There are 8 irregular verbs for informal commands:

VERB:
decir	=	di
hacer	=	haz
ir	=	ve
poner	=	pon
salir	=	sal
ser	=	sé
tener	=	ten
venir	=	ven

The Imperfect Tense

Formation

There are 2 sets of conjugations for regular verbs in the imperfect tense.

This tense is formed by adding the endings to the stem of the verb.

Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -ar.

	singular	plural
first person	aba	ábamos
second person	abas	abais
third person	aba	aban

yohablaba
tú hablabas
él/ella/usted hablaba
nosotros hablábamos
vosotros hablabais
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaban

Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -er or -ir.

	singular	plural
first person	ía	íamos
second person	ías	íais
third person	ía	ían

yo bebía
tú bebías
él/ella/usted bebía
nosotros bebíamos
vosotros bebíais
ellos/ellas/ustedes bebían

Usage

In general, the imperfect tense in Spanish will correspond with these English equivalents:

yo hablaba = I was speaking, I used to speak

The imperfect tense is used for past tense actions where there is not a specified completion. This includes habitual/continuous actions in the past. Also note that the imperfect is used for descriptions in the past.

There are several common phrases that indicate that the imperfect tense should be used. It is helpful to remember these types of phrases. Here are some common ones:

Irregular Verbs in the Imperfect Tense

There are only three verbs that are irregular in the imperfect tense. All three are very commonly used, so their forms must be memorized.

ir (to go) iba ibas iba íbamos ibais iban

ser (to be) era eras era éramos erais eran

ver (to see) veía veías veía veíamos veíais veían

Prepositions

Here is a list of commonly used Spanish prepositions.

a ante bajo con contra de desde en entre hacia hasta para por sin tras

to; at before under with against from; of from in; on between towards until for for without after

Formation of Adverbs

Adverbs are words that can modify a verb, adjective, or even another adverb. They are used to express concepts such as time, manner, cause, or place. In Spanish, adverbs are placed after the verb they modify.

Most adverbs in Spanish are formed by simply adding "mente" to the feminine singular form of an adjective. (Remember that some adjectives have the same form for both the masculine and feminine.)

Adverbs are usually placed after the verb they modify in Spanish.

slowly absolutely evidently

lentamente (the adjective lenta + mente) absolutamente (the adjective absoluta + mente) evidentemente (the adjective evidente + mente)

Some adverbs have their own formed and must be memorized. A listing of some common adverbs that fall into this category can be found below:

Common Adverbs

Here is a listing of commonly used Spanish adverbs.

a menudo ahora antes apenas aquí bastante bien de nuevo de repente demasiado mal muy nunca siempre tal vez tarde temprano todavía ya

often now before hardly here enough well again suddenly too much badly very never always perhaps late early still already

The Future Tense

Formation

There is 1 set of conjugations for regular verbs in the future tense.

This tense is formed by adding the endings to the infinitive of the verb.

Here are the endings for all regular verbs.

	singular	plural
first person	é	emos
second person	ás	éis
third person	á	án

yo hablaré
tú hablarás
él/ella/usted hablará
nosotros hablaremos
vosotros hablaréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablarán

Usage

The future tense, as the name implies, is used with events that may or may not take place in the future. Remember though that in everyday conversation you are more likely to hear the "informal" future, which is the ir + a + infinitive construction. You will also see the present tense used for near future events.

Another use of the future tense is expressing a possibility. This use has many possible English equivalents: "may", "must", "might"

The Conditional Tense

Formation

There is 1 set of conjugations for regular verbs in the conditional tense.

This tense is formed by adding the endings to the infinitive of the verb.

Here are the endings for all regular verbs.

	singular	plural
first person	ía	íamos
second person	ías	íais
third person	ía	ían

yo hablaría
tú hablarías
él/ella/usted hablaría
nosotros hablaríamos
vosotros hablaríais
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablarían

Usage

There are two main uses of the conditional tense: first, indicating what would happen if a certain condition were true (in conjugation with the future tense), as well as making requests more polite (when asking a question). Remember the key word "would" when you are thinking of the conditional.

Irregular Verbs in the Future Tense

There are not very many verbs that are irregular in the future tense. The ones that are irregular will use a different stem, but the endings added on will still be the regular endings for the future tense. (Remember that with regular verbs in the future tense, the ending is added on to the infinitive.)

Notice that in the first grouping, the stem is made by dropping the final vowel of the infinitive and replacing it with a "d". In the second grouping, the final vowel is simply removed and not replaced with anything.

VERB poner salir tener valer venir caber poder saber decir hacer querer

NEW STEM pondr- saldr- tendr- valdr- vendr- cabr- podr- sabr- dir- har- querr-

pondré, etc. saldré, etc. tendré, etc. valdré, etc. vendré, etc. cabré, etc. podré, etc. sabré, etc. diré, etc. haré, etc. querré, etc.

Direct Object Pronouns

Here are the forms for the direct object pronoun in Spanish. (Please note that for third person singular and plural direct object pronouns, the choice of "lo" or "la" will depend on whether the direct object being referred to is a masculine or feminine noun.)

	singular	plural
first person	me	nos
second person	te	os
third person	lo/la	los/las

Direct object pronouns in Spanish are placed directly before the conjugated verb, even if the sentence is a question. If the verb is in its infinitive form or is in the form of a command, this is not the case.

Lo busco. ¿Los tienes?

I am looking for it. Do you have them?

Indirect Object Pronouns

Here are the forms for the indirect object pronoun in Spanish. Notice how the forms for the first and second persons are the exact same as the forms for the direct object pronouns. Remember that indirect object pronouns answer the questions "To whom?", "For whom?", "To what?", and "For what?".

	singular	plural
first person	me	nos
second person	te	os
third person	le	les

Indirect object pronouns in Spanish are placed before the conjugated verb, and also before the direct object pronoun (if the sentence has both a direct object and indirect object pronoun).

Antonio me da un regalo. Antonio nos (I.O.) las (D.O.) compra.

Antonio is giving me a gift. Antonio buys them for us.

Forming the Compound Tenses

The Present Perfect Tense

The compound tenses are formed by taking the auxilary verb "haber" and adding a past participle.

Therefore, the present perfect takes the present tense form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle.

Here is "haber" in the present tense.

	singular	plural
first person	he	hemos
second person	has	habéis
third person	ha	han

Here is an example of "comer" conjugated in the present perfect. Note that the past participle of "comer" is comido.

yo he comido
tú has comido
él/ella/usted ha comido
nosotros hemos comido
vosotros habéis comido
ellos/ellas/ustedes han comido

The Pluperfect Tense

The compound tenses are formed by taking the auxilary verb "haber" and adding a past participle.

Therefore, the pluperfect tense takes the imperfect tense form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle.

Here is "haber" in the imperfect tense.

	singular	plural
first person	había	habíamos
second person	habías	habíais
third person	había	habían

Here is an example of "comer" conjugated in the pluperfect tense. Note that the past participle of "comer" is comido.

yo había comido
tú habías comido
él/ella/usted había comido
nosotros habíamos comido
vosotros habíais comido
ellos/ellas/ustedes habían comido

The Future Perfect Tense

The compound tenses are formed by taking the auxilary verb "haber" and adding a past participle (in the masculine form).

Therefore, the future perfect takes the future tense form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle.

Here is "haber" in the future tense.

	singular	plural
first person	habré	habremos
second person	habrás	habréis
third person	habrá	habrán

Here is an example of "comer" conjugated in the future perfect. Note that the past participle of "comer" is comido.

yo habré comido
tú habrás comido
él/ella/usted habrá comido
nosotros habremos comido
vosotros habréis comido
ellos/ellas/ustedes habrán comido

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives refer to a noun and and answer the question which?. They are the equivalent to "this, that, these, & those" in English. In Spanish they must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

There are 3 categories of demonstrative adjectives in Spanish that relate to the distance of the noun being spoken about from the speaker.

1. Noun is near the speaker = este & esta
2. Noun is near the person being spoken to = ese & esa
3. Noun is far from both the speaker and the person being spoken to = aquel & aquella

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
este	esta		estos	estas
ese	esa		esos	esas
aquel	aquella		aquellos	aquellas

Examples:

este libro ese libro aquel libro

this book (by the speaker) that book (over there) that book (in a place far from the speaker and the person being spoken to)

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to show the location of the noun(s) they replace. They are the equivalent to "this one", "these", "that one", & "those". In Spanish they must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

There are 3 categories of demonstrative pronouns in Spanish that relate to the distance of the noun being spoken about from the speaker.

Group #1 (Noun is near speaker)

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
éste	ésta		éstos	éstas

éste (libro) éstos (libros)

this one (book) these (books)

Group #2 (Noun is near person being spoken to)

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
ése	ésa		ésos	ésas

ése (libro) ésos (libros)

this one (book) these (books)

Group #3 (Noun is far from speaker and person being spoken to)

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
aquél	aquélla		aquéllos	aquéllas

aquél (edificio) aquéllos(edificios)

this one (book) these (books)

The Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive is formed by taking the 1st person singular present tense form of a verb, dropping the "o" ending, and then adding the new present subjunctive ending.

Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -ar.

	singular	plural
first person	e	emos
second person	es	éis
third person	e	en

For example, we would take the 1st-person singular of "hablar" (present tense) which would be hablo. We would drop the "o" and add the following endings:

yo hable
tú hables
él/ella/usted hable
nosotros hablemos
vosotros habléis
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablen

Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -er or -ir.

	singular	plural
first person	a	amos
second person	as	áis
third person	a	an

yo beba
tú bebas
él/ella/usted beba
nosotros bebamos
vosotros bebáis
ellos/ellas/ustedes beban

The Imperfect Subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by taking the 3rd person plural form the preterit tense of a verb, dropping the "ron" ending, and then adding the new imperfect subjunctive ending.

Here are the endings for all regular verbs.

	singular	plural
first person	ra	ramos*
second person	ras	rais
third person	ra	ran

*Special note about the 1st person plural form: An accent will be added to the final letter of the verb stem to which the "ramos" ending is added.

nosotros escribiéramos, nosotros pagáramos, etc...

yo hablara
tú hablaras
él/ella/usted hablara
nosotros habláramos
vosotros hablarais
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaran

There is a second set of conjugations for the imperfect subjunctive. Either set of endings can be used. Here is the other set of endings:

	singular	plural
first person	se	semos*
second person	ses	seis
third person	se	sen

*Special note about the 1st person plural form: An accent will be added to the final letter of the verb stem to which the "semos" ending is added.

yo hablase
tú hablases
él/ella/usted hablase
nosotros hablásemos
vosotros hablaseis
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablasen