In short

To make a Spanish noun plural, add -s after a vowel and -es after a consonant. A final -z becomes -ces (luz -> luces), and adding a syllable sometimes makes a written accent appear or disappear (canción -> canciones, joven -> jóvenes).

The rule

The plural ending depends on the last sound of the singular noun. The article goes plural too (el -> los, la -> las), which you learn in the next lesson.

Rule 1 - vowel + s. A noun ending in an unstressed vowel adds -s:

• casa -> casas, coche -> coches, libro -> libros, café -> cafés.

Rule 2 - consonant + es. A noun ending in a consonant adds -es (here final -y counts as a consonant):

• papel -> papeles, ciudad -> ciudades, profesor -> profesores, rey -> reyes.

Rule 3 - z -> ces. A final -z changes to -ces (Spanish never writes ze/zi):

• luz -> luces, lápiz -> lápices, vez -> veces, pez -> peces.

Rule 4 - stressed -í / -ú. Nouns ending in a stressed -í or -ú take -es in careful usage:

• rubí -> rubíes, tabú -> tabúes. (Everyday words like menú -> menús just add -s.)

Rule 5 - unstressed vowel + s stays the same. A word of two or more syllables already ending in -s, with the stress not on the last syllable, does not change - only the article shows number:

• el lunes -> los lunes, la crisis -> las crisis, el paraguas -> los paraguas.

Accent shifts. Adding -es can move a word into a new stress class, so a written accent may drop or appear to keep the spoken stress in place:

• drops: canción -> canciones, inglés -> ingleses (the extra syllable makes it a natural llana).
• appears: joven -> jóvenes, examen -> exámenes, origen -> orígenes (the accent keeps the stress where it was).

Mixed groups -> masculine plural. A group with at least one masculine member takes the masculine plural: los padres = father + mother, los niños = boys and girls, los reyes = the king and queen.

Forms & patterns

Accent changes on the plural:

Mixed-gender groups:

Examples

Common mistakes

• lápizs -> lápices - a final -z turns into -ces before the plural ending.
• cancións -> canciones - after a consonant add -es, and drop the now-unneeded accent.
• jovenes -> jóvenes - the plural gains a written accent to keep the stress on the same syllable.
• los luneses -> los lunes - words ending in unstressed vowel + s don’t change; only the article marks number.
• papels -> papeles - a word ending in a consonant needs -es, not just -s.

Tips

• One question decides most cases: does the word end in a vowel or a consonant? Vowel -> -s, consonant -> -es.
• Treat -z -> -ces as automatic; it mirrors the c/z spelling rule described in the pronunciation guide.
• After you add -es, re-check the stress: the accent may drop (canción -> canciones) or appear (joven -> jóvenes).
• If a mixed or family group has any male member, use the masculine plural - los hermanos can mean “the brothers” or “the siblings”.
• Words like lunes, martes, crisis, paraguas already look plural - let the article (el vs los) tell you the number.

In short

Spanish has definite articles el, la, los, las (“the”) and indefinite ones un, una, unos, unas (“a / some”). They agree with the noun in gender and number, and a + el and de + el always contract to al and del.

The rule

Choosing an article is really choosing the gender you learned in Lesson 1, then matching number. Definite articles point to something specific or known; indefinite ones introduce something new (with unos/unas = “some, a few”).

Step - Contractions. Two contractions are obligatory in both writing and speech:

• a + el -> al: Voy al cine. (but a la, a los, a las stay separate: a la playa)
• de + el -> del: Vengo del trabajo. (but de la, de los, de las stay: de la casa)

The “el agua” rule. A feminine noun that begins with a stressed a- or ha- takes el / un in the singular, purely for sound: el agua, el águila, el hacha, el aula, el hambre. The noun stays feminine, so:

• adjectives are feminine: el agua fría.
• the plural uses las: las aguas.
• other feminine words come back: mucha agua, esta agua, la misma agua.
• only a stressed a- triggers it: la amiga, la harina keep la.

Omission - where English has an article but Spanish drops it:

• profession, nationality, or religion after ser: Soy médico. Es española. (add one only with an adjective: Es una médica excelente.)
• after otro, medio, cierto, tal, mil: otro café (never “un otro”), medio litro.
• often before generic or uncountable nouns: No tengo dinero. Hay flores.

Sub-item - the neuter article lo. lo is not used with nouns; it turns an adjective or a clause into an abstract idea:

• lo + masculine-singular adjective = “the … thing / part”: lo bueno (the good thing), lo importante, lo difícil.
• lo que = “what / the thing that”: No entiendo lo que dices.

Forms & patterns

The four-way agreement:

The two contractions:

Feminine nouns that take el / un in the singular:

Examples

Common mistakes

• a el cine -> al cine - a + el always contracts to al.
• de el niño -> del niño - de + el always contracts to del. (But de él with an accent, = “of him”, does not contract.)
• la agua / una agua -> el agua, un poco de agua - a feminine noun with a stressed initial a- takes el/un in the singular; it is still feminine (el agua fría, las aguas).
• un otro café -> otro café - never put un/una before otro; “another” is simply otro/otra.
• Soy un médico -> Soy médico - drop the article for an unmodified profession after ser (add one only with an adjective: soy un médico joven).

Tips

• Choosing an article = recalling the noun’s gender (Lesson 1); if you learned la mano, you’ll say la mano, not el mano.
• al and del are the only contractions - there is no “a la” contraction; it stays two words.
• Say el agua but think “feminine”: every agreeing word (fría, esta, mucha) and the plural (las aguas) stay feminine.
• Spanish drops the article far more than English - after ser for professions, and in generic statements. Don’t insert “a/an” out of habit.
• lo is not “the”: use it for “the … thing” about a quality (lo mejor = the best thing), never before a noun.

In short

The subject pronouns are yo, tú, él/ella, usted and nosotros/-as, vosotros/-as, ellos/ellas, ustedes. Because the verb ending already shows the person, Spanish usually drops them (pro-drop) - you add a pronoun mainly for contrast or clarity.

The rule

Spanish has a fuller pronoun grid than English, splitting “you” and “we/they” by number, gender, and level of formality.

The people:

• 1st singular: yo (I).
• 2nd singular, informal: tú (you). Formal/polite: usted - but it takes third-person verbs.
• 3rd singular: él (he), ella (she).
• 1st plural: nosotros (m.) / nosotras (f.) - “we”.
• 2nd plural, informal (Spain): vosotros / vosotras - “you all”.
• 2nd plural, formal, and all of Latin America: ustedes - takes third-person plural verbs.
• 3rd plural: ellos (m.) / ellas (f.) - “they”.

tú vs usted (register). Use tú with friends, family, peers, and children. Use usted to show respect or distance - with strangers, elders, officials, or customers. Usted and ustedes always take the third-person verb: usted habla (like él habla), ustedes hablan.

Spain vs Latin America. For “you all”, Spain contrasts informal vosotros with formal ustedes. Latin America uses only ustedes for both registers - vosotros is not used there.

Pro-drop - the big one. The verb ending already identifies the subject, so the pronoun is normally omitted: Hablo español (not “Yo hablo español”). Use a pronoun only to:

• contrast: Yo trabajo y tú descansas.
• clarify a form shared by él / ella / usted: Ella no vino.
• emphasize, especially alone: -¿Quién es? -Yo.

Voseo (note). In Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Central America, vos replaces tú and has its own verb form (vos hablás, vos tenés). You will hear it, but tú is the safe pan-Hispanic default.

Forms & patterns

The pronoun grid:

usted and ustedes take third-person verbs.

Choosing “you”:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Yo hablo, yo como, yo vivo… -> Hablo, como, vivo - Spanish normally drops the subject pronoun; a “yo” in every sentence sounds unnatural. Use it only for contrast or clarity.
• Usted hablas -> Usted habla - usted takes the third-person verb (like él/ella), never the tú form.
• Ustedes habláis -> Ustedes hablan - ustedes takes third-person plural; the -áis form belongs to vosotros.
• tú used with a stranger or an elder -> usted - the informal tú where usted is expected can sound rude.
• nosotros for an all-female group -> nosotras - match the gender; use the -as form when everyone is female.
• vosotros in Latin America -> ustedes - vosotros is Spain-only; elsewhere ustedes covers every “you all”.

Tips

• Default to no pronoun - let the verb ending carry the subject. Add one only where you’d stress it in English (“I pay, you choose”).
• Remember usted / ustedes are “you” in meaning but “he/she/they” in grammar: they take third-person verbs.
• Pick your “you all”: vosotros only in or among Spain; ustedes works everywhere.
• With an adult you don’t know, start with usted - it’s easy to switch to tú once invited (“puedes tutearme”).
• él (he) has an accent; el (the) does not - see the diacritic accent pairs in the pronunciation guide’s lesson on stress and the written accent.

In short

Spanish verbs fall into three families by their infinitive ending - -ar, -er, -ir. Drop that ending to get the stem, then add a set of person endings. One present tense covers both English “I speak” and “I am speaking”.

The rule

The ending of the verb already tells you who the subject is, so the subject pronoun is usually left out (see Lesson 4). You build every regular verb in two steps.

Step 1 - Find the stem. Take the infinitive (the dictionary form) and drop the last two letters, -ar, -er, or -ir:

• hablar (to speak) -> habl-
• comer (to eat) -> com-
• vivir (to live) -> viv-

Step 2 - Add the ending for the subject. Each family has its own set. The vowel that opens most endings is the theme vowel: a for -ar verbs, e for -er verbs, i/e for -ir verbs.

Key overlap. The -er and -ir endings are identical except in the nosotros form (-emos vs -imos) and the vosotros form (-éis vs -ís). Everywhere else they match.

What it means. The present covers habitual actions (Trabajo en un banco), general truths (El agua hierve a cien grados), a scheduled near future (Mañana viajo a Madrid), and lively narration.

Forms & patterns

Three regular verbs, one from each family, side by side:

Note the written accent on the vosotros forms only: habláis, coméis, vivís. In Latin America vosotros is replaced by ustedes, which uses the same form as ellos (hablan, comen, viven).

Examples

Common mistakes

• nosotros comimos (for “we eat”) -> comemos - comer is an -er verb, so nosotros is -emos; -imos is the -ir ending.
• nosotros vivemos -> vivimos - an -ir verb keeps i in the nosotros form; only -er verbs use -emos.
• tú hables -> hablas - -ar verbs use -as for tú; -es belongs to -er/-ir verbs.
• él come written él comes -> come - the tú ending is -es, but usted/él/ella takes just -e.
• nosotros hablamos stressed háblamos -> hablamos - there is no accent here; the stress falls naturally on the -a-.

Tips

• Workflow every time: infinitive -> drop -ar/-er/-ir -> add the ending.
• Memory hook: -er and -ir are twins; they only differ in we and you-all (-emos/-imos, -éis/-ís).
• The yo form is always plain -o for all three families - the easiest form to remember.
• Because the ending shows the person, drop the pronoun unless you need it for contrast or emphasis.
• Only the vosotros form carries a written accent (habláis, coméis, vivís).

In short

Spanish has two verbs for English “to be”. Use ser for identity and defining traits (who or what something is), and estar for location and changeable states (where something is or how it is right now).

The rule

Both verbs are irregular, so learn their present forms first. Then decide which one by what kind of information you are giving.

Use ser for essence - who/what something is:

• Identity / definition: Soy María. Esto es un problema.
• Origin & nationality: Somos de Colombia. Ella es española.
• Profession: Mi padre es ingeniero.
• Possession: El coche es de Juan.
• Material: La mesa es de madera.
• Time & date: Son las tres. Hoy es lunes.
• Where/when an event takes place: La reunión es en la oficina.

Use estar for state - where/how something is:

• Location of a thing or person: Estoy en casa. Madrid está en España.
• Physical or emotional condition: Estamos cansados. Ella está contenta.
• Result of a change: La ventana está rota. La tienda está cerrada.
• estar + gerund (happening now): Estoy comiendo. (see Lesson 19)

A handy mnemonic: ser = DOCTOR (Description, Occupation, Characteristic, Time, Origin, Relationship); estar = PLACE (Position, Location, Action in progress, Condition, Emotion).

Adjectives that flip meaning. With some adjectives, ser gives an inherent trait and estar a current state - the English word changes completely:

Forms & patterns

Note the accents on estás, está, estáis, están - but estamos has none.

Examples

Common mistakes

• Soy en casa -> Estoy en casa - the location of a person or thing uses estar.
• Estoy profesor -> Soy profesor - a profession is an identity, so it takes ser.
• Soy cansado -> Estoy cansado - tiredness is a passing condition -> estar.
• Estoy español -> Soy español - nationality and origin use ser.
• La fiesta está en mi casa -> La fiesta es en mi casa - where an event happens uses ser, even though it looks like a location.
• ¿Cómo eres? (to ask how someone feels) -> ¿Cómo estás? - ser asks what someone is like; estar asks how they are.

Tips

• Two questions: What is it? (identity, description) -> ser. Where / how is it right now? -> estar.
• Feelings and locations almost always take estar; the classic exception is the location of an event, which takes ser.
• Weather and temporary results use estar: está nublado, está roto.
• Remember the flip: ser aburrido = boring, estar aburrido = bored. Choose the verb by the meaning you want.
• Only estás/está/estáis/están carry an accent; estamos and all forms of ser do not.

In short

Hay means “there is” and “there are”. It is a single, invariable form of the verb haber that you use to say that something exists or is present, without pointing to a specific, already-known thing.

The rule

hay is a special impersonal form - it has no subject and it never changes for number. The same word works for one thing or many:

Hay un libro en la mesa. / Hay tres libros en la mesa.

Use hay to introduce or count things - so it goes with words that leave the thing unspecified:

• an indefinite article: Hay un banco cerca.
• a number: Hay cinco personas.
• no article (uncountable or plural): Hay agua. Hay problemas.
• a quantifier: Hay mucho tráfico. Hay algunas tiendas.

Do not use hay with a definite article, a possessive, a demonstrative, or a name. Those point to a known thing, and to say where a known thing is you use estar (Lesson 6):

Only the present is hay. In other tenses you use the ordinary third-person singular of haber, and it still stays singular no matter how many things there are:

Forms & patterns

Choosing between hay and estar:

hay + noun is always the same shape: hay + (quantity) + noun. There is nothing to conjugate for singular vs plural.

Examples

Common mistakes

• Hay el libro en la mesa -> El libro está en la mesa - a specific, known thing (with el) takes estar, not hay.
• Han muchos coches -> Hay muchos coches - hay never turns plural; one form covers both numbers.
• Hayn tres personas -> Hay tres personas - there is no such word; it is always hay.
• ¿Dónde hay el baño? -> ¿Dónde está el baño? - to ask where a definite place is, use estar.
• Habían muchas personas -> Había muchas personas - even in the past, haber stays singular; it does not agree with the noun.
• Hay mi coche aquí -> Mi coche está aquí - a possessive marks a known thing -> estar.

Tips

• Think of hay as “there exists” - it presents something for the first time; estar locates something already known.
• hay is frozen: never add -n, never make it plural, whatever follows it.
• If you can put “the”, “my”, or a name in front of the noun, switch to estar.
• Past and future still use one singular form: había, hubo, habrá - resist the very common (but non-standard) habían.

In short

A Spanish adjective agrees with its noun in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural), and it normally comes after the noun: un coche rojo, unas casas rojas.

The rule

Step 1 - Match the gender. How the adjective behaves depends on its ending:

• Ends in -o: change -o to -a for feminine. blanco -> blanca.
• Ends in -e or a consonant: one form for both genders. un coche verde / una casa verde; un examen difícil / una tarea difícil.
• Exceptions that do add -a for feminine: adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant (español -> española, alemán -> alemana, francés -> francesa), and adjectives ending in -or, -án, -ín, -ón (trabajador -> trabajadora).

Step 2 - Match the number.

• Add -s after a vowel: blanca -> blancas, verde -> verdes.
• Add -es after a consonant: difícil -> difíciles, español -> españoles.
• Final -z becomes -ces: feliz -> felices.

Step 3 - Place the adjective. The default, neutral spot is after the noun (una idea interesante). A few types go before:

• Limiting words - numbers and quantifiers: dos libros, mucha gente, otra vez.
• Some short common adjectives shorten (apocope) before a masculine singular noun: buen, mal, primer, tercer. And grande -> gran before any singular noun.
• Moving a descriptive adjective before the noun can add emphasis or change the meaning.

Meaning changes with position:

Note: adjectives of nationality are lowercase in Spanish (español, not Español).

Forms & patterns

Agreement by ending type:

Apocope (shortened form before the noun):

Examples

Common mistakes

• una casa blanco -> una casa blanca - the adjective must match the feminine noun.
• un grande coche -> un gran coche - grande shortens to gran before any singular noun.
• un chico Español -> un chico español - nationalities are written in lowercase.
• unos libros interesante -> unos libros interesantes - adjectives also agree in number.
• una profesora trabajador -> una profesora trabajadora - adjectives in -or add -a for feminine.
• un bueno amigo -> un buen amigo - bueno apocopates to buen before a masculine singular noun.

Tips

• Two-step reflex: first fix the gender (-o/-a or invariable), then add the plural (-s/-es).
• Adjectives in -e or a consonant do not change for gender - only for number. The big exception is nationalities.
• Default position is after the noun; put it before only for quantity, the apocope words, or a deliberate shift in meaning.
• The apocope shorteners buen/mal/primer/tercer hit only masculine singular; gran hits any singular.
• When in doubt about a meaning shift, keep the adjective after the noun - that is the plain, literal sense.

In short

Many common verbs keep the regular endings from Lesson 5 but change their stem - either a vowel in the stem (quiero, puedo) or just the yo form (tengo, conozco). A few verbs are irregular all through.

The rule

Group 1 - Stem-changing “boot” verbs. The stressed vowel of the stem changes in every form except nosotros and vosotros (there the stress moves onto the ending, so the stem stays as it is). If you draw a line around the four changed forms, it looks like a boot.

• e -> ie: querer, pensar, empezar, entender, preferir. quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, queréis, quieren.
• o -> ue: poder, volver, dormir, contar, encontrar. puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden.
• e -> i (only -ir verbs): pedir, servir, repetir. pido, pides, pide, pedimos, pedís, piden.
• u -> ue (only jugar): juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan.

Group 2 - Irregular yo only. These are regular everywhere except the yo form:

• -go: hacer -> hago, poner -> pongo, salir -> salgo, traer -> traigo. Some also stem-change: tener -> tengo (tienes…), venir -> vengo (vienes…), decir -> digo (dices…).
• -zco (verbs in -cer/-cir after a vowel): conocer -> conozco, conducir -> conduzco, parecer -> parezco, traducir -> traduzco.
• Odd ones: saber -> sé, dar -> doy, ver -> veo, caber -> quepo.

Group 3 - Wholly irregular. Learn these as whole sets: ser (soy, eres…), estar (estoy, estás…), ir (voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van), haber (he, has, ha… / hay), oír (oigo, oyes, oye, oímos, oís, oyen).

saber vs conocer

Both mean “to know”, and both have an irregular yo:

• saber = to know facts/information, or to know how to do something (saber + infinitive). Sé la respuesta. Sé nadar.
• conocer = to be acquainted with a person, place, or thing. Conozco a María. Conozco Madrid.

Forms & patterns

The three main “boot” patterns:

Irregular yo (regular in every other person):

Examples

Common mistakes

• nosotros puedemos -> podemos - nosotros and vosotros keep the plain stem; the change happens only inside the “boot”.
• yo conozo -> conozco - these verbs take -zco, not -zo, in the yo form.
• yo sabo -> sé - saber has an irregular yo: sé (with an accent).
• yo teno -> tengo - tener adds -go to the yo form.
• conozco la respuesta -> sé la respuesta - facts and information use saber, not conocer.
• sé a tu hermano -> conozco a tu hermano - being acquainted with a person uses conocer.

Tips

• Picture the boot: the four changed forms surround the two unchanged ones (nosotros, vosotros).
• Dictionaries flag the change like poder (ue) or pedir (i) - trust that label.
• If the yo form ends in -go or -zco, the other five persons are usually regular.
• saber = a fact or a skill (sé la fecha, sé conducir); conocer = you have met/visited it (conozco a Ana, conozco Roma).
• The -zco/-go yo stem returns later in commands and the subjunctive (Lesson 38), so it is worth over-learning now.

In short

Tener means “to have.” It is irregular, and Spanish uses it for many states where English uses “to be” (tengo hambre = “I’m hungry”). Tener que + infinitive is the everyday way to say “have to.”

The rule

Tener combines the two irregularities from Lesson 9: an e -> ie stem change and an irregular -go in the yo form.

Step 1 - Conjugate it. The stem change follows the “boot” pattern (everything except nosotros/vosotros), and only yo takes -go: tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen.

Step 2 - Possession. The core meaning is “to have (something)”: Tengo dos hermanos. ¿Tienes coche?

Step 3 - tener + noun for states. Where English says “to be + adjective,” Spanish very often says “to have + noun,” and with no article: Tengo hambre (“I am hungry,” literally “I have hunger”). To say “very,” use mucho/mucha (agreeing with the noun’s gender), never muy: Tengo mucha hambre.

Age works the same way - use tener, not ser: Tengo veinte años (“I am twenty”).

Obligation: four ways to say “must / have to”

• tener que + infinitive - personal obligation (“I have to”): Tengo que estudiar.
• hay que + infinitive - impersonal, general (“one must / it is necessary to”); no subject: Hay que trabajar.
• deber + infinitive - duty or strong advice (“should / ought to”): Debes descansar.
• necesitar + infinitive - need to: Necesito dormir.

Forms & patterns

tener (present)

Common tener + noun expressions

Obligation

Examples

Common mistakes

• Soy veinte años. -> Tengo veinte años. - age is expressed with tener, not ser.
• Estoy hambre. -> Tengo hambre. - physical states use tener + noun, not estar or ser.
• Tengo muy hambre. -> Tengo mucha hambre. - intensify a noun with mucho/-a, not muy.
• Tengo que a estudiar. -> Tengo que estudiar. - tener que is followed directly by the infinitive, with no a.
• Hay que yo comprar pan. -> Tengo que comprar pan. - hay que is impersonal (no subject); for a specific person use tener que.
• Estoy razón. -> Tengo razón. - “to be right” is tener razón.

Tips

• Memory hook: many feelings Spanish “has” instead of “is” - hunger, thirst, cold, heat, fear, sleepiness, luck. Learn them as fixed pairs (tener + noun).
• Because the state is a noun, “very” is mucho/mucha (much hunger), not muy.
• tener que = a specific person must; hay que = everyone/anyone must. Same idea, different subject.
• tener is your model for other -go verbs (venir -> vengo, poner -> pongo) - see Lesson 9.

In short

To make any sentence negative, put no right before the verb: No hablo francés. Spanish also uses double negatives: when a word like nada or nadie comes after the verb, you keep no in front of the verb.

The rule

Step 1 - Basic no. Place no immediately before the verb. Nothing separates them except object or reflexive pronouns, which sit between no and the verb:

No como carne. · No lo veo. · No me llamo Ana.

There is no helper “don’t/doesn’t” - just no + verb.

Step 2 - Negative words. Spanish has a set of negative words:

Step 3 - One negative or two? It depends on where the negative word sits:

• After the verb -> you MUST keep no before the verb (double negative): No veo nada. No viene nadie. No voy nunca.
• Before the verb -> drop the no; the negative word already carries the negation: Nadie viene. Nunca voy. Nada importa.

Both orders are correct and mean the same thing. What is wrong is a single postverbal negative with no no (the English pattern): “Veo nada.”

ninguno shortens to ningún before a masculine singular noun: No tengo ningún problema. No hay ninguna silla. It is normally used in the singular.

ni … ni negates two elements: No tengo ni tiempo ni dinero. Before the verb: Ni él ni yo lo sabemos.

ni siquiera = “not even”: No tengo ni siquiera un euro. Ni siquiera me saludó.

Forms & patterns

Two equivalent structures

Pronoun order with no

Examples

Common mistakes

• Veo nada. -> No veo nada. - a negative word after the verb still needs no in front of the verb.
• No nadie viene. -> Nadie viene. / No viene nadie. - don’t add no when the negative word is already before the verb.
• No veo lo. -> No lo veo. - the object pronoun goes between no and the verb.
• No tengo ninguno problema. -> No tengo ningún problema. - ninguno shortens to ningún before a masculine singular noun.
• También no me gusta. -> Tampoco me gusta. - the negative of también is tampoco, not “también no.”
• No hablo no español. -> No hablo español. - use a single no before the verb; don’t double it needlessly.

Tips

• The double negative is not wrong in Spanish - it is required. Think: “No + verb + nada/nadie/nunca.”
• Quick test: if the negative word comes before the verb, one negative is enough; if it comes after, you need no too.
• Only pronouns may slip between no and the verb - nothing else.
• Answer “me neither” with yo tampoco; “me too” is yo también.

In short

A yes/no question is just a statement inside ¿ … ? said with rising intonation - there is no “do/does.” Information questions begin with an accented question word (qué, dónde, cuándo …).

The rule

Every written question opens with an inverted ¿ and closes with ?.

Yes/no questions. Spanish has no auxiliary like English “do.” Take the statement and either just change your intonation, or invert the subject and verb:

Tú hablas español. -> ¿Hablas español? / ¿Hablas tú español?

Answer with Sí or No.

Information questions start with a question word, and the subject usually moves after the verb (inversion): ¿Dónde vive María? ¿Qué quieres tú?

Every question word carries a written accent. That accent is what separates it from the same word used as a relative or conjunction (qué “what?” vs que “that”).

Prepositions come in front of the question word, never at the end as in English: ¿De dónde eres? ¿Con quién vas? ¿A qué hora empieza? ¿Para qué sirve?

qué vs cuál

• qué asks for a definition or comes directly before a noun: ¿Qué es esto? ¿Qué libro quieres?
• cuál(es) means “which one(s)” out of a set and is used without a following noun, especially with ser: ¿Cuál prefieres? ¿Cuáles son tus favoritos?
• Standard Spanish says ¿Qué libro? (not ¿cuál libro?) when a noun follows.

por qué / porque / porqué

• ¿Por qué? = “why?” (two words, with accent).
• porque = “because” (one word, no accent): No voy porque estoy cansado.
• el porqué = “the reason” (a noun): No entiendo el porqué.

Forms & patterns

The interrogatives

cuánto agrees with its noun in gender and number:

Examples

Common mistakes

• ¿Cuál libro quieres? -> ¿Qué libro quieres? - before a noun, standard Spanish uses qué, not cuál.
• ¿Dónde eres de? -> ¿De dónde eres? - the preposition goes before the question word, never at the end.
• ¿Que quieres? -> ¿Qué quieres? - interrogatives always take a written accent.
• ¿Haces tú hablar español? -> ¿Hablas español? - Spanish has no “do/does” support in questions.
• Estudio porqué me gusta. -> Estudio porque me gusta. - “because” is porque, one word with no accent.
• ¿Cuánto años tienes? -> ¿Cuántos años tienes? - cuánto agrees in gender and number with its noun.

Tips

• Open with ¿, close with ? - the upside-down mark warns the reader a question is coming.
• If the word is a question, it wears a hat: the accent marks qué, cuál, dónde, cuándo, cómo, quién, cuánto, por qué.
• cuál = “which of these”; qué = “what” or “which + noun.” When a noun follows, reach for qué.
• Keep prepositions at the front: think “From where are you?” not “Where are you from?”

In short

Learn 0-15 as unique words; 16-29 are written as a single word (dieciséis, veintitrés); from 31 up you insert y only between the tens and the units (treinta y cuatro).

The rule

Step 1 - 0 to 15 each have their own name (see the table). There is no pattern here - memorize them.

Step 2 - 16 to 29 are written as one word. Four of them carry an accent: dieciséis, veintidós, veintitrés, veintiséis. (These come from the old “diez y seis”; today the one-word spelling is standard.)

Step 3 - From 30 up you write three words, joining tens and units with y - and y appears only between tens and units:

treinta y uno · cuarenta y cinco · noventa y nueve

There is no y after the hundreds: ciento treinta (never “ciento y treinta”).

cien vs ciento. Use cien for exactly 100 and before a noun, mil, or millones: cien euros, cien mil, cien millones. Use ciento to keep counting from 101 to 199: ciento uno, ciento cincuenta y dos.

Hundreds 200-900 agree in gender with the noun they count. Note the three irregular ones: quinientos (500), setecientos (700), novecientos (900):

doscientos libros · doscientas casas · quinientas personas

mil (“thousand”) is invariable and takes no “un”: mil, dos mil, cien mil - never “un mil.” It never agrees: tres mil casas.

millón / millones are nouns, so they need de before the counted noun: un millón de euros, dos millones de personas. (Drop de if another number follows: un millón doscientos mil habitantes.)

uno -> un / una. uno drops the -o to un before a masculine noun and becomes una before a feminine noun - also inside compounds: un libro, veintiún años, treinta y un días; una casa, veintiuna sillas, treinta y una personas. On its own it stays uno: - ¿Cuántos? - Uno.

Forms & patterns

0-15

16-31 (one word up to 29)

Tens

Hundreds (agree in gender)

Big numbers: 1000 mil · 2000 dos mil · 1 000 000 un millón · 2 000 000 dos millones.

Examples

Common mistakes

• cien uno -> ciento uno - use ciento (not cien) from 101 to 199; cien is exactly 100.
• un mil euros -> mil euros - “one thousand” is just mil, never “un mil.”
• doscientos casas -> doscientas casas - hundreds from 200 to 900 agree in gender with the noun.
• veintiuno años -> veintiún años - uno shortens to un (with an accent) before a masculine noun.
• un millón euros -> un millón de euros - millón/millones need de before the counted noun.
• ciento y treinta -> ciento treinta - y appears only between tens and units, never after the hundreds.

Tips

• Two joins to remember: 16-29 = one word; from 31 up = spaced with y between tens and units.
• cien points at something big (a noun, mil, millones); ciento keeps counting (101-199).
• Gender agreement touches only uno and the hundreds 200-900 - the rest never change.
• Say a year in normal chunks: 2025 = dos mil veinticinco.

In short

Gustar does not work like English “to like” - it means “to please.” The thing you like is the subject, and you are the indirect object: Me gusta el café = “Coffee pleases me” = “I like coffee.”

The rule

Flip the sentence around. In “I like coffee,” English makes I the subject. Spanish makes el café the subject and puts me (the liker) in front as an indirect object.

Step 1 - Indirect object pronoun. Say WHO likes it with me, te, le, nos, os, les, placed before the verb.

Step 2 - The verb agrees with the THING liked (the real subject), so it is almost always third person - just two forms:

• gusta + a singular noun or an infinitive: Me gusta el chocolate. Me gusta bailar. (Even several infinitives keep gusta: Me gusta comer y dormir.)
• gustan + a plural noun: Me gustan los perros.

Step 3 - Optional a-phrase. le and les are ambiguous (to him? her? you? them?), so you often add a + name/pronoun for clarity or emphasis. The pronoun still stays:

A Juan le gusta el fútbol. · A mí me gusta el té, pero a ella le gusta el café.

The a before the name or stressed pronoun is obligatory. The stressed pronouns are: a mí, a ti, a él/ella/usted, a nosotros, a vosotros, a ellos/ustedes.

Negation: put no before the pronoun: No me gusta.

Verbs that work the same way

With doler and body parts, use the definite article, not a possessive: Me duele la cabeza. Me duelen los pies. And encantar is already strong, so don’t add mucho.

Forms & patterns

The gustar frame

Examples

Common mistakes

• Yo gusto el español. -> Me gusta el español. - you are not the subject; the thing liked is. Use me + gusta.
• Me gusta los perros. -> Me gustan los perros. - the verb agrees with the plural thing liked.
• Juan le gusta el café. -> A Juan le gusta el café. - name the liker with the personal a, and keep le.
• A mí gusta bailar. -> A mí me gusta bailar. - the a-phrase does not replace the pronoun; keep me.
• Me duele mis pies. -> Me duelen los pies. - use gustan-type agreement and the article los, not a possessive.
• Me encanta mucho el cine. -> Me encanta el cine. - encantar already means “to like a lot,” so don’t add mucho.

Tips

• Translate in your head as “X pleases me,” not “I like X” - then the structure falls into place.
• Only two verb forms matter: gusta (one thing or an action) vs gustan (several things).
• le/les almost always want an a-phrase to say who: A ella le…, A ellos les…
• The same backwards pattern runs encantar, doler, interesar, importar, faltar, quedar - learn one, use them all.

In short

Spanish has two sets of possessives: short ones before the noun (mi, tu, su…) and long, stressed ones after the noun or standing alone (mío, tuyo, suyo…). Both agree with the thing owned, never with the owner.

The rule

A possessive tells you whose something is. Spanish picks the form by position, and every form agrees with the noun, not the person.

Step 1 — Before the noun: the short (unstressed) forms. They go straight in front of the noun and replace the article: mi libro, tu casa, nuestros amigos. Say mi coche, never el mi coche.

Step 2 — Make them agree with the noun. mi, tu, su have only a singular and a plural (mi / mis). nuestro and vuestro also change for gender (nuestro coche, nuestra casa). Number and gender always copy the thing owned: “our books” = nuestros libros even if “we” are all women.

Step 3 — su(s) is ambiguous. su casa can mean his / her / your (usted) / their house. When context doesn’t make it clear, drop su and say la casa de él / de ella / de usted / de ellos.

After the noun or alone: the long (stressed) forms. mío, tuyo, suyo, nuestro, vuestro all agree in gender and number. Use them:

• after the noun: un amigo mío (a friend of mine);
• after ser: el coche es mío (the car is mine);
• with an article, as a pronoun: el mío, la tuya (mine, yours).

Forms & patterns

Short (unstressed) — before the noun:

Long (stressed) — after the noun, after ser, or as a pronoun (el mío):

Examples

Common mistakes

• mis padre -> mi padre - the possessive agrees with the noun (padre, singular), not with how many owners there are.
• nuestro casa -> nuestra casa - nuestro / vuestro also agree in gender; casa is feminine.
• el mi coche -> mi coche - the short possessive already replaces the article; never use both.
• es mío coche -> es mi coche / el coche es mío - mi goes before the noun, the stressed mío only after ser or the noun.
• tú libro -> tu libro - the possessive tu has no accent; tú with an accent is the subject pronoun “you”.

Tips

• Two positions, two sets: before the noun -> short (mi, tu, su); after the noun or alone -> long (mío, tuyo, suyo).
• The possessive copies the noun’s gender and number, so think about the object, not the person owning it.
• su is the great ambiguity - when it’s unclear, switch to el / la … de él / de ella / de usted / de ellos.
• To say “mine / yours” as a pronoun, add the article to the long form: el mío, la tuya, los nuestros.
• Don’t confuse tu (your) with tú (you), or mi (my) with mí (me): possessives never take the accent.

In short

Spanish points at things on three levels of distance: este (this, near me), ese (that, near you), aquel (that, over there). Each agrees with its noun; the neuter esto / eso / aquello points at an idea or an unnamed thing.

The rule

Where English has two demonstratives (this / that), Spanish has three, matched to who is near the thing:

• este - near the speaker (aquí, “here”);
• ese - near the listener (ahí, “there, by you”);
• aquel - far from both (allí / allá, “over there”).

Step 1 — Choose by distance: este / ese / aquel.

Step 2 — Agree with the noun in gender and number, and place it before the noun: este libro, esta casa, estos coches, estas mesas.

Step 3 — Idea or unknown thing -> the neuter esto / eso / aquello. These are invariable, never used with a noun, and refer to a whole situation or to something you can’t yet name: ¿Qué es esto? / Eso es verdad.

The same gendered words act as pronouns (“this one”, “that one”): Quiero este. The old written accent (éste) is now optional by RAE guidance, and modern writing usually drops it. Distant time works like distant space: aquellos años = “those (long-ago) years”.

Forms & patterns

Each degree pairs with a place adverb:

Examples

Common mistakes

• esto libro -> este libro - esto is the neuter and never accompanies a noun; use este / esta / estos / estas with nouns.
• esta problema -> este problema - problema is masculine (a Greek -ma word), so it takes este.
• ese casas -> esas casas - the demonstrative agrees in gender and number; casas is feminine plural.
• ¿Ves eso casa? -> ¿Ves esa casa? - for a known noun use the gendered form, not the neuter eso / esto.
• aquel for something by the listener -> ese - reserve aquel for things far from both of you.

Tips

• Map the three to distance from you: este = here (aquí), ese = there by you (ahí), aquel = way over there (allí).
• The neuter esto / eso / aquello has no gender and no plural — use it only for ideas or unnamed things (¿Qué es esto?).
• The gendered forms double as pronouns, so “this one” is simply este / esta — no word for “one” needed.
• The accent on the pronoun forms (éste, ése) is now optional; the neuters esto / eso / aquello never take an accent.
• ese and aquel also stretch into time: aquellos años = “those (distant) years”.

In short

Prepositions are little linking words — a, de, en, con, sin… Spanish maps them differently from English; the key A1 contrast is a for motion toward and en for location (“in / on / at”).

The rule

Learn the core prepositions by their main job, and expect them not to translate one-to-one from English.

• a - direction / destination (“to”), and clock time (a las tres). It also marks a specific person as object (the “personal a”: Veo a María), covered fully in lesson 21.
• de - origin (“from”), possession (“of”), material (“made of”): Soy de México, el libro de Ana, una mesa de madera.
• en - “in / on / at” for location, and means of transport: en coche, en tren, en avión (but a pie, “on foot”).
• con - “with”; it fuses into the special forms conmigo, contigo, consigo.
• sin (without), sobre (on / about), entre (between / among), hasta (until / up to), desde (from / since), hacia (toward).

Two obligatory contractions. a + el -> al, de + el -> del: Voy al cine, Vengo del trabajo. They never happen with él (“he”): el regalo de él.

a vs en — the classic trap. Use a for movement to a place and en for being in a place: Voy a Madrid / Estoy en Madrid.

Verb + preposition. Many verbs lock to one preposition — learn them as a unit: pensar en (think about), soñar con (dream of), depender de (depend on). The pair por / para (the two “for”) is important enough to get its own lesson (34).

Forms & patterns

Contractions (mandatory):

Pronouns after a preposition:

Core prepositions at a glance:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Voy en Madrid -> Voy a Madrid - movement to a place uses a; en is for being located there (Estoy en Madrid).
• de el coche -> del coche - a + el and de + el must contract to al / del.
• Pienso de ti -> Pienso en ti - pensar takes en for “think about”; pensar de only means “have an opinion of”.
• con mí -> conmigo - con fuses with mí / ti / sí into conmigo, contigo, consigo.
• para yo -> para mí - after a preposition use mí / ti, not the subject pronouns yo / tú.

Tips

• The big one: a = motion to, en = position in / at. ir, venir, llegar take a; estar, vivir, quedarse take en.
• Only two contractions exist and both are compulsory: a + el = al, de + el = del — never with él (he).
• One Spanish en covers English “in”, “on” and “at” for a place — a single word does all three.
• Don’t translate prepositions one at a time; store verb + preposition as a chunk: pensar en, soñar con, depender de, casarse con.
• After a preposition the pronoun shifts to mí, ti (but conmigo, contigo); everything else (él, ella, nosotros…) stays the same.

In short

A reflexive verb carries a pronoun (me, te, se…) that points back to the subject — the doer and the receiver are the same person. They cover daily routine (levantarse, ducharse), “each other” actions (se conocen), and many verbs that simply change meaning with se.

The rule

The infinitive is marked with -se: lavarse, levantarse, llamarse. To use it you conjugate the verb and put a matching pronoun in front.

The reflexive pronouns: me, te, se, nos, os, se. They must agree with the subject: yo -> me, tú -> te, él -> se, and so on.

Reflexive verbs come in a few flavours:

• True reflexive - the action falls back on the subject: Me lavo (I wash myself).
• Daily routine - mostly reflexive, and many also stem-change: levantarse, despertarse (e->ie), acostarse (o->ue), vestirse (e->i), ducharse.
• Reciprocal (plural “each other”): Se conocen (they know each other), Nos escribimos.
• Pronominal / meaning change - adding se shifts the meaning: ir (go) -> irse (leave), dormir (sleep) -> dormirse (fall asleep), comer -> comerse (eat up), plus acordarse (remember), quejarse (complain).

Placement. The pronoun goes:

• before a conjugated verb: Me levanto temprano;
• attached to an infinitive, a gerund, or an affirmative command: Voy a levantarme, Estoy duchándome, ¡Levántate! (note the added accent);
• before a negative command: No te levantes todavía.

Forms & patterns

lavarse (to wash oneself):

Where the pronoun goes:

Common reflexive / pronominal verbs:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Llamo Ana -> Me llamo Ana - llamarse is reflexive; you can’t drop the me.
• Me llamo es Ana -> Me llamo Ana - llamarse already means “I am called”; don’t add es.
• Yo levanto a las siete -> Me levanto a las siete - without the reflexive, levantar means “to lift something”, not “to get up”.
• Voy a me duchar -> Voy a ducharme - with an infinitive the pronoun attaches to the end, not before it.
• Se lavo las manos -> Me lavo las manos - the pronoun must match the subject (yo -> me), not stay as se.
• Duchate -> Dúchate - attaching a pronoun to a command adds a syllable, so it needs a written accent.

Tips

• Change both parts to match the subject: yo -> me lavo, tú -> te lavas, nosotros -> nos lavamos.
• Placement: before a conjugated verb, attached to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command (me lavo / lavarme / lavándome / ¡lávate!).
• With body parts and clothes, use the reflexive + the definite article, not a possessive: Me lavo las manos (not mis manos).
• Mind the meaning switch: dormir = to sleep, dormirse = to fall asleep; ir = to go, irse = to leave. There the se is not optional.
• Add a written accent when you attach a pronoun to a gerund or command to keep the stress: duchándome, levántate.

In short

estar + the gerund (-ando / -iendo) describes an action in progress right now: Estoy comiendo (I’m eating). Unlike English, Spanish does not use it for future plans.

The rule

Step 1 — Form the gerund (the -ing form):

• -ar verbs -> -ando: hablar -> hablando;
• -er / -ir verbs -> -iendo: comer -> comiendo, vivir -> viviendo.

Step 2 — Conjugate estar (estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están) and add the gerund. The gerund itself never changes: Estoy hablando, Estamos hablando.

Irregular gerunds:

• when the stem ends in a vowel, -iendo -> -yendo: leer -> leyendo, oír -> oyendo, traer -> trayendo, ir -> yendo;
• -ir stem-changing verbs shift the stem: dormir -> durmiendo (o->u), pedir -> pidiendo (e->i), sentir -> sintiendo (e->i).

Use it only for what’s happening at this moment. For a scheduled future, Spanish uses the present or ir a + infinitive, never the continuous: “I’m flying tomorrow” = Vuelo mañana / Voy a volar mañana, not Estoy volando mañana.

Pronoun position. Reflexive and object pronouns go either before estar or attached to the gerund (with an accent): Lo estoy haciendo = Estoy haciéndolo.

Forms & patterns

Gerund formation:

estar + gerundio:

Pronoun placement:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Estoy volando mañana -> Vuelo mañana / Voy a volar mañana - Spanish never uses the continuous for future plans; use the present or ir a.
• Estoy hablendo -> Estoy hablando - -ar verbs take -ando; only -er / -ir take -iendo.
• Estoy leiendo -> Estoy leyendo - when the stem ends in a vowel, -iendo becomes -yendo.
• Estoy dormiendo -> Estoy durmiendo - -ir stem verbs change o->u / e->i in the gerund.
• Estoy haciendo lo -> Estoy haciéndolo / Lo estoy haciendo - attach the pronoun (with an accent) or put it before estar; don’t leave it loose.
• Estoy trabajando aquí todos los días -> Trabajo aquí todos los días - for habits use the plain present, not the continuous.

Tips

• Build it in two steps: conjugate estar, then add the frozen gerund (-ando / -iendo). Only estar changes for the subject.
• Reserve estar + gerundio for this very moment. For routines use the simple present; for plans use ir a + infinitive.
• When the stem ends in a vowel (leer, oír, traer, ir), -iendo becomes -yendo to avoid three vowels in a row.
• The -ir stem-changers keep their vowel shift in the gerund: dormir -> durmiendo, pedir -> pidiendo, sentir -> sintiendo.
• You can swap estar for seguir / continuar (“keep doing”): Sigo estudiando — but that’s a later periphrasis.

In short

ir a + infinitive is the everyday way to talk about the near future and intentions — Voy a estudiar (I’m going to study). Vamos a + infinitive also means “let’s…”.

The rule

Step 1 — Conjugate ir in the present: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van.

Step 2 — Add a + the infinitive. The a is obligatory and the second verb always stays in the infinitive: Voy a comer, Van a viajar.

The structure means the near future / a plan / an intention — exactly English “going to”: Voy a llamarte luego (I’m going to call you later).

vamos a + infinitive does double duty: “we are going to…” and “let’s…”: Vamos a empezar = “Let’s begin”.

Time markers make it sound natural: mañana (tomorrow), esta noche (tonight), esta tarde, luego (later), pronto (soon), la próxima semana, el año que viene (next year).

vs the simple future (lesson 34): ir a is the spoken, already-decided, “planned” future and is far more common in conversation; the simple future (comeré) sounds more formal or expresses predictions and promises.

ir is not venir. ir a points away, toward a goal; venir means “to come” toward the speaker. Don’t use venir for the near future.

Forms & patterns

Present of ir:

The structure:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Voy estudiar -> Voy a estudiar - the a is obligatory between ir and the infinitive.
• Va a llueve -> Va a llover - after a comes the infinitive, never a conjugated form; weather stays singular (va).
• Vamos comer -> Vamos a comer - keep the a even in the “let’s” meaning.
• Voy a voy -> Voy a ir - only ir is conjugated; to say “I’m going to go”, the second verb is the infinitive ir.
• Vengo a comer (for “I’m going to eat”) -> Voy a comer - venir is “to come”; the near future uses ir.

Tips

• The formula never changes: ir (conjugated) + a + infinitive. Drop the a and it’s wrong.
• Only the first verb (ir) is conjugated; the action verb always stays in the infinitive.
• vamos a + infinitive is the quickest way to suggest something: Vamos a ver = “Let’s see”.
• In conversation, prefer ir a over the simple future for decided plans; save comeré for predictions, promises, and formal register.
• Anchor it with a time marker to sound natural: mañana, esta tarde, esta noche, la próxima semana, el año que viene.

In short

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las, plus me/te/nos/os) replace the noun that directly receives the action, so you don’t repeat it: ¿La carta? La escribo. They sit before a conjugated verb or attach to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command.

The rule

The direct object (DO) is the person or thing that directly receives the verb’s action: in Como la manzana (I eat the apple), la manzana is the DO. To avoid repeating it, swap it for a direct object pronoun.

Step 1 - Find the direct object. Ask “what?” or “whom?” after the verb: Veo la casa -> what do I see? la casa.

Step 2 - Match gender and number. For things, pick lo / la / los / las to agree with the noun. For people (me, you, us), use me / te / nos / os.

Step 3 - Place the pronoun. It goes before a conjugated verb (La veo), or attaches to the end of an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command (voy a verla, estoy viéndola, ¡míralo!). With an infinitive or gerund you may also put it before the whole group: la voy a ver = voy a verla.

The personal a. When the direct object is a specific person (or a beloved animal), Spanish marks it with a — the personal a: Veo a María. This a is not “to”; it just flags a human DO. It disappears once you use the pronoun: Veo a María -> La veo. Never use it for things: Veo la casa (not “veo a la casa”).

Neuter lo. Use lo (never la/los) to stand for a whole idea, statement, or “it” with no gender: No lo sé (I don’t know it), Ya lo veo (I get it now).

Leísmo note. In much of Spain you’ll hear le instead of lo for a masculine person: A Juan le veo. The RAE accepts this leísmo only for a masculine singular person; standard and Latin-American Spanish keep lo, so lo/la is always safe.

Forms & patterns

Placement of the pronoun:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Veo María -> Veo a María - a specific human direct object needs the personal a.
• Veo a la casa -> Veo la casa - no personal a with things; use it only for people.
• Como lo -> Lo como - the pronoun goes before a conjugated verb, not after it.
• La mesa, lo veo -> la veo - match the noun’s gender: mesa is feminine, so la, not lo.
• Cogelo -> Cógelo - attaching a pronoun to a command shifts the stress, so add the written accent.
• No la sé (about a fact) -> No lo sé - use neuter lo for an idea, not la.

Tips

• Ask “what/whom does the verb act on?” - that noun becomes lo/la/los/las (things) or me/te/nos/os (people).
• Agree with the Spanish noun’s gender, not with English “it/them”: el libro -> lo, la revista -> la.
• Placement rhythm: before a conjugated verb, attached to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command.
• When you attach a pronoun and the stress moves back, write the accent: mira -> míralo, comiendo -> comiéndolo.
• Neuter lo covers English “it/that” about a whole idea: (No) lo sé, ya lo veo, no lo creo.

In short

Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les) tell you to whom / for whom something is done. Spanish normally keeps the pronoun even when the person is named: Le doy el libro a Juan.

The rule

The indirect object (IO) is the person who receives the direct object or benefits from the action — it answers to whom? or for whom?: in Doy el libro a Juan (I give the book to Juan), el libro is the direct object and a Juan is the indirect object.

Step 1 - Find “to/for whom”. Escribo una carta a mi madre -> to whom? a mi madre (IO).

Step 2 - Choose the pronoun. Use le (one person) or les (several) for the 3rd person; me / te / nos / os otherwise. Note that me/te/nos/os are the same as the direct object pronouns — only the 3rd person differs (IO le/les vs DO lo/la/los/las).

Step 3 - Place it like a direct object pronoun: before a conjugated verb (Le hablo), or attached to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command (voy a hablarle, hablándole, ¡háblale!).

Redundant doubling (important). Spanish very often uses both the pronoun and an a-phrase in the same sentence: Le doy el libro a Juan. This is not clumsy repetition - with a 3rd-person a-phrase the le/les is essentially obligatory, and a Juan / a ella / a mis padres just clarifies who “le/les” refers to (since le alone could mean to him, to her, or to you-formal).

Emphasis with a mí, a ti… You can add a mí / a ti / a él / a ella / a usted / a nosotros… for clarity or emphasis — but the little pronoun still stays: A mí me gusta, pero a ti no te gusta. The a-phrase cannot replace the pronoun.

Gustar-family link. Verbs like gustar, encantar, doler, interesar, molestar run entirely on these pronouns — the person is the indirect object: A Juan le duele la cabeza (see lesson 14).

Forms & patterns

The doubling pattern (pronoun + clarifying a-phrase):

Examples

Common mistakes

• Doy el libro a Juan -> Le doy el libro a Juan - with a 3rd-person a-phrase you must also include le/les.
• Lo doy un regalo -> Le doy un regalo - the person you give to is the indirect object: le, not lo/la.
• Les doy un regalo a mi madre -> Le doy un regalo a mi madre - le/les agrees in number with the a-phrase; a mi madre is singular -> le.
• A mí gusta el café -> A mí me gusta el café - the a-phrase never replaces the pronoun; you still need me.
• Le hablo meaning nobody in particular -> add a ella / a usted… if unclear - le is ambiguous, so clarify who.

Tips

• Test: if you can ask “to/for whom?”, it’s an indirect object -> me/te/le/nos/os/les.
• The 3rd person is where care is needed: le (one) / les (several). Everything else matches the direct object set.
• Keep the le/les even when you name the person - Le hablo a Ana is natural; dropping le sounds foreign.
• Use a él / a ella / a usted to say which “le” you mean; use a mí / a ti for emphasis - but never drop the pronoun.
• Every gustar-type verb (encantar, doler, interesar, molestar, faltar) is built on these exact pronouns.

In short

When a verb has two object pronouns, the indirect comes before the direct (me lo da), le/les turns into se before lo/la/los/las (se lo doy, never “le lo”), and the pair moves as one unit - before the verb or attached (with a written accent) to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command.

The rule

Often a sentence has both an indirect and a direct object, and you replace both with pronouns. Three rules govern the result.

Rule 1 - Indirect before Direct. The indirect pronoun always comes first, the direct second: Me lo da (he gives it to me), Te la enseño (I show it to you). Mantra: ID = indirect, then direct.

Rule 2 - le/les becomes se before lo/la/los/las. You can never say “le lo” or “les las”. When the 3rd-person indirect (le/les) meets a 3rd-person direct (lo/la/los/las), the le/les changes to se:

Le doy el libro -> Se lo doy. · Les mando las fotos -> Se las mando.

This se is not reflexive - it is just le/les in disguise. Because se hides who the person is, add a él / a ella / a usted / a ellos to clarify: Se lo doy a ella.

Rule 3 - Place the pair together. The two pronouns never split up. They go either:

• before a conjugated verb: Me lo da. / Se lo di.
• attached to an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command, as one word: va a dármelo / dándomelo / dámelo.

With an infinitive or gerund you may also front the pair: me lo va a dar = va a dármelo. But with a negative command the pair goes before the verb: No me lo digas.

Written accent when attaching. Sticking two pronouns onto a verb adds syllables, so the verb almost always needs a written accent to keep its original stress: da -> dámelo, dar -> dártelo, diciendo -> diciéndomelo, trae -> tráemela.

Forms & patterns

Combining the pronouns (indirect + direct):

Where the pair goes:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Le lo doy -> Se lo doy - le/les turns into se before lo/la/los/las; “le lo” is impossible.
• Lo me da -> Me lo da - indirect (me) comes before direct (lo), never the reverse.
• Damelo -> Dámelo - attaching two pronouns to a command needs a written accent to hold the stress.
• No díselo -> No se lo digas - with a negative command the pair goes before the verb, not attached.
• Se doy el libro (as a full sentence) -> Se lo doy - se only replaces le when a direct-object lo/la/los/las follows it.

Tips

• Order mantra: ID - indirect then direct (me lo, te la, se los).
• “Two l-words can’t touch”: le/les + lo/la/los/las -> se lo / se la / se los / se las.
• The pair is inseparable - move both together, never one before the verb and one after.
• Attach and accent: any time you stick the pair onto an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command, write the accent (dar -> dármelo, di -> dímelo).
• The negative command flips the pair back to before the verb: dímelo -> no me lo digas.

In short

The preterite (pretérito indefinido) is the tense for completed past actions seen as a whole: Ayer comí paella. Learn the regular -é / -í endings, a few spelling tweaks in the yo form, and a compact set of strong irregular stems (tuve, hice, fui).

The rule

Use the preterite for an action that is finished and viewed as a single, bounded event: Ayer comí paella (Yesterday I ate paella). It’s the tense for narrating a sequence of past events - Me levanté, desayuné y salí de casa - and it pairs with finished-time markers: ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, el año pasado, en 2010, hace dos años.

Regular endings. Drop the -ar/-er/-ir and add the endings. Crucially, -er and -ir share the same endings:

The yo (-é/-í) and él (-ó/-ió) forms carry a written accent - miss it and you change the person or tense. (Note hablamos / vivimos look identical to the present; context decides.)

Spelling change in the yo form. To keep the sound, -car/-gar/-zar verbs adjust before the -é:

• -car -> -qué: buscar -> busqué, tocar -> toqué
• -gar -> -gué: llegar -> llegué, pagar -> pagué
• -zar -> -cé: empezar -> empecé, cruzar -> crucé

i -> y in the 3rd person. In -er/-ir verbs whose stem ends in a vowel, the unstressed i becomes y: leer -> leyó, leyeron; oír -> oyó, oyeron; caer -> cayó, cayeron.

Forms & patterns

Strong preterites. A key group has an irregular stem plus a special set of unaccented endings (-e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron):

hacer becomes hizo (c -> z before o). Stems ending in -j (decir, traer, conducir -> conduje) drop the i in the ellos form: dijeron, trajeron (not “dijieron”).

Fully irregular. ser and ir share one preterite (context tells them apart); dar and ver are short:

Examples

Common mistakes

• hablo vs habló - hablo = “I speak” (present), habló = “he spoke” (preterite); the final accent is the whole difference.
• hació -> hizo - hacer is strong (stem hic-/hiz-), so the él form is hizo, not regular “hació”.
• tení / poní -> tuve / puse - don’t add regular endings to the normal stem; strong verbs use their special stem with unaccented endings.
• dijieron -> dijeron - a j-stem (decir, traer, conducir) drops the i in the ellos form.
• llegé -> llegué - -gar verbs insert u before -é to keep the hard g sound.
• leó -> leyó - between two vowels the unstressed i becomes y.

Tips

• Two accent slots on the regular forms: -é (yo) and -ó (él/ella). They are not optional.
• Strong preterites are unstressed on the last syllable - tuve/tuvo, hice/hizo, vine/vino - so no written accent, unlike hablé/habló.
• Learn ser and ir as one set: their preterite is identical (fui, fuiste, fue…).
• The -car/-gar/-zar spelling swap hits only the yo form (busqué, llegué, empecé); the rest are regular.
• Reach for the preterite when the action is done and dated: ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, el año pasado.

In short

The present perfect = the present of haber (he, has, ha…) + a past participle (hablado, comido): He comido. It reports a past action still connected to now - recent, within a time frame that includes today, or a life experience up to this point.

The rule

You need two pieces: the auxiliary haber and a past participle. They stay together and never swap places.

Step 1 - Conjugate haber (present):

Step 2 - Add the past participle:

• -ar verbs -> -ado: hablar -> hablado
• -er/-ir verbs -> -ido: comer -> comido, vivir -> vivido

The participle here is invariable: it always ends in -o and never agrees in gender or number - Ellas han llegado (not “llegadas”).

Irregular participles (learn as a block):

Compounds inherit them: describir -> descrito, devolver -> devuelto.

When to use it. The perfect ties the past to the present:

• Recent past: Ya he terminado.
• Life experience (up to now), with alguna vez / nunca / ya / todavía no: ¿Has estado alguna vez en México? / Nunca he probado el sushi.
• A time frame that still includes now: hoy, esta mañana, esta semana, este mes, este año, últimamente: Este año he viajado mucho.

Perfecto vs indefinido (the key contrast).

• Perfecto = the time frame is connected to now: hoy, esta semana, este año, ya, todavía no, alguna vez. -> Hoy he comido mucho.
• Indefinido = the time frame is finished/detached: ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, en 2010. -> Ayer comí mucho.
• Dialect note. This split is strongest in Peninsular (Spain) Spanish. Most of Latin America prefers the indefinido even for today/recent actions: Hoy comí mucho is normal there.

Forms & patterns

Contrast the two past tenses by their time marker:

Examples

Common mistakes

• He escribido -> He escrito - escribir has an irregular participle; so do hecho, dicho, visto, puesto, vuelto, roto, abierto.
• He hablando -> He hablado - the participle ends in -ado/-ido, not the gerund -ando/-iendo.
• Ellas han llegadas -> han llegado - the participle after haber never agrees; keep it -o.
• Yo ha comido -> he comido - haber agrees with the subject (he/has/ha/hemos/habéis/han).
• Tengo comido -> He comido - the perfect auxiliary is haber, never tener.
• Ayer he comido -> Ayer comí - a finished-time marker (ayer) takes the indefinido, not the perfecto.

Tips

• Formula: haber (present) + participle - haber does all the conjugating, the participle stays frozen.
• The participle here always ends in -o (-ado/-ido or an irregular) and never agrees in gender or number.
• Marker test: hoy / esta semana / ya / todavía no / alguna vez / nunca -> perfecto; ayer / anoche / el año pasado -> indefinido.
• Memorize the ~10 irregular participles together - they are all high-frequency.
• In most of Latin America you’ll hear the indefinido where Spain uses the perfecto; match your target region.

In short

The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is the “used to / was …-ing” past: it describes habits, ongoing background actions, and how things and people were. It is remarkably regular — only three verbs are irregular.

The rule

The imperfect sets the scene in the past. Where the preterite (lesson 24) reports a single finished event — what happened — the imperfect describes what was going on, what used to happen, or what things were like, without focusing on when they started or ended.

Use the imperfect for:

• Habits / repeated actions - English “used to”, “would (always)”: De niño jugaba al fútbol.
• Ongoing background - an action in progress, often “was/were …-ing”: Llovía y la gente corría.
• Descriptions in the past - people, places, things, mental & emotional states: La casa era grande.
• Age, time, weather, dates in the past: Eran las tres. Tenía veinte años. Hacía frío.

Step 1 — Find the stem. Take the infinitive and drop -ar / -er / -ir.

Step 2 — Add the endings. There is one set for -ar verbs and one shared set for -er and -ir. Every -ar ending except nosotros carries a b (-aba-); every -er/-ir ending carries an accented í. There are no stem changes in the imperfect.

Forms & patterns

Regular imperfect — three verbs side by side:

The yo and él/ella/usted forms are always identical — add a pronoun or context if it is unclear.

The only three irregular verbs in the whole tense:

The past of hay (“there was / there were”) is había — from haber, invariable for singular and plural: Había un problema. Había muchos coches.

Examples

Common mistakes

• De niño jugué al fútbol -> De niño jugaba al fútbol - a repeated past habit (“used to”) is the imperfect, not the preterite.
• La casa fue vieja -> La casa era vieja - describing how something was uses the imperfect (era), not the preterite (fue).
• Nosotros ibamos a la escuela -> íbamos - ir is irregular (iba, íbamos) and nosotros needs the written accent.
• Habían muchas personas -> Había muchas personas - the impersonal past “there was/were” is always the singular había.
• Yo vía la tele -> veía - ver keeps its stem e: ve- + -ía = veía, never “vía”.
• comiamos -> comíamos - every -er/-ir imperfect form carries the accented í.

Tips

• Two ending families: -ar -> -aba…; -er and -ir share -ía…. Learn them as a pair.
• Only three irregulars — ser (era), ir (iba), ver (veía). Everything else is 100% regular: no stem changes, no exceptions.
• Trigger words that love the imperfect: siempre, todos los días, mientras, cuando era…, de niño, antes, normalmente, cada.
• English “used to” and habitual “would” almost always = imperfect; “it was + adjective / place / time / weather” = imperfect.
• The nosotros forms always take a written accent: hablábamos, comíamos, íbamos, éramos.

In short

Spanish has two simple past tenses and you must choose: the preterite (indefinido) reports a completed event — what happened; the imperfect paints the background — what was going on or used to be. Same past, different lens.

The rule

Both tenses are “past”. The difference is aspect — how you view the action, not when it happened.

Use the preterite (lesson 24) for:

• a single, completed action: Ayer comí paella.
• an action seen as a whole, with clear limits (even a long one): Viví diez años en México.
• a sequence of events that move the story forward: Entró, saludó y se sentó.
• a sudden change or reaction: De repente, sonó el teléfono.

Use the imperfect (lesson 26) for:

• the background / scene: Era de noche y llovía.
• habits and repeated actions: Todos los días paseaba.
• an action in progress: Ella leía tranquilamente.
• descriptions, plus age, time and weather: Tenía veinte años. Eran las dos.

The interruption pattern. A very common combination: an ongoing action (imperfect) is cut short by a sudden event (preterite) — exactly like English “was …-ing … when …”:

Yo dormía cuando sonó el teléfono. — I was sleeping when the phone rang.

Use mientras + imperfect for two simultaneous ongoing actions: Mientras cocinaba, escuchaba la radio.

Verbs that change meaning. A few verbs translate differently by aspect: the imperfect keeps the state, the preterite marks the moment it began or the completed act.

Forms & patterns

Meaning shifts (imperfect = ongoing state; preterite = completed act / onset):

Aspect at a glance:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Cuando era niño, fui a la playa cada verano -> … iba a la playa cada verano - a repeated habit is imperfect, not preterite.
• Ayer comía paella -> Ayer comí paella - a single completed meal is the preterite; the imperfect would make it a habit.
• La conocí bien (for “I knew her well”) -> La conocía bien - the ongoing state “knew” is imperfect; conocí means “met”.
• Estaba de noche -> Era de noche - background description of the setting is imperfect, and “it was night” uses ser, not estar.
• Dormí cuando sonó el teléfono (for “I was sleeping”) -> Dormía cuando sonó el teléfono - the interrupted ongoing action must be imperfect.
• La semana pasada era el examen -> La semana pasada fue el examen - an event that took place is the preterite, even though English says “was”.

Tips

• Ask “photo or video?” A finished snapshot -> preterite. A rolling background or description -> imperfect.
• Narration recipe: the imperfect sets the scene (weather, time, feelings, what was going on); the preterite moves the plot (what happened next).
• The interruption frame is reliable: [imperfect] + cuando + [preterite] = “was doing X when Y happened”.
• Memorize the meaning-shifters: sabía/supe, conocía/conocí, quería/quiso, podía/pudo — they come up constantly.
• Time markers help: ayer, de repente, un día, en 2020 -> preterite; siempre, mientras, todos los días, de niño -> imperfect.

In short

To give a command or instruction to tú or vosotros (informal “you”), Spanish has special affirmative forms: for tú, reuse the he/she present-tense form (habla, come); for vosotros, change the infinitive’s final -r to -d (hablad).

The rule

This lesson covers affirmative commands to the people you address informally: tú (one person) and vosotros/-as (several, in Spain). The polite usted/ustedes commands, the nosotros “let’s” command, and all negative commands use the subjunctive and belong to lesson 41.

Step 1 — tú (informal singular). The regular affirmative tú command is identical to the third-person singular present indicative — the “él/ella” form:

• hablar -> habla (¡Habla más despacio!)
• comer -> come
• escribir -> escribe

Stem changes carry over, because the él form already has them: cerrar -> cierra, dormir -> duerme, pedir -> pide.

Eight irregular tú commands. These short verbs have a special one-syllable form — memorize them:

di (decir), haz (hacer), ve (ir), pon (poner), sal (salir), sé (ser), ten (tener), ven (venir).

Step 2 — vosotros (informal plural, Spain). Take the infinitive and change the final -r -> -d. No exceptions: hablar -> hablad, comer -> comed, ir -> id. (In Latin America vosotros is not used; the plural command is ustedes -> lesson 41.)

Attaching pronouns. With affirmative commands, object and reflexive pronouns are attached to the end of the verb, forming one word. Adding a pronoun usually forces a written accent to keep the original stress:

• di + me + lo -> dímelo — levanta + te -> levántate — pon + lo -> ponlo
• vosotros drops the -d before the reflexive os: sentad + os -> sentaos, callad + os -> callaos.

Forms & patterns

Regular affirmative commands:

Irregular tú commands (regular vosotros alongside):

Attaching pronouns (note the added accent):

Examples

Common mistakes

• Comas la fruta (as an order) -> Come la fruta - the affirmative tú is the él-form (come); the subjunctive (comas) is only for negatives (lesson 41).
• Hace los deberes -> Haz los deberes - hacer has the irregular tú command haz, not “hace/haces”.
• Ves a casa -> Ve a casa - the affirmative tú command of ir is just ve, with no -s.
• Dime lo / dimelo -> dímelo - attach both pronouns and add the written accent.
• Sentados, por favor -> Sentaos - the vosotros reflexive drops the -d before os (sentad + os).
• Levantate -> Levántate - attaching te shifts the stress, so a written accent is required.

Tips

• Regular tú = “the he/she present form”. If él come, then ¡Come!
• The eight irregular tú commands are all short verbs. Memory phrase: “Ten paciencia, ven, sal, sé bueno, pon, haz, di y ve.”
• vosotros is dead simple: infinitive, swap final -r -> -d. Always - hablad, comed, id.
• Attaching a pronoun and the stress lands on the third-from-last syllable? Write the accent: pon -> ponlo (fine) but pon -> póntelo (accent).
• Only tú and vosotros live here; usted, ustedes, nosotros and every negative command use the subjunctive (lesson 41).

In short

To compare, Spanish uses más … que (“more … than”) and menos … que (“less … than”) for inequality, and tan … como / tanto … como (“as … as”) for equality. The superlative adds a definite article: el más … de (“the most … in/of”).

The rule

Inequality: más / menos … que. Put más (“more”) or menos (“less/fewer”) before an adjective, adverb, or noun, and que (“than”) after it:

• adjective: Ana es más alta que Luis.
• adverb: Corro más rápido que tú.
• noun: Tengo menos tiempo que ayer.

Before a number, use de, not que. “More than 20” = más de veinte; “fewer than half” = menos de la mitad.

Equality. Two patterns, depending on what follows:

• tan + adjective/adverb + como (“as … as”): Es tan alto como su padre.
• tanto/-a/-os/-as + noun + como (“as much/many … as”) - tanto agrees with the noun: Tengo tanta hambre como tú. Tiene tantos libros como yo.
• verb + tanto como (“as much as”), with tanto invariable: Trabajo tanto como ella.

Irregular comparatives. Four common adjectives replace más with their own form (see the table): mejor, peor, mayor, menor.

Superlative (the most/least of a group). Use a definite article (el/la/los/las) + optional noun + más/menos + adjective, with de for “in/of”:

• Es la ciudad más grande de España.
• Son los más caros de la tienda. The irregulars stay: el mejor, el peor, el mayor, el menor.

Absolute superlative (-ísimo). To say “very / extremely + adjective” without comparing, drop the final vowel and add -ísimo/-a/-os/-as. It agrees like any adjective and may need a spelling tweak: guapo -> guapísimo, rico -> riquísimo (c->qu), largo -> larguísimo (g->gu), feliz -> felicísimo (z->c), fácil -> facilísimo.

Forms & patterns

The comparison types:

Irregular comparatives & superlatives:

For physical size you may still say más grande / más pequeño; mayor/menor usually refer to age or abstract degree.

Examples

Common mistakes

• más bueno que -> mejor que - “better” is the irregular mejor, not “más bueno”.
• más grande que yo (for age) -> mayor que yo - for age use mayor/menor; más grande is physical size.
• más que veinte euros -> más de veinte euros - before a number, “than” is de, not que.
• tan libros como / tanto rápido como -> tantos libros como / tan rápido como - tan goes with adjectives/adverbs, tanto/-a/-os/-as with nouns.
• el más alto en la clase -> el más alto de la clase - the superlative “in/of” a group is de, not en.
• muy rapidísimo -> rapidísimo - the -ísimo ending already means “very”, so don’t add muy.

Tips

• Skeleton to memorize: más/menos + [adjective / adverb / noun] + que. Swap que -> de only before numbers.
• Equality splits by word type: tan + adjective/adverb; tanto (agreeing) + noun.
• Four irregulars beat “más + adjective”: mejor, peor, mayor, menor. Never say “más bueno/malo” for quality.
• -ísimo is a built-in emphatic “very”. It agrees (-ísimo/-a/-os/-as) and can trigger a spelling change: rico -> riquísimo, largo -> larguísimo.
• The superlative is just the comparative + an article: más alto -> el más alto.

In short

Adverbs describe how, when, or where — and are invariable (no gender or number). Many are formed by adding -mente to the feminine form of an adjective (rápida -> rápidamente), the Spanish equivalent of English “-ly”.

The rule

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, and never changes form.

Forming -mente adverbs. Step 1 — Take the adjective’s feminine singular form: rápido -> rápida, lento -> lenta. Step 2 — Add -mente: rápida + mente -> rápidamente.

• If the adjective has no separate feminine (ends in -e or a consonant), just add -mente: fácil -> fácilmente, feliz -> felizmente, alegre -> alegremente.
• Keep any written accent the adjective had: rápido -> rápidamente, fácil -> fácilmente, práctico -> prácticamente.

Two adverbs in a row. When you coordinate two -mente adverbs, only the last one keeps -mente; the first stays as the bare feminine adjective:

Habló lenta y claramente. — He spoke slowly and clearly.

muy vs mucho — a classic trap:

• muy (“very”) modifies adjectives and adverbs, and is invariable: muy alto, muy bien, muy tarde.
• mucho (“much / a lot”) modifies verbs (invariable) and, as a quantifier, nouns (then it agrees, mucho/-a/-os/-as): Come mucho. Tengo muchos amigos.
• Never say “muy mucho”. “Very much” = muchísimo.

bien / mal vs bueno / malo. bien and mal are the adverbs (“well”, “badly”) and go with verbs; bueno and malo are adjectives (“good”, “bad”) and describe nouns:

• Habla bien español. (adverb - how he speaks)
• Es un buen libro. / El libro es bueno. (adjective - describing the noun)

Forms & patterns

Adjective -> adverb with -mente:

Common adverbs (no -mente), by type:

muy vs mucho:

Examples

Common mistakes

• muy mucho -> muchísimo - “very much” is muchísimo; muy never modifies mucho.
• Tengo muy hambre -> Tengo mucha hambre - hambre is a noun, so use mucho/-a (agreeing), not muy.
• Ella canta muy bueno -> Ella canta muy bien - how someone sings needs the adverb bien, not the adjective bueno.
• Es un libro muy bien -> Es un libro muy bueno - describing the noun (libro) needs the adjective bueno.
• rapidamente -> rápidamente - build it on the feminine (rápida) and keep the accent.
• lentamente y claramente -> lenta y claramente - with two coordinated adverbs, only the last takes -mente.

Tips

• -mente = English “-ly”, built on the feminine adjective: rápida -> rápidamente. The accent stays.
• muy sits in front of a quality (adjective/adverb); mucho sits with an action (verb) or quantity (noun): muy cansado vs trabaja mucho.
• bien/mal answer “how?” about a verb; bueno/malo describe a noun: cocina bien vs es bueno.
• Chaining -mente adverbs? Drop it from all but the last: clara, rápida y educadamente.
• Overusing -mente sounds heavy; Spanish often prefers con + noun (con cuidado = “carefully”) or a fixed adverb.

In short

Indefinites point to unspecified people (alguien/nadie), things (algo/nada) and quantities (alguno, todo, mucho…). Many agree in gender and number; the negatives (nadie, nada, ninguno) still need no before the verb when they follow it.

The rule

People and things — four invariable pronouns. These never change form:

• alguien (someone) vs nadie (no one) - people only.
• algo (something) vs nada (nothing) - things only.

alguno / ninguno (some / none). Used as adjectives or pronouns, they agree: alguno/alguna/algunos/algunas, ninguno/ninguna. Before a masculine singular noun they apocopate (drop the -o) -> algún, ningún: algún día, ningún problema. ninguno is almost always singular (“none at all”); the plural ningunos/-as is rare.

Negative concord (the double negative). When a negative word (nada, nadie, nunca, ninguno) comes after the verb, you must keep no before the verb: No veo a nadie. When it comes before the verb, drop the no: Nadie viene. (See lesson 11.)

Quantifiers. Most agree in gender and number with their noun:

• todo/-a/-os/-as (all/every): todo el día (the whole day) vs todos los días (every day).
• mucho, poco, demasiado, tanto and varios/-as all agree: muchas casas, demasiada sal.
• bastante agrees only in number: bastante/bastantes.
• otro/-a/-os/-as means “another/other” - never put an article before it (un otro is wrong).
• cada (each) is invariable: cada día, cada dos horas.

Forms & patterns

Affirmative words and their negative counterparts:

Quantifiers and how they agree:

Examples

Common mistakes

• un otro café -> otro café - never put an indefinite article before otro; it already means “another”.
• ¿Tienes alguno libro? -> ¿Tienes algún libro? - before a masculine singular noun, alguno apocopates to algún.
• No tengo ningunos amigos -> No tengo ningún amigo - ninguno is normally singular; use it even where English says “any” in the plural.
• Veo nada -> No veo nada - a post-verbal negative still needs no before the verb (double negative).
• ¿Quieres alguien? -> ¿Quieres algo? - alguien is for people only; use algo for things.
• Todos el día -> Todo el día - “the whole day” is singular todo el día; todos los días means “every day”.

Tips

• Learn them in pairs: alg- = positive (algo/alguien/alguno), n- = negative (nada/nadie/ninguno).
• Apocope trigger: uno, alguno, ninguno (also primero, tercero) drop the -o only before a masculine singular noun -> un, algún, ningún.
• If a negative word sits after the verb, the sentence still needs no: No… nada / nadie / ninguno. Spanish loves the double negative.
• cada never changes; every other quantifier in the table agrees with its noun.
• Use the personal a before alguien/nadie/alguno when they are people objects: No veo a nadie.

In short

Ordinals (primero, segundo, tercero…) name rank or order and agree in gender and number with the noun. primero and tercero drop the -o before a masculine singular noun (el primer día). Above 10th, everyday Spanish switches to plain cardinal numbers.

The rule

The ordinals you actually use are 1st-10th: primero, segundo, tercero, cuarto, quinto, sexto, séptimo, octavo, noveno, décimo.

Step 1 - Make them agree. Like any adjective, an ordinal agrees in gender and number with its noun: la segunda puerta, los primeros días, las terceras partes.

Step 2 - Apocope before a masculine singular noun. primero -> primer and tercero -> tercer when they sit right before a masculine singular noun: el primer día, el tercer piso. The feminine and the plurals keep the full form: la primera vez, los primeros años.

Position. Ordinals normally go before the noun (el segundo capítulo), unlike most Spanish adjectives.

Above 10th, use cardinals. Beyond décimo, spoken Spanish drops the ordinal and uses a cardinal number, usually after the noun:

• floors/pages: el piso once (the 11th floor), la página quince;
• centuries: el siglo veinte (the 20th century), el siglo veintiuno;
• monarchs: kings up to 10 read as ordinals (Felipe VI = Felipe sexto), from 11 as cardinals (Alfonso XIII = Alfonso trece).

The higher ordinals (undécimo, duodécimo, vigésimo…) exist but sound formal or literary.

Forms & patterns

The ten you need, with the two apocopated forms:

Agreement across gender and number:

Examples

Common mistakes

• el primero libro -> el primer libro - before a masculine singular noun, primero apocopates to primer.
• el tercero día -> el tercer día - the same apocope applies to tercero -> tercer.
• la primer vez -> la primera vez - the apocope is masculine only; the feminine keeps primera.
• el vigésimo primer piso (in speech) -> el piso veintiuno - above 10th, use the cardinal number after the noun.
• el siglo vigésimo -> el siglo veinte - centuries take cardinals: el siglo XX = el siglo veinte.

Tips

• You realistically only need 1st-10th; from 11th up, just say the cardinal (el piso doce, el capítulo quince).
• Only primero and tercero apocopate - and only right before a masculine singular noun.
• Kings and popes: up to X read as ordinals (Juan Pablo II = segundo), from XI as cardinals (Luis XIV = catorce).
• Abbreviations show the gender with a raised letter: 1.º / 1.ª (masc./fem.), 2.º, and 3.er for tercer.

In short

Both por and para often translate as English “for,” but they split the work: para points forward — purpose, destination, deadline, recipient — while por points back or through — cause, exchange, duration, and movement along/through.

The rule

Picture an arrow. para = the goal the arrow points at. por = the reason behind it or the path it travels through.

Use para for the goal / destination:

• Purpose (para + infinitive = “in order to”): Estudio para aprobar.
• Recipient: Este regalo es para ti.
• Deadline / future point: La tarea es para el lunes.
• Destination (movement toward): Salgo para Madrid.
• Opinion: Para mí, es demasiado caro.
• Employer (“work for”): Trabaja para una empresa alemana.

Use por for the cause / route / exchange:

• Cause / motive (“because of”): Lo hago por ti. / Cerrado por vacaciones. (por + infinitive = “because of …-ing”).
• Exchange / price / thanks: Pagué veinte euros por el libro. / Gracias por la ayuda.
• Duration: Estudié por dos horas. (Latin America; Spain often uses durante or no preposition.)
• Movement through / along: Paseamos por el parque.
• Means (“by”): Te llamo por teléfono. / Lo envié por correo.
• Rate / frequency: dos veces por semana, cien kilómetros por hora.
• Agent in the passive: La novela fue escrita por Cervantes.

Set phrases (learn them whole): por eso, por favor, por supuesto, por fin, por ejemplo, por lo menos; para siempre, para nada.

Forms & patterns

Examples

Common mistakes

• Gracias para tu ayuda -> Gracias por tu ayuda - thanking is exchange/motive, so por.
• Estudio por aprobar -> Estudio para aprobar - a purpose or goal takes para + infinitive.
• Trabajo por una empresa -> Trabajo para una empresa - “employed by” is para; trabajar por means “for the sake of”.
• Pasamos para el centro -> Pasamos por el centro - movement through/along a place is por.
• Salgo por Madrid -> Salgo para Madrid - the destination of movement is para.
• Es demasiado caro por mí -> Es demasiado caro para mí - “in my opinion / for me” is para.

Tips

• One-line test: para = destination/goal (the point) · por = motive/route (the reason, the path).
• “In order to” is always para + infinitive. If you can insert “in order to,” use para.
• Watch the pair: trabajar para (be employed by) vs trabajar por (for the sake of): Trabajo para el banco / Lo hago por mis hijos.
• Movement: toward a destination = para (salgo para casa); through or around a place = por (voy por el parque).
• Memorize the set phrases as units — por favor, por eso, por fin, para siempre — don’t re-derive them.

In short

The simple future adds one set of endings (-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án) to the whole infinitive — identical for -ar, -er and -ir verbs. Besides future events, it expresses probability/conjecture about the present (“it must be…”, “I wonder…”).

The rule

Step 1 - Take the whole infinitive. Don’t drop anything: hablar, comer, vivir.

Step 2 - Add the endings. One set for all three conjugations: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. So hablar -> hablaré, comer -> comeré, vivir -> viviré. Every form except nosotros carries a written accent.

Irregular stems. About a dozen common verbs use a shortened or modified stem but take the same endings. Three groups:

• Drop the vowel: haber -> habr-, poder -> podr-, querer -> querr-, saber -> sabr-, caber -> cabr-.
• Vowel becomes -d-: tener -> tendr-, poner -> pondr-, salir -> saldr-, venir -> vendr-, valer -> valdr-.
• Fully irregular: hacer -> har-, decir -> dir-.

Compounds inherit the change: componer -> compondré, deshacer -> desharé.

Uses:

1. Future events / predictions: Mañana lloverá. / El año que viene viajaré a Perú.
2. Promises / willingness: Te ayudaré. / No lo haré otra vez.
3. Conjecture / probability about the PRESENT (“must be / probably / I wonder”): ¿Qué hora será? (I wonder what time it is) · Estará en casa (He’s probably home) · ¿Quién será? (Who can that be?).

For a near, already-decided plan, spoken Spanish often prefers ir a + infinitive (lesson 20); the simple future leans toward predictions, promises and conjecture.

Forms & patterns

Regular — the same endings for all three conjugations:

Irregular stems (shown in the yo form):

Examples

Common mistakes

• teneré -> tendré - tener uses the irregular stem tendr-, not the full infinitive.
• hablaremós -> hablaremos - the nosotros form is the only one with no written accent.
• Será las tres -> Serán las tres - with plural “las tres” the verb is plural: serán.
• ponaré / pondaré -> pondré - poner’s future stem is pondr-; keep the endings unchanged.
• Overusing the future for near plans -> for something you’ve decided, voy a + infinitive is often more natural than the simple future.

Tips

• One ending set fits all verbs — the only thing that ever changes is the stem.
• The same irregular stems come back in the conditional (lesson 35): learn them once, use them twice.
• Accent every form except nosotros: hablaré, hablarás, hablará, hablaremos, hablaréis, hablarán.
• “Must be / probably / I wonder” about now = future of probability: Estará durmiendo (He must be sleeping).
• For a decided plan, reach for ir a + infinitivo; save the simple future for predictions, promises and guesses.

In short

The conditional adds -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían to the whole infinitive (the same irregular stems as the future). It means “would…” — for hypotheses, polite requests, advice, and the “future seen from the past.”

The rule

Step 1 - Take the whole infinitive, just like the future: hablar, comer, vivir.

Step 2 - Add the -ía endings, the same for all three conjugations, and every form is accented on the í: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. So hablar -> hablaría, comer -> comería, vivir -> viviría.

Irregular stems — exactly the same as the future (lesson 34): tendría, pondría, saldría, vendría, podría, sabría, habría, haría, diría, querría, cabría.

Uses:

1. Hypothesis / “would”: Con más tiempo, viajaría más. (Full “if I had…, I would…” sentences come in lesson 46.)
2. Politeness / softening: ¿Podrías ayudarme? · Querría un café. · ¿Te importaría cerrar la ventana? — gentler than the present or the imperative.
3. Advice: Deberías descansar. · Yo que tú, hablaría con ella.
4. Future-in-the-past (reported speech): Dijo que vendría mañana. — He said he would come. (The future vendrá becomes conditional after a past verb.)
5. Probability about the PAST: Serían las tres cuando llegó. (It must have been about three.) · Tendría veinte años. (He was probably twenty.)

Careful — conditional -ía vs imperfect -ía. The -er/-ir imperfect (comía, vivía) also ends in -ía. The difference: the conditional is built on the whole infinitive (comería = comer + ía), the imperfect on the stem (comía = com + ía). Listen for the extra syllable.

Forms & patterns

Regular — the same endings for all three conjugations:

Irregular stems (same set as the future):

Examples