TimeLikes / DislikesPersonal ASePassiveDurationComparisonsTenerTemperatureVerbs Followed by ...Verbs that Change Meaning
Telling Time
| At what time is the event? | ¿A qué hora es …? |
| The event is at .. | Es a la + una Es a las + [number > 1] |
| It is time. | Es la + una Es las + [number > 1] |
| It was time. | Era la + una Eran las + [number > 1] |
| ten minutes after two o’clock twenty minutes to three o’clock half an hour quarter of an hour | Es a las dos y diez Es a las tres menos veinte la media el cuarto |
| on monday on mondays | el lunes los lunes |
| in (the year) 1958 in ’94 | en (el año) 1958 en ’94 |
Expressing Likes and Dislikes
| (A mí) me (A ti) te (A Ud.) le (A él) le (A ella) le (A nosotros) nos (A vosotros) os (A Uds.) les (A ellos) les (A ellas) les | + | gusta + infinitive(s) gusta + el/la singular noun gustan + los/las + plural noun |
Other verbs that shold be used with the same pattern:
| alegrar caer bien/mal dar pena disgustar encantar fascinar importar interesar molestar parecer sorprender | to be glad, happy to like/dislike someone to feel sorry to dislike, displease to really like to really like to matter to interest, find interesting to bother, be bothered by to seem to be surprised |
For details see Object Pronouns – Direct, Indirect and Reflexive.
The Personal “a”
| When the direct object is a person or a loved animal use verb + a + direct object | Voy a invitar a mi amiga Patricia Puedo llevar a Rufi, mi perro. |
| Verbs are not followed by personal a if the direct object are unspecified people. | Busco un hombre para esta película. Busco a un hombre que vi ayer. |
| Tener indicating posession is not followed by personal a. | Tengo una hermana. Tengo a mi hermana en el hospital. |
Impersonal, Passive, Accidental, Reciprocal and Indirect Se:
| Impersonal Se: People/You/They/One do smth. (When narrating in present.) Se + singular verb in present | Se estudia mucho en esta universidad. (no specific subject) BUT! Juan y yo estudiamos mucho en esta universidad. (expressed subject) |
| Passive Se. Subject is acted upon. Frequently used for instructions and afveritising. Se + 3rd person verb + passive subject | Se compran tomates frescos. (Fresh tomatoes are bought). BUT! Se compra tomates frescos. (One buys fresh tomatoes) |
| Accidental Se. To espress accidental or unintentional occurrences: Se + indirect pronoun + … + (a + noun/pronoun) | Se le cerró el libro a Juan. (accidentally) BUT! Juan cerró el libro. (on purpose) |
| Reciprocal Se. Used with reflexive verbs to express that the recipient of the action is its performer. | Juan se está bañando. BUT! Juan me está bañando. |
| Indirect Se. Appears in place of indirect pronoun le/les when there are two pronouns, both starting with l. | Le compra los zapatos. BUT! Se los compra. |
Passive Voice is mainly found in writing and is used, as in English, to put an emphasis on the action rather than on the doer. To form the passive voice, use the following construction:
Object + ser + past participle + por + Agent
Tomates frescos son comprados por Juan.
One can form most of the tenses using such a construction. However, when there is no clear agent, the passive se construction should be used.
For formation of past participle see conjugation of regular, irregular and stem-changing verbs. Also see conjugation of ser.
Expressing Duration of the Action
| I have been doing smth for time expression. | Hace time expression que verb in present. Verb in present desde hace time expression. Hace time expression que verb in present. |
| How long have you been doing smth? | ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que verb in present ? |
| I have been doing smth for about time expression. | Hace como time expression que verb in present. Hace unos time expression que verb in present. |
| Something happened time expression ago. | Hace time expression que verb in preterit. Verb in preterit hace time expression. |
Comparisons
| To compare people, things, or actions that are not equal: más/menos + noun/adjective/adverb + que verb + más/menos + que | Juan Luis Guerra da más concertos que Rubén Blades. Tipper es menos famosa que Hilari. Roberto trabaja más rapidamente que Carolina. Gabriela habla más que Ana en clase. |
| To compare quantities or degree: más/menos de | No puede costar más de mil pesetas. Siempre trabaja menos de lo debido. |
| To compare people, things or actions which are equal: tan + adjective/adverb + como tanto/a/os/as + noun + como verb + tanto como | Ella es tan sensible como su esposo. Ella trabaja tan rápidamente como yo. Ella trabaja tantas horas como yo. Las mujeres trabajan tanto como los hombres. |
Some adjectives have regular and irregular comparative forms. The latters sometimes comvey a different shade of meaning.
| bueno | más bueno | nicer, kinder, better (person) | mejor | better |
| malo | más malo | naughtier | peor | worse |
| grande | más grande | larger (in size), older (person) | mayor | older (person) |
| pequeño | más pequeño | smaller (in size), younger | menor | younger |
Note: mejor and peor usually preceed the noun they modify.
| To form the superlative degree:el/la/los/las noun más + adjective (+ de …) el/la/los/las noun menos + adjective (+ de …) | Caballé es la cantanta de ópera más famosa del mundo. Portillo es el mejor lugar de Chile para esquiar. |
| To describe something or someone which is one of the most/least but not the mose/least:uno/a de los/las (plural noun) más + plural adjective (+ de…) uno/a de los/las (plural noun) menos + plural adjective (+ de…) | Gloria Estefan es una de las (cantantes) más famosas de los Estados Unidos. |
Tener
| to be … years oldI am 18 years old. Ramon was 27 years old when … | tener … añosYo tengo 18 años. Ramon tenía 27 años cuando … |
| to be (very) hungry to be (very) thirsty to be afraid (of) to be (very) cold to be (very) hot to be right (wrong) to be sleepy to be in a hurry to have to do something | tener (mucha) hambre tener (mucha) sed tener miedo (de) tener (mucho) frío tener (mucho) calor (no) tener razon tener sueño tener prisa tener que infinitive |
Talking about Temperatutre
Remember:
| I am hot. Tengo calor. | This (something) is hot. Està caliente. | It is hot (of weather). Hace calor. |
These verbs are followed by …
| To begin to do smth. – Emepezar/Comenzar a infinitive Uds. empiezan a hablar muy bien el español. You’re beginning to speak spanish very well. | To be going to do smth. – Ir a infinitve Voy a ir de compras esta tarde. I am going to go shopping this afternoon. |
| To continue doing smth. – Continuar a gerundio Continuo estudiando el español. I am continuing studying spanish. | To do smth again. – Volver a infinitive ¿Cuándo vuelves a jugar al tenis? When are you going to play tennis again? |
| To just finish doing smth. – Acabar de verb Acabo de escribir un tarjeta. I just finished writing a postcard. | To play sport. – Jugar al noun (Some Spanish speakers omit al.) Juego al tenis – I play tennis. |
| To plan, intend to do smth. – Pensar infinitive ¿Cuándo piensas contestar la carta? When do you plat to answer the letter? | To think about smth. – Pensar en ¿En qué piensas? What are you thinking about? |
Verbs that Change Meaning in Preterite
These verbs change their meaning when used in preterit:
For some verbs (querer, poder) easy way to remember is that in preterit they reflect unfulfilled intensions.
| Verbs | Present | Preterit | Imperfect |
| conocer (a + person) | to know (someone), be acquainted with | met/began to know (someone or some place) | knew (someone); was acquainted with |
| saber (+ information) | to know (something) | found out (something) | knew (something) |
| querer (+ infinitive) | to want (to do something) | tried to, but did not (do something) | wanted (to do something) |
| no querer (+ infinitive) | not to want (to do something) | refused (to do something and did not) | did not want to (to do something) |
| poder (+ infinitive) | to be capable (of doing something) | was/were able and did (do something) | was/were capable (of doing something) |
| no poder (+ infinitive) | not to be capable (of doing something) | was/were not able and did not (do something) | was/were not capable (of doing something) |
| tener que (+ infinitive) | to have to (do something) | had to and did (do something) | had to, was supposed (do something), but did not necessarily do it. |
| ir a (+ infinitive) (different in imperfect???) | to be going to (do something) | was/were going to (do something), but did not necessarily did (?) | Expresses a past plan that did not materialize. Can be used to give excuses. |