Introduction(es)

Los niños escriben poemas en tiras de papel rojo.

Gender

In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.

Usually, nouns that end with an "o" are masculine, and nouns that end with an "a" are feminine.

The articles el and "un" are used with masculine nouns, and the articles "la" and "una" are used with feminine nouns.

Eng.	Es.	Eng.	Es.
the girl	la niña	the boy	el niño
the woman	la mujer	the man	el hombre
The apple	la manzana	the newspaper	el diario
the water/milk	la aguz/leche	the bread	el pan

The Second Person Singular

"Tú," "usted" and "vos" are different ways of referring to the second person singular (you).

Tú is used in friendly conversations, usted is the formal way of saying "you," and vos is used in informal speech in certain countries instead of tú.

The three pronouns are synonyms, but they change the way verbs are conjugated. For instance, for the verb "comer" (to eat), it is "tú comes," "usted come," and "vos comés."

The decision of which form of "you" to use is regional and cultural, but you can typically use "usted" when referring to strangers.

Accent marks can be really useful! In Spanish, a word might have a different meaning depending on whether it does or doesn't have an accent mark.

For example, when tú has an accent, it means you.

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¿Tú tienes un gato?

Do you have a cat?

Without an accent, tu means your.

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¡Tu gato es grande!

Your cat is big!

Ser vs. estar

Está and es both mean is. So what's the difference? If you want to say where someone or something is located, use está.

¡El taxi está aquí!

• The taxi is here!

You also use está when you're talking about something that's only temporarily true.

El hotel está cerrado.

• The hotel is closed.

You would also use estoy, estás, or está to talk about how people are feeling or doing.

¡Yo estoy cansada!

• I am tired!

Meanwhile, es is used to describe the qualities of a person or thing / more permanent descriptions, like explaining what someone is like..

El taxi es amarillo.

• The taxi is yellow.

Mi esposo es muy bajo.

• My husband is very short.

You would also use soy, eres, or es to say where people are from.

Yo soy de los Estados Unidos.

• I am from the United States.

Este vs. esta

In Spanish, the word for this changes depending on the gender of the noun it goes with.

Este libro es divertido.

• This book is fun.

Yo trabajo en esta biblioteca.

I work in this library.

Los and las

You can add an ‑s to make a word plural.

los hombres

• the men

But when a word ends in a consonant, you'll need to add ‑es.

las mujeres

• the women

Note that when referring to more than one person or thing, el becomes los.

el bolígrafo / los bolígrafos

• the pen / the pens

la carta / las cartas

• the letter / the letters

Add ‑s to both the adjective and the noun if a word is plural!

el zapato verde / los zapatos verdes

the green shoe / the green shoes

Verb Conjugation

Verb conjugation in Spanish is more complicated than in English. In Spanish, the verb endings change in order to describe who is doing the action and when. For example, for "comer," "I eat" is "yo como" and "you eat" is "tú comes."

Because the conjugations indicate who is doing the action, it is usually possible to omit the pronoun. For instance instead of saying "yo como arroz" (I eat rice), you can say "como arroz."

Present indicative (presente del indicativo):

	ser	estar	tener	Poder	haber	traer	dar
yo	soy	estoy	tengo	puedo	he	traigo	doy
tú	eres	estás	tienes	puedes	has	traes	das
él/ella/usted	es	está	tiene	puede	ha	trae	da
nosotros/nosotras	somos	estamos	tenemos	podemos	hemos	traemos	damos
vosotros/vosotras	sois	estáis	tenéis	podéis	habéis	traéis	dais
ellos/ellas/ustedes	son	están	tenen	pueden	han	traen	dan

er/ar

er				ar
aprender understand				llamar named	trabajar work	nadar swim
correr run				regalar give	mirar watch	viajar travel	buscar look/search for
				comprar buy	usar use	estudiar study	pagar pay

	beber	comer	hacer	poner	hablar	llevar	tomar
yo	bebo	como	hago	pongo	hablo	llevo	tomo
tú	bebes	comes	haces	pones	hablas	llevas	tomas
él/ella/usted	bebe	come	hace	pone	habla	lleva	toma
nosotros/nosotras	bebemos	comemos	hacemos	ponemos	hablamos	llevamos	tomamos
vosotros/vosotras	bebéis	coméis	hacéis	ponéis	habláis	lleváis	tomáis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	beben	comen	hacen	ponen	hablan	llevan	toman

ir

In some Spanish verbs, the middle vowel changes.

These are the so‑called e‑to‑ie verbs. But watch out! The e doesn't change in the nosotros / nosotras form.

vivir	live
recibir	receive
escribir	write

	abrir	salir	dormir*	vestir*	saber*	querer*	ir
yo	abro	salgo	duermo	visto	sé	quiero	voy
tú	abres	sales	duermes	vistes	sabes	quieres	vas
él/ella/usted	abre	sale	duerme	viste	sabe	quiere	va
nosotros/nosotras	abrimos	salimos	dormimos	vestimos	sabemos	queremos	vamos
vosotros/vosotras	abrís	salís	dormís	vestís	sabéis	queréis	vais
ellos/ellas/ustedes	abren	salen	duermen	visten	saben	quieren	van

Espanol pregunta

Asking questions in Spanish is easy! Just change the pronunciation of any statement to a question by lifting your voice at the end.

Tú tienes un perro.

• You have a dog.

¿Tú tienes un perro?

• Do you have a dog?

¿Tú sabes inglés? /¿Hablas inglés?

• Do you speak English?

Notice that all questions in Spanish begin with an upside down question mark (¿).

To ask where someone is from, you can say ¿De dónde eres?.

To ask people's name, you can say ¿Cómo te llamas?

¡Yo no comprendo!

In Spanish, it's easy to make a negative statement, the most common negative word is "no". As an adverb negating a sentence, it always comes immediately before the verb.

I speak - [Yo] hablo.

• I do not speak - [Yo] no hablo.

He is - [Él] es / está.

• He is not - [Él] no es / está.

Yo no estudio inglés.

• I don't study English.

Lo siento. Yo no comprendo.

• I'm sorry. I don't understand.

¡Quiero hablar español!

Escribir, estudiar, and leer are all verb forms called infinitives.

Yo quiero escribir.

• I want to write.

In English, infinitives always have the word to at the start (like to study or to read). But in Spanish, they don't require any extra words. To say I want to study, you'd just say Yo quiero estudiar.

Yo necesito leer.

• I need to read.

In English, we say my shirt and my shirts. But in Spanish, if there is more than one shirt, you would add ‑s also to words like my, your, and her.

mi / tu / su + camisa

• my / your / his / her + shirt

mis / tus / sus + camisas

• my / your + shirts