1
Naming People, Places, and Things
Singular Nouns: Gender and Articles
Masculine Nouns
Feminine Nouns
Definite
Articles
el hombre
el libro
the man
the book
la mujer
la mesa
the woman
the table
Indefinite
Articles
un hombre
un libro
a (one) man
a (one) book
una mujer
una mesa
a (one) woman
a (one) table
2
Naming People, Places, and Things
Nouns and Articles: Plural Forms
Singular
Plural
el libro
Nouns Ending la mesa
in a Vowel
un libro
una mesa
los libros
las mesas
unos libros
unas mesas
the books
the tables
some books
some tables
Nouns Ending la universidad
in a Consonant un papel
las universidades the universities
unos papeles
some papers
Expressing Actions
Subject Pronouns
3
Singular
yo
tú
usted (Ud.)
él
ella
I
you (fam.)
you (form.)
he
she
Plural
nosotros/nosotras
vosotros/vosotras
ustedes (Uds.)
ellos/ellas
we
you (fam. Sp.)
you (form.)
they
3
Expressing Actions
Present Tense of -ar Verbs
hablar (to speak) : habl-
Singular
(yo) hablo
I speak
(tú) hablas
you speak
(Ud.)
(él) habla
(ella)
you speak
he/she speaks
Plural
(nosotros)
(nosotras)
(vosotros)
(vosotras)
(Uds.)
(ellos)
(ellas)
hablamos
we speak
habláis
you speak
hablan
you/they speak
3
Expressing Actions
Negation
In Spanish the word no is placed
before the conjugated verb to
make a negative sentence. Its
English equivalent is not.
El estudiante no habla español.
The student does not speak Spanish.
No, no necesito dinero.
No, I don’t need money.
4
Getting Information
Asking Yes/No Questions (Part 1)
Rising Intonation
A common way to form yes/no questions
in Spanish is simply to make your voice
rise at the end of the question.
There is no Spanish
O
J
O
equivalent to English do or
does in questions. Note also
the use of an inverted
question mark (¿) at the
beginning of a question.
STATEMENT: Ud. trabaja aquí todos los días.
You work here every day.
Arturo regresa a casa hoy.
Arturo is returning home today.
QUESTION: ¿Ud. trabaja aquí todos los días?
Do you work here every day?
¿Arturo regresa a casa hoy?
Is Arturo returning home today?
4
Getting Information
Asking Yes/No Questions (Part 2)
Inversion
Another way to form yes/no questions is
to invert the order of the subject and
verb, in addition to making your voice
rise at the end of the question.
STATEMENT: Ud. trabaja aquí todos los días.
QUESTION: ¿Trabaja Ud. aquí todos los días?
STATEMENT: Arturo regresa a casa hoy.
QUESTION: ¿Regresa Arturo a casa hoy?