Lowestoft sixth
form college
Spanish
The Knowledge
I want to do well in Spanish. I’m prepared to put the work in to do really well. But I
don’t know where to start. Can I just have the stuff I need to learn to understand what
I’m doing, how to get a good grade, and how to actually speak Spanish? Please? I’ll
work really really hard if you just tell me what it is I need to know!
No longer 
Pronunciation
Difficulty rating: 0 = Learn the rules, follow them
Importance rating: 10 = No excuses
Official title: Phonetic writing system. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy
The basics:
Vowels never change: a e i o u y –monkey noises
Don’t forget the vowel on the end of words: hace, chocolate
Combinations of vowels: seis siete viento veinte cuatro
puedo
Consonants: silent h (that’s one down)
ll llamo
ch ocho
z diez (th)
j jardín
ñ años
qu que
ce once (th) ci gracias (th)
ge geografía gi colegio Everyone likes going “ge” so don’t be shy or lazy.
Watch out for accents.
You should be able to read anything aloud in Spanish perfectly. Well, I haven’t told you about “ü” but I
can’t be bothered just yet.
Write down some of your fave words here, and some of the tricky ones:
niebla –don’t you just love that word. Means fog!
zumo de naranja – maybe I’ll just have a coffee instead
Please continue on another page!
Un/una unos/unas
Difficulty rating: 0 = you pl**ker, Rodney!
Importance rating: 10 = if you get it wrong, you look like a pl**ker
Official title: Indefinite article (and partitive article?)
The basics:
Un means “a”
Una means “a”
If it’s masculine, use “un”, if it’s feminine use “una”.
Hey look! That means you say “un piso” and “una casa”.
Secret:
No-one knows how to say “some”. Well, the easiest way is to take un/una and make it plural: unos pisos /
unas casas
Whinge:
Yes, but what if it doesn’t end in o / a ?
You’re going to have to learn it. Or look it up. But don’t guess it. You wouldn’t guess in maths. Work it out,
use your calculator, or look in those answers they put in the back of the book. AND DON’T imagine that if
you make it un in one sentence and una in the next, then it will average out. It will just show you really don’t
care about getting it right.
Calm down and give me some help here:
If it ends in o, ón, ín, el, ema, ama it is usually masculine
If it ends in a, tud, dad, ión it is usually feminine
Rant:
OK, so if it’s that easy, why do you keep getting it wrong? Not because you don’t get it, but because you
don’t care.
Un casa = a house in your head, so that’s OK.
Well, it’s not OK. It’s wrong. You should have a little thing in your brain that HURTS when you hear “un
casa” instead of una casa. I put that in bold, in case any of you are getting the idea that it actually is un casa
(no it isn’t). Listen, when I first went to France, I asked for 2 of everything so I couldn’t possibly get un/une
wrong. It cost me a lot of money and I put on a lot of weight. But I didn’t show myself up with my
knowledge of genders. Now you’re doing Spanish, not French, so you’ve got no excuse. If you can’t be
bothered to get it right, we’ll have to arrange a pairwork teaching method where your partner inflicts
physical pain until you develop an aversion to saying un casa (Ow, that hurts, please stop).
Did you know:
The o / a ending thing comes from the um / a endings in Latin. The um got changed into o. So words like
problema, drama, tema, esquema that come from Greek, not Latin, don’t have any reason to be feminine.
They end in ema/ama not just “a”.
El/la/los/las
Difficulty rating: 1 = Watch out for “me gusta el chocolate” – I like chocolate
Importance rating: 10 = Get it wrong and you’re in the chocolate
Official title: Definite article
The basics:
el/la/los/las mean “the”
el is masculine
la is feminine
los is masc plural
No ! So…
the flat = el piso
the house = la casa
the flats = los pisos the houses = las casas
las is fem plural
Warning, I can’t take the same rant as on the page before.
You’d better get it right then.
Warning:
You probably get this right a lot of the time because you’ve been taught it that way:
me gusta el chocolate
me gustan los caramelos
me gusta la fruta
me gustan las cerezas (that’s cherries, not beers)
Otherwise, it’s the same as the previous page, so now I’ve got some space for a funny cartoon… or maybe
just a box for you to write down some un/una/el/la/los/las examples:
Tengo un problema –need to remember that one
Please continue on another page!
Opinions
Difficulty rating: 2 = watch out for the sneaky back to front verbs when it’s plural
Importance rating: 10 = can’t think of a topic where you won’t be giving an opinion
Official title: Sir (Señor to you)
The basics:
Me gusta
No me gusta
Me encanta
Prefiero
Odio
You can’t go wrong:
Follow them with an infinitive and you have a foolproof opinion.
Me gusta jugar al tenis
No me gusta comer fresas
Me encanta nadar
Prefiero comer plátanos
Odio ir al instituto
Unless you have a love/hate relationship with yourself (hey, you poor messed up kid, why are they making
you learn Spanish?).
Me prefiero = I prefer myself
Me odio = I hate myself
What’s with the “me” then?
me gusta = it pleases me ……… = I like it
It’s not just the “me” you should have spotted. Why didn’t you ask about the “a” ending on “gusta”?
It’s the 3rd person (o, as, a), for it pleases me.
Which is why you get me gustan for they please me…. = I like it.
If you want to mess with your mind, look at the page on Back to Front verbs!
Just keep it simple for now. How do you know prefiero means I prefer if there’s no “me”?
It’s o, as, a / o, es, e
To hate – odiar. I hate = odio. To prefer = preferir. I prefer = prefiero.
Hope you didn’t notice the extra complexity of the e  ie in the middle of prefiero?
Check out the Radical Changers page if you are ready for it!
Here, write yourself some opinions or/and continue on another page:
Please continue on another page!
Reasons
Difficulty rating: 1 = but don’t just use puedo every single blink*** time
Importance rating: 10 = the second most important meal of the day
Official title: Height (geddit, Hightreason ?)
The basics:
No, do it properly. You’ve got room for more than that!
porque puedo = because I am able to (I can)
porque tengo que = because I have to
porque quiero = because I want to
porque me gustaría = because I would like to
Don’t forget you can use a “no” to change it around. And follow them up with an infinitive.
So, I give an opinion, then give a reason? Just like that?
Just like that.
Me gusta ir al instituto porque puedo ver a mis amigos
No me gusta ir al instituto porque tengo que ver a los profesores
Can you tart it up a bit to look better than the rest?
How about an “if I want” ?
Me gusta ir a Norwich porque si quiero ir de compras puedo ir a Topboy, pero si tengo que quedarme en
Dereham tengo que ir a “Fatboy”.
What about “because it is good”?
I despise you. You can say “because it is good” only while you think of something to actually explain what
you mean.
Here. Give me some reasons for these opinions, and I don’t want “puedo” every time.
Me gusta ver la televisión en mi dormitorio…
No me gusta ir al cine …
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Me gusta estudiar español…
No me gusta comer en el instituto
Examples in the future:
Difficulty rating: 0 = stop making a fuss and just do it
Importance rating: 10 because they think it’s sooooo hard
Official title: Don’t get me started about whether it should be called “the near future” (unless it’s lesson 5 on
a rainy Friday and you’ve just had PE).
The basics:
Voy a + infinitive.
What can be easier than that?
Anything to make me actually look clever? Believe it or not, they think “voy a” + infinitive is about your
level, sonny Jim (sorry girls).
Espero
Me gustaría Quiero
Tengo que
Mi proyecto es
Mi destino es (for the weirdos)
Tengo ganas de
Tengo la intención de
But, you can’t just go chucking them in without specifying a future time.
Quiero comer chocolate – I just do!
Quiero ir a la piscina el próximo fin de semana = Kerchting… = future!
Write this out without repeating “voy a”. Could do with some connectives too. An altogether better holiday
with a few connectives, in my experience.
En las vacaciones voy a ir a España. Voy a alojarme en un hotel. Voy a comer platos típicos en el
restaurante. Voy a nadar en la piscina. No voy a nadar en el mar. Voy a ir al centro. Voy a sacar fotos de
los monumentos. Voy a visitar los museos.
…
Please continue on another page!
Examples in the past
Difficulty rating: 1 = some people really can’t tell past from present (and I don’t mean your history teacher)
Importance rating: 10 = they think this is even harder than the future. They being the tw*rps who are going
to be marking your work. How does that feel? Let them have it!
Official title: Preterite tense, first person
The basics:
ar verb, stick an é on the end
er/ir verb, stick an í on the end
I went = fui I saw = vi (too short for an accent)
nadé visité jugué
comí bebí
I did/made = hice
Want a cheat?
Use decidí + infinitive
Cheat, me?
Just like on your DS, gets you through those boring levels, onto more boring levels. And in fact here the
cheat looks better than the real thing:
The leading brand: Nadé en la piscina = I swam in the pool.
Expensive, but leaves you wanting more.
Own brand: Iba a jugar al tenis, pero decidí nadar en la piscina = I was going to play tennis, but I decided to
swim in the pool.
So much better, I can’t believe I ever bothered with the leading brand
List all the verbs you can think of in the infinitive and then in the past. It’s a BIG box:
jugar – jugué
Please continue on another page!
More cheats
Difficulty rating: 1 = Just use them, they’re cheats!
Importance rating: 10 = You want to get ahead? Cheat
Official title: Wow, I think I saw a conditional perfect subjunctive in there, no hang on, isn’t it actually a
pluperfect subjunctive. Give that child an A*.
The basics:
iba a + infinitive… pero decidí + infinitive
mi padre me dijo, “….”
dije, “…”
Me hubiera gustado + infinitivo
You can use them as a pick and mix, or just pick, and pick…
Leading brand: Fui a España.
Don’t get much for your money!
Our (no longer very secret) recipe: Iba a ir a Francia, pero mi padre dijo, “Hablas español entonces ¿por qué
no ir a España?”. Entonces decidimos ir a España aunque me hubiera gustado ir a Francia.
Try cloning the cheat for different topics:
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Connectives
Difficulty rating: 0 = just use them, no point making a fuss
Importance rating: 10 = initiative, developing your ideas, expanding, extending, ex…,what else begins with
ex and ends in ing?
Official title: conjunctions
The basics:
Y
porque
sobre todo
si
por ejemplo
entonces
pero
Why in that order?
y = add extra information
porque/sobre todo si = a reason
por ejemplo = future/past
entonces = future/past
pero = change topic
Are there any more?
Why not keep your own list? You can’t expect me to do everything for you.
Please continue on another page!
Time words
Difficulty rating: 0 = If you get “next” and “last” mixed up, then sort it out. Now.
Importance rating: 10 = Everything falls apart without this
Official title: Temporal adverbs and adverbial phrases
The basics:
You are going to need lots of these, in a list. Refer to the list until you know them perfectly.
now
in a bit
then
always
entonces
siempre
soon
at times
pronto
a veces
suddenly
de repente
on special
occasions
every
ahora
dentro
de poco
de vez
en
cuando
cada
often
a menudo
often
never
nunca
not very
often
yesterday
straight
away
next year
pocas veces
before/earlier
en
ocasiones
especiales
muchas
veces
antes
ayer
enseguida
tomorrow
finally
mañana
finalmente
from time
to time
afterwards después
today
hoy
last year
el año
pasado
el año
próximo
last month
last week
last
weekend
el mes
pasado
la
semana
pasada
el fin de
semana
pasado
next month
next week
next
weekend
el mes
próximo
la semana
próxima
el fin de
semana
próximo
And why does no-one know this one?
hace dos años – two years ago
Me, mi, mis, mí.
Difficulty rating: 0 = are you looking like a pl*nker again Rodney?
Importance rating: 10 = personally, I’d rather not look like a pl*nker
Official title: possessive adjectives, direct and indirect object pronouns, disjunctive pronouns, reflexive
pronoun. (first person)
The basics:
If you are pronouncing “me” with an “e” and “mi” with an “i”, then you’re probably OK. If not then you
probably don’t care and the examiner will think you are a pl*nker.
mi = my. And don’t forget to use mis for plural
mi familia, mis amigos (if you are lucky enough to have more than one friend)
me = “me” or “ to me”/ “for me”:
Me dijo
me duele
me gusta
me compró un regalo
me ayudó
mí has an accent so you can tell it’s different to “mi”. Use it after de/para and stuff.
Es para mí? Is it for me?
Weird (but not very wonderful):
With me = conmigo . Don’t ask. It just is.
Make your own notes and examples here:
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Ali Baba, Mama mía
Difficulty rating: 0 = Just follow the rule
Importance rating: 10 = Let me explain. The people who mark your Spanish think that you have to learn
Spanish in a certain order, so if you throw in an imperfect, they assume you know all the other stuff you’re
meant to have done first, like the present tense, the present continuous, reflexive verbs, radical changers,
irregular present tense, the preterite tense, strong verbs, preterite radical changers. So, you can either learn
that little lot, or just chuck in the odd imperfect.
Official title: The imperfect tense, first person singular
The basics:
ar verbs: _aba
er/ir verbs: _ía
jugaba = I was playing OR I used to play
comía = I was eating OR I used to eat
Sounds easy, but what do you do with it?
Use it to answer those same old “Do you like….” questions:
¿Te gusta ver la televisión?
Veía mucho la televisión, pero ahora prefiero salir con mis amigos.
I used to watch…
Or, use it with “cuando”
El fin de semana jugaba al fútbol cuando mi hermano dijo, “Quieres ver el fútbol en la televisión?” entonces
fuimos a casa.
Pleeeeeease (I’m being nice now)… Don’t start putting aba/ía when you shouldn’t.
How could anyone possibly write
“Me gusta jugaba al tenis” : I like I was playing tennis
when they know it’s Me gusta jugar al tenis – I like to play tennis.
You’ve been warned.
Answer these questions with “I used to.. . but…” or using “I was …ing when…”
¿Te gusta ir de vacaciones con tu familia?
¿Te gusta la geografía?
¿Te gusta ir al cine?
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Weather
Difficulty rating: 2 = some people muck this up. They exist to make you look good.
Importance rating: 10 = Use it to look better than the other tw*rps
Official title: Madame
The basics:
hace sol
hace calor
hace frío
hace viento
hace buen tiempo
hace mal tiempo
llueve
nieva
está lloviendo
hay tormentas
hay niebla
está nublado
está cubierto
está nevando
Why are there so many different ones?
To annoy you. As long as you don’t put hace in front of llueve, you’re probably getting it right.
How to use it:
With “si”. Do you like to play football?
Si hace sol, me encanta jugar al fútbol sobre todo con mis amigos en el parque, pero si llueve, prefiero ver el
fútbol en la televisión, por ejemplo el fin de semana pasado iba a jugar al fútbol, pero Kevin dijo, “Está
lloviendo” entonces decidimos ir a mi casa a ver el fútbol en la televisión.
There you are, an A* just for talking about the weather!
Try it yourself:
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Is “es” is?
Difficulty rating: 3 = People actually get this wrong! Come on now!
Importance rating: 10 = Obviously
The basics:
Yes, “es” is “is”.
So what about “está”?
OK, fair enough. If it is position or a temporary state, then use está:
Está enfrente del correos
Está cerrado Está roto
Está enfermo
If you are defining what some thing is, or saying what it is like (always) then use es:
Es mi hermano
Es grande
Es joven
Es simpático
The fun part:
Sometimes you can be clever and choose, depending on what you mean:
Mi comida está caliente – my lunch is hot (at the moment)
El sol es muy caliente – the sun is hot (it just is, OK?)
Mi profesor está aburrido – my teacher is bored (at the moment)
Mi profesor es aburrido – my teacher is boring (and you’d better get used to it)
Watch out for time. You might think it is momentary but you can’t change it so use es: Es la una
Es la hora de comer Es mi cumpleaños
Es lunes
Try these:
Translate the English into Spanish!
maloliente – smelly
My dad is very smelly:
tarde – late
It is late:
feo – ugly
He is ugly:
This sock is smelly:
He is late:
He’s looking ugly:
You are forgetting one thing, Mr Bond: What about hace?
It is sunny – hace calor
It is cold – hace frío
It is raining – llueve OR está lloviendo (at the moment)
Or maybe two things:
There is = hay
Hay un pelo en mi bocadillo There is a hair in my sandwich.
¿Hay un pelo en tu bocadillo? Is there a hair in your sandwich?
Is “was” era?
Difficulty rating: 3 = It might be
Importance rating: 10 = You need to know this stuff!
The basics:
If you would use “es” in the present, then use “era” in the past – era mi profesor
If you would use “está” in the present, then use “estaba” in the past – estaba enfermo
If you would use “hace” in the present, then use “hacía” in the past – hacía sol
Watch out for “he was ….ing”. That’s not a was, it’s the imperfect.
He was eating: comía
He was talking: Hablaba (but not with his mouth full)
I’m not going to tell you about:
fue ( the preterite of es) for when it’s in a narrative sequence:
I saw an icecream. I stole it from the little girl. I looked at it. I licked it. Fue delicioso.
And I’m certainly not going to tell you about:
estuvo (the preterite of está but it sounds silly and you don’t need it – just use estaba)
Now, if I gave you some exercises to do, you’d get them all right, so how about a big empty box that just
says “write some examples of your own here”:
Please continue on another page!
Are muy, mucho and más all the same?
Difficulty rating: 0 = Use your brain
Importance rating: 10 = If you get it wrong you’re going to look dim again
Official title: no doubt there’s some fancy name for this. Mmmm? That’s it: m words!
The basics:
muy = very
mucho = much (surprise) or a lot of
muchos = many
más = more
What can go wrong?
Mucho can be mucho/mucha/muchos/muchas
Mucho dinero
Mucha atención
Muchos amigos
Muchas amigas (if you’re lucky)
Or it can stick at mucho, if it’s an adverb not an adjective:
Te quiero mucho (mucho describes the verb I love, so it won’t change, even if it’s a girl you love).
Pleeeeease (or I’ll have to be nasty to you) don’t put “mucho de”. Some people think it means “a lot of”.
Wrong: Tengo mucho de amigos
Right: Tengo muchos amigos (at least, I like to think so)
Seeing as it’s so easy and you’re never going to get it wrong, why not have a look at demasiado as well:
Demasiado caro –too expensive (m sing)
Demasiado cara – too expensive (f sing)
You’ll notice demasiado doesn’t change. The adjective does, but demasiado doesn’t. That’s because it’s
describing the adjective (caro) so it’s errr an adadjective. An adadjective is a made up word. It is really called an adverb but it
shouldn’t be.
Demasiados niños – too many children – now demasiado is an adjective (describing the pesky children) so it
does agree. Never say “demasiado mucho”. If you want to say “too much” then just use
demasiado/demasiada.
And remember if you want to say “too” as in “as well” then don’t use demasiado at all. Use “también”
because that’s the right word.
Finally on this page, (!) if you think mucho doesn’t sound convincing, use “tanto”.
Te quiero mucho – I love you a lot (Oh yeah, really?)
Te quiero tanto – I love you so much (it hurts)
Room for notes:
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Back to front verbs
Difficulty rating: 3 = Unfairly difficult
Importance rating: 10 = Use it to show off
Official title: Impersonal verb, present tense
The basics:
Saying he likes/she likes is easy:
le gusta el chocolate (chocolate pleases him/her)
le gustan los animales (animals please him/her)
Let’s do we like and they like while we’re at it:
nos gusta (we like it)
nos gustan (we like them)
les gusta (they like it)
les gustan (they like them)
How to look really clever:
To say “My brother likes tennis” you have to say:
“To my brother tennis pleases him”. Starting with the word “To”. No-one ever remembers this, so if you do
you will look like a genius.
A mi hermano le gusta el tenis
A Gordon le gustan los animales
A mi profesor le gusta escuchar música extraña
A mis padres les gusta trabajar en el jardín
Mess with your mind:
Me gustas = you please me = I like you
Te gusto = I please you = You like me
Nos gustas = You please us = We like you
No les gustamos = We don’t please them = They don’t like us
Stop! That’s enough. You’re getting close to the edge.
Do these, without forgetting the “a” when you say to whom it is pleasing:
Translate the English into Spanish!:
She likes cake:
My sister likes cake:
He doesn’t like dogs:
My brother doesn’t like dogs:
They like to eat chips:
My parents like to watch television:
We like Spanish:
Please continue on another page!
Opinions in the past
Difficulty rating: 0 = stick to what you know and you won’t go wrong
Importance rating: 10 = Do you want an A* or not?
Official title: What do you call a gorilla with a machine gun?
The basics:
Me gusta  me gustaba (I liked/I used to like)
Me gustan  me gustaban
Me encanta  me encantaba (I loved/I used to love)
Me encantan  me encantaban
Prefiero  prefería (I prefered/I used to prefer)
Odio  Odiaba (I hated/I used to hate)
I’m not going to tell you about “me gustó” (the preterite – it pleased me). You use it in a narrative sequence:
I saw a little girl with an icecream. I took it. I licked it. Me gustó.
You can work out for yourself:
le gustaba / le gustaban
les gustaba / les gustaban
Use it to make more out of boring “do you like questions”:
Well, I used to like…. but one day I. went to… I saw… and I really liked it. Now I prefer… so next
weekend I’m going to…
Try some here:
Please continue on another page!
o as a amos áis an
o es e emos éis en
o es e imos ís en
Difficulty rating: 0 = Just look it up until you know it
Importance rating: 10 = Otherwise you can only talk about yourself!
Official title: Persons of verbs. Regular verbs, present tense.
The basics:
You have to get your brain round the 3 persons. Then you can always just look stuff up:
hablar
1 person sing = I
hablo
2nd sing = you
hablas
rd
3 sing = he/she/it
habla
1st person plur = we hablamos
2nd plur = yous
habláis
rd
3 plur = they
hablan
st
comer
como
comes
come
comemos
coméis
comen
vivir
vivo
vives
vive
vivimos
vivís
viven
What can go wrong?
Do NOT bring in masculine/feminine. You did not learn Vivo en Dereham if you were a boy and Viva in
Dereham if you were a girl. That would be wrong. The first person ends in o. Nothing to do with m/f.
This is incredibly powerful. If you are fed up with just writing about yourself, now you are away!
Use this space to write about some people you know:
Please continue on another page!
Just occasionally you meet people who decide that o as a amos áis an are words, so they think “amos jugar”
means we play. Avoid them. They live in the dark and eat spiders without pulling the legs off first.
Verbs ending in *rse
Difficulty rating: 0 = the first thing you learnt in Spanish! Me llamo…
Importance rating: 10 = You’ll see these everywhere, so get your brain round them
Official title: Reflexive verbs
The basics:
Me visto – I dress myself
Me lavo – I wash myself
(not in that order)
What’s going on?
lavarse = to wash ones self. Take the “se” off the end and you’ve got a normal ar verb hiding in there.
Lavar/se.
The se changes to me for “myself” and then you change the ar/er/ir to the tense you want:
Me lavo
Me lavé
Me lavaba
If it’s the infinitive, the me stays on the end: Voy a lavarme
What about the other persons of the verb?
me lavo
I wash myself = I get washed
te lavas
you wash yourself = you get washed
se lava
he/she washes him/herself = he/she gets washed
nos lavamos we wash ourselves = we get washed
os laváis
you wash yourselves = you get washed
se lavan
they wash themselves = they get washed
Interesting points (vaguely)
1. If you want to say “get” – get married, get wet, get dressed… it’s probably going to be reflexive in
Spanish (don’t think about the get wet one too hard…)
2. Se, nos and os can also mean “each other”.
Se lavan = they wash each other.
Make yourself a list of reflexive verbs here:
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Boot verbs
Difficulty rating: 4 = How do you know if it’s a boot verb or not?
Importance rating: 10 = This will explain some of those weird things you worry about
Official title: Radical changing verbs
Alias: 1, 2, 3, 6 verbs
The basics:
All verbs change their endings for person/tense.
Some verbs also change their stem or root (think radish) –radical changing verbs.
jugar
juego
juegas
juega
jugamos
jugáis
juegan
Put a picture round the ones that have changed to ue and you have, da da dah: a boot!
That’s all there is to it. Easy, you think, but how do you know which verbs are going to be boot verbs? Make
a list here:
volver – vuelvo
poder – puedo
tener (tengo) – tienes
querer – quiero
preferir – prefiero
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Secret: The change happens only when that syllable is stressed – it cracks under the stress. A similar thing
happens with numbers:
Setenta
Setecientos but when the stress falls on it, it cracks: siete
Noventa
Novecientos but when the stress falls on it, it cracks: nueve
How do you say “he can”?
Difficulty rating: 0 = learn a few and use them
Importance rating: 10 = takes everything up a gear if you can talk about other people
Official title: Verb + infinitive
The basics:
If you are good at:
then try:
Why not do this too:
podía
I was able to
and spookily:
podía
he/she was able to
puedo
puede
podemos
quiero
quiere
queremos
tengo que
tiene que
tenemos que
quería
I wanted to
tenía que
I had to
quería
he/she wanted
tenía que
he/she had to
(he/she)
(we)
podíamos
we were able to
queríamos
we wanted to
Look, you’re on a roll:
podré
tendré que
I will be able to
I will have to
teníamos que
we had to
podría
I would be able to
tendría que
I would have to
Put it all together:
Last year I wanted to go to Spain but my dad wanted to go to France so we had to go to Spain. We couldn’t
go to Spain because my dad wanted to go to Spain.
Try a few of your own in Spanish:
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Can or can?
Difficulty rating: 1 = Oh no, we’ve been doing it wrong!
Importance rating: 10 = Let’s start getting it right
Official title: Saber – to know how to
The basics:
We often say “because I can…” with “puedo…”. Sometimes, I think it’s wrong. If it means “I know how
to”, then it should be “sé”.
Hay una piscina en el hotel entonces puedo nadar –fine
No voy a la piscina porque no puedo nadar – a bit wrong!!!
No voy a la piscina porque no sé nadar – that’s better
Is there anything else you’ve been lying to us about?
No.
So that leaves this space free for a funny cartoon about someone who can’t swim:
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More stuff I just forgot to mention
Difficulty rating: 1 = You’ve probably worked it out for yourself
Importance rating: 10 = Put them in to make yourself look good
Official title: Irregular verbs
The basics:
Guess which verbs don’t follow the rules. That’s right, the most common ones!!!
Present tense:
ir
voy
vas
va
vamos
vais
van
hacer
hago
haces
hace
hacemos
hacéis
hacen
tener
tengo
tienes
tiene
tenemos
tenéis
tienen
decir
digo
dices
dice
decimos
decís
dicen
Preterite tense:
ir
fui
fuiste
fue
fuimos
fuisteis
fueron
hacer
hice
hiciste
hizo
hicimos
hicisteis
hicieron
tener
tuve
tuviste
tuvo
tuvimos
tuvisteis
tuvieron
decir
dije
dijiste
dijo
dijimos
dijisteis
dijeron
Here’s room for some more!
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He perdido
Difficulty rating: 1 = It’s the same as English!
Importance rating: 10 = You’ll need it
Official title: Perfective aspect
The basics:
Just like in English: I have lost my mum – he perdido a mi madre
I have
lost
I have
eaten
he
perdido
he
comido
I have
played
I have
lived
he
jugado
he
vivido
Can it go wrong?
Don’t use “tengo”. The auxiliary verb is haber – to have (done something)
he
I have
había I had
has
you have
---ado
habías you had
---ado
or
or
ha
he/she has
había he/she had
hemos we have
---ido
habíamos we had
---ido
habéis yous have
habíais yous had
han
they have
habían they had
Don’t forget hubiera + ado/ido – I would have…
Try these:
Translate the English into Spanish!: I have played tennis, but I don’t like it:
I went home yesterday and my brother had eaten my dinner:
I would have played tennis but it was raining:
I said, “I have found this rabbit”:
Think of some of your own:
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Shouldn’t we have done other people in the past?
Difficulty rating: 0 = just follow the table until you can do it without
Importance rating: 10 = otherwise you can only talk about yourself
Official title: Preterite and Imperfect
The basics:
Preterite (what happened)
nadé
comí
nadaste
comiste
nadó
comió
nadamos
comimos
nadáis
comisteis
nadaron
comieron
decidí
decidiste
decidió
decidimos
decidisteis
decidieron
Imperfect (what was happening)
nadaba
comía
nadabas
comías
nadaba
comía
nadábamos
comíamos
nadabais
comíais
nadaban
comían
decidía
decidías
decidía
decidíamos
decidíais
decidían
Try these:
Translate the English into Spanish!
I decided to go to the beach with my brother. When he was swimming, a dog ate his lunch:
We were swimming in the pool when my brother decided to go home. He forgot to get changed.
Room for some of your own:
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I helped my dad
Difficulty rating: 0 = why did no-one tell you this before?
Importance rating: 10 = you’ve been getting it wrong!
Official title: The personal a
The basics:
I saw my friend: Vi a mi amigo
I helped my dad: Ayudé a mi padre
When the object of a sentence is a person, you put “a” in front of them.
Why?
Watch this:
Juan besó su esposa
Besó Juan su esposa
Juan su esposa besó
Su esposa besó Juan
They ALL can mean Juan kissed his wife. (Or they could all mean his wife kissed Juan). Oh dear, what a
confusion. So they put in an “a” to clear up who was getting kissed:
Juan besó a su esposa
Besó Juan a su esposa
Juan a su esposa besó
Don’t use one after ser/tener and stuff – tengo un hermano is right.
Don’t worry when there is a preposition – Compré unas flores para mi esposa
Write some of your own examples here:
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Le, lo se
Difficulty rating: 1 = only because no-one bothered to teach you it
Importance rating: 10 = you need these little words
Official title: Direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, disjunctive pronouns
The basics:
Write the English for these. They all mean the same:
Compré un libro para mi hermana
Compré un libro para ella
Lo compré para ella
Le compré un libro
Se lo compré
Direct object pronoun
him = lo
her = la
it = lo (m) or la (f)
Indirect object pronoun
to him/for him = le
to her/for her = le
them = los/las
to them/for them = les
Put the pronoun before the verb. If there are 2 pronouns then the indirect pronoun goes first. To avoid saying
le lo (red lorry yellow lorry) the le changes to se.
Disjunctive pronoun:
for him – para él
for her – para ella
con él
delante de él
for them – para ellos/para ellas
Try these – you should be able to shorten each one 5 different ways as in the example above.
Translate the English into Spanish!: I gave a flower to my brother
I showed my homework to my dad
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¡Excelente!