Spanish Tutorial

1. Some Basic Phrases

¡Buenos días! buayn-ohs dee-ahs Hello! / Good morning!	¡Buenas tardes! buayn-ahs tard-ays Good afternoon!

¡Buenas noches! buayn-ahs nohch-ays Good evening / Good night	¡Hola! oh-lah Hi!

¿Cómo se llama usted? coh-moh say yah-mah oo-sted What is your name? (formal)	¿Cómo te llamas? coh-moh tay yah-mahs What is your name? (informal)

Me llamo... may yah-moh I am called...	Mi nombre es... mee nohm-bray ays My name is...

¿Cómo está usted? coh-moh ay-stah oo-sted How are you? (formal)	¿Cómo estás? coh-moh ay-stahs How are you? (informal)

¿Qué tal? kay tahl What's up?	Yo estoy... yoh ay-stoy I am... (when talking about your mood)

Bien / Muy bien bee-ayn / moy bee-ayn Good / Very good	Mal / Muy mal / Más o menos mahl / moy mahl / mahs oh may-nohs Bad / Very bad / OK

Adiós. ah-dee-ohs Good bye.	Chao. chow Bye.

Hasta la vista. ah-stah lah vee-stah Until we meet again.	Hasta luego. ah-stah loo-ay-go See you later.

Hasta mañana. ah-stah mahn-yahn-ah See you tomorrow.	Señor / Señora / Señorita sayn-yor / sayn-yor-ah / sayn-yor-ee-tah Mister / Mrs. / Miss

Mucho gusto. moo-choh goo-stoh Nice to meet you.	Encantado/a. ain-cahn-tah-doh/dah Delighted to meet you.

Igualmente. ee-guahl-main-tay Same here.	Yo también. yoh tahm-bee-ain Me too.

¿De dónde es usted? day dohn-day ays oo-sted Where are you from? (formal)	¿De dónde eres? day dohn-day air-ays Where are you from? (informal)

Yo soy de... yoh soy day I'm from...	Yo soy de los Estados Unidos. yoh soy day lohs ay-stah-dohs oo-nee-dohs I'm from the United States.

¿Cuántos años tiene usted? quahnt-ohs ahn-yohs tee-ayn-ay oo-sted How old are you? (formal)	¿Cuántos años tienes? quahnt-ohs ahn-yohs tee-ayn-ays How old are you? (informal)

Yo tengo _____ años. yoh tayn-goh _____ ahn-yohs I am _____ years old.	Gracias. grah-see-ahs Thank you.

Por favor. por fah-bor Please.	¿Y usted? ee oo-sted And you? (used when asking the same question) (formal)

¿Y tú? ee too And you? (informal)	Te amo. tay ah-moh I love you.

Note: For Encantado/a, you would use the masculine ending, o, if you're a man. You would use the feminine ending, a, if you're a woman. So, if you're a man, you would say Encantado, and if you're a woman, you would say Encantada. Most adjectives work this way. Also, accents (´ ) are very important in the Spanish language. You CANNOT leave out the accents or it'll change the meaning of a word. The syllable with the accent is the emphasized syllable in a word.

2. Pronunciation

Spanish Letter	English Sound
a	ah
e	ay
i	ee
o	oh
u	oo
ll	y
v	b at beginning of word, real soft b between 2 vowels
ñ	ny (as in canyon)
r	almost like a d when in between 2 vowels
rr	r w/ a roll of the tongue
d	almost like a th when in between 2 vowels
j	hard h
g	g, sometimes a h
qu	k
ai / all / ay	eye
z	s
z, ce, ci	th (in most parts of Spain)

Note: Any time I put a double r (rr) in the pronunciation of a word, you need to roll your tongue when you say the r's.

3. Alphabet

a	ah	j	hoh-tah	r	air-ay
b	bay	k	kah	rr	airr-ay
c	say	l	ay-lay	s	ay-say
ch	chay	ll	ay-yay	t	tay
d	day	m	ay-may	u	oo
e	ay	n	ay-nay	v	oo-bay
f	ay-fay	ñ	ayn-yay	w	doh-blay-bay
g	hey	o	oh	x	ah-kees
h	ah-chay	p	pay	y	ee-gree-ay-gah
i	ee	q	koo	z	say-tah

Note: The Spanish language academy no longer considers the ch, ll or rr to be separate letters of the alphabet.

4. Definite and Indefinite Articles and Demonstratives

	Masc. Singular	Fem. Singular		Masc. Plural	Fem. Plural
the	el (ail)	la (lah)	the	los (lohs)	las (lahs)
a, an	un (oon)	una (oon-ah)	some	unos (oon-ohs)	unas (oon-ahs)
this	este	esta	these	estos	estas
that	ese	esa	those	esos	esas
that	aquel	aquella	those	aquellos	aquellas

Note: El is also used with feminine nouns beginning with a or ha when the accent is on the first syllable. Use the ese forms to mean that when what you are talking about is near the person you are addressing. Use the aquel forms when what you are talking about is far from both you and the person you are addressing. Esto and eso are the neuter forms of this and that. They can be used in general and abstract ways.

5. Subject Pronouns

yo	yoh	I	nosotros(as)	noh-soh-trohs	we
tú	too	you (informal)	vosotros(as)	boh-soh-trohs	you all
él / ella / usted	ail / ay-yah / oo-sted	he / she / you (formal)	ellos / ellas / ustedes	ay-yohs / ay-yahs / oo-sted-ays	they / they / you (plural)

Note: Vosotros is used only in Spain when speaking to more than one person with whom you know well. Nosotras and vosotras refer to a group of all females, as well as ellas. Ustedes is almost always used for saying "you all" in all Spanish speaking countries. Usted can be abreviated to Ud. Ustedes can also be abbreviated to Uds. Please note that the subject pronouns are rarely used before verbs.

6. To Be and to Have

ser - to be		estar - to be		tener - to have
soy	somos	estoy	estamos	tengo	tenemos
eres	sois	estás	estáis	tienes	tenéis
es	son	está	están	tiene	tienen

Note: Ser is used to identify or describe. It tells what something is, its basic characteristics, or its origin. Estar is used to tell the location of something or how someone feels.

Uses of Ser

Identify person/object
Inherent characteristics
or qualities
Nationality/Occupation
Telling time
Express ownership
Impersonal expressions
Passive voice

El edificio es un templo.
La casa es grande.
Carlos es pobre.
Es carpintero.
Son las tres.
Los libros son de Juan.
Es necesario.
El telefono fue inventado por Bell.

The building is a temple.
The house is large.
Charles is poor.
He is a carpenter.
It's three o'clock.
The books are John's.
It is necessary.
The telephone was invented by Bell.

Uses of Estar

Location/position
Temporary condition/state
State of health
Form progressive tense

El libro está en la mesa.
La ventana está abierta.
Juan está enfermo.
Miguel está estudiando.

The book is on the table.
The window is open.
John is sick.
Michael is studying.

Common Expressions with "to be"
to be afraid - tener miedo
to be against - estar en contra
to be at fault - tener la culpa
to be careful - tener cuidado
to be cold - tener frío
to be curious - ser curioso (a)
to be happy - estar contento (a)
to be hot - tener calor
to be hungry - tener hambre
to be in a hurry - tener prisa, estar de prisa
to be jealous - tener celos
to be lucky - tener suerte
to be patient - tener paciencia
to be successful - tener éxito
to be thirsty - tener sed
to be tired - estar cansado (a)

7. Question Words

what	qué	which	cuál(es)
who	quién(es)	how much	cuánto (-a)
how	cómo	how many	cuántos (-as)
when	cuándo	whom	a quién(es)
where	dónde	whose	de quién(es)
why	por qué

8. Numbers / Ordinals

0	cero	cay-roh
1	uno	oo-noh	first	primero
2	dos	dohs	second	segundo
3	tres	trays	third	tercero
4	cuatro	kuah-troh	fourth	cuarto
5	cinco	seen-koh	fifth	quinto
6	seis	says	sixth	sexto
7	siete	see-ay-tay	seventh	séptimo
8	ocho	oh-choh	eighth	octavo
9	nueve	new-ay-vay	ninth	noveno
10	diez	dee-ays	tenth	décimo
11	once	ohn-say	eleventh	undécimo
12	doce	doh-say	twelfth	duodécimo
13	trece	tray-say	thirteenth	décimo tercero
14	catorce	kah-tor-say	fourteenth	décimo cuarto
15	quince	keen-say	fifteenth	décimo quinto
16	diez y seis	dee-ays ee says	sixteenth	décimo sexto
17	diez y siete	dee-ays ee see-ay-tay	seventeenth	décimo séptimo
18	diez y ocho	dee-ays ee oh-choh	eighteenth	décimo octavo
19	diez y nueve	dee-ays ee new-ay-vay	nineteenth	décimo noveno
20	veinte	bayn-tay	twentieth	vigésimo
21	veinte y uno	bayn-tay ee oo-noh	twenty-first	vigésimo primero
22	veinte y dos	bayn-tay ee dohs	twenty-second	vigésimo segundo
30	treinta	trayn-tah	thirtieth	trigésimo
40	cuarenta	kuar-ain-tah	fortieth	cuadragésimo
50	cincuenta	seen-kuain-tah	fiftieth	quincuagésimo
60	sesenta	say-sain-tah	sixtieth	sexagésimo
70	setenta	say-tain-tah	seventieth	septuagésimo
80	ochenta	oh-chain-tah	eightieth	octogésimo
90	noventa	noh-bain-tah	ninetieth	nonagésimo
100	cien(to)	see-ain-(toh)	hundredth	centésimo
1000	mil	meel	thousandth	milésimo

Note: If you are just saying 100, you use just cien. If it's over 100, you use ciento. So 101 is ciento uno. And 156 would be ciento cincuenta y seis. Also you can also use dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, and diecinueve for 16, 17, 18, and 19, respectively. They are pronounced the same but are combined into one word.

9. Days of the Week

lunes	loo-nays	Monday
martes	mar-tays	Tuesday
miércoles	mee-air-coh-lays	Wednesday
jueves	hway-bays	Thursday
viernes	bee-air-nays	Friday
sábado	sah-bah-doh	Saturday
domingo	doh-ming-oh	Sunday
el día	ail dee-ah	the day
la semana	lah say-mahn-ah	the week
el fin de semana	ail feen day say-mahn-ah	the weekend
hoy	oy	today
mañana	mahn-yahn-ah	tomorrow
mi cumpleaños	mee coom-play-ahn-yohs	my birthday

10. Months of the Year

enero	ay-nair-oh	January
febrero	fay-bray-roh	February
marzo	mar-soh	March
abril	ah-breel	April
mayo	mi-oh	May
junio	hoo-nee-oh	June
julio	hoo-lee-oh	July
agosto	ah-gohs-toh	August
septiembre	sayp-tee-aim-bray	September
octubre	ohk-too-bray	October
noviembre	noh-bee-aim-bray	November
diciembre	dee-see-aim-bray	December
el mes	ail mais	the month
el primero de [month]	ail pree-mair-oh day _____	the first of [a month]
el año	ail ahn-yoh	the year

11. Seasons

spring	la primavera		winter	el invierno
summer	el verano		autumn	el otoño

Note: To say in the summer, spring, etc. use en and the season. En verano means in the summer.

12. Directions

north	el norte		east	el este
south	el sur		west	el oeste

13. Colors

red	rojo	violet	violeta
pink	rosado	brown	marrón
orange	anaranjado	dark brown	café
yellow	amarillo	black	negro
green	verde	gray	gris
blue	azul	white	blanco
light blue	celeste	gold	dorado
purple	morado	silver	plateado

14. Time

Qué hora es?	What time is it?
Es la una.	It's one.
Son las dos/tres/cuatro...	It's two/three/four...
Es mediodía.	It's noon.
Es medianoche.	It's midnight.
Son las cinco y cinco.	It's 5:05
Son las ocho y cuarto.	It's 8:15
Son las diez menos cuarto.	It's 9:45
Son cuarto para las diez	It's 9:45 (common in Mexico)
Son las nueve menos diez.	It's 8:50
Son diez para las nueve	It's 8:50 (common in Mexico)
Son las tres y media.	It's 3:30

15. Weather

Qué tiempo hace?	What's the weather like?
Hace buen tiempo.	The weather's nice.
Hace mal tiempo.	The weather's bad.
Hace frío.	It's cold.
Hace calor.	It's hot.
Hace sol.	It's sunny.
Hace viento.	It's windy.
Llueve.	It's raining.
Nieva.	It's snowing.
Está nublado.	It's cloudy.

16. Prepositions

a	at	al lado de	beside
con	with	alrededor de	around
contra	against	cerca de	near
de	of, from	lejos de	far from
en	in, on	delante de	in front of
entre	between, among	debajo de	below, under
hacia	towards, about	en frente de	opposite
para	for, in order, by	detrás de	behind
por	for, through, along, via	encima de	above
sobre	on, over	hasta	till, until
sin	without	desde	from, since

Note: There are two prepositional contractions with definite articles. A and el combine to form al, and de and el combine to form del.

17. Family and Animals

family	la familia	grandfather	el abuelo	dog	el perro
parents	los padres	grandmother	la abuela	cat	el gato
husband	el esposo	grandson	el nieto	bird	el pájaro
wife	la esposa	granddaughter	la nieta	fish	el pez
father	el padre	uncle	el tío	horse	el caballo
mother	la madre	aunt	la tía	goat	la cabra
son	el hijo	nephew	el sobrino	pig	el cerdo
daughter	la hija	niece	la sobrina	cow	la vaca
children	los hijos	cousin (m)	el primo	rabbit	el conejo
sister	la hermana	cousin (f)	la prima	turtle	la tortuga
brother	el hermano	relatives	los parientes	mouse	el ratón

18. To Know People and Facts

conocer - to know people		saber - to know facts
conozco	conocemos	sé	sabemos
conoces	conocéis	sabes	sabéis
conoce	conocen	sabe	saben

19. Formation of Plural Nouns

If a word ends in an -ción, -tad, -dad, or -tud, it'll be feminine. Also, if you are talking about a female, you will use the feminine articles (la señora). Words ending in an -o are masculine. Days of the week are also masculine. And if you're talking about a male, use the masculine articles. There are some exceptions to these rules and you just have to memorize them. To make words ending in a vowel plural, add an -s (libro = libros). Add an -es to make words ending in a consonant (papel = papeles). If a word ends in a -z, change the z to a c and add -es (cruz = cruces). After making the word plural, you must make the articles plural also. There are very few exceptions to making words plural.

20. Possessive Adjectives

			Terminal Forms
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
my	mi	mis	mío (a)	míos (as)
your	tu	tus	tuyo (a)	tuyos (as)
your/his/her/its	su	sus	suyo (a)	suyos (as)
our	nuestro (a)	nuestros (as)	nuestro (a)	nuestros (as)
your	vuestro (a)	vuestros (as)	vuestro (a)	vuestros (as)
your/their	su	sus	suyo (a)	suyos (as)

Because su and sus can have so many meanings, the definite article may be used with the definite article may be used instead of su with the following forms: de Ud., de él, de ella, de Uds., de ellos and de ellas.

los libros de ellos their books

The terminal forms are placed after the noun, and must be preceded by the definite article, except in direct address. When used with the indefinite article, it corresponds to the English "of mine, of yours," etc.

el libro mío my book
Qué haces, hijo mío? What are you doing, my son?
un amigo mío a friend of mine

21. To Do or Make

hacer - to do or make
hago	hacemos
haces	hacéis
hace	hacen

22. Work and School

doctor
dentist
lawyer
professor
teacher
engineer
architect
writer
journalist
musician
painter
pharmacist
banker
carpenter
barber
mechanic
salesman
electrician
postman
policeman
soldier
pilot
secretary
typist
nurse

el médico
el dentista
el abogado
el profesor
el maestro
el ingeniero
el arquitecto
el escritor
el periodista
el músico
el pintor
el farmacéutico
el banquero
el carpintero
el barbero
el mecánico
el vendedor
el electricista
el cartero
el agente de policia
el soldado
el piloto
la secretaria
la mecanógrafo
la enfermera

history
math
algebra
geometry
science
physics
chemistry
zoology
botany
geography
music
art
drawing
painting
linguistics
languages

la historia
las matemáticas
el álgebra
la geometría
la ciencia
la fisica
la química
la zoología
la botánica
la geografía
la música
el arte
el dibujo
la pintura
la lingüística
las lenguas / idiomas

23. Countries and Nationalities

	Country	Masc. (Fem) Nationality
Germany	Alemania	alemán (alemana)
Argentina	Argentina	argentino(a)
Australia	Australia	australiano(a)
Bolivia	Bolivia	boliviano(a)
Canada	Canadá	canadiense
Columbia	Colombia	colombiano(a)
Costa Rica	Costa Rica	costarricense
Cuba	Cuba	cubano(a)
Chile	Chile	chileno(a)
China	China	chino(a)
Ecuador	Ecuador	ecuatoriano(a)
Egypt	Egipto	egipcio(a)
Spain	España	español(a)
India	India	indio(a)
England	Inglaterra	inglés (inglesa)
Italy	Italia	italiano(a)
Japan	Japón	japonés (japonesa)
Mexico	México	mexicano(a)
Russia	Rusia	ruso(a)
South Africa	Suráfrica	surafricano(a)
United States	los Estados Unidos	(norte)americano(a)
France	Francia	francés (francesa)
Portugal	Portugal	portugués (portuguesa)
Poland	Polonia	polaco(a)

24. To / In and From

to	a
from	de
in	en

Remember to use the prepositional contractions when a noun with an article follows the preposition.

25. To Come and to Go

venir - to come		ir - to go
vengo	venimos	voy	vamos
vienes	venís	vas	vais
viene	vienen	va	van

26. Misc. Words

a lot	mucho	always	siempre
very much	muchísimo	everyday	todos los días
a little	poco	now	ahora
very little	muy poco	usually	usualmente
sometimes	a veces	there	ahí
well	bien	over there	allí
after	después	too bad	qué malo
poorly	mal

27. Conjugating Regular Verbs

Verbs in Spanish end in -ar, -er or -ir. Before a verb is conjugated, it is called the infinitive. Removing the last two letters gives you the stem of the verb (cantar is to sing, cant- is the stem.) To conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, add these endings to the stems:

-ar		-er		-ir
o	amos	o	emos	o	imos
as	áis	es	éis	es	ís
a	an	e	en	e	en

Remember that verbs do not require the subject pronouns, so just canto means I sing. Here are some more regular verbs:

-ar verbs		-er verbs		-ir verbs
bailar	to dance	aprender	to learn	vivir	to live
desear	to want	comer	to eat	escribir	to write
escuchar	to listen	correr	to run	compartir	to share
estudiar	to study	leer	to read	recibir	to receive
hablar	to speak	vender	to sell
practicar	to practice	beber	to drink
tomar	to take	comprender	to understand
viajar	to travel

To make sentences negative, simply put no in front of the verb.

28. Reflexive Verbs

The subject and the object are the same with reflexive verbs - the subject acts upon itself. A reflexive verb in Spanish will be marked with se attached to the end of the infinitive. These verbs are conjugated like regular verbs, except the reflexive pronoun agrees with case and gender and precedes the verb when not used in the infinitive form. Reciprocal verbs are the same as reflexive except the action passes from one person to another. It can only be used in the first and third person plural forms. Reflexive verbs sometimes use the "-self" forms in English, while the reciprocal verbs use "each other."

Reflexive Pronouns
me te se	nos os se

Some common reflexive verbs:

acostarse - to go to bed
bañarse - to bathe oneself
casarse - to get married
despertarse - to wake up
irse - to go away
levantarse - to rise
sentarse - to sit down
vestirse - to dress oneself
atreverse - to dare
quejarse - to complain

29. Irregularities in Regular Verbs

Some verbs have vowel changes in the present tense for all forms except first and second person plural. After dropping the endings (-ar, -er, or -ir), the e of the last syllable changes to ie, and o in the last syllable changes to ue. Some -ir verbs change the e to i.

e to ie	o to ue	e to i
pensar - to think querer - to want, like, love cerrar - to close comenzar - to begin despertar - to awaken empezar - to begin entender - to understand perder - to lose preferir - to prefer sentar - to seat sentir - to regret, feel	contar - to count poder - to be able costar - to cost dormir - to sleep encontrar - to find, meet jugar - to play morir - to die mostrar - to show volar - to fly volver - to return	pedir - to ask (for) repetir - to repeat seguir - to follow servir - to serve vestir - to dress

pensar		contar		pedir
pienso piensas piensa	pensamos pensáis piensan	cuento cuentas cuenta	contamos contáis cuentan	pido pides pide	pedimos pédis piden

30. Impersonal "a"

When the object of a verb (except tener) is a definite person, it is preceded by a. It isn't used if a number precedes the object though. The pronouns alguien (somebody), alguno (someone), nadie (nobody), and ninguno (no one) require a as well, when used as the direct object. It is also used before geographical names that are not already preceded by an article.

Veo a Juan. I see John.
Veo a alguien. I see somebody.
Describe a Chile. Describe Chile.

31. Preterit Tense

The preterit tense expresses an action in the past. It is used to describe events that are finished or complete. It is formed by adding these endings to the infinitive stem.

-ar verbs		-er and -ir verbs
-é -aste -ó	-amos -asteis -aron	-í -iste -ió	-imos -iste -eron

Viví en España dos años. I lived in Spain for two years.
Ellos hablaron con los niños. They spoke with the children.
Quién comió la fruta? Who ate the fruit?

32. Irregular Preterit Tense

A few verbs are irregular in the preterit tense. The following are the most common:

dar - to give		decir - to say, tell		estar - to be
di diste dió	dimos disteis dieron	dije dijiste dijo	dijimos dijisteis dijeron	estuve estuviste estuvo	estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron
hacer - to do, make		ir - to go / ser- to be		poner - to put, place
hice hiciste hizo	hicimos hicisteis hicieron	fui fuiste fue	fuimos fuisteis fueron	puse pusiste puso	pusimos pusisteis pusieron
tener - to have		traer - to bring		venir - to come
tuve tuviste tuvo	tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron	traje trajiste trajo	trajimos trajisteis trajeron	vine viniste vino	vinimos vinisteis vinieron

33. Imperfect Tense

The imperfect is another past tense that is used to express an action as going on in the past, as repeated or habitual. It is also used with mental and physical conditions and for descriptions. The preterit tense is used much more often than the imperfect tense though, except with these verbs: querer, creer, pueder, esperar, tener, and saber. It is formed by adding these endings to the infinitive stem.

-ar verbs		-er and -ir verbs
-aba -abas -aba	-ábamos -abais -aban	-ía -ías -ía	-íamos -íais -ían

Yo vivía en España. I used to live in Spain.
Luisa estaba triste. Louise was sad.
El vendía radios. He was selling radios.

Only a few verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense:

ser - to be		ir - to go		ver - to see
era eras era	éramos erais eran	iba ibas iba	íbamos ibais iban	veía veías veía	veíamos veíais veían

34. Food and Meals

breakfast
lunch
supper
dinner
meal
food
bread
roll
butter
meat
fish
vegetables
fruit
cheese
crackers
candy
sandwich
ice cream

el desayuno
el almuerzo
la cena
la comida
la comida
el alimento
el pan
el panecillo
la mantequilla
la carne
el pescado
las legumbres
la fruta
el queso
la galleta
los dulces
el sándwich
el helado

tablecloth
napkin
fork
knife
spoon
plate, dish
glass
cup
salt
saltshaker
pepper
pepper shaker
sugar
sugar bowl
vinegar
coffeepot
teapot
tray

el mantel
la servilleta
el tenedor
el cuchillo
la cuchara
el plato
el vaso
la taza
la sal
el salero
la pimienta
el pimientero
el azúcar
el azucarero
el vinagre
la cafetera
la tetera
la bandeja

35. Gustar

Gustar plus a noun means to like something. Literally, it means to please and takes an indirect object, so the construction of the sentence will be different than that of English.

Me gusta(n)	I like	Nos gusta(n)	we like
Te gusta(n)	you like	Os gusta(n)	you like
Le gusta(n)	you/he/she likes	Les gusta(n)	you/they like

Gusta is used with singular nouns, while gustan is used with plural nouns. With le and les, you can add a Ud., a él, a ella, a Uds., a ellos and a ellas to make the meaning clear.

Me gustan las flores. I like the flowers. (Literally: To me are pleasing the flowers or the flowers are pleasing to me.)
Nos gusta la casa. We like the house.
No me gusta. I don't like it.
Le gusta a Ud.? Do you like it?
Le gustan a ella. She likes them.

36. Fruits, Vegetables and Meats

apple
orange
banana
grapefruit
lemon
lime
peach
apricot
fig
grapes
pear
plum
cherry
pineapple
melon
watermelon
strawberry
raspberry
blackberry

la manzana
la naranja
la banana
la toronja
el limón
la lima
el melocotón
el albaricoque
el higo
unas uvas
la pera
la ciruela
la cereza
la piña
el melón
la sandía
la fresa
la frambuesa
la zarzamora

lettuce
cabbage
cauliflower
green peas
asparagus
green been
spinach
tomato
carrot
turnip
beet
celery
onion
cucumber
parsley
squash
artichoke
eggplant
rhubarb

la lechuga
la col
la coliflor
los guisantes
los espárragos
la habichuela
la espinaca
el tomate
la zanahoria
el nabo
la remolacha
el apio
la cebolla
el pepino
el perejil
la calabaza
la alcachofa
la berenjena
el ruibarbo

broccoli
corn on the cob
radish
pepper
garlic
potato
sweet potato
beans
beef
lamb
pork
sausage
ham
bacon
goose
duck
chicken
turkey
lobster

el brócoli
el elote / la mazorca
el rábano
el pimiento
el ajo
la patata
la batata
los frijoles / las judías
la carne de vaca
el cordero
el cerdo
la salchicha
el jamón
el tocino
el ganso
el pato
el pollo
el pavo
la langosta

37. To Take or Drink

tomar - to take or drink
tomo tomas toma	tomamos tomáis toman

When tomar means to drink, it usually refers to alcohol. In Mexico, tomar can be intransitive, as beber is almost never used. In Spain, tomar is always transitive, such as tomar una copa- to have a drink and tomar un café - to have a coffee.

38. Commands

To form familiar commands, regular -ar verbs end in -a, and -er and -ir verbs end in -e for the tú form. Change the final -r to -d for the vosotros form. Negative familiar commands use the subjunctive forms, so -ar verbs end in -es and -éis, while -er and -ir verbs end in -as and -áis for the tú and vosotros forms.

	Affirmative		Negative
	-ar	-er or -ir	-ar	-er or -ir
tú	-a	-e	-es	-as
vosotros	-ad	-ed	-éis	-áis

Habla! = Speak! (tú form)
Comed! = Eat! (vosotros form)
No comáis! = Don't eat! (negative vosotros form)

Irregular Familiar Commands
	tú	vosotros
decir hacer ir irse poner salir ser tener venir	di haz ve vete pon sal sé ten ven	decid haced id idos poned salid sed tened venid

To form formal commands of verbs, drop the -o ending of the yo form, and add the opposite vowel ending. This means -ar verbs will add -e for the Usted form and -en for the Ustedes form; while -er and -ir verbs will add -a for Usted and -an for Ustedes. To make a command negative, just add no before it.

	-ar	-er or -ir
Usted	-e	-a
Ustedes	-en	-an

Beba! = Drink! (Usted form)
Coman! = Eat (Ustedes form)
No beban! = Don't drink! (negative Ustedes form)

Ir and ser have irregular forms as formal commands: vaya and vayan for ir and sea and sean for ser.

Verbs that end in -car, -gar and -zar have the following changes in commands as well: c becomes qu, g becomes gu, and z becomes c.

39. More Negatives

To make sentences negative, you place no before the verb. Other negatives may precede or follow the verb, but if they follow, they must follow a negative verb (a double negative). The word order is no + verb + negative.

nada
nadie
ninguno (a)
tampoco
ni
ni...ni
ni siquiera
nunca, jamás

nothing, (not) anything
nobody, (not) anybody
no, none
neither, either
nor
neither... nor
not even
never, ever

Nunca means ever when it follows a comparative; jamás means ever when it follows an affirmative verb.

40. Holiday Phrases

Feliz Navidad	Merry Christmas
Feliz Año Nuevo	Happy New Year
Feliz Cumpleaños	Happy Birthday

This site was last updated 01/01/21