Spanish II Tutorial: Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and Grammar (2023)

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21. To Come & to Go (Vos present conjugation and preterite, imperfect and future tenses not recorded)

The vos conjugation for venir (venís) is different from the tú conjugation (vienes) and identical to the vosotros form in the present tense, but the tú and vos conjugations are identical for ir (vas). Notice that the preterite of ir is the same as the preterite of ser. Context will indicate whether the meaning is was/were or went.

You can also use ir to express to be going to + an infinitive. You just need to insert a between the conjugation of ir and the infinitive.

Voy a estudiar más. I'm going to study more.
Vamos a empezar de nuevo. We're going to start again.

22. To / In and From

Remember to use the prepositional contractions (a + el = al and de + el = del) when anoun with an article follows the preposition.

Vengo de los Estados Unidos. I come from the US.

23. Countries & Nationalities

24. Work & School

25. To Know People & Facts (Vos present conjugation and preterite, imperfect and future tenses not recorded yet)

26. Common Words

27. Conjugating Regular Verbs: Present tense

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 the infinitive to sing, while cant- is the stem.) To conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, add these endings to the stems:

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

Conjugations of regular verbs: (not recorded yet)

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

No hablo bien el español. I don't speak Spanish well.

To indicate that something just happened, you can use acabar de + an infinitive. Acabar (to finish) is a regular verb.

Acaba de comer. He just ate.

28. Vowel changes in present tense

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 of the last syllable changes to ue. Some -ir verbs change e of the last syllable to i, while verbs ending in -uir change the i to y for all forms except first and second plural. Note that these irregularities do NOT apply to vos conjugations.

(Vos present conjugation and preterite, imperfect and future tenses not recorded yet)

We have already seen verbs that are irregular in all conjugations in the present tense, such as ir and ser. Another irregular verb is haber - to have or the impersonal there is/are; however, it is different from tener (which also means to have) because it is not used to show possession. It is only used in compound tenses as a helping verb, i.e. I have seen that movie, which will be covered in Spanish III.

The three completely irregular verbs in the present tense are: (not recorded yet)

An impersonal conjugation of haber, hay, is used to mean there is/are in English.

29. 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 gender and number and precedes the verb when it is conjugated. Reciprocal verbs are conjugated the same as reflexive except the action passes from one person to another. Reflexive verbs sometimes use the "-self" forms in English, while the reciprocal verbs use "each other."

The reflexive pronouns are me, te, se, nos, os and se and they are placed before the conjugated verb:

However, when the reflexive verb is in the infinitive and used with another verb, the reflexive pronoun must still agree with the subject of the conjugated verb. It is either attached to the end of the reflexive verb or placed before the conjugated verb:

Vamos a casarnos. / Nos vamos a casar. We're going to get married.
Tengo que irme. / Me tengo que ir. I have to go.
Puede quedarse contigo? / Se puede quedar contigo? Can he stay with you?

The verb contarse is used colloquially to ask how's it going (with you)? ¿Qué te cuentas ?

30. Personal a

When the direct object of a verb (except tener) is a person, it is preceded by a. It isn't used if a number precedes the object. The pronouns alguien (somebody), alguno (someone), nadie (nobody), and ninguno (no one) require a as well, when used as the direct object.

Veo a Juan. I see John.
Conozco a tu amiga. I know your friend.
Veo a alguien. I see somebody.

31. Preterite Tense

The preterite tense expresses an action in the past and is also called the simple past in English. It is used to describe events that have completely finished and are not still happening or that do not indicate repeated actions. It is formed by adding the following endings to the verb stem. For the vos conjugation, an -s may or may not be added to the end of the tú conjugation.

Conjugations of regular verbs in the preterite:

Notice that the nosotros forms of -ar and -ir verbs are the same in the present and preterite tenses.

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 Preterite Tense

A few verbs are irregular in the preterite tense. Depending on which variety is used, the vos conjugation may or may not add -s to the tú conjugations listed below.

The imperfect is another past tense that is used to express an action as going on in the past, as repeated or habitual, or to translate the English "used to + infinitive." It is also used with mental and physical conditions and for descriptions. The imperfect tends to be used more often than the preterite with these verbs: querer, creer, poder, esperar, tener, and saber.

The imperfect is formed by adding these endings to the infinitive stem:

Regular imperfect tense conjugations:

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:

You can use ir in the imperfect tense to express "was/were going to + infinitive" similar to its use in the present tense:

Iba a decir "no." I was going to say "no."

34. Food and Meals

El zumo is used in Spain to refer to fruit juice, while el jugo only refers to juice from meat. In Latin America, el jugo refers to fruit juice.

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. The verb will most likely only be conjugated in the third person singular or plural because it is agreeing with the noun or infinitive that follows it.*

Gusta is used with singular nouns or an infinitive, while gustan is used with plural nouns. It is also possible to add a + pronoun to emphasize the subject, but this is not necessary. These pronouns are the same as the suject pronouns except a mí and a ti.

Me gustan las flores. I like the flowers. (Literally: To me are pleasing the flowers or the flowers are pleasing to me.)
A nosotros nos gusta la casa. We like the house.
No me gusta. I don't like it.
Le gusta a Ud.? Do you like it?
A ellos les gustan los caballos. They like the horses.

As a regular -ar verb, conjugating gustar in the preterite tense is easy:

Me gustaron las flores. I liked the flowers.
No me gustó. I didn't like it.

* It is possible to conjugate gustar with a first or second person pronoun/noun, such as in the Manu Chao song Me gustas tú which means I like you (you are pleasing to me) and could also be written as tú me gustas.

36. Fruits & Vegetables

Los frijoles, la papa, and el hongo are used in Latin America, whereas las judías, la patata, and la seta are used in Spain. El champiñón is also used everywhere for a round, white mushroom. La callampa is only used in Chile for mushroom.

El cambur is used in Venezuela, where el plátano means plantain instead of banana.

El camote is mostly used in Mexico and the Andes.

37. To Take or Drink (Vos present conjugation and preterite, imperfect and future tenses not recorded yet)

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 / Imperative

To form commands, drop the final -s on the present tense conjugation for the tú form, drop the final -s and accent the vowel for the vos form, and change the final -r of the infinitive to -d for the vosotros form. The other imperative conjugations (for Usted, Ustedes, and nosotros) use the present subjunctive forms. (More about the Subjunctive at #70.) Use the nosotros form to mean Let's + infinitive. Negative commands use no + the present subjunctive conjugations for all forms, except vos may either be identical to the tú form or add an accent to the vowel. The only forms that differ between affirmative and negative commands are tú, vos and vosotros. Verbs that end in -car, -gar and -zar have the following changes as well: c becomes qu, g becomes gu, and z becomes c.

¡Habla! = Speak! (tú form)
¡Comed! = Eat! (vosotros form)
¡No comáis! = Don't eat! (negative vosotros form)
¡Beba! = Drink! (Usted form)
¡Coman! = Eat (Ustedes form)
¡No beban! = Don't drink! (negative Ustedes form)

Irregular Imperative (not recorded yet)
Some verbs have irregular tú forms while the other forms use a different stem from the regular verb stem when forming the imperative. These stems are also found in the subjunctive mood, which will be covered later. Negative imperatives only differ from the affirmative for tú, vos and vosotros forms. (Note that the nosotros forms are actually translated as let's / let's not + verb in English since the implied subject is we instead of you.)

39. More Negatives

To make sentences negative, 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 either no + verb + negative or negative + verb. Nunca means ever when it follows a comparative; jamás means ever when it follows an affirmative verb. Ya no + verb means the same thing as no + verb + más (no more, no longer).

No bailas nunca. = Nunca bailas. You never dance.
No juego más. = Ya no juego. I no longer play.

Spanish National Anthem: Marcha Real

There are no words to the Spanish national anthem; it is completely instrumental.

Mexican National Anthem: Mexicanos, al Grito de Guerra

by Francisco González Bocanegra