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THE IMPERFECT - EL PASADO (PRETÉRITO IMPERFECTO) We use this tense when we talk about GENERAL / REPEATED ACTIONS OR SITUATIONS IN THE PAST This tense, EL PASADO is used when you say sentences such as.. When I was a kid, I lived with my parents. Cuando era un niño, vivía con mis padres As you can see here, we are not talking about a specific event but rather a general or repeated event in the past. More Examples: She had lots of problems when she was a teenager. Tenía muchos problemas cuando era adolescente I used to study a lot when I was your age. Estudiaba mucho cuando tenía tu edad. We had all the time in the world back then.. Teníamos todo el tiempo del mundo en ese entonces. He would travel to Miami every week. Él viajaba a Miami cada semana. Your granny came home every day when you were little. Tu abuela venía a casa todos los días cuando eras pequeña. Juan used to crash all the time. Juan chocaba todo el tiempo. We also use this tense when provide BACKGROUND INFORMATION about another event that took place. When I was reading, the telephone rang. Cuando leía, sonó el. Read More...

THE PRESENT PERFECT - EL PRESENTE PERFECTO The situations in which you use this tense are the same both in English as in Spanish. It is used to show that an action has taken place at some point before now, at an unspecified time in the past. Itshould not be used with specific times, dates, days, or years (although you may hear native speakers using them as well) This tense, EL PRESENTE PERFECTO, is used when you say sentences such as... I have finished. the test. He terminado el exámen. They have studied a lot today. Ellos han estudiado mucho hoy. We have never eaten here. Nunca hemos comido aquí. The movie has already started. La película ya ha comenzado. She has just left. Ella recién ha partido. How to form EL PRESENTE PERFECTO in 3 easy steps 1 Take the verb in the infinitive form... trabajar comer partir 2 Drop the infinitive ending... trabaj- com- part- 3 Add the verb HABER in the present and� past participle ending... Yo he I have trabajado comido partido Tú has You have (informal) trabajado comido partido Usted Él - Ella ha You have (formal) s-he. Read More...

THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE - EL PRESENTE PROGRESIVO The situations in which you use this tense are the same both in English as in Spanish. Consequently, we are going to see some examples and we are not going to concentrate on when or when not to use this tense as you will do it intuitively if you native language is English. I am working. Estoy trabajando. / Trabajo They are studying now. Ellos están estudiando ahora. We are selling a novel Estamos vendiendo una novela. He is eating a lot. Él está comiendo mucho. She is leaving in two days. Está partiendo en dos días or.. parte en dos días. How to form EL PRESENTE PROGRESIVO in 3 easy steps 1 Take the verb in the infinitive form... trabajar comer partir 2 Drop the infinitive ending... trabaj- com- part- 3 Add the verb ESTAR (to be) and present progressive ending... Yo estoy I am trabajando comiendo partiendo Tú estás You are (informal) trabajando comiendo partiendo Usted Él - Ella está You are (formal) s-he is trabajando comiendo partiendo Nosotros estamos We are trabajando comiendo. Read More...

THE SIMPLE PRESENT - EL PRESENTE The situations in which you use this tense are the same both in English as in Spanish. Consequently, we are going to see some examples and we are not going to concentrate on when or when not to use this tense as you will do it intuitively if you native language is English. This tense, EL PRESENTE, is used when you say sentences such as... I work every day. Trabajo todos los días. You are working now. Tú trabajas ahora She needs my help. Necesita mi ayuda. The earth is round. La tierra es redonda. The plane leaves at 6 tomorrow. El avión parte mañana a las 6. How to form EL PRESENTE in 3 easy steps 1 Take the verb in the infinitive form... trabajar comer partir 2 Drop the infinitive ending... trabaj- com- part- 3 Add the present form ending... (this ending varies depending on the person) Yo trabajo como parto Tú trabajas comes partes Usted - Él -. Read More...

Definition An adjective is a word that describes a noun. For example, round, blue, big, beautiful are words we can use to describe an object, for example, a table. 1) Spanish adjectives usually follow the noun that they modify. Spanish adjectives change to agree in gender and number with the nouns that they modify. They follow the same rules as nouns. Examples: El perro negro The black (male) dog. La perra negra The black (female) dog. Los perros negros Black (male) dogs Las perras negras Black (female) dogs 2) Adjectives ending in a or e, have the same masculine and feminine forms, and the plural is created by adding -s. . Read More...

ADVERBS- ADVERBIOS Definition An adverb is a word that describes or modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Let's see adverbs in action: Me siento bien hoy. I am feeling well today. In this sentence we have the verb sentirse, (to feel) As we can see, the words bien and hoy modify this verb, the way in which I feel, and the time as well: ¿Cómo te sientes? Me siento bien. How are you feeling? I am feeling well. ¿Cuándo? Hoy. When? Today. Bien (well) describes how I feel in this case, for this reason adverbs like this are called adverbs of manner. More examples of adverbs of manner: Ella corre rápido. She runs fast. How does she run? Fast. Fast describes how she runs, consequently it is modifying the verb (to run) and we said that any word that modifies a verb is an adverb. Hizo el ejercicio rápidamente. He did the exercise quickly. ¿Como hizo el ejercicio? Rápidamente. How did he do the exercise? Quickly. Rápidamente is an adverb of manner. ADVERBS OF MANNER answer the question: HOW does the verb DO something? Some typical adverbs of manner are: bien well mal poorly/ unwell mejor better peor worse -mente -ly The ending -mente is typical of adverbs of. Read More...

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE In Spanish there four words that correspond with the English the: el, los, la, las. These words are called, the definite article. Singular Plural Masculine el gato los gatos Feminine la gata las gatas In Spanish, we use the definite article to speak in general, i.e.. to indicate the general sense of a noun. In English, the article the is not used in this sense. Me gusta la música. I like music. Los hombres son muy amables. Men are very kind. When the words A or DE precede the singular masculine definite article EL, the preposition and article contract into a single word. The same does NOT apply with the feminine form A a + el al Voy al cine. (Not "a el" cine) de + el del El nombre del niño... (Not "de el" niño) Back to the Grammar. Read More...

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE - EL ARTÍCULO DEFINIDO The indefinite article usually refers to an unspecified person or thing. There are four different forms of the indefinite article. The singular indefinite articles in Spanish correspond to a, an, or one in English. The plurals correspond to some. There are four Spanish indefinite articles. Singular Plural Masculine un perro a (male) dog unos perros some (male) dogs Feminine una perra a (female) dog unas perras some (female) dogs EJERCICIO #1 Choose the right definite article - UN - UNA - UNOS - UNAS 1) Necesito ______ computadora. Answer una 2) Tengo ______ amigo italiano. Answer un 3) Hay ______ perros en la calle. Answer unos 4) Hay ______ niñas en la escuela. Answer unas 5) Esa es ______ familia muy grande. Answer una 6) Juan Carlos es ______ niño muy alto. Answer un 7) Ellas son ______ mujeres muy bellas. Answer unas 8) Tú tienes ______ carro muy bonito. Answer un 9) Yo necesito ______ libros. Answer unos 10) Ellos tienen ______ amigos aquí. Answer unos Back to the Grammar. Read More...

THE NEUTER ARTICLE - EL ARTÍCULO NEUTRO The neuter article LO is invariable. It is followed by an adjective and it expresses something abstract or th quality of something. lo importante what is important, the important thing lo aburrido what is boring, the boring thing... lo mejor the best part lo problemático what is problematic, the problematic thing Typical Translations of the Neuter Article A LO + Adjective + QUE is usually translated as HOW + ADJECTIVE Examples: 1) ¿Entiendes lo problemático que es esto? Do you understand how problematic this is? 2) Ella sabe lo enojado que estoy. She knows how angry I am. 3) Recuerdo lo aburrido que era el curso. I remember how boring the course was. 4) No ven lo importante que es este trabajo. They do not see how important this job is. B LO + Adjective has other possible translations: Examples: 1) Me gusta lo moderno. I like what is modern. 2) Odio lo antiguo. I hate what is antique. 3) Lo bueno es que vendieron la casa. What is good is that they sold their house. 4) Solo viste lo peor del programa. You have just seen. Read More...

AUGMENTATIVES - AUMENTATIVOS Note: This structure is not frequent in Spanish. It appears every now and then. If you are a beginning to intermediate student, my suggestion is that you focus on more relevant everyday structures. What are AUGMENTATIVES? Augmentatives are suffixes (i.e. little particles that are attached� to root of a word). By adding an augmentative, we can emphasize the idea we want to convey. Common Spanish augmentatives: -ón -azo -ote -acho -ona -aza -ota -acha RULES A If the word ends in a vowel, we drop the vowel before adding the suffix: grande big grandote very big éxito success exitazo big success patada patadón kick strong kick B When the word ends in a consonant, we� simply add the suffix. animal animalote C -acho, -ucho, -ote, -achón, -arrón, -ejón have a negative connotation, they are augmentative but at the same time depreciative and pejorative: el pueblo the people el populacho the mob, rabble el cuarto the room el cuartucho the ugly old room la nube the cloud el. Read More...