The grammar course

Spanish stress follows two rules and one override. Rule 1: a word ending in a vowel, -n or -s is stressed on the second-to-last syllable: ca-SA, ha-BLAN, LU-nes. Rule 2: a word ending in any other consonant is stressed on the last syllable: ha-BLAR, ciu-DAD, es-pa-ÑOL. Override: a written accent mark tells you exactly where the stress is when the rules would get it wrong: ca-FÉ, MÚ-si-ca, ha-BLÓ.

That is why the accent in habló (he spoke) is not decoration: without it, hablo means "I speak." Accents change meaning; never drop them.

Nouns ending in -o are usually masculine (el libro), nouns in -a usually feminine (la casa). Also feminine: -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, -umbre, -ez (la nación, la ciudad, la vejez). Also masculine: -ma words from Greek (el problema, el sistema, el idioma), days, months, numbers, and -or nouns (el color, except la flor).

Vowel ending: add -s (casa → casas). Consonant ending: add -es (ciudad → ciudades). A final -z becomes -ces (lápiz → lápices). Words ending in unstressed -s don't change (el lunes → los lunes). A written accent on the last syllable disappears when -es is added, because the stress now falls naturally (canción → canciones).

Ser = what something is: identity, origin, profession, characteristics, time, possession, events. Estar = how or where something is: location, temporary conditions, feelings, results of change, progressive tenses. The old "permanent vs temporary" rule is wrong (está muerto is permanent; es joven is not). Think essence vs state.

Drop the infinitive ending, add the person ending. The yo form is always -o. The -er and -ir sets differ only in nosotros and vosotros. Subject pronouns are usually dropped because the ending already says who.

The Spanish present covers three English forms: hablo = I speak, I am speaking, I do speak. It is also used for the near future: Mañana trabajo (I'm working tomorrow).

Most have an irregular yo form only ("go-verbs") and are otherwise regular or stem-changing.

Also: dar → doy, ver → veo, conocer → conozco, traer → traigo, oír → oigo, oyes, oye.

The stressed stem vowel changes; in nosotros and vosotros the stress moves to the ending, so the stem stays. Drawn on a table, the changed forms make a boot shape.

Common e→ie: empezar, entender, cerrar, perder, preferir, sentir, querer. Common o→ue: dormir, poder, encontrar, contar, costar, recordar, morir, almorzar. Common e→i: pedir, servir, seguir, repetir, vestir, decir.

Yes/no questions: same words, rising intonation, and ¿…? in writing. Negation: put no before the verb (and before any object pronouns). Double negatives are correct and required: No veo nada (I don't see anything).

The thing liked is the grammatical subject, so the verb agrees with it: me gusta el café (singular), me gustan los perros (plural). The person is an indirect object pronoun: me, te, le, nos, os, les. For clarity or emphasis, add a + person: A Juan le gusta…, A mí me gusta…

Hay (invariable) = there is / there are, for existence of something indefinite. Estar = location of something definite. Ser = identity.

Demonstratives: este/esta/estos/estas (this, near me), ese/esa/esos/esas (that, near you), aquel/aquella/aquellos/aquellas (that over there). Neuter esto, eso, aquello for ideas or unknown things: ¿Qué es esto?

0–15 are memorised: cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince. 16–29 are one word: dieciséis, diecisiete… veintiuno, veintidós…. From 31: tens + y + unit: treinta y uno, cuarenta y dos. Tens: treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa. cien (100 exactly), ciento uno, doscientos, trescientos, cuatrocientos, quinientos, seiscientos, setecientos, ochocientos, novecientos, mil, un millón. Hundreds agree: doscientas personas.

Time: Es la una. Son las dos y media. Son las tres menos cuarto. Son las cuatro y diez de la tarde. "At" a time is a: a las ocho. Dates: el 5 de mayo de 2026; days are cardinal numbers, except that the first is usually ordinal in Latin America (el primero de enero) and cardinal in Spain (el uno de enero). Days and months are lowercase. "On Monday" is el lunes; "on Mondays" is los lunes.

a (to, at [time], personal a), de (of, from, made of), en (in, on, at [place]), con (with), sin (without), hasta (until, up to), desde (since, from), sobre (on, about), entre (between). para and por get their own unit (27).

Contractions are mandatory: a + el = al, de + el = del. Not with él (he) or with proper names like El Salvador.

Adjectives in -o have four forms (alto, alta, altos, altas). Adjectives in -e or a consonant have two (grande/grandes, fácil/fáciles); nationality adjectives in a consonant add -a (español, española). Default position is after the noun: un coche rojo. Quantity words go before: muchos coches, otro día, cada semana.

bueno, malo, primero, tercero, alguno, ninguno drop the -o before a masculine singular noun: un buen día, el primer piso, algún día, ningún problema. Note that algún and ningún take a written accent: the stress stays on the last syllable, and a word ending in -n would otherwise be read with the stress one syllable earlier (unit 01).

Spelling changes in the yo form keep the sound: -car → -qué (busqué), -gar → -gué (llegué), -zar → -cé (empecé). Verbs whose stem ends in a vowel take -yó / -yeron: leyó, leyeron, oyó, creyeron. -ir stem-changers change in the third person only: pidió, pidieron, durmió, durmieron, sintió.

These verbs take an irregular stem plus the endings -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron, with no written accents. Stems ending in j drop the i in the last form (dijeron, trajeron).

Completely irregular: ser and ir share fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. dar: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron. ver: vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron.

Use it for: what used to happen, what was happening, descriptions in the past (weather, age, time, feelings, scenery), and habitual actions. English "would" (as in "we would go every summer") is the imperfect, not the conditional.

Preterite = an event seen as a whole, with edges: it started, it ended, it happened n times. It moves the story forward. Imperfect = the scenery, the ongoing, the habitual, the not-yet-finished. It sets the stage. In a story, the imperfect describes and the preterite narrates.

Some verbs shift meaning: sabía (I knew) vs supe (I found out); conocía (I knew someone) vs conocí (I met); quería (I wanted) vs quise (I tried) / no quise (I refused); podía (was able) vs pude (managed to).

A verb listed as levantarse takes a matching pronoun: me, te, se, nos, os, se, placed before the conjugated verb or attached to an infinitive/gerund. Many reflexives are not literally "self" actions; they mark a change of state or just belong to the verb: irse (leave), quedarse (stay), acordarse de (remember), darse cuenta de (realise), ponerse (become/put on), llamarse (be called).

Position: before a conjugated verb (lo veo); attached to an infinitive, gerund or affirmative command (quiero verlo, estoy viéndolo, ¡míralo!); before a negative command (no lo mires). lo also stands for a whole idea: Lo sé (I know [it]). No lo entiendo.

Indirect pronouns: me, te, le, nos, os, les (to/for me, you, him/her/you, us, you all, them). When two pronouns meet, indirect goes first, and le/les turn into se before lo/la/los/las. Spanish usually says the indirect pronoun even when the noun is present: Le di el libro a Ana.

voy / vas / va / vamos / vais / van + a + infinitive. Also common: pensar + infinitive (plan to), querer + infinitive, and simply the present with a time word (Mañana salgo a las seis). The true future tense (unit 30) is reserved for predictions, promises and guesses.

Gerund: -ar → -ando, -er/-ir → -iendo (-yendo after a vowel: leyendo, oyendo, creyendo; ir is irregular: yendo). -ir stem-changers change: durmiendo, pidiendo, sintiendo, diciendo. Use estar + gerund only for "right now, in progress"; English "I'm leaving tomorrow" is Salgo mañana, not estoy saliendo.

más + adj + que (more than), menos + adj + que (less than), tan + adj + como (as… as), tanto/a/os/as + noun + como (as much/many as). Superlative: el/la más + adj + de. Irregulars: mejor (better), peor (worse), mayor (older/bigger), menor (younger/smaller). Before a number, "than" is de: más de diez.

Affirmative tú command = the third-person present: habla, come, escribe, cierra, pide. Irregular affirmatives: di (decir), haz (hacer), ve (ir), pon (poner), sal (salir), sé (ser), ten (tener), ven (venir). Negative commands use the present subjunctive (unit 31): no hables, no comas, no vengas. Pronouns attach to affirmative commands and precede negative ones.

Saber = to know a fact, information, or how to do something (sé nadar). Conocer = to be familiar with a person, place or thing; also "to meet for the first time." Conocer a person takes the personal a.

Para: purpose (para aprender), recipient (es para ti), destination (salgo para Madrid), deadline (para el lunes), opinion (para mí), comparison with a standard (alto para su edad). Por: cause or motive (por el tráfico, por ti), exchange or price (por 20 euros), duration (por dos horas), movement through or along (por el parque), means (por teléfono), "per" (dos veces por semana), agent of a passive (escrito por), and dozens of fixed phrases (por favor, por fin, por ejemplo, por supuesto, por eso, por lo menos).

When the direct object is a specific person (or a beloved pet), put a before it: Veo a Marta. Busco a mi hermano. Llamé al médico. Not after tener (tengo dos hermanos) and not for non-specific people (busco un médico = any doctor). Also before alguien, nadie: No veo a nadie.

he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han + past participle (-ado / -ido). Irregular participles: abierto, dicho, escrito, hecho, muerto, puesto, roto, visto, vuelto, descubierto, resuelto. Nothing goes between haber and the participle; the participle never changes form.

Irregular stems (both tenses): tendr-, pondr-, vendr-, saldr-, valdr-, podr-, sabr-, habr-, querr-, cabr-, har-, dir-. The future is for predictions, promises and (very commonly) guessing about now: ¿Qué hora será? Serán las diez. The conditional is "would": politeness, hypotheticals, advice (Yo que tú, no iría), and the future seen from the past.

Start from the present yo form (so irregular yo forms carry over: tengo → tenga, digo → diga, conozco → conozca). Drop -o. -ar verbs take -e endings; -er/-ir verbs take -a endings.

Six true irregulars (DISHES): dar → dé, ir → vaya, saber → sepa, haber → haya, estar → esté, ser → sea. Spelling keeps the sound: buscar → busque, llegar → llegue, empezar → empiece. -ar/-er boot verbs keep the boot (piense, pensemos); -ir boot verbs change in nosotros/vosotros too (durmamos, sintamos, pidamos).

The subjunctive appears in a subordinate clause (after que) when the main clause expresses something other than plain fact about it: a wish or influence (quiero que, espero que, es necesario que, te pido que, ojalá), an emotion (me alegro de que, me molesta que, es una pena que), doubt or denial (no creo que, dudo que, es posible que, no es verdad que), or an impersonal judgement (es importante que, es mejor que). If the subject is the same, use the infinitive instead: Quiero ir vs Quiero que vayas.

Always subjunctive: para que, a fin de que (so that), antes de que (before), sin que (without), con tal de que (provided that), a menos que (unless), en caso de que (in case). Subjunctive when the event is still in the future / not yet experienced: cuando, en cuanto, tan pronto como, hasta que, después de que, mientras. When they refer to habitual or past events, they take the indicative.

Pronouns attach to affirmatives (siéntese, dígamelo) and precede negatives (no se siente, no me lo diga). Reflexive nosotros drops the -s: sentémonos; vosotros drops the -d: sentaos.

había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían + participle. Used exactly like English "had done": for something already completed before another past moment.

que = that / which / who, never omitted (el libro que leí = the book I read). quien(es) = who, after prepositions or commas (la mujer con quien hablé). lo que = what / that which (no entiendo lo que dices). el/la que, el/la cual = the one that, after prepositions (la casa en la que vivo). cuyo/a/os/as = whose, agreeing with the thing owned (el autor cuya novela…). donde = where.

Passive se: se + verb agreeing with the thing: Se vende piso. Se venden pisos. (flat/flats for sale). Impersonal se: se + third-person singular for "one / people / you": Se come bien aquí. ¿Cómo se dice…? Se dice que… Both are far more common than ser + participle in speech.

Order when several appear goes by person, not by function: se → second person (te, os) → first person (me, nos) → third person (lo, la, los, las; le/les have already become se, unit 21). Se me olvidó. Te lo doy. Nos la trajeron. Te me presentaron (they introduced you to me).

Because it is built on the preterite, every preterite irregularity carries over automatically: tuvieron → tuviera, fueron → fuera, dijeron → dijera, pidieron → pidiera. The nosotros form takes an accent on the vowel before -ramos.

The -se endings (hablase, hablases…) mean the same and are common in Spain and in writing. Use it wherever the present subjunctive would appear but the main verb is in the past, and in hypotheticals with si and como si.

hubiera / hubieras / hubiera / hubiéramos / hubierais / hubieran + participle. Used in type-3 conditionals, after past-tense triggers referring to an earlier time, and in ojalá regrets. "Should have" is debería haber + participle or tendría que haber + participle.

La novela fue escrita por García Márquez (agent stated: use ser, participle agrees). Se publicó en 1967 (no agent: use se). In speech, Spanish prefers an active sentence with ellos or an impersonal se: Me robaron la cartera (my wallet was stolen).

aunque + indicative = "although" (a fact); + subjunctive = "even if" (a hypothesis). quizás / tal vez + indicative = fairly likely; + subjunctive = more doubtful. Relative clauses: Busco un piso que tiene jardín (a specific one I know exists) vs Busco un piso que tenga jardín (any such flat, if one exists). No hay nadie que sepa (negated antecedent: subjunctive).

se + indirect pronoun (the victim) + verb agreeing with the thing: Se me olvidaron las llaves (the keys forgot themselves on me). Common verbs: olvidar, caer, perder, romper, acabar, quedar, ocurrir.

Voseo: Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and much of Central America use vos instead of tú, with its own present forms (vos hablás, tenés, sos, querés) and commands (hablá, vení, decime). Vosotros exists only in Spain. Pronunciation: most of Spain distinguishes s from c/z (th); the Canary Islands, much of Andalusia and all of Latin America merge them into s (seseo). The Caribbean, coastal Colombia, Chile and Andalusia aspirate or drop final -s ("ehtá"). Argentina and Uruguay pronounce ll/y as "sh." Vocabulary: car = coche / carro / auto; computer = ordenador / computadora; cool = guay / chido / chévere / bacán / copado.

Standard: lo/la for direct objects, le for indirect. Much of Spain uses le for a male human direct object (le vi), which the Academy accepts. Laísmo (la dije) and loísmo are regional and considered incorrect. Latin America is mostly lo/la, with pockets of leísmo in highland Ecuador and Paraguay and, everywhere, the polite le for usted as a direct object (le acompaño). Pick the standard system and understand the rest.

Diminutives (-ito/-ita, -illo, -ico) soften and endear: un cafecito, ahorita, despacito, un momentito. Augmentatives (-azo, -ón, -ote) magnify: un golazo, un problemón, grandote. Collocations to learn as units: dar un paseo, dar la lata, dar igual, echar de menos, echar una mano, tener ganas de, tomar el pelo, hacer caso, meter la pata, quedarse en blanco, no tener pelos en la lengua, estar hasta las narices, ser pan comido.

• Opening ¿ and ¡ go where the question or exclamation begins, which can be mid-sentence: Si vienes, ¿me avisas?
• Dialogue uses dashes, not quotation marks: —No sé —dijo ella—. Quizá mañana.
• No serial comma; no comma between subject and verb; days, months, languages and nationalities are lowercase.
• Titles capitalise only the first word: Cien años de soledad.
• Formal letters: Estimado/a…, closing with Atentamente or Un cordial saludo.