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Structures
1. SUBJECT PRONOUNS
A pronoun is a word that can replace another word, usually a more specific noun, in order to avoid repetition.
And subject pronouns can stand as the subject of a sentence or clause. We use subject pronouns to refer to ourselves and others. Here are the Spanish subject pronouns with their English equivalents.
| singular |
plural |
| yo (I) |
nosotros, nosotras (we) |
tú (you, familiar)
usted (you, formal) |
vosotros, vosotras (you)
ustedes (you) |
| él, ella (he, she) |
ellos, ellas (they) |
—Yo soy de Los Ángeles, ¿y tú? (I'm from Los Angeles. And you?)
—Yo soy de Austin. (I'm from Austin.)
—Nosotros somos de Tampa, ¿y ustedes? (We're from Tampa. And you?)
—Nosotras somos de Austin y él es de Colombia. (We're from Austin and he is from Colombia.)
subtitulo
Subject: A word that represents the agent performing the action of a sentence or clause…
They go by subway.
…or the person or object that is being described in the rest of the sentence or clause:
They are always very tired after they arrive.
Notice that there are singular and plural subject pronouns. The pronouns él, ella, nosotros, nosotras, vosotros, vosotras, ellos, and ellas also show gender, while the rest do not. Nosotros, vosotros, and ellos refer to groups that are male or male and female. Nosotras, vosotras, and ellas refer to groups that are female. There is a tendency, though, to be more flexible and instead use the pronouns that correspond to the gender of the majority of people in the group.
Spanish uses different pronouns to express the English pronoun you. Tú is used throughout most of the Spanish speaking world to address a person you know well – a friend, family member or peer and, in general, to talk to children and young people. Usted is used to address a person you don’t know well or would not address by first name. The plural of both tú and usted is ustedes. The exception to this is in Spain, where vosotros, vosotras forms are used as the plural of tú.
—Hola, ¿tú estudias español? (Hi, are you studying Spanish?)
—Sí. ¿Es usted el profesor? (Yes. Are you the teacher?)
—¿Ustedes estudian español? (Hi, are you studying Spanish?)
—Sí. ¿Es usted la profesora? (Yes. Are you the teacher?)
The pronoun vos is used instead of tú in most of Argentina and Uruguay, and alongside the use of tú in Chile, several regions of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Central America. Its plural form is ustedes.
—Hola, ¿vos estudiás español? (Hi, are you studying Spanish?)
—Sí. ¿Usted es la profesora? (Yes. Are you the professor/teacher?)
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►Usage
While English sentences almost always require the use of subject pronouns, in Spanish their use is optional. This is because a conjugated verb form gives information about what or whom the speaker is referring to.
Soy Michele. (I am Michele.)
Typically pronouns are only included when the speaker wants to emphasize the subject or make a contrast.
Él es Juan y ella es Ana. (He is Juan and she is Ana.)
Since the verb form is the same for él and ella, we need the pronouns to distinguish who we are talking about, who the subject is.
—Hola, eres María, ¿verdad? ( Hi, you are María, aren’t you?)
—No, yo no soy María; es ella. (No, I am not María, she is.)
subtitulo
Conjugate: To change the endings of an infinitive to indicate person, number, tense and mood; conjugated verb forms display these meanings, while the infinitive form does not.
Yo como
Tú trabajas
2. THE PRESENT TENSE
A tense indicates a time frame such as present, past, or future.
The Spanish present tense describes current and ongoing actions and situations:
Jael y yo vivimos en Miami. (Jael and I live in Miami).
Tulio y Franklin hablan francés. (Tulio and Franklin speak French).
► Conjugation of regular verbs: -ar, -er, -ir
The infinitive is the basic form of a verb, unconjugated, which means it doesn't show subjects or tenses: leer (to read), for example. When infinitives change their endings to indicate person, number, tense and mood it is , called conjugation. Here are some conjugated present tense Spanish verb forms: (yo) leo (I read), (ella) escribe (she writes), (ustedes) estudian (you study).
All Spanish infinitives have one of three endings: -ar, -er or -ir.
Regular verbs always follow the same conjugation pattern as other verbs with the same ending. The -ar/-er/-ir is removed and the following endings are added to the stem (what is left of the verb).
| |
-AR:
ESTUDIAR
stem: estudi- |
-ER:
LEER
stem: le- |
-IR:
ESCRIBIR
stem: escrib |
| yo |
estudio |
leo |
escribo |
| tú/vos |
estudias/ás |
lees/és |
escribes/ís |
| él, ella, usted |
estudia |
lee |
escribe |
| nosotros/-as |
estudiamos |
leemos |
escribimos |
| vosotros/-as |
estudiáis |
leéis |
escribís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes |
estudian |
leen |
escriben |
Estudio español en la escuela. (I am studying Spanish at school.)
¿En clase leen ustedes artículos? (Do you read articles in class?) Nancy escribe muchos emails. (Nancy writes a lot of emails.)
subtitulo
Mood: A category of verb conjugations that expresses how an action is described and how the speaker views that action. Some examples of moods include indicative, imperative (command forms), and subjunctive.
Only the vos and vosotros, vosotras forms of regular verbs
carry a written accent in the present tense.
En clase de español hablamos mucho de música. (In Spanish class, we talk about music a lot.)
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3. THE VERB LLAMARSE
When you want to ask someone’s name or say your own name, use the following expressions.
► Questions
¿Cómo te llamas? (What is your name?)
¿Cómo se llama (usted)? (What is your name?)
¿Cómo os llamáis (vosotros, vosotras)? (What are your names?)
¿Cómo se llaman (ellos, ellas)? (What are their names?)
¿Cómo se llaman (ustedes)? (What are your names?)
► Statements
Yo me llamo Patricia. (My name is Patricia.)
Tú te llamas Carlos. (Your name is Carlos.)
Él se llama Beto. (His name is Beto.)
Ella se llama Sofía. (Her name is Sofía.)
Usted se llama Amalia Rodríguez. (Your name is Amalia Rodríguez.)
Nosotras nos llamamos Maribel y Cristina. (Our names are Maribel and Cristina.)
Vosotros os llamáis Ignacio y Alejandra. (Your names are Ignacio and Alejandra.)
Ellos se llaman Juan y Antonio. (Their names are Juan and Antonio.)
Notice that llamarse uses different pronouns than the personal pronouns you have learned. You will learn more about reflexive pronouns in Chapter 5.
Ellas se llaman Isabel y Susana. (Their names are Isabel and Susana.)
Ustedes se llaman Luisa y Marcos. (Your names are Luisa and Marcos.)
| yo |
me |
llamo |
| tú/vos |
te |
llamas/llamás |
| él, ella, usted |
se |
llama |
| nosotros/as |
nos |
llamamos |
| vosotros/as |
os |
llamáis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes |
se |
llaman |
4. THE VERB SER
► Present tense forms
The verb ser (to be) is irregular in the present tense. Irregular verbs are ones that follow a different pattern than the one used for regular -ar/-er/-ir verbs.
| yo |
soy |
| tú/vos |
eres/sos |
| él, ella, usted |
es |
| nosotros/as |
somos |
| vosotros/as |
sois |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes |
son |
subtitulo
Regular verb: A verb that follows the standard rules for conjugation for its category (-ar, -er or -ir) in a specific tense.
Irregular verb: A verb whose conjugation in a specific tense differs from the standard rules; many of these fall into categories with other similar verbs, but they do not follow the standard conjugations for regular verbs.
► Uses of the verb ser
Use ser to give names and identify people.
Yo soy David. (I am David.)
Mi nombre es David. (My name is David.)
Soy de Estados Unidos. 
Soy de estadounidense.
Use ser to identify an object, place, or concept.
¿Quién es Pablo Picasso? (Who is Pablo Picasso?)
Es un pintor español. (He is a Spanish painter.)
Use ser de to identify place of origin.
Ella es de California, pero nosotros somos de Nueva York. (She is from California, but we are from New York.)
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5. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
Definite articles are markers used to identify nouns. They are equivalent to the in English. Here are the Spanish definite articles:
| |
masculine |
feminine |
| singular |
el
el libro (the book) |
la
la escuela (the school) |
| plural |
los
los libros (the books) |
las
las escuelas (the schools) |
Use an accent to differentiate between él (he) and the definite article el:
Él es Carlos.
El libro es muy interesante.
You use el with masculine singular nouns and la with feminine singular nouns. They also change to show number.
El amigo de Osvaldo se llama Nilton.
(Osvaldo's friend is called Nilton.)
La profesora de español se llama Marta.
(The Spanish teacher is called Marta.)
Para mí son interesantes los problemas del medioambiente.
(Environmental problems are interesting to me.)
Las tradiciones del mundo hispano son muy variadas.
(The traditions of the Spanish-speaking world are quite varied.)
6. NOUNS: GENDER AND NUMBER
Nouns are words that refer to people, places, things and concepts. Some Spanish nouns you have learned include profesora, curso, periodismo, and ciencia.
► Gender of nouns
Spanish nouns that refer to people (and some animals) change to show gender, either masculine or feminine.
El profesor de español y la profesora de economía son de México. (The Spanish professor and the economics professor are from Mexico.)
| |
masculine singular |
feminine singular |
| -or>-a |
el compañero |
la compañera |
| -or>-ora |
el profesor |
la profesora |
| -e (doesn't change) |
el estudiante |
la estudiante |
Nouns that refer to places, inanimate things, and concepts also show gender–either masculine
or feminine–but that gender is fixed and doesn’t change.
Estudiamos la historia de México en la clase de español. (We are studying Mexican history in Spanish class.)
| |
masculine singular |
| -o |
el libro |
| -e |
el nombre |
| -s |
el país |
| |
feminine singular |
| -a |
la letra |
| -e |
la clase |
| -dad |
la actividad |
Not all nouns follow these rules. For example: la mano (the hand), el tema (the topic), el día (the day), el problema (the problem). When you learn a new noun, be sure to learn its gender at the same time.
► Number of nouns
Spanish nouns, like English nouns, also show number. Nouns can be singular (one) or plural (more than one). To form the plural of Spanish nouns, follow these rules:
Add -s to nouns that end with a vowel.
la clase → las clases
el compañero → los compañeros
la letra → las letras
Add -es to nouns that end with a consonant. Words that end in z change from z to c in the plural form.
la actividad → las actividades
el país → los países
el lápiz → los lápices
