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Los tópicos

Subjunctive

Preterit vs

imperfect

Por vs para

All verb tenses

If clauses

Object pronouns

Passive Voice

Ser vs estar

Comparisons

Los tiempos de verbos

Libros de 501 Verbs

SER contra ESTAR

“How you feel and where you are,

always use the verb ESTAR.” – P. Diddy

If you are talking about what

something is (essential qualities), use

SER; if you are talking about how

something is (condition), use ESTAR.

Ella es bonita.

La puerta está rota.

El pretérito contra el imperfecto

Preterit is used for specific,

completed actions.

Imperfect sets the scene.

4 Reasons to Use the Imperfect:

1. Time and weather in the PAST

2. Characteristics / Emotions in PAST

3. Ongoing or incomplete actions in PAST

4. Habitual actions in PAST

POR contra PARA PARA

Rule: to indicate destination

Model: El hombre salió para Madrid.

(The man left for Madrid.)

Rule: to show the use or purpose of a thing

Model: El vaso es para agua.

(The glass is for water.)

Rule: to mean "in order to" or "for the

purpose of"

Model: Para hacer una paella, primero dore

las carnes.

To make a paella, first sauté the meats.

Rule: to indicate a recipient

Model: Este regalo es para ti.

(This gift is for you.)

Rule: to express a deadline or specific time

Model: Necesito el vestido para el lunes.

(I need the dress by Monday.)

Rule: to express a contrast from what is

expected

Model: Para un niño lee muy bien.

(For a child, he reads very well.)

Rule: "estar para" to express an action that

will soon be completed

Model: El tren está para salir.

(The train is about to leave.)

POR

Rule: to express gratitude or apology

Rule: for multiplication and division

Rule: for velocity, frequency and

proportion

Rule: meaning "through," "along," "by" or

"in the area of"

Rule: when talking about exchange,

including sales

Rule: to mean "on behalf of," or "in favor

of,"

Rule: to express a length of time

Rule: to express an undetermined, or

general time, meaning "during"

Rule: for means of communication or

transportation

Rule: in cases of mistaken identity, or

meaning "to be seen as"

Rule: to show the reason for an errand

(with ir, venir, pasar, mandar, volver, and

preguntar)

Rule: to express cause or reason

Model: El hombre murió por falta de

agua.

Rule: "estar por" means to be in the

mood, or inclined to do something

Model: Estoy por tomar café.

Rule: in passive constructions

Model: El libro fue escrito por Octavio

Paz.

Pronombres de los Objetos Pronouns are words that stand for nouns.

Object pronouns, as opposed to subject pronouns,

RECEIVE the action from the verb; they do not DO the

verb.

There are 3 types of Object Pronouns

Direct Object Pronouns

Indirect Object Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

The following three pages will discuss each type of

pronoun and explain when or when not to use them.

Direct Object Pronouns Direct object pronouns are used in place of nouns which get

“acted upon” directly by verbs.

For example, in the sentence “The Jonas Brothers used the

guitar,” the word “guitar” is the direct object.

In the related sentence, “The Jonas Brothers used it,” the word

“it” is the direct object pronoun. “It” stands for the guitar.

If the noun/pronoun directly receives the action from the verb,

answering the question “Whom or what?”, then it is a direct

object or DOP.

Direct object pronouns usually come before the conjugated verb

in a sentence. They can also attach to the back of INFs

Direct Object Pronouns

Me = me

Te = you

Lo/la = him/her/it

Nos = us

Los/las = them/you all

Indirect Object Pronouns Indirect Object pronouns are used when the action affects a

noun or pronoun in an indirect way.

The indirect object is still affected by, or may benefit from, the

action, but it does not take the “direct hit” from the verb. For

example: I give Mr. Twehues an apple.

In this sentence, the apple is given, so it is the direct object.

Mr. Twehues loves to eat, and he will benefit from the apple,

so he is the indirect object.

The IOP answers the question “To whom/what or For

whom/what?”

Indirect Object Pronouns

Me = me

Te = you

Le = him/her/it

Nos = us

Les = them/you all

There has to be a Direct Object for there to be an IOP

Reflexive Object Pronouns

When a subject and object refer to the same person or

thing, a reflexive object is used.

In the sentence, “I call myself John,” the subject (I)

refers to the same person as the object (John).

In the sentence, “They showered themselves after the

game.” The subject (They) matches the object

(themselves), and a reflexive object pronoun is used.

Reflexive Object Pronouns

Me = myself

Te = yourself

Se = himself / herself

Nos = ourselves

Se = themselves / yourselves

To form a sentence with the Subjunctive tenses

(any of them), you must follow this formula:

WEIRDO + que + sentence in subjunctive tense.

• Examples:

1. Es bueno que ella coma el sándwich.

2. Ojalá que yo tenga una novia.

3. Yo espero que ella haya llegado a la casa.

4. Ella dudaba que tú tuvieras unos amigos.

5. Tú no pensabas que ella hubiera comido la pizza.

The Subjunctive refers to: subjunctive, subjunctive

perfect, imperfect subjunctive, and past perfect

subjunctive.

W – Wishing, wanting, desire, hopes,

expectations, etc.

E – Emotions

I – Impersonal Expressions

R – Recommendations, advice, suggestions

D – Disbelief, doubt

O – Ojalá que…

W stands for: Wishing, Wanting, Desire.

Use the following verbs to help you set-off

the subjunctive tense.

Verbs:

1. Desear – to desire/wish Esperar – to hope

2. Querer(eie) –to want Mandar – to demand

3. Insistir – to insist Necesitar – to need

Examples:

1. Yo deseo que ella se muera.

2. Ella insiste que visitemos a su abuela.

E stands for: Emotion verbs.

You should keep a few of these in your

pockets at all times to use the subjunctive.

Verbs:

1. Alegrarse – to be happy Enojarse –be mad

2. Temer –scared Sorprenderse -be surprised

3. Entristecerse – to be sad

Examples:

1. Me alegro que tú estés enfermo.

2. Te entristeces que tu perro se muera.

I stands for: Impersonal Expressions.

These do not apply to one, single individual,

but rather are common sense ideas/rules.

Expressions:

1. Es bueno que yo no beba mucho.

2. Es terrible que él no tenga un brazo.

3. Qué lástima que llueva hoy.

4. Es necesario que tú estudies bien.

5. Es posible que Usted tenga razón.

6. Es raro que ella no sea correcta.

R stands for: Recommendation, Suggestion,

Advice, etc.

It’s typical to use an IOP (Indirect Object Pronoun).

Verbs:

1. Recomendar (eie)– to recommend

2. Aconsejar – to advise

3. Sugerir (eie)– to suggest

Examples:

1. Ella me sugiere que yo llame al doctor.

2. Yo te aconsejo que tú uses menos drogas.

D stands for: Doubt, Disbelief, Un-thinking

Verbs:

1. Dudar – to doubt

2. Negar (eie) – to deny

3. (NO) Pensar (eie) – to (not) think

4. (NO) Creer – to (not) believe

Examples:

1. Yo niego que ella tenga razón.

2. Tú no piensas que Castro ya viva.

3. Él duda que sea posible.

O stands for: Ojalá que...

This is an Arabic expression than can

mean “God willing that…” or “I hope to

God that…”

Examples:

1. Ojalá que llueva café en el campo.

2. Ojalá que no tengamos un examen

hoy.

3. Ojalá que vivamos una buena vida.

To form the subjunctive:

1. Take the YO form of the verb = Tengo

2. Drop the O = Teng-

3. Add the opposite ending = Tenga, tengas …

Irregular Verbs in the subjunctive:

1. DAR – dé, des, dé, demos, den

2. ESTAR – esté, estés, esté, estemos, estén

3. HABER – haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayan

4. SER – sea, seas, sea, seamos, sean

5. IR – vaya, vayas, vaya, vayamos, vayan

6. SABER – sepa, sepas, sepa, sepamos, sepan

The Subjunctive Perfect is just that…the

perfect form of the subjunctive.

The subj.perfect will sound EXACTLY the

same as the Present Perfect in English.

To form the Subjunctive Perfect:

Take the subjunctive form of HABER

(haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayan) +

the Past Participle (ado or ido).

Example:

…she has eaten the pizza.

…ella haya comido la pizza.

The Imperfect Subjunctive is the MOST difficult

tense in Spanish to form.

Remember this formula: 3p(3)-ron+ra/se

To use the IMP.SUBJ., the first part of the

sentence (WEIRDO) must be in the Past Tenses.

To form the Imperfect Subjunctive:

Take the 3rd Person Plural Preterit form of the

verb (ellos comieron)

Minus the –ron (comie-

Add either –ra, -ras, -ra, -´ramos, -ran OR

-se, --ses, -se, -´semos, -sen.

Comiera, comieras, comiera, comiéramos, comieran

Comiese, comieses, comiese, comiésemos, comiesen

The Past Perfect Subjunctive is the most

difficult PERFECT tense to form because you

have to remember the following forms:

Hubiera, hubieras, hubiera, hubiéramos,

hubieran.

After choosing the appropriate form (person),

and the Past Participle (ado or ido word) and

you have the Past Perfect Subjunctive.

…ella hubiera comido la pizza.

To use the Past Perfect SUBJ., the first part

of the sentence (WEIRDO) must be in the

Past Tenses.

In English, we use IF clauses like this:

If I were President, I would make a lot of money.

In Spanish, you follow this formula:

Si (If) + Imperfect subjunctive or Past Perfect

Subjunctive + phrase in the CONDITIONAL

tense.

Cond. = Infinitive + ía, ías, ía, íamos, ían

(except for irregulars).

Examples:

Si yo fuera presidente, yo ganaría mucho

dinero.

Ellos hablarían mucho si la maestra no

estuviera en la clase.

Comparaciones

To compare nouns to one another, use

comparison phrases.

Use más___que or más de + # to say

“more___than” or “more than (#)”

Use menos__que or menos de + # to

mean “less__than” o “less than (#)”

Use tan__como or tanto como to mean

“as___as” or “as much as”

Mayor (older), menor (younger), mejor

(better), peor (worse) stand without the

más or menos before them.

Números

Ordinal Numbers (First through Tenth)

1st = Primero 6th = Sexto

2nd = Segundo 7th = Séptimo

3rd = Tercero 8th = Octavo

4th = Cuarto 9th = Noveno

5th = Quinto 10th = Décimo

The words primero + tercero lose the

“O” before a masculine, singular noun.

La voz pasiva The passive voice is used when the subject of

the sentence is unimportant, unknown, or

refers to a generalized subject.

In the passive voice, the thing that receives

the action of the verb comes first, followed by

the verb “to be” and the past participle of the

main verb. If the actual “subject” of the

sentence is stated, it is called “the agent,” and

it follows the word “by.”

The jewels were found by the explorers.

The game is won by the team that works

hardest.

Passive voice created by SER and a Past Participle

The object or person receiving the action of the verb is

followed by a form of the verb SER and a past

participle. If the person doing the action of the verb

(the agent) is stated, it follows the preposition por:

Las joyas fueron encontradas por los exploradores.

El partido es ganado por el equipo que se esfuerza más.

The verb SER must be conjugated to go with the subject

that precedes it. The subject of a sentence written in

the passive voice would be the direct object of a

sentence written in the active voice. For example:

Active voice: The politician writes the laws. El político

escribe las leyes.

subject = the politician ( el político)

Passive voice: The laws are written by the politician.

Las leyes son escritas por el político.

Passive voice created by “Se”

This type of sentence is created in Spanish

by using the reflexive pronoun se followed by

the verb to express the idea that “one does

it” or “they do it” or “you (in general) do it.”

The best way to understand this construction

is through examples:

Se venden libros en esa tienda.

They sell books in that store.

Books are sold in that store.

Se toma mucho café en Sudamérica.

They drink a lot of coffee in South America.

A lot of coffee is drunk in South America.

Verbos como GUSTAR/DOLER GUSTAR is one of several Spanish verbs that always

use Indirect Object Pronouns.

The construction of a sentence with GUSTAR places an

Indirect Object Pronoun first, then a form of GUSTAR,

and then the subject.

IOP + GUSTAR + Subject = Correct Sentence

Because the subject is most often an object or objects,

GUSTAR is usually seen as gusta/gustan.

You can also use gusta with Infinitives!

Indirect Object Pronouns

Me = me

Te = you

Le = him, her, you (formal)

Nos = us

Les = them, you all