SPANISH

by Wikibooks contributors

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© Copyright 2003–2006, Wikibooks contributors.

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of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by
the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and
no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".

Images are either licensed under the GFDL or released into the public domain.
Creators of GFDL images are listed in image captions.

Principal authors: ThomasStrohmann (C) · Karl Wick (C) · Wintermute (C) · Mariela
Riva (C) · Mxn (C) · Sabbut (C) · Javier Carro (C) · Fenoxielo (C) · Think Fast (C) ·
Celestianpower (C) · AnthonyBaldwin (C) · John D'Adamo (C)

Cover: Zona costera de la Coveta Fuma en el término municipal de Campello,

Alicante. By Kasiber and Celestianpower.

The current version of this Wikibook may be found at:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish
 Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................03
Pronunciation....................................................................................................05
LESSONS.................................................................................................10
01 - ¿Cómo te llamas?........................................................................................10
02 - ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?.......................................................................18
03 - Introducción a la gramática.......................................................................26
04 - ¿Dónde vives?.............................................................................................33
05 - ¿Qué te gusta hacer?..................................................................................41
06 - ¿Qué comes?...............................................................................................51
07 - ¿Qué hora es?.............................................................................................61
08 - ¿Dónde vas a ir?.........................................................................................69
09 - ¿Cuál es tu trabajo?....................................................................................83
ABOUT THE BOOK.......................................................................................92

History & Document Notes...............................................................................92

Authors & Image Credits...................................................................................93
GNU Free Documentation License....................................................................94

Introduction
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Book definition
• Scope: This Wikibook aims to teach the Spanish language from scratch.
It will cover all of the major grammar rules, moving slowly and offering
exercises and plenty of examples. It's not all grammar though, as it offers
vocabulary and phrases too, appealing to all learners. By the end, you
should be able to read and write Spanish skilfully, though you'll need a
human to help with listening and speaking.
• Purpose: The purpose of this Wikibook is to teach you the Spanish
language in an easy and accessible way. By the end, as mentioned, you
should be a proficient reader and writer, though listening and speaking
require a human tutor.
• Audience: Anyone who wishes to learn Spanish, though adult and
teenage learners are likely to enjoy it more.
• Organisation: This Wikibook requires no prior knowledge of the
subject, and all relevant terms are explained as they are encountered. The
book runs chronologically from lesson 1 to lesson 2 to lesson 3 and so on
until the end.
• Narrative: Generally engaging and thorough, with plenty of examples
and exercises to aid learning. Once concepts are introduced, they are
repeated, building a base of vocabulary and grammar that will stay in your
mind.
 Chapter

• Style: This book is written in British English, and the Spanish taught is
generally "Spanish" Spanish, though key regional differences are explained
as we go along. The formatting is consistent throughout, with Spanish in
italics and all tables using the same formatting. Each lesson begins with a
conversation, including the key grammar and vocabulary in the lesson. At
the end, there is a summary, explaining what has been achieved. Exercises
are linked throughout, and each new concept or set of vocabulary is
accompanied by examples, each with a translation underneath.

Introduction
You are about to embark on a course learning a second language, the Spanish
Language!

The first lesson begins with simple greetings, and covers important ideas of
the Spanish Language. Throughout education, methods of teaching Spanish have
changed greatly. Years ago, the Spanish Language was taught simply by memory.
Today, however, the Spanish Language is taught by moving slower and covering
grammar and spelling rules.

Again, this is an introduction. If this is the first time you are attempting to
learn Spanish, do not become discouraged if you cannot understand, pronounce,
or memorize some of the things discussed here.

In addition, learning a second language requires a basic understanding of

your own language. You may find, as you study Spanish, that you learn a lot
about English as well. At their core, all languages share some simple components
like verbs, nouns, adjectives, and plurals. Your first language comes naturally to
you and you don't think about things like subject-verb agreement, verb
conjugation, or usage of the various tenses; yet, you use these concepts on a
daily basis.

While English is described as a very complicated language to learn, many of

the distinguishing grammar structures have been simplified over the years. This
is not true for many other languages. Following the grammatical conventions of
Spanish will be very important, and can actually change the meaning of phrases.
You'll see what is meant by this as you learn your first verbs ser and estar.

Do not become discouraged! You can do it.

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4 | Spanish
Pronunciation

0 P RONUNCIATION
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P ronouncing Spanish based on the written word is much simpler than

pronouncing English based on written English. This is because, with few
exceptions, each letter in the Spanish alphabet represents a single sound, and
even when there are several possible sounds, simple rules tell us which is the
correct one. In contrast, many letters and letter combinations in English
represent multiple sounds (such as the ou and gh in words like cough, rough,
through, though, etc.).

Letter-sound correspondences in Spanish

The table below presents letter-sound correspondences in the order of the
traditional Spanish alphabet. (Refer to the article Writing system of Spanish in
Wikipedia for details on the Spanish alphabet and alphabetization.)

Name of
Letter the IPA Pronunciation of the letter (English approximation)
letter
Aa a a Like a in father
be, be
Bb larga, be b Like b in bad.
alta
Between vowels, the lips should not touch when
β pronouncing the sound (somewhat similar to the v in
value).
Before the vowels e and i, like c in center (Americas) or
Cc ce s/θ
th in thin (Spain).
k Everywhere else; like c in coffee
Like ch in church. In Argentina it sounds almost like j in
Ch ch che tʃ jump, but it's clearly different from Argentinian y (see
below).
Does not have an exact English equivalent. Sounds similar
to the d in day, but instead of the tongue touching the
roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the
Dd de d
teeth themselves. Between vowels, the tongue should be
lowered so as to not touch the teeth (somewhat similar to
the th in the).
Ee e e Like e in ten.
Ff efe f Like f in four.
Gg ge x Before the vowels e and i, like a Spanish j (see below).
Everywhere else, like g in get, but between vowels
g
(where the second vowel is a, o or u), the tongue should

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 Chapter 0

not touch the soft palate (no similar sound in English, but
it's somewhat like Arabic ghain).
Silent, unless combined with c (see above). Hu- or hi-
followed by another vowel at the start of the word stand
Hh hache for /w/ (English w) and /j/ (English y). Also used in foreign
words like hámster, where it is pronounced like a
Spanish j (see below).
Ii i i Like e in he. Before other vowels, it approaches y in you.
Like the ch in loch, although in many dialects it sounds
Jj jota x/h
like English h.
Like the k in ask. Only used in words of foreign origin -
Kk ka k Spanish prefers c and qu (see above and below,
respectively).
Does not have an exact English equivalent. It is similar to
the English "l" in line, but shorter, or "clipped." Instead of
Ll ele l
the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the
teeth, it should touch the tip of the teeth themselves.
Properly, like gl in the Italian word gli. Does not have an
doble ele, English equivalent, but it's somewhat similar to li in
Ll ll ʎ/j
elle million. Very commonly simply pronounced as /j/ (English
y).
Mm eme m Like m in more.
Like n in no. Before p, b, f and v (and in some regions m)
sounds as m in important. For example un paso sounds
umpaso. Before g, j, k sound (c, k , q), w and hu sounds
Nn ene n
like n in anchor: un gato, un juego, un cubo, un kilo, un
queso, un whisky, un hueso. Before y sound (y or ll), it
sounds like ñ, see below.
/nj/]] (ny) + vowel, as in canyon, where the y is very short.
For example, when pronouncing "años", think of it as
Ññ eñe ɲ
"anyos", or an-yos. To practice, repeat the onomatopoeia
of chewing: "ñam, ñam, ñam".
Oo o o Like o in more, without the following r sound.
Pp pe p Like p in port.
Like q in quit. As in English, it is always followed by a u,
but before e or i, the u is silent (líquido is pronounced
Qq cu k /'li.ki.δo/). The English /kw/ sound is normally written cu
in Spanish (cuanto), although qu can be used for this
sound in front of a or o (quásar, quórum).
This has two pronunciations, neither of which exist in
English. The 'soft' pronunciation sounds like American
relaxed pronunciation of tt in "butter", and is written r
Rr ere, erre r (always written r). The 'hard' pronunciation is a multiply
vibrating sound, similar to Scottish rolled r (generally
written rr). 'Hard' r is also the sound of r at the start of a
word or after l, n or s.

6 | Spanish
Pronunciation

Like s in six. In many places it's aspirated in final

position, although in Andalusia it is not itself pronounced,
Ss ese s
but changes the sound of the preceding vowel. (See
regional variations).
Does not have an exact English equivalent. Like to the t in
ten, but instead of the tongue touching the roof of the
Tt te t
mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the teeth
themselves.
Uu u w before another vowel (especially after c), like w in twig.
In the combinations gue and gui', it is silent unless it
has a diaresis (güe, güi), in which case it is as above: w.
u Everywhere else, like oo in pool, but shorter.
uve, ve,
Identical to Spanish b (see above). It can pronunciated as
Vv ve corta, b, β
"v", but it's not common.
ve baja
uve
Used only in words of foreign origin (Spanish prefers u).
doble, b, β,
Ww Pronunciation varies from word to word: watt is
doble ve, w
pronounced like bat, but kiwi is pronounced like quihui.
doble u
Xx equis ks Like ks (English x) in extra.
ʃ In words of Amerindian origin, like sh in she.
(Note that x used to represent the sound of sh, which
then evolved into the sound now written with j. A few
words have retained the old spelling, but have modern
pronounciation. Most notably, México and its derivatives
are pronounced like Méjico.
Technically, it is simply the preferred spelling of i + vowel
at the beginning of a word or vowel + i at the end of a
word (yeso rather than ieso, hay rather than hai), and
i griega, should be pronounced exactly as i. However, in some
Yy i
ye places it is identical to English y. In Argentina is
pronounced similar to the English sh in she, or English j
in jump, and in Chile is pronounced /ʒ/ (like English si in
vision).
zeta, Always the same sound as a soft c i.e. either /θ/ (most of
Zz θ, s
ceda Spain) or /s/ (elsewhere). See c for details.

One letter, one sound

Pronouncing Spanish based on the written word is much simpler than
pronouncing English based on written English. Each vowel represents only one
sound. With some exceptions (such as w and x), each consonant also represents
one sound. Many consonants sound very similar to their English counterparts.

As the table indicates, the pronunciation of some consonants (such as b) does

vary with the position of the consonant in the word, whether it is between vowels

Wikibooks | 7
 Chapter 0

or not, etc. This is entirely predictable, so it doesn't really represent a breaking

of the "one letter, one sound" rule.

The University of Iowa has a very visual and detailed explanation of the
Spanish pronunciation.

Local pronunciation differences

Just as in the English-speaking world, people in different Spanish-speaking
countries and areas speak with different accents. The main difference is that in
the Americas two sounds were lost in comparison to Spain: z sounds like s, and ll
sounds like y. Even in Spain most people pronounce ll and y the same way
nowadays. In Bolivia and Peru, z is lost but ll is kept. In Argentina and Uruguay
ch and ll have a characteristic hard sound. In Mexico, vowels are reduced to
schwa (like in English about, celestial, gorilla). In Puerto Rico and Cuba they
confuse r and l. In many countries j is not hard but it's like an English h (as in
hot). A Chilean is heard as saying mujier instead of mujer. Also, in most parts of
Spain, speakers pronounce z's and soft c's as th's. For example, cinco (in
Americas pronounced like sinko), would be pronounced as "thinko".

In spite of these differences, two Spanish speakers from different places will
always understand each other, provided they speak the cultivated versions of
their respective cities. If fast colloquial speech is used, comprehension may be
impaired.

Word stress
In Spanish there are two levels of stress when pronouncing a syllable:
stressed and unstressed. To illustrate: in the English word "thinking", "think" is
pronounced with stronger stress than "ing". If both syllables are pronounced
with the same stress, it sounds like "thin king".

With one category of exceptions (-mente adverbs), all Spanish words have
one stressed syllable. If a word has an accent mark (´; explicit accent), the
syllable with the accent mark is stressed and the other syllables are unstressed.
If a word has no accent mark (implicit accent), the stressed syllable is
predictable by rule (see below). If you don't put the stress on the correct syllable,
the other person may have trouble understanding you. For example: esta, which
has an implicit accent in the letter e , means "this (feminine)"; and está, which
has an explicit accent in the letter a, means "is." Inglés means "English," but
ingles means "groins."

Adverbs ending in -mente are stressed in two places: on the syllable where
the accent falls in the adjectival root and on the men of -mente. For example:
estúpido → estúpidamente.

8 | Spanish
Pronunciation

The vowel of an unstressed syllable should be pronounced with its true value,
as shown in the table above. Don't reduce unstressed vowels to neutral schwa
sounds, as occurs in English.

Rules for pronouncing the implicit accent

There are only two (or one) rules for pronouncing the implicit accent, The
stressed syllable is in bold letters:

• If a word has no accent mark and ends with a vowel or with n or s , the
next-to-last syllable is stressed.
• Examples:
• cara (ca-ra) (face)
• mano (ma-no) (hand)
• amarillo (a-ma-ri-llo) (yellow)
• hablan (ha-blan) (they speak)
• martes (mar-tes) (Tuesday)
• If a word has no accent mark and ends with a consonant other than n or
s, the last syllable is stressed.
• Examples:
• farol (fa-rol) (street lamp)
• azul (a-zul) (blue)
• español (es-pa-ñol) (Spanish)
• salvador (sal-va-dor) (savior).

The diaeresis ( ¨ )
In the clusters gue and gui, the u is not pronounced; it serves simply to give
the g a hard-g sound, like in the English word gut (gue → [ge]; gui → [gi]).

However, if the u has a the diaeresis mark (¨), it is pronounced like an

English w (güe → [gwe]; güi → [gwi]). This mark is rather rare.

Examples:

• pingüino = penguin
• agüéis (2nd person plural, present subjunctive of the verb aguar). Here,
the diaeresis preserves the u (or [w]) sound in all the verb tenses of aguar.

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Wikibooks | 9
 Chapter 1

1 ¿C ÓMO TE LLAMAS ?
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Dialogue
Raúl: ¡Hola! Me llamo Raúl. ¿Cómo te llamas?
Sofía: Hola, Raúl. Me llamo Sofía. ¿Cómo se escribe Raúl?
Raúl: Se escribe R-A-Ú-L. ¿Qué tal?
Sofía: Bien. ¿Y tú?
Raúl: Fenomenal, gracias.
Sofía: ¡Qué fantástico! Adiós, Raúl.
Raúl: ¡Hasta luego!

Hello!
Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cómo te llamas?
¡Hola! • Hello!

Inglés Español
Hello Hola (listen)
Good morning!
¡Buenos días! (listen)
Good day!
Good evening! ¡Buenas tardes! (listen)
Good night! ¡Buenas noches! (listen)
See you later! ¡Hasta luego! (listen)
Goodbye Adiós (listen)

Notes

• Hasta means "until"; luego means "then". In the same vein, hasta
mañana means "see you tomorrow".
• Note the upside-down exclamation and question marks; you will learn
more about them in lesson three.

Examples

• ¡Buenos días, clase!

Good morning, class!
• Hola, ¿Qué tal hoy?
Hello, how are you today?
• Adiós, ¡hasta luego!
Bye, see you soon!

10 | Spanish
¿Cómo te llamas?

What's your name?

To ask someone else's name in Spanish, use Cómo, then one of the phrases in
the table below (¿Cómo te llamas? is "What's your name?").

In Spanish, to say your name, you use the reflexive verb llamarse, which
means literally to call oneself (Me llamo Robert is "My name is Robert").

Spanish Verb • ¿Cómo te llamas?

Llamarse • To call oneself

Inglés Español
I am called Me llamo
You (familiar, singular) are called Te llamas
He/She/You (formal, singular) is/are called Se llama
We are called Nos llamamos
You (familiar, plural) are called Os llamáis
They/You (formal, plural) are called Se llaman

Notes

• "Os llamáis" would only be used in Spain. In all other Spanish-speaking

countries, "Se llaman" is used in both familiar and formal situations.

Examples

• Me llamo Chris
My name is Chris
• Se llaman Peter y Robert
They're called Peter and Robert.
• ¿Cómo te llamas?
What's your name?
• ¿Cómo se llama?
What's his/her name?

How are you?

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cómo te llamas?
¿Qué tal? • How are you?

Inglés Español
¿Qué tal? (listen)
How are you?
¿Cómo estás?
Great! Fantástico

Wikibooks | 11
 Chapter 1

Fantástica
Very well Muy bien
Well Bien
Bad Mal
Really bad Fatal
And you? ¿Y tú?
Thank you Gracias (listen)

Note

For some of the words above, there are two options. The one ending in "o" is
for males, and the one ending in "a" is for females. It's all to do with agreement,
which is covered in future chapters.

Examples

• Roberto: Hola, Rosa. ¿Qué tal?

Hello, Rose. How are you?
• Rosa: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú, Roberto?
Very well, thanks. And you, Robert?
• Roberto: Bien también. ¡Hasta luego!
I'm good too. See you later!

The Spanish alphabet

Here is the normal Spanish alphabet. However, words aren't alphabetized by
it. Please read the notes and sections below. (Blue letters are a part of the
normal English alphabet).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n ñ o p q r rr s t u v w x y z
Notes about Ñ and RR
N and Ñ are considered two different letters, as are RR and R (though no words
begin with RR). They are alphabetized as separate letters, so Ñ always comes
after N, regardless of where it appears in the word. Ex: muñeca comes after
municipal, and carro comes after carta.

Notes about CH and LL

CH and LL used to be considered as distinct letters of the alphabet, but in 1994,
the Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) declared that CH and LL
were not letters but digraphs. Accordingly, words beginning with CH and LL are
now alphabetized under C and L, respectively.

Notes about K and W

12 | Spanish
¿Cómo te llamas?

K and W are part of the alphabet but are mostly seen in foreign derived words
and names, such as karate and whiskey. For instance, kilo is commonly used to
refer to a kilogram.

Although the above will help you understand, proper pronunciation of

Spanish consonants is a bit more complicated:

Most of the consonants are pronounced as they are in American English with
these exceptions:

• b like the English b at the start of a word and after m or n

• c before a, o, u and other consonants, like English k
• c before i and e like English th in “think” (in Latin America is like
English s)
• ch like ch in “cheese”
• d between vowels (even if it starts a word following a word ending in a
vowel) or at the end of a word, like English d in dental
• g before e or i like the Scottish pronunciation of ch in “loch”, except
that it is voiced
• g before a or o like g in “get”
• h is always silent (except in the digraph ch)
• j like the h in hotel
• ll is pronounced like English y in “yes”
• ñ like nio in “onion” (or gn in French cognac)
• q like the English k
• r slightly trilled; like a soft d except at the beginning of a word or after
l, n or s where it is trilled
• rr should be trilled longer than a single r
• v is pronounced like b, there is no distinction whatsoever between B
and V.
• z like the English th (in Latin America, like English s)

How do you spell that?

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cómo te llamas?
¿Qué tal? • How are you?

Inglés Español
How is it spelt? ¿Cómo se escribe?
It is spelt Se escribe
B as in Barcelona B de Barcelona

Examples

• Roberto: Buenos días. Me llamo Roberto. ¿Cómo te llamas?

Good day. My name is Robert. What's your name?

Wikibooks | 13
 Chapter 1

• Benjamín: Hola. Me llamo Benjamín. ¿Cómo se escribe Roberto?

Hello. I'm Benjamin. How do you spell Robert?
• Roberto: Se escribe R (de Rioja); O (de Orangutan); B (de Barcelona);
E (de España); R (de Rioja); T (de Tigre); O (de Orangutan).
It's spelt R (as in Rioja); O (as in Orangutan); B (as in Barcelona); E (as
in Spain); R (as in Rioja); T (as in Tiger); O (as in Orangutan).
• Benjamín: Muchas gracias. ¡Adiós, Roberto!
Many thanks. Goodbye, Robert.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned

• How to greet people (Hola; buenos días; adiós).

• How to introduce yourself (Me llamo Rosa).
• How to introduce others (Se llama Roberto).
• How to say how you are (Fenomenal; fatal; bien).
• How to spell your name (Se escribe P-E-T-E-R).
• How to ask others about any of the above (¿Cómo te llamas?; ¿Cómo
estás?; ¿Cómo se escribe?).

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found below), and
translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson 2.

Exercises
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The answers can be found below. Also, try translating the dialogue at the top
of the lesson page.

Hello!

What greeting would you use...

1. At 8:00pm?
2. At 10:00am?
3. At 3:00pm?
4. When you're going to bed?

What's your name?

Translate the following phrases.

1. Me llamo Sofía.

14 | Spanish
¿Cómo te llamas?

2. ¿Cómo os llamáis?
3. Nos llamamos Peter y Carlos.
4. ¿Cómo se llaman?

1. Her name is Sally.

2. What are you called?
3. His name is Raúl.
4. My name is Santiago.

How are you?

Rank the following words from one to five (one being the best, five being the
worst).

• Bien
• Fantástico
• Fatal
• Mal
• Muy bien

How do you spell that?

Put the following letters in Spanish alphabetical order. Pronounce them as

you do so.

• RR
• Q
• N
• S
• R
• Ñ
• A
• D

Exercise answers
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Dialogue

Raúl: Hello! I'm Raúl. What's your name?

Sofía: Hi Raúl, I'm Sofía. How do you spell Raúl?
Raúl: It's spelt R-A-Ú-L. How are you?
Sofía: Well. And yourself?

Wikibooks | 15
 Chapter 1

Raúl: Doing great, thanks.

Sofía: How fantastic! Goodbye!
Raúl: See you later.

Hello!

1. Buenas tardes
2. Buenas mañanas
3. Buenos días
4. Buenas noches

What's your name?

1. My name is Sophie.
2. What are your names?
3. We are Peter and Carl.
4. What are they called?

1. Se llama Sally.
2. ¿Cómo te llamas?
3. Se llama Raúl.
4. Me llamo Santiago (James in English).

How are you?

1. Fantástico
2. Muy bien
3. Bien
4. Mala
5. Fatal

How do you spell that?

1. A
2. D
3. N
4. Ñ
5. Q
6. R
7. RR
8. S

16 | Spanish
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

2 ¿C UÁNDO ES TU CUMPLEAÑOS ?
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Dialogue
Raúl: ¡Hola, Sofía! Me llamo Raúl. ¿Qué fecha es hoy?
Sofía: Hola, Raúl. Hoy es el diecisiete de octubre.
Raúl: Muchas gracias. Mi cumpleaños es el viernes.
Sofía: ¡Feliz cumpleaños!
Raúl: Gracias. ¿Cuántos años tienes?
Sofía: Tengo veinte años.
Raúl: Vale. Adiós, Sofía.
Sofía: ¡Hasta luego!

The numbers
1. Uno 4. Cuatro 7. Siete 10. Diez
2. Dos 5. Cinco 8. Ocho
3. Tres 6. Seis 9. Nueve

11. Once 14. Catorce 17. Diecisiete 20. Veinte

12. Doce 15. Quince 18. Dieciocho
13. Trece 16. Dieciséis 19. Diecinueve

21. Veintiuno 24. Veinticuatro 27. Veintisiete 30. Treinta

22. Veintidos 25. Veinticinco 28. Veintiocho
23. Veintitrés 26. Veintiséis 29. Veintinueve

40. Cuarenta 60. Sesenta 80. Ochenta 100. Cien

50. Cincuenta 70. Setenta 90. Noventa

Notes

To form the numbers from thirty to one hundred, you take the multiple of ten
below it, then y, then its units value ("54" = cincuenta y cuatro; "72" = setenta y
dos).

When using "uno", masculine form often uses "un" instead, if the noun that

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 Chapter 2

the word "uno" is referencing to is in the sentence.

Examples

• Tengo diecisiete gatos

I have 17 cats.
• Hay treinta y cinco aulas
There are 35 classrooms.
• Tengo noventa y seis primos.
I have 96 cousins.
• Hay veintidos alumnos en esta clase.
There are 22 students in this class.
• ¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?
How many brothers/sisters do you have? (when asking , the masculine
form is used as neutral, if gender is unknown)
• Uno/una. (Short answer, note that gender is applied as gender is now
known)
One.
• Tengo un hermano. / Tengo una hermana (note the use of "un" instead
of "uno" for masculine form)
I have a brother. / I have a sister
• ¡Quiero un caramelo!
I want a candy!
• ¡Quiero uno!
I want one!

How old are you?

To ask someone else's age in Spanish, use Cuántos años, then one of the
entries in the table below (¿Cuántos años tienes? means "How old are you?")

To say someone's age in Spanish, you use the irregular verb tener (which
means "to have"), then your age, then años (which means "years"). For example,
Tengo trece años means "I have 13 years" or "I am 13 years old".

Spanish Verb • ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

Tener • To have

Inglés Español
I have Tengo
You (familiar, singular) have Tienes
He/She/You (formal, singular)/It has Tiene
We have Tenemos
You (familar, plural) have Tenéis
They/You (formal, plural) have Tienen

18 | Spanish
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

Note

•"Tenéis" would only be used in Spain. In all other countries one would
use "Tienen" in both familiar and formal situations.

Examples

• Tengo veinte años

I am 20 years old.
• ¿Cuántos años tienes?
How old are you?
• Tiene ochenta y siete años.
He is 87 years old.
• ¿Cuántos años tienen?
How old are they?

What's the date today?

To ask for the date in Spanish, you use ¿Qué fecha es hoy? (meaning "What's
the date today?"). In reply, you would say Hoy es [day of the week], [date] de
[month of the year] (For example, Hoy es martes, el veinticinco de mayo is
"Today is Tuesday, the 25th of May").

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuándo es Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuándo es

tu cumpleaños? tu cumpleaños?
Los meses del año • The months of Los días de la semana • The days
the year of the week

Inglés Español Inglés Español

January enero Monday lunes
February febrero Tuesday martes
March marzo Wednesday miércoles
April abril Thursday jueves
May mayo Friday viernes
June junio Saturday sábado
July julio Sunday domingo
August agosto
September septiembre
October octubre
November noviembre
December diciembre

Wikibooks | 19
 Chapter 2

Notes

• Neither days of the week nor months of the year are capitalised, unless
at the beginning of sentences.
• On the first of the month, the Spanish say primero (Hoy es domingo,
primero de enero).

Examples

• ¿Qué fecha es hoy?

What's the date today?

• Hoy es miércoles, veintinueve de septiembre.

Today is Wednesday, the 29th of September

• Hoy es jueves, quince de agosto.

Today is Thursday, the 15th of August.

• Hoy es sábado, dos de enero.

Today is Saturday, the 2nd of January.

When's your birthday?

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
Cumpleaños • The days of the week

Inglés Español
When's your birthday? ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
My birthday is Mi cumpleaños es
On the first of May El primero de mayo
On Wednesday El miércoles
Happy birthday! ¡Feliz cumpleaños!

Examples

• Mi cumpleaños es el once de julio.

My birthday is on the 11th of July.
• Mi cumpleaños es el ocho de diciembre.
My birthday is on the 8th of December.
• ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
When is your birthday?
• Mi cumpleaños es el sábado.
My birthday is on Saturday.

20 | Spanish
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned:

• The numbers from one to one hundred (uno; veintiocho; noventa; cien)
• The days of the week (lunes; miércoles; viernes)
• The months of the year (enero; abril; octubre; diciembre)
• How to say your age (Tengo cuarenta años)
• How to ask the age of others (¿Cuántos años tienes?)
• How to say today's date (Hoy es jueves, el veintinueve de noviembre)
• How to say your birthday (Mi cumpleaños es el primero de agosto; mi
cumpleaños es el martes)
• How to ask the birthday of others (¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found below), and
translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson 3.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise • comment

The answers can be found below. Also, try translating the dialogue at the top
of the lesson page.

The numbers

Write the following numbers using Spanish words.

1. 5 4. 48 7. 77 10. 100
2. 27 5. 84 8. 53
3. 69 6. 1 9. 38

How old are you?

Translate the following phrases.

1. Tienen seis años y diez años.

2. Tiene
3. ¿Cuántos años tienes?
4. Tengo
5. Tengo cuarenta y siete años.
6. Tenemos
7. ¿Cuántos años tienen?
8. ¿Tiene trece años?

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 Chapter 2

1. You (familiar, singular) have

2. Are you (familiar, plural) 12?
3. They have
4. How old is she?
5. Years
6. I'm 65 years old.
7. I have
8. He is 19 years old.

What's the date today?

• Describe the following dates in Spanish.

1. The 25th of December
2. The 3rd of May
3. The 2nd of April
4. The 9th of October
5. The 1st of June
• List the days of the week in two columns; weekends and weekdays.

When's your birthday?

Say the birthday of:

• Yourself
• Your parent(s)
• Two of your friends

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer • comment

Dialogue

Raúl: Hello, Sofía! I'm Raúl. ¿What's the date today?

Sofía: Hi, Raúl. Today is the 17th of October.
Raúl: Many thanks. My birthday is on Friday.
Sofía: Happy birthday!
Raúl: Thanks. How old are you?
Sofía: I'm 20 years old.
Raúl: OK. Bye Sophie!
Sofía: See you soon!

22 | Spanish
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

The numbers

4. Cuarenta y ocho 10. Cien

1. Cinco 7. Setenta y siete
5. Ochenta y
2. Veintisiete 8. Cincuenta y tres
cuatro
3. Sesenta y nueve 9. Treinta y ocho
6. Uno

How old are you?

1. They are 6 and 10 years old.

2. He/She/It has
3. How old are you?
4. I have
5. I'm 47 years old.
6. We have
7. How old are they?
8. Is he/she 13 years old.

1. Tienes
2. ¿Tenéis doce años?
3. Tienen
4. ¿Cuántos años tiene?
5. Años
6. Tengo sesenta y cinco años.
7. Tengo
8. Tiene diecinueve años.

What's the date today?

1. El veinticinco de diciembre (navidad = Christmas)

2. El tres de mayo
3. El dos de abril
4. El nueve de octubre
5. El primero de junio
• Weekends: sábado, domingo
• Weekdays: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes

When's your birthday?

You will have to check this one yourself.

Wikibooks | 23
 Chapter 3

3 I NTRODUCCIÓN A LA GRAMÁTICA
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Articles
As in many languages, Spanish gives each noun a gender: masculine or
feminine, both for singular things and plural ones.

Spanish, like English, has two articles: the definite article ("the") and the
indefinite article ("a" or "an"). However, there are 4 forms, depending on the
number and gender of the noun. The plural indefinite article is "some" in
Spanish.

• If the noun ends in a vowel, to make it plural, add s (gato - "cat"; gatos
- "cats").
• If the noun ends in a consonant, to make it plural, add es (papel -
"paper"; papeles - "papers").

Happily, the gender of Spanish nouns is usually pretty easy to work out. Some
very simple rules-of-thumb:

• If it ends in a, d, z or ión: it's likely to be feminine.

• If it ends in o, ma or another consonant: it's likely to be masculine.

Definite articles

Spanish Grammar • Introducción a la gramática

The definite article El artículo definido

singular el el hombre the man

masculine
plural los los niños the boys
singular la la mujer the woman
feminine
plural las las niñas the girls

Indefinite articles

Spanish Grammar • Introducción a la gramática

The indefinite article El artículo indefinido

singular un un hombre a man

masculine
plural unos unos niños some boys
singular una una mujer a woman
feminine
plural unas unas niñas some girl

24 | Spanish
Introducción a la gramática

Regular Verbs
We have already seen the present tense conjugations of two Spanish verbs,
llamarse and tener. However, both of these verbs are irregular verbs. Luckily,
most verbs follow an easy to understand conjugation scheme.

In Spanish, the conjugation depends on what the last two letters of the
infinitive are. The infinitive form is the form that is given in the dictionary. An
example of an English verb in the infinitive might be to run or to speak. Spanish
verbs in the infinitive end with "-ar", "-er" or "-ir". To conjugate them, remove the
ending("-ir", "-er" or "-ar") and add the desired suffix.

Unlike English, Spanish verbs conjugate depending on the person; That is,
they change depending on who is being talked about. This occurs in English in
the third person singular (highlighted below) but in Spanish this occurs for every
person. As a result, pronouns are often omitted because they can be inferred
from the conjugation.

Person in English
Singular Plural
First I play We play
Second You play You all play
Third He/She/It plays They play

The Present Tense

Regular -ar Verbs

Singular Plural
First -o -amos
Second -as -áis
Third -a -an

Regular -er Verbs

Singular Plural
First -o -emos
Second -es -éis
Third -e -en

Regular -ir Verbs

Singular Plural
First -o -imos
Second -es -ís

Wikibooks | 25
 Chapter 3

Third -e -en

Present Tense Examples

hablar (to speak)

Singular Plural
First hablo hablamos
Second hablas habláis
Third habla hablan

Llorar ("to cry"): lloro, lloras, llora, lloramos, lloráis, lloran

•
Cocinar ("to cook"): cocino, cocinas, cocina, cocinamos, cocináis,
•
cocinan

• Comer ("to eat"): como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen

• Beber ("to drink"): bebo, bebes, bebe, bebemos, bebéis, beben

• Vivir ("to live"): vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven

• Cubrir ("to cover"): cubro, cubres, cubre, cubrimos, cubrís, cubren

Notes

• There are many more "-ar" verbs than "-er" or "-ir". Make sure you are
most familiar with these endings.
• The second person plural is highlighted because that tense is only used
in the variety of Spanish used in Spain. In other Spanish dialects the third
person plural form is used instead.
• When reading texts, you will need to know the person of the verb at a
glance. Notice the pattern:
1. "O" denotes I
2. "S" denotes You
3. A vowel that is not "O" denotes He/She/It
4. "MOS" denotes We
5. "IS" denotes You All
6. "N" denotes They

Questions and Exclamations

In previous lessons, you will have noticed that we use the funny upside-down
question mark "¿". In Spanish, questions always start with that, and finish with
the regular question mark. It is the same for exclamations; the funny upside-
down exclamation mark "¡" precedes exclamations.

Questions in Spanish are mainly done by intonation (raising the voice at the

26 | Spanish
Introducción a la gramática

end of the question), since questions are often identical to statements. Te llamas
Richard means "Your name is Richard", and ¿Te llamas Richard? means "Is your
name Richard?".

You can also use questions words, as indicated below.

Spanish Vocabulary • Introducción a la gramática

Questions Preguntas

Español Inglés
¿Dónde? Where?
¿Quién? Who?
¿Qué? What?
¿Cómo? How?
¿Por qué? Why?
¿Cuándo? When?

Examples

• ¿Con quién?
With whom?
• ¿Dónde está el banco?
Where is the bank?
• ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
When's your birthday?
• ¿Qué fecha es hoy?
What is the date today?
• ¡Hasta luego!
See you later!

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned:

•The Spanish articles (el; la; los; las; un; uno; unos; unas).
•How to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense (lloro; comes; vive;
cocinamos; bebéis; cubren).
• How to question people and exclaim in Spanish (¿Cuántos años tienes?;
¡Qué fantástico!)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found below) before
moving on. This is a very important topic for future lessons; it's important that
you know it well.

Wikibooks | 27
 Chapter 3

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

Articles

• Translate the following from Spanish into English.

1. Unas niñas
2. Los hombres
3. Unos hombres
4. Las niñas
5. Un niño
6. El niño
7. La mujer
8. Una mujer

• Translate the following from English into Spanish.

1. The women
2. Some men
3. The boy
4. The girls
5. Some girls
6. A man
7. Some boys
8. A girl

• Which of the following nouns are masculine?

1. Los chicos
2. Unas niñas
3. El gato
4. La manzana
5. Unas uñas
6. Un perro
7. Las mesas
8. Unas cosas

Regular verbs

• The following are conjugated verb forms; what person are they?
1. Lloro
2. Cocináis
3. Tenemos
4. Hablan

28 | Spanish
Introducción a la gramática

5. Compro
6. Abrazas
7. llevo
8. Vivimos

• Conjugate the following verbs for the person indicated.

1. Cocinar; they
2. Comer; she
3. Amar; we
4. Tener; I
5. Hablar; you singular
6. Temer; I
7. Comer; you plural
8. Vivir; he

Questions and Exclamations

Translate the following questions from English into Spanish, or vice versa.

1. ¿Cuántos años tienes?

2. Why do they cry?
3. ¿Cómo te llamas?
4. Where do they live?
5. ¿Qué comes?
6. What's his name?
7. ¿Dónde vivís?
8. How old are you (plural, familiar)?

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Articles

1. Some girls
2. The men
3. Some men
4. The girls
5. A boy
6. The boy
7. The woman
8. A woman

1. Las mujeres
2. Unos hombres

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 Chapter 3

3. El niño
4. Las niñas
5. Unas niñas
6. Un hombre
7. Unos niños
8. Una niña

1. Los chicos
2. El gato
3. Un perro

Regular verbs

1. I
2. You plural
3. We
4. They
5. I
6. You singular
7. I
8. We

1. Cocinan
2. Come
3. Amamos
4. Tengo
5. Hablas
6. Temo
7. Coméis
8. Vive

Questions and Exclamations

1. How old are you?

2. ¿Por qué lloran?
3. What's your name?
4. ¿Dónde viven?
5. What do you eat?
6. ¿Cómo se llama?
7. Where do you lot live?
8. ¿Cuántos años tenéis?

30 | Spanish
¿Dónde vives?

4 ¿D ÓNDE VIVES ?
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Dialogue
Vocabulary
Londres London
Pero But
Pués Well
Raúl: ¡Hola! ¿Dónde vives?
Sofía: Hola, Raúl. Vivo en un piso en Londres, Inglaterra. ¿Y tú?
Raúl: Vale. Vivo en el sur de España.
Sofía: ¿En el campo o la ciudad?
Raúl: El campo. Las ciudades son ruidosas.
Sofía: Sí, pero no hay nada para hacer en el campo.
Raúl: Pues, ¡adiós, Sofía!
Sofía: ¡Hasta luego!

Countries of the World

El Reino Unido Inglaterra Escocia Gales Irlanda

España Francia Alemania Italia Rusia

Los Estados
Canadá Nueva Zelanda Australia México
Unidos

Where do you live?

To say you are from a country, you use ser (meaning "to be [a permanent
characteristic]"), then de (meaning "of" or "from"), then the country or place. To
say you are currently living in a place or country, you use vivir (meaning "to
live"), then en (meaning "in"), then the country or place.

To ask where someone else lives, you use Dónde then vivir (¿Dónde vives?
means "Where do you live?"). To ask where someone is from, you use De dónde,

Wikibooks | 31
 Chapter 4

then ser (¿De dónde eres? means "Where are you from?").

While vivir is totally regular (vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven), ser is
about as irregular as they come. It is conjugated below.

Spanish Verb • ¿Dónde vives?

Ser • To be

Inglés Español
I Soy
You Eres
He/She/It Es
We Somos
You all Sois
They Son

Examples

• Vivo en Inglaterra
I live in England.
• Son de España, pero viven en Alemania.
They are from Spain, but they live in Germany.

The compass

El noroeste El norte El noreste

El oeste X El este
El sudoeste El sur El sudeste

Examples

• Vivo en el suroeste de México.

I live in the Southwest of Mexico.
• Soy del norte de Australia.
I'm from the north of Australia.

Habitations
Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Dónde vives?
Casas • Houses

Inglés Español
A house Una casa
A detached house Una casa individual
A semi-detached house Una casa adosada

32 | Spanish
¿Dónde vives?

A terraced house
A flat Un piso
A bungalow Un bungalow
A room Una habitación

Note

It's una habitación, but the plural is unas habitaciones (without the accent).

Examples

• Vivo en un piso.
• I live in a flat.
• Vivo en una casa adosada en Canadá.
• I live in a semi-detatched house in Canada.
• Vive en un bungalow que tiene diez habitaciones.
• He lives in a bungalow that has ten rooms.

Adjectives
As we already learnt, Spanish nouns each have a gender. This doesn't just
affect the article, but the adjective; it has to agree. Also, adjectives go after the
noun, not before it.

If the adjective (in its natural form - the form found in the dictionary), ends in
an "O" or an "A", then you remove that vowel and add...

• O for masculine singular nouns

• OS for masculine plural nouns
• A for feminine singular nouns
• AS for feminine plural nouns.

Examples

• Un hombre bueno
A good man
• Unos hombres buenos
Some good men
• Una mujer buena
A good woman
• Unas mujeres buenas
Some good women

Wikibooks | 33
 Chapter 4

City and Countryside

¿La ciudad? ¿O el campo?

(Forest1, by Eleassar777)
Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Dónde vives?
¿La ciudad o el campo? • The city or the countryside?

Inglés Español
The city La ciudad
The countryside El campo
The good thing about ... is that Lo bueno sobre ... es que
The bad thing about ... is that Lo malo sobre ... es que
There are lots of things to do Hay mucho para hacer
There isn't anything to do No hay nada para hacer
You can walk in woodlands Se puede caminar en los bosques
There isn't any foliage No queda ningún follaje
Pretty Bonito
Lively Animado
Quiet Tranquilo
Boring Aburrido
Noisy Ruidoso

Examples

• La ciudad es ruidosa.
The city is noisy.
• The countryside is boring.
El campo es aburrido.
• Lo bueno sobre la ciudad es que hay mucho para hacer.
The good thing about the city is that there are lots of the things to do.
• Lo malo sobre la ciudad es que no queda ningunas plantas.
The bad thing about the city is that there isn't any folliage.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned

34 | Spanish
¿Dónde vives?

• Various countries of the world (Australia; Italia; Francia; los Estados

Unidos).
• How to say where you and others live and come from (Vivo en
Inglaterra; Somos de Gales).
• How to ask where someone lives (¿Dónde vives?).
• The points of the compass (el sur; el noroeste; el oeste).
• How to describe your house (una casa; un piso).
• The basics of adjectives ending in "O" or "A" (la mujer mala; el niño
bonito).
• How to talk about the city of the countryside (la ciudad; el campo; no
hay mucho para hacer).

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found in the next
section), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson five.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

Countries of the World

• Translate the following sentences from Spanish to English.

1. Vivo en Inglaterra
2. Son de España
3. ¿Eres de Alemania?
4. Vivimos en el sur de Francia
5. ¿Vivís en Gales?
6. Es de Escocia
7. ¿Dónde vive?
8. Somos del norte de Irlanda
9. Viven en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos
10.Soy de Canadá

• Translate the following sentences from English to Spanish

1. We come from Spain
2. I live in England
3. He comes from the north of Mexico
4. Where are you from?
5. Why do you live in Australia?
6. They come from Canada
7. Do you lot live in Wales?
8. He's from the UK
9. She lives in eastern Germany

Wikibooks | 35
 Chapter 4

10.Where does he come from?

Habitations

Match the Spanish to the English.

1. Room a. Bungalow
2. House b. Casa individual
3. Bungalow c. Habitación
4. Apartment d. Vivir
5. To live e. Habitaciones
6. Terraced house f. Pisos
7. Rooms g. Casa
8. Detatched house h. Piso
9. Flats i. Casa adosada

Adjectives

Correct the following sentences.

1. Las hombres malas

2. Un niño buenos
3. Unas niñas malo
4. Un mujer buena
5. El hombre buena
6. La niña bonito
7. Unos hombres malas
8. Los mujers malos

City and countryside

Translate the following from Spanish to English and visa versa.

1. La ciudad es ruidosa
2. I live in a house in the countryside
3. El campo es fantástica; se puede caminar en los bosques
4. She is from the city
5. Viven en el campo de Inglaterra
6. The city is lively; hay mucho para hacer
7. Lo malo sobre la ciudad es que no queda ninguna follaje
8. Do you live in the city or the countryside?

36 | Spanish
¿Dónde vives?

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Dialogue

Raúl: Hello! Where do you live?

Sofía: Hello, Raúl. I live in a flat in London, England. And you?
Raúl: OK. I live in the South of Spain.
Sofía: The the countryside or the city?
Raúl: The country. Cities are noisy.
Sofía: Yes, but there's nothing to do in the countryside.
Raúl: Well, bye Sophie!
Sofía: See you!

Countries of the World

1. I live in England
2. They're from Spain
3. Are you from Germany?
4. We live in the South of France
5. Do you lot live in Wales?
6. He/She/It is from Scotland
7. Where does he/she/it live?
8. We are from Northern Ireland
9. They live in Southwestern USA
10.I am from Canada

1. Somos de España
2. Vivo en Inglaterra
3. Es del norte de Méjico
4. ¿De dónde eres?
5. ¿Por qué vives en Australia?
6. Son de Canadá
7. ¿Vivís en Gales?
8. Es del Reino Unido
9. Vive en el este de Alemania
10.¿De dónde es?

Habitations

1. c
2. g
3. a
4. h

Wikibooks | 37
 Chapter 4

5. d
6. i
7. e
8. b
9. f

Adjectives

1. Los hombres malos

2. Un niño bueno
3. Unas niñas malas
4. Una mujer buena
5. El hombre bueno
6. La niña bonita
7. Unos hombres malos
8. Las mujeres malas

City and Countryside

1. The city is noisy

2. Vivo en una casa en el campo
3. The countryside is fantastic; you can walk in woodland
4. Es de la ciudad
5. They live in the English countryside
6. La ciudad es animada; there's loads to do
7. The bad thing about the city is that there isn't any foliage
8. ¿Vives en la ciudad o el campo?

38 | Spanish
¿Qué te gusta hacer?

5 ¿Q UÉ TE GUSTA HACER ?
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Dialogue
Vocabulary
Todo el tiempo All the time
¡Hasta mañana! See you tomorrow!
Divertido Fun
Raúl: ¡Hola, Sofía! ¿Te gustan los deportes?
Sofía: Buenos días. Me encanta jugar al fútbol. ¿Y tú?
Raúl: No mucho. Sin embargo, practico natación todo el tiempo.
Sofía: Ah, no puedo nadar. ¿Juegas al ajedrez?
Raúl: Sí, me encanta; es un juego muy divertido.
Sofía: Sí. ¡Adiós, Raúl!
Raúl: ¡Hasta mañana!

Sports and Activities

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué te gusta hacer?
Deportes y Actividades • Sports and Activities

Inglés Español
A sport Un deporte
A game Un juego
An activity Una actividad
To play Jugar
To practice Practicar
Football El fútbol
American Football El fútbol americano
Rugby El rugby
Tennis El tenis
Cricket El críquet
Swimming La natación
Judo El judo
Chess El ajedrez
To sing Cantar
To read Leer
To swim Nadar
To watch TV Ver la tele

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 Chapter 5

A lot
Mucho
Many
Notes

•In Spanish, if an activity is a game, then you "play" it (jugar), otherwise

you "practice" it (practicar). For example, it's jugar el tenis ("to play
tennis") but practicar la natacíon ("to go swimming").
• The verbs are all regular, except:
• Jugar (this is discussed in detail below)
• Ver (veo, ves, ve, vemos, veis, ven)

Examples

• Veo la tele mucho.

I watch TV a lot
• Practico natación.
I go swimming.
• ¿Practicas judo?
Do you do judo?
• Practicamos muchas actividades.
We do many activites
• ¿Por qué cantáis?
Why do you sing a lot?
• ¿Cuándo lee?
When does he or she read?

Stem-changing Verbs
Jugar the first type of irregular verb; known as a stem-changing verb.
Basically, in the "I", "you, "he/she/it" and "they" forms, the u or o changes to a ue.
The jugar example is written out below.

Spanish Verb • ¿Qué te gusta hacer?

Jugar • To play

Inglés Español
I Juego
You Juegas
He/She/It Juega
We Jugamos
You all Jugáis
They Juegan
Other verbs that follow this pattern

• poder ("to be able to"): puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden

40 | Spanish
¿Qué te gusta hacer?

• dormir ("to sleep"): duermo, duermes, duerme, dormimos, dormís,

duermen
• encontrar ("to find"): encuentro, encuentras, encuentra, encontramos,
encontráis, encuentran

Notes

• The verb jugar always has a after it: jugar a. In Spanish, a el gets
contracted to al and de el gets contracted to del. So, it would be juego al
rugby.
• Poder (meaning "to be able to") is usually followed by another verb,
making "I can do something". The following verb must be in the infinitive.
For example, puede leer ("he can read").

Examples

• Juego al tenis.

I play tennis.
• ¿Jugáis al ajedrez?

Do you play chess?

• ¿Qué deportes juegas?

What sports do you play?

• ¿Cuándo juegan al fútbol?

When do they play football?

• ¿Puedes cantar?

Can you sing?

• ¿Dónde duermes?

Where do you sleep?

Compound Sentences
So far, everything we've written has been simple sentences — "My name is
Santiago" (Me llamo Santiago); "The city is noisy" (La ciudad es ruidosa); "I play
american football" (Juego al fútbol americano). Wouldn't it be fantastic if we
could join them up? Below are some little words that will make our sentences
longer, and more meaningful. You use them just like you do in English.

Also, everything we've written has been positive ("I do this, I do that"). To
make it negative, we just add a word in front of the verb: no (meaning "not") or

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 Chapter 5

nunca (meaning "never"). For example, No juego al rugby (I don't play rugby");
Nunca como manzanas ("I never eat apples"). It's as simple as that.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué te gusta hacer?

Conjunctions • Conjunciones

Inglés Español
And Y
Or O
Because Porque
But Pero
Also También
So Así
Note

Porque ("because") and Por qué ("why") are similar and easy to mix up;
•
make sure you don't!

Examples

• Me llamo Chris y mi cumpleaños es el veinte de agosto.

My name is Chris and my birthday is on the 20th of August.
• Me llamo Raúl, pero él se llama Roberto.
My name is Raúl, but his name is Robert.
• No practica judo.
He doesn't do judo.
• Juego al fútbol americano y practico natación también.
I play american football and I go swimming too.
• No vivo en una ciudad porque las ciudades son ruidosas.
I don't live in the city because cities are noisy.

¿Qué opinas sobre los deportes?

To ask someone about their opinions in Spanish, use Qué opinas sobre ("What
is your opinion about") then the thing you want their opinion on (¿Que opinas
sobre los deportes? means "What do you think about sport?").

Gustar

There is no verb for "to like" in Spanish. Instead, you use gusta (meaning "it
pleases") and a personal pronoun; you say that "it pleases me" or "I am pleased
by it". The personal pronouns are shown below.

Spanish Verb • ¿Qué te gusta hacer?

Gustar • To please

42 | Spanish
¿Qué te gusta hacer?

Inglés Español
Me Me
You Te
Him/Her/It Le
Us Nos
All of you Os
Them Les
Notes

• Like any other verb, you can put no in front of it, to say "I don't like"
(No me gusta).
• If you like an activity rather than a thing, just use the infinitive
afterwards: "I like swimming" (Me gusta nadar).
• Gusta means "it pleases", so only works for singular things. If the thing
that you like is plural (the women for example), you add "n" (Me gustan las
mujeres - "I like the women").

Love and Hate

Just saying you like or dislike something is a bit dull. Saying you love
something is really easy. Instead of gusta, use encanta (Me encanta leer means "I
love reading"). To say you hate something, use the regular verb Odiar (odio,
odias, odia, odiamos, odiáis, odian).

You can also use nada or mucho to add emphasis to gusta. For example, No
me gusta nada ver la tele ("I don't like watching TV at all"); Me gusta mucho el
ajedrez ("I like chess a lot").

Examples

• ¿Que opinas sobre el ajedrez?

What do you think of chess?
• Me gusta el críquet.
I like cricket.
• No le gustan los deportes.
He doesn't like sports.
• Nos gusta jugar al rugby y fútbol.
We like playing rugby and football.
• Les gusta mucho nadar, pero no pueden cantar.
They like swimming but they can't sing.
• ¿Te gusta practicar la natacíon?
Do you like going swimming?
• ¿Por qué os gusta el tenis?
Why do you like tennis?
• Odian el ajedrez.
They hate chess.

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 Chapter 5

• Me encantan los deportes, así vivo en la ciudad.

I love sports, so I live in the city.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learnt:

• How to say some sports and activities (el rugby; la natación; cantar).
• How to say you play and do these things (juego al rugby; practicamos
natación).
• About a few stem-changing verbs (encuentro, encuentras, encuentra,
encontramos, encontráis, encuentran)
• How to make longer and negative sentences (no; nunca; así; pero).
• How to ask for opinions (¿Qué opinas sobre el fútbol?; ¿Te encanta
leer?)
• How to express opinions (Me gusta; Le gustan; Me encanta; Odiamos)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found in the next
section), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson six.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

Sports and Activities

Match the English to the Spanish

1. Football a. Rugby
2. Cricket b. Ver la tele
3. Swimming c. Fútbol
4. To sing d. Leer
5. Rugby e. Judo
6. Judo f. Natación
7. To read g. Ajedrez
8. To watch TV h. Cricket
9. Tennis i. Cantar
10. Chess j. Tenis

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¿Qué te gusta hacer?

Stem-changing Verbs

• Volver ("to return") conjugates just like poder. Conjugate it below.

1. ..............
2. ..............
3. ..............
4. ..............
5. ..............
6. ..............

• Correct the following sentences.

1. Practico natacion.
2. Jugo al rugby.
3. Podemos cantamos en España.
4. Jugáis el fútbol.
5. ¿Por qué jueges el críquet.

Compound sentences

• Translate the following sentences from Spanish to English.

1. Mi cumpleaños es el once de enero, así tengo cuarenta y ocho
años.
2. Tengo ochenta y nueve años y tiene ochenta y nueve años
también.
3. Juega al rugby y tenis.
4. No practicamos natación.
5. Vivimos en la ciudad porque el campo es aburrido.
6. No practico natación porque no puedo nadar.
7. ¿Cuándo jugáis al críquet?

• Translate the following sentences from English to Spanish.

1. I play tennis, but I can't swim.
2. They live in Italy because they don't like sports.
3. Can't you swim?
4. Her name is Georgina too.
5. So, what's your name?
6. They can't play chess.
7. When do you sleep?

¿Qué opinas sobre los deportes?

Translate the following sentences from Spanish to English and visa versa.

1. What do you think of rugby?

2. Me encanta el ajedrez.
3. I don't like singing at all.

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 Chapter 5

4. Me gustan mucho los deportes porque son animados.

5. Do you like swimming?
6. No me gusta vivir en Boston; no hay nada para hacer.
7. The boys are cute when they sing.
8. Así, ¿por qué no pueden cantar?
9. She likes the countryside because it's quiet.
10.No me gusta llorar.

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Dialogue

Raúl: Hi Sophie! ¿Do you like sports?

Sofía: Good afternoon.I love playing football. And yourself?
Raúl: Not much. However, I go swimming all the time.
Sofía: Ah, I can't swim. Do you play chess?
Raúl: Yes, I love it; it's a fun game.
Sofía: Yes, bye Raúl
Raúl: See you!

Sports and Activities

1. c
2. h
3. f
4. i
5. a
6. e
7. d
8. b
9. j
10.g

Stem-changing verbs

1. Vuelvo
2. Vuelves
3. Vuelve
4. Volvemos
5. Volvéis
6. Vuelven

46 | Spanish
¿Qué te gusta hacer?

1. Practico natación
2. Juego al rugby.
3. Podemos cantar en España.
4. Jugáis al fútbol.
5. ¿Por qué juegas al críquet?

Compound sentences

1. My birthday's on the 11th of January, so I'm 48 years old.

2. I'm 87 and he's 87 too.
3. He plays rugby and tennis.
4. We don't go swimming.
5. We live in the city because the countryside is boring.
6. I don't go swimming because I can't swim.
7. When do you all play cricket?

1. Juego al tenis pero no puedo nadar.

2. Viven en Italia porque no les gustan los deportes.
3. ¿No puedes nadar?
4. Se llama Georgina también.
5. Así, ¿cómo te llamas?
6. No pueden jugar al ajedrez.
7. ¿Cuándo duermes?

¿Que opinas sobre los deportes?

1. ¿Que opinas sobre el rugby?

2. I love chess
3. No me gusta nada cantar.
4. I like sports a lot because they're lively.
5. ¿Te gusta nadar?
6. I don't like living in Boston; there's nothing to do.
7. Los niños son bonitos cuando cantan.
8. So, why can't you sing?
9. Le gusta el campo porque es bonito.
10.I don't like crying.

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 Chapter 6

6 ¿Q UÉ COMES ?
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Dialogue
Vocabulary
Me he agotado I've run out
Necesitar To need
Zumo de Juice of
Raúl: Hola. ¿Qué compras?
Sofía: Hola, Raúl. Compro una barra de pan y una botella de leche.
Raúl: Vale. Así, ¿tomas leche y pan tostada para tu desayuno?
Sofía: Sí. Me he agotado. ¿Qué desayunas?
Raúl: Normalmente, como zumo de naranja y una manzana.
Sofía: Y ¿tienes la comida que necesitas?
Raúl: Sí. Adiós.
Sofía: ¡Hasta luego!

Food and Drink

Pan (m) Huevo (m) Arroz (m) Pasta (f)

(French bread, by Queso (m) (Freerange eggs, by (Brown rice, by (EMS-Rotelle-CU-
David Monniaux) Fir0002) Fir0002) 124553, by Chiefio)

Tomate (m) Lechuga (f) Patata (f)

(Tomato je, by Softeis)
(Lettuce head batavia Pepino (m) Zanahoria (f) (Potatos cultivar
variety, by Rasbak) Marabel, by Tilmann)

Manzana (f) Pera (f)

(Red Delicious, by Plátano (m) Naranja (f) (PearPhoto, by FoeNyx)
Uva (f)
Bangin)

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¿Qué comes?

Agua (f) Leche (f) Café (m) Té (m)

(Stilles Mineralwasser, (Milk glass, by Stefan Vino (m) (Turkishcoffee, by (Meissen-teacup
by W.J.Pilsak) Kühn) Bertilvidet) pinkrose01, by Miya)

Notes

• m indicates that the noun is masculine (el queso — "the cheese"; los
plátanos — "the bananas"), wheras f indicated feminine (la lechuga — "the
lettuce"; las uvas — "the grapes")
• In South America, papa is used instead of patata.
• While agua is feminine, it takes the masculine articles un and el. For
example, el agua curiosa ("the strange water") and las aguas curiosas ("the
strange waters").
• Con means "with", sin means without (café con leche means "coffee
with milk", café sin leche means "coffee without milk").
• Wine comes in two varieties, "red" and "white". In Spanish, they are
vino tinto and vino blanco.

Examples

• Me gustan los huevos.

I like eggs.
• No me gusta nada la lechuga.
I don't like lettuce at all.
• Me encanta el té con leche.
I love tea with milk
• Me gustan mucho las zanahorias, pero los pepinos son aburridos.
I like carrots a lot, but cucumbers are boring.

What do you eat?

To ask what someone else eats, use Qué followed by a form of one of the
verbs below (¿Qué comes? means "What do you eat?"). To ask what someone
likes to eat, use Qué te gusta then any of the verbs below (¿Qué te gusta comer?
means "What do you like to eat?").

Spanish Verbs • ¿Qué comes?

Eating and Drinking • Comer y Beber

Español Inglés
Comer To eat
Beber To drink

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 Chapter 6

Tomar To have (food/drink)

Desayunar To (eat) breakfast
Almorzar To (eat) lunch
Cenar To dine (eat dinner)

Note

All of these verbs are regular except almorzar, which is one of the UE Verbs
we learnt about in the last chapter; almuerzo, almuerzas, almuerza, almorzamos,
almorzáis, almuerzan.

Examples

• ¿Qué te gusta almorzar?

What do you like to eat for lunch?
• Como naranjas y plátanos, pero no me gustan las peras.
I eat oranges and bananas, but I don't like pears.
• Me gusta comer las uvas.
I like to eat grapes.
• ¿Bebes leche?
Do you drink milk?

A bottle of wine

Spanish Verbs • ¿Qué comes?

Eating and Drinking • Comer y Beber

Español Inglés
Algo de Some
Un vaso de
A glass of
Una copa de
Una botella de A bottle of
Una barra de A loaf of
Un kilo de A kilo of
Un kilo y mediο de One and a half kilos of
Un kilo y cuarto de One and a quarter kilos of
Μedio kilo de Half a kilo of
Un cuarto de kilo de A quarter of a kilo of

Notes

• You will have noticed "some" on the list, but "unos/unas" is some! Yes, it
would be unas manzanas ("some apples") but that only works for plurals.
"Some bread" has to be translated as algo de pan.
• Also, there are two ways of saying "a glass of". Copa is for glasses with

50 | Spanish
¿Qué comes?

a stem (mostly wine: una copa de vino), and vaso is used for without a
stem.
• Obviously, in all these phrases, the un can be replaced with any number
(Dos vasos de leche means "two glasses of milk").

Examples

• Tres botellas de vino tinto

Three bottles of red wine
• Un medio kilo de arroz
Half a kilo of rice
• Una barra de pan
A loaf of bread
• Cinco kilos y media de patatas
Five and a half kilos of potatoes

In the Shop
In Spanish, as in English, there are many ways of expressing what you would
like to buy, some of which are listed below. You will also see some other useful
words and phrases for when shopping for food.

Spanish Verbs • ¿Qué comes?

I would like... • Me gustaría...

Español Inglés
Quisiera
Querría I would like
Me gustaría
Ahí está(n) There you go; voila.
Comprar To buy
La cuenta The receipt
Costar To cost
Una tienda A shop

Notes

• Comprar is a totally regular verb (compro, compras, compra,

compramos, compráis, compran).
• With ahí está(n), with the n is for plural. Without is for singular.
• Costar is a O => UE verb (cuesto, cuestas, cuesta, costamos, costáis,
cuestan), but obviously, you only use the third person.

Also, if you want to say "How much does it cost, you use ¿Cuánto
cuesta(n)? (cuesta is for singular things, cuestan for plurals, as seen

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 Chapter 6

below).

Examples

• Quisiera una manzana, por favor.

I would like an apple, please.
• Querría comprar una barra de pan.
I'd like to buy a loaf of bread.
• Me gustaría comprar una botella de vino tinto, por favor.
I'd like to buy a bottle of red wine, please.
• ¿Cuánto cuestan las uvas?
How much do the grapes cost?
• ¿Cuánto cuesta un kilo de patatas?
What does a kilo of potatoes cost?

Adjectives

"E" and Consonant Adjectives

In Spanish, clearly not all adjectives end in "o" or "a". The good thing about
these is that they stay the same, irrespective of gender.

• Adjectives ending in "e" add an "s" when in the plural.

• Adjectives ending in a consonant add an "es" when in the plural.

Notes

• When an adjective (or indeed a noun) ends in z, it changes to a c in

plural, then adds the "es" (feliz/felices — "happy").

Examples

• El hombre amable • El hombre difícil

The friendly man The difficult man
• La mujer amable • La mujer difícil
The friendly woman The difficult woman
• Los niños amables • Los niños difíciles
The friendly boys The difficult boys
• Las niñas amables • Las niñas difíciles
The friendly girls The difficult girls

52 | Spanish
¿Qué comes?

Colours

Colours in Spanish are just adjectives, so they still have to agree and go after
the noun. They are shown below.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué comes?

Los colores • The colours

Inglés Español
Red Rojo
Orange Naranja
Yellow Amarillo
Green Verde
Blue Azul
Purple Morado
Brown Marrón
Pink Rosa
White Blanco
Grey Gris
Black Negro

Notes

• All of these will function as nouns, if you add an article in front of them.
For example, el morado means "the purple one".
• The plural form of marrón is marrones (without the accent); las
zanahorias marrones means "the brown carrots".
• The colours naranja and rosa end in "a" even if they are applied to a
masculine; el coche naranja, "the orange car"; la casa rosa, "the pink
house"

Examples

• La manzana verde
The green apple
• Los huevos blancos
The white eggs
• El queso amarillo
The yellow cheese
• Las naranjas naranjas
The orange oranges

Summary
In this lesson, you have learnt

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 Chapter 6

• How to say some foods and drinks (la lechuga; una manzana; la leche).
• How to say you eat and drink things (como, comes, come, comemos,
coméis, comen).
• How to say some simple quantities (un kilo de patatas; una copa de vino
tinto)
• What to say in a shop (quisiera; querría; la cuenta).
• How to form adjectives that don't end in "O" or "A" (la tienda verde; los
quesos azules)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found in the next
section), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

Food and Drink

Match the English to the Spanish.

1. Un pepino a. Water
2. Queso b. The carrots
3. Una manzana c. Rice
4. Las peras d. White wine
5. Té e. An egg
6. Las zanahorias f. A cucumber
7. Un huevo g. Tea
8. Agua h. Cheese
9. Arroz i. The pears
10. Vino blanco j. An apple

What do you eat?

• Conjugate the verb beber ("to drink") and cenar ("to dine") below:
1. ..............
2. ..............
3. ..............
4. ..............
5. ..............
6. ..............

54 | Spanish
¿Qué comes?

1. ..............
2. ..............
3. ..............
4. ..............
5. ..............
6. ..............

A bottle of wine

Match up the following to make sentences that make sense.

1. Un kilo y media de... a. ...vino tinto

2. Algo de... b. ...leche
3. Una copa de... c. ...patatas
4. Un vaso de... d. ...pan
5. Una barra de... e. ...pasta

In the shop

Pretend that you are a customer in a shop. In the following dialogue, fill in
your part.

Buenos días.
.........................
Muy bien, gracias. ¿Qué quisieras?
.........................
Vale. Ahí están.
.........................
Cuestan tres euros.
.........................
¡Adiós!

Adjectives

• Correct the following sentences.

• Ahí está tres tomates verde.
• Los mujeres son difíciles.
• Me gusta hombres amable.
• Odie pepinos.
• No les gustan comer patatas con queso.
• Translate the following between Spanish and English.
• I hate eating tomatoes: they're boring.
• No toma queso o leche porque es vegano. [ vegano = vegan ]
• I don't drink milk because it's white.
• ¿Querrías comprar una manzana?
• Does she like pasta with tomatoes and carrots?

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 Chapter 6

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Food and Drink

1. f) A cucumber
2. h) Cheese
3. j) An apple
4. i) The pears
5. g) Tea
6. b) The carrots
7. e) An egg
8. a) Water
9. c) Rice
10.d) Red wine

What do you eat?

1. Bebo
2. Bebes
3. Bebe
4. Bebemos
5. Bebéis
6. Beben

1. Ceno
2. Cenas
3. Cena
4. Cenamos
5. Cenáis
6. Cenan

A bottle of wine

1. c) Un kilo y media de patatas

2. e) Algo de pasta
3. a) Una copa de vino tinto
4. b) Un vaso de leche
5. d) Una barra de pan

In the shop

Buenos días.

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¿Qué comes?

Buenos días. ¿Qué tal?

Muy bien, gracias. ¿Qué quisieras?
Quisiera seis huevos. [ can be anything, so long as it's plural ]
Vale. Ahí están.
¿Cuánto cuestan?
Cuestan tres euros.
Gracias. Adiós.
¡Adiós!

Adjectives

• Ahí están tres tomates verdes.

• Las mujeres son difíciles.
• Me gustan hombres amables.
• Odia pepinos.
• No les gusta- comer patatas con queso.

• Odio comer las patatas: son aburridas.

• He doesn't have cheese or milk because he's vegan.
• No bebo leche porque es blanca.
• Would you like to buy an apple?
• ¿Le gusta pasta con tomates y zanahorias?

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 Chapter 7

7 ¿Q UÉ HORA ES ?
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Dialogue
Vocabulary
Luego Then
Salgo I leave
Raúl: ¡Hola Sofía! ¿Qué hora es?
Sofía: Son las ocho y cuarto.
Raúl: Gracias. ¿Qué haces normalmente por la mañana?
Sofía: Me levanto a las siete. Luego, me ducho y tomo mi desayuno.
Usualmente, salgo a las ocho.
Raúl: Ah, vale. Así, ¿cuándo almuerzas?
Sofía: Suelo almorzar a la una.
Raúl: Claro. ¡Adiós!
Sofía: ¡Hasta luego!

Telling the time

Telling the time is easy in Spanish, and very similar to English. You use this
construction:

Son las [hours] y [minutes]

So, Son las tres y veinte would mean "It's twenty past three". To ask the time,
you just use the question ¿Qué hora es? (literally: "What hour is it?"). However,
this only works for times up to half-past the hour. How do you say "It's twenty to
three", I hear you cry? For this, you have to use menos (meaning "less") instead
of y (Son las cuatro menos diez means "It's ten to four".

Other typical time-telling phrases are depicted in the table below.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué hora es?

El tiempo • The time

Inglés Español
a.m. de la mañana
p.m. de la tarde
It's half-past [hour] Son las [hour] y media
It's quarter-past [hour] Son las [hour] y cuarto
It's quarter-to [hour] Son las [hour] menos cuarto

58 | Spanish
¿Qué hora es?

Notes

If there aren't any minutes, just say son las cinco ("It's 5 o'clock") or
•
son las once ("It's 11 o'clock").
• Remember: son means "they are", so son las... only works for numbers
greater than one. To say "it's one o'clock", you have to say Es la una.

Examples

• Son las ocho

It's 8 o'clock
• Son las nueve y media
It's half-past nine
• Son las seis menos cuarto
It's quarter-to six
• Son las dos y veinte de la mañana
It's 2:20 a.m.

When?
So, you now know how to tell the time in Spanish. Now let's use it to describe
when something happens. To do this, you use a las followed by the time as
described above (a las tres means "at 3 o'clock"). But what if you don't know a
specific time? What about just "In the evening"? Just use por la, followed by one
of the entries in the table (por la noche means "at night"):

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué hora es?

Los tiempos del día • The times of the day

Inglés Español
Morning Mañana
Tarde
Afternoon
Evening
Night Noche

Notes

Since it's always "por la", this means that these times-of-day are all
•
feminine.

Examples

• A las ocho de la mañana, tomo mi desayuno.

At 8:00am, I eat breakfast.
• Por la tarde, le gusta ver la tele.

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 Chapter 7

In the evening, He likes watching TV.

• Por la noche, les gusta mucho beber leche.
At night,they love drinking milk.

Time-related Adverbs
It's all very well knowing how to say that you do things at a particular time,
but what about more habitual actions? What do you do usually? Normally?
Sometimes?

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué hora es?

El tiempo • The time

Inglés Español
Usually Usualmente
Normally Normalmente
Often A menudo
Sometimes A veces
De vez en cuando
Occasionally
Ocasionalmente
Rarely Raramente
Soler To be in the habit of

Notes

• You should notice that all the words ending in "ly" in English end in
mente in Spanish. To turn an adjective into an adverb: take the feminine
form of the adjective, then add mente.
• Thus, normal, raro, ocasional and usual are all adjectives.
• Also, ruidosamente, tranquilamente, etc, are adverbs (you met
tranquilo and ruidoso in lesson 4...)
• Soler is a UE stem-changing verb (suelo, sueles, suele, solemos, soléis,
suelen), and it is followed by the infinitive (Suelo comer queso con pan,
meaning "I usually eat cheese with bread").

Examples

• A veces, bebemos vino tinto, pero nunca vino blanco.

Sometimes, we drink red wine, but never white wine.
• Suelo vivir en pisos; vivir en una casa es muy difícil.
I usually live in flats; living in a house is really difficult.
• De vez en cuando, juego al ajedrez, pero usualmente, practico judo.
Sometimes, I play chess, but usually I do judo.
• Normalmente a las cinco de la tarde, juego al futból.
Normally at 5pm, I play football.

60 | Spanish
¿Qué hora es?

Reflexive verbs
Reflexive verbs are verbs where the subject and object are the same. "To
wash oneself" or "to get oneself up". In Spanish, we do this by using a reflexive
pronoun before the verb. We've already met these relfexive pronouns, along
with a reflexive verb in the first lesson: llamarse ("to call oneself"). So, here are
the reflexive pronouns:

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué hora es?

Reflexive pronouns • Pronombres reflexivos

Inglés Español
Myself Me
Yourself Te
Himself/Herself/Itself Se
Ourselves Nos
Yourselves Os
Themselves Se
So, here is an example, using the verb lavarse ("to wash oneself"):

Spanish Verb • ¿Qué hora es?

Lavarse • To wash oneself

Inglés Español
I wash myself Me lavo
You wash yourself Te lavas
He/she/it washes himself/herself/itself Se lava
We wash ourselves Nos lavamos
You wash yourselves Os laváis
They wash themselves Se lavan
So, now that know how to conjugate them, it'd be useful to give you some
examples:

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Qué hora es?

Relfexive verbs • Verbos reflexivos

Inglés Español
Levantarse To get (oneself) up
Ducharse To shower (oneself)
Bañarse To bathe (oneself)
Peinarse To comb one's hair
Maquillarse To put one's make-up on
Relajarse To relax (oneself)

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 Chapter 7

Notes

• These are very similar to the indirect object pronouns used with gustar.
Make sure you don't get them mixed up.
• When in the infinitive, the reflexive pronoun goes on the end of the verb
as a suffix. For example, me gusta ducharme means "I like showering".

Examples

• Por la mañana, me maquillo y me peino.

In the morning, I put my make-up on and comb my hair.
• ¿Cuándo te bañas?
When do you bathe?
• A las ocho de la mañana, nos levantamos.
At 8am, we get up.
• Nunca nos bañamos por la mañana; nos gusta ducharnos.
We never have a bath in the morning; we like to have a shower.
• Me encanta bañarme por la noche - es muy tranquilo.
I love having a bath in the evening - it's very quiet.
• Ocasionalmente, se ducha por la mañana, pero usualmente, le gusta
bañarse por la tarde.
Ocassionally, he showers in the morning, but usually, he likes to have a
bath in the afternoon.
• A las nueve de la tarde, me gusta mucho relajarme. Normalmente, bebo
vino.
At 9pm, I like to relax. Normally, I drink wine.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learnt

• How to ask for the time (¿Qué hora es?)

• How to tell the time (Son las cuatro y media; es la una menos cuarto)
• How to say the times of the day (por la manana; tarde; a las tres y diez)
• Various adverbs (ocasionalmente; normalmente; de vez en cuando; a
menudo)
• How to use reflexive verbs (me baño; te relajas; se ducha; nos lavamos;
os lavantáis; se maquillan)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found in the next
section), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson eight.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

62 | Spanish
¿Qué hora es?

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

Telling the time

Write the following times in full Spanish.

1. 3:00
2. 4:00
3. 2:25
4. 9:10
5. 10:30
6. 6:15
7. 1:35
8. 7:45
9. 1:15am
10.8:55pm

Time-related adverbs

Translate the following from English to Spanish and vice versa.

1. Normalmente, cenamos a las siete.

2. Occasionally, I play football, but I really like rugby.
3. ¿Juegas al ajedrez a menudo?
4. Sometimes I eat lettuce, but I never eat tomatoes.
5. Por la noche, me gusta mucho comer arroz.
6. I rarely have lunch at 1pm.
7. Usualmente, almuerza a las dos.
8. I usually play tennis at 3pm.

Reflexive verbs

Fill in the gaps in the following text. You might not need to put anything in
the gap.

Hola. (1)____ llamo Milagros, y tengo dieciséis años. (2)____ vivo en un piso
grande en Madríd, en España. Normalmente, (3)____ la mañana, (4)____
levanto a las seis (5)____ media. Luego, (6)____ peino, y desayuno con Rosa
(mi hermana). Después, (7)____ maquillamos. Nunca (8)____ duchamos por
(9)___ mañana - me gusta bañarme por la noche.
Usualmente, a (10)____ cuatro (11)____ la tarde, practicamos (12)____ la
natación. (13)____ gusta mucho nadar. Por la tarde, (14)____ relajo: me gusta
leer, (15)____ ver la tele, pero usualmente, no hay nada (16)____ hacer.

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 Chapter 7

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Dialogue

Raúl: Hi Sofía! What's the time?

Sofía: It's 8:15.
Raúl: Thanks.What do you normally do in the morning?
Sofía: I get up at 7:00. Then, I have a shower, do my make-up and eat
breakfast. Usually, I leave at 8:00.
Raúl: Ah, ok. So, when you you have lunch?
Sofía: I normally have lunch at 1:00.
Raúl: Ok. Goodbye!
Sofía: See you soon!

Telling the time

1. Son las tres.

2. Son las cuatro.
3. Son las dos y veinticinco.
4. Son las nueve y diez.
5. Son las diez y media.
6. Son las seis y cuarto.
7. Son las dos menos veinticinco.
8. Son las ocho menos cuarto.
9. Es la una y cuarto de la mañana.
10.Son las nueve menos cinco de la noche.

Time-related adverbs

1. Normally, we have dinner at 7:00.

2. De vez en cuando, juego al futból, pero me gusta mucho el rugby.
3. Do you often play chess?
4. A veces, como lechuga, pero nunca como tomates.
5. At night, I really like eating rice.
6. Almuerzo raramente a la una.
7. Usually, he has lunch at 2:00.
8. Suelo jugar al tenis a las tres de la tarde.

Reflexive verbs

Hola. (1)____ llamo Milagros, y tengo dieciséis años. (2)____ vivo en un piso
grande en Madríd, en España. Normalmente, (3)____ la mañana, (4)____

64 | Spanish
¿Qué hora es?

levanto a las seis (5)____ media. Luego, (6)____ peino, y desayuno con Rosa
(mi hermana). Después, (7)____ maquillamos. Nunca (8)____ duchamos por
(9)___ mañana - me gusta bañarme por la noche.
Usualmente, a (10)____ cuatro (11)____ la tarde, practicamos (12)____ la
natación. (13)____ gusta mucho nadar. Por la tarde, (14)____ relajo: me gusta
leer, (15)____ ver la tele, pero usualmente, no hay nada (16)____ hacer.

1. Me
2. -
3. Por
4. Me
5. Y
6. Me
7. Nos
8. Nos
9. La
10.Las
11.De
12.-
13.Nos
14.Me
15.-
16.Para

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 Chapter 8

8 ¿D ÓNDE VAS A IR ?
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Dialogue
Raúl: Hola Sofía. La semana que viene, voy a ir a Italia.
Sofía: ¿Cómo vas a ir? ¿En tren?
Raúl: No. Odio los trenes - son muy ruidosos.
Sofía: Claro. Prefiero los aviónes también.
Raúl: Usualmente, voy a Irlanda pero tengo un billete para Italia.

Vocabulary
para for
otro other
take
tomarme
myself
un
a month
mes libre
off work
Sofía: Así, ¿vas a comprar un otro billete?
Raúl: No - Italia es buena también. Puedo tomar el sol y experimentar la
cultura nativa.
Sofía: ¿Cuánto tiempo vas a pasar allí?
Raúl: Dos semanas. Quiero pasar un mes, pero no puedo tomarme un mes
libre.
Sofía: Entiendo. ¡Hasta luego!

The Simple Future tense

Expressing what you're going to do in the future is simple in Spanish, and the
same as in English. You use this construction:

[Ir] a [infinitive]

Let's look at this more closely. First, you must conjugate the (sadly irregular)
verb ir (meaning "to go"), followed by a (meaning "to"). Then you have the
infinitive of the verb you are going to do. So, voy a comer means "I'm going to
eat". It's as simple as that!

Ir is conjugated thus:

Spanish Verb • ¿Dónde vas a ir?

Ir • To go

66 | Spanish
¿Dónde vas a ir?

Inglés Español
I go Voy
You go Vas
He/She/It goes Va
We go Vamos
You all go Vais
They go Van

Notes

• For reflexive verbs, you have two options for where to put the reflexive
pronoun. You can either have it before ir (me voy a bañar, meaning "I'm
going to have a bath") or as a suffix of the infinitive (voy a bañarme,
meaning "I'm going to have a bath"). It doesn't matter which you choose.

Examples

• Voy a cenar a las ocho

I'm going to have dinner at 8:00.
• ¿Vas a jugar al futból con Paulo?
Are you going to play football with Paulo?
• Va a ducharse por la tarde.
She's going to have a shower in the evening.
• Vamos a ir a Francia; nos vamos a relajar.
We're going to go to France; We're going to relax.
• Por la noche, van a jugar al ajedrez.
At night, they're going to play chess.

In the future...
Now that we know how to express future actions, it'd be great to be able to
say when we're going to do them. Here are a few key expressions for saying
when something is goig to happen.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Dónde vas a ir?

In the future... • En el futuro...

Inglés Español
Tomorrow Mañana
Tomorrow morning Mañana por la mañana
The day after tomorrow Pasado mañana
La semana que viene
Next week
La semana próxima
Next month El mes que viene

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 Chapter 8

El mes próximo
El año que viene
Next year
El año próximo
In the future En el futuro

Notes

• Notice viene in some of the phrases. This is from the E=>IE stem-
changing verb venir, meaning "to come". So, literally, these phrases mean
"the week that comes" (la semana que viene) or "the year that comes" (el
año que viene). This also means that you have to conjugate it when you're
talking in the past tense: "The year that came", but don't worry about that
for quite some time yet.
• Mañana por la mañana means "tomorrow morning". In the same vein,
mañana por la tarde means "tomorrow afternoon" and mañana por la
noche means "tomorrow night".

Examples

• Manaña por la tarde, voy a jugar al tenis.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to play tennis.
• El año próximo, vamos a ir a Francia.
Next year, we're going to go to France.
• En el futuro, me gustaría vivir en el campo.
In the future, I would like to live in the countryside.
• ¿Vas a tener ocho años el mes que viene?
Are you going to be eight years-old next month?
• ¿Vamos a cenar a las siete y media la semana próxima?
Are we going to have dinner at 7:30 next week?
• Las mujeres van a vivir en un piso en noviembre.
The women are going to live in a flat in November.

Holidays
Grab your swimming trunks: you're off to the south coast of Spain!

Journey

So, when, where are how are you going to go? Look at the following phrase,
explained below.

El año próximo, voy a ir a España en avión.

This is made up of various parts:

68 | Spanish
¿Dónde vas a ir?

•Firstly, we have the time expression.

•Then, ir ("to go") in the simple future tense.
• Then a España, meaning "to Spain" - the location.
• Then en avión, meaning by aeroplane. Literally, this means "in
aeroplane", as en means "in".

You have all of the vocabulary here, except for the modes of transport, some
of which are below.

Avión (m)
Autocar (m) (Air Pullmantur 747, Coche (m) Tren (m) Barco (m)
by Antti Havukainen)

Examples

• ¿Vas a ir a Alemania en coche?

Are you going to go to Germany by car?
• ¿Cómo vamos a ir a Galés? ¿En autocar?
How are we going to go to Wales? By coach?
• Normalmente, voy en tren, pero el mes que viene, voy a ir en barco.
Normally, I go by train, but next month, I'm going to go by boat.
• Van a ir a los Estados Unidos en avión.
They're going to go to the USA by plane.

For how long?

To say how long you're going to spend somewhere (or doing something), you
use the verb pasar (meaning "to spend", as in time). It is a perfectly regular verb
(paso, pasas, pasa, pasamos, pasáis, pasan). You would then follow it by a
timespan (pasamos dos semanas en Irlanda means "we spend two weeks in
Ireland").

To ask how long someone else is going to spend somewhere, you use cuánto
tiempo ("how much time") followed by pasar. ¿Cuánto tiempo van a pasar en
Inglaterra? means "How long are they going to spend in England?".

Examples

• Vais a pasar un mes en Nueva Zelanda.

You're all going to spend a month in New Zealand.
• Normalmente, ¿cuánto tiempo pasas en Canadá?
Normally, how much time do you spend in Canada?
• ¿Dónde voy a pasar el mes que viene? ¿Los Estados Unidos?

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 Chapter 8

Where am I going to spend the next month? America?

Accommodation

To say "to stay" in Spanish, you use the reflexive verb alojarse, which is
regular (me alojo, te alojas, se aloja, nos alojamos, os alojáis, se alojan). Then,
you use en (meaning "in"), then the type of accommodation, as shown in the
table below.

However, I hear you cry, what if you're already in Spain? How do you ask for
accomodation? Below are a few useful phrases for asking for accommodation...

Reception desk at a hotel.

¿Tienes cuartos libres?

•
Do you have any free rooms?
• ¿Cuánto cobra por noche?
How much does it cost per night?
• ¿Puedes recomendarme un hotel barato?
Can you recommend a cheap hotel?
• ¿Se puede fumar en el cuarto?
Can you smoke in the room?
Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Dónde vas a ir?
Alojamiento • Accommodation

Inglés Español
A single room Una habitación individual
A double room Una habitación doble
A family room Una habitación familiar
A hotel Un hotel
A youth hostel Un albergue juvenil
A villa Un chalet
A camp site Un cámping

Notes

• A "camp site" is un cámping (remember the accent), "to go camping" is

ir de cámping and "a tent" is una tienda.
• When in plural, habitación loses the accent (una habitación, dos
habitaciones).

70 | Spanish
¿Dónde vas a ir?

Examples

• El año que viene, vamos a ir de cámping en Francia.

Net year, we're going to go camping in Francia.
• La semana próxima, voy a pasar un día en un albergue juvenil.
Next week, I'm going to spend a day in a youth hostel.
• Normalmente, cuando van a España, se alojan en un chalet, pero el año
próximo, van a alojarse en un hotel.
Normally, when they go to Spain, they stay in a villa, but next year,
their going to stay in a hotel.
• ¿Tienes habitaciones dobles libres?
Do you have any free double rooms?
• ¿Cuánto cobra por noche en un habitación singular? ¿Se puede fumar
allí?
How much does a single room cost per night? Are you allowed to
smoke there?
• Puedes recomendarme un hotel barato que tiene habitaciones familares
libres?
Can you recommend a cheap hotel that has free family rooms?

Activities

Right. So you've arrived and unpacked. What now? How are you going to
spend your time? Obviously, you could jugar al futból ("play football") or beber
vino ("drink wine"), but clearly there are more activities than just these...

Irse de juerga Tomar el sol Nadar

What about more general things? Why do you want to go there? What do you
want to get out of the trip? To say "in order to", you use para (meaning "for"),
followed by the infinitive.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Dónde vas a ir?

¿Porqué vas allí? Why go there?

Inglés Español
Experimentar una cultura diferente To experience a different culture
Probar la comida nativa To try the local food
Aprender el idioma To learn the language

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 Chapter 8

Notes

• There are quite a few new verbs here. Luckily, most are regular...
• Sacar is regular (saco, sacas, saca, sacamos, sacáis, sacan).
• Tomar is regular (tomo, tomas, toma, tomamos, tomáis, toman).
• Irse is explained in more detail below.
• Bailar is regular (bailo, bailas, baila, bailamos, bailáis, bailan).
• Nadar is regular (nado, nadas, nada, nadamos, nadáis, nadan).
• Experimentar is regular (experimento, experimentas,
experimenta, experimentamos, experimentáis, experimentan).
• Probar is an O=>UE stem-changing verb (pruebo, pruebas,
prueba, probamos, probáis, prueban).
• Aprender is regular (aprendo, aprendes, aprende, aprendemos,
aprendéis, aprenden).
• Irse is quite complicated. It's the same ir as described above (voy, vas,
va, vamos, vais, van), but the se means that it's reflexive too, so it uses the
reflexive pronouns learnt last lesson. Thus, it's conjugated: me voy, te vas,
se va, nos vamos, os vais, se van.
• With the nouns mentioned here, most of the genders are obvious.
However, watch out for idioma and foto, since they have the opposite
genders to what you would expect. Idioma is masculine and Foto is
feminine.
• Obviously, nativo and diferente are adjectives. Another useful adjective
to use in these phrases is nuevo, meaning "new".

Examples

• El mes próximo, voy a ir a Ibiza para irme de juerga.

Next month, I'm going to go to Ibiza to go clubbing.
• Cuando en Francia, puedo rejarme - me encanta nadar y tomar el sol.
When in France, I can relax - I love swimming and sunbathing.
• ¿Por qué te gustaría ir a España? ¿Para aprender el idioma?
Why would you like to go to Spain? To learn the language?
• Van a ir a Grecia en noviembre. Les gusta probar comidas nuevas y
experimentar culturas diferentes.
They're going to go to Greece in November. They like trying new foods
and experiencing different cultures.
• Cuando vamos a Inglaterra, nunca sacamos fotos buenas.
When we go to England, we never take good photos.
• ¿Os gusta bailar y iros de juerga?
Do you all like dancing and going clubbing?

Stem-changing Verbs
The second type of irregular verb is another stem-changing verb. This time,
the e changes to ie in the "I", "you", "he/she/it" and "they" forms. An example
(querer, meaning "to want") is written in the table below.

72 | Spanish
¿Dónde vas a ir?

Spanish Verb • ¿Dónde vas a ir?

Querer • To want

Inglés Español
I Quiero
You Quieres
He/She/It Quiere
We Queremos
You all Queréis
They Quieren
Other verbs that follow this pattern

•entender ("to understand"): entiendo, entiendes, entiende, entendemos,

entendéis, entienden.
• empezar ("to start"): empiezo, empiezas, empieza, empezamos,
empezáis, empiezan.
• preferer ("to prefer"): prefiero, prefieres, prefiere, preferemos,
preferéis, prefieren.
• pensar ("to think"): pienso, piensas, piensa, pensamos, pensáis,
piensan.

Notes

• Querer can be followed by the infinitive (quiero empezar means "I want
to start").
• Remember tener? Well, that is a stem changing verb too: tengo, tienes,
tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen!
• Pensar is normally followed by que, meaning "to think that".

Examples

• Quiero almorzar a las dos menos cuarto.

I want to have lunch at 1:45.

• Usualmente, vamos a Rusia en noviembre, pero Juan prefiere ir a
España: quiere aprender el idioma.

Usually, we go to Russia en november, but Juan prefers going to Spain;

he wants to learn the language.
• Pasado mañana, vais a cenar en el hotel. ¿Entendéis?

The day after tomorrow, you're going to dine in the hotel. Do you all
understand?
• Cuando voy a Nueva Zelanda, quiero alojarme en un albergue juvenil,
pero Santiago prefiere los chaletes.

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 Chapter 8

When I go to New Zealand, I want to stay in a youth hostel, but

Santiago prefers villas.
• Entiendo que se puede fumar en las habitaciones individuales, ¿no?

I understand you can smoke in the single rooms, right?

• ¿Piensas que las mujeres van a ser amables?

Do you think the women are going to be nice?

Summary
In this lesson, you have learnt

• How to form the simple future tense in Spanish (voy a comer; vais a
almorzar; van a ir)
• How to say various future time phrases (pasado mañana; mañana por la
noche; en el futuro)
• How to say when, where and how you're going on holiday (el mes que
viene, vamos a ir a Irlanda en autocar)
• How to say for how long you're going to stay (voy a pasar un mes; pasa
una semana)
• How to say what sort of accomodation you'll be in (un cámping; un
albergue junenil; voy a alojarme en una habitación familiar)
• How to ask for accommodation (¿Tienes cuartos libres?; ¿Cuánto cobra
por noche?)
• How to say various holiday activities (me voy de juerga; bailan; probar
comidas nuevas)
• How to form I=>IE stem-changing verbs (quiero; entendemos; cierran)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found in the next
section), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson nine.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

The Simple Future tense

Put the following into the simple future tense.

1. Como a las seis.

2. Juegan al fútbol.

74 | Spanish
¿Dónde vas a ir?

3. Almuerza a las seis.

4. Me peino a las tres.
5. Vivimos en un piso en Inglaterra.
6. Se llama Miguel.
7. ¿Duermes a la una?
8. Sois de Escocia.
9. Tengo doce años.

In the future...

Put the following in chonological order.

1. Pasado mañana
2. El año próximo
3. La semana que viene
4. Mañana por la noche
5. El mes que viene
6. En el futuro
7. Mañana por la mañana

Holidays

Fill in the gaps in the following text. You might not need to put anything in
the gap.

El año (1)____ viene, voy (2)____ ir (3)____ México en tren. Voy a (4)____ dos
semanas allí. Normalmente, paso solamente una semana, pero (5)____
gustaría (6)____ relajarme totalmente.
Voy a alojarme en (7)____ chalet familiar con hombres amables que (8)____
en (9)____ Estados Unidos también. El chalet cobra (10)____ veinte euros
(11)____ noche.
Cuando allí, hay (12)____ para hacer. Vamos a tomar (13)____ sol durante el
día, y (14)____ la noche, vamos a bailar y (15)____ de juerga. También,
(16)____ encanta la comida allí - los huevos (17)____ fantásticos. (18)____ a
cenar en un restaurante diferente cada noche.
Finalmente, (19)____ voy a ir a México porque quiero aprender (20)____
idioma - español es fantástica.

Stem-Changing Verbs

Comnjugate the following verbs in the present tense.

1. Pensar
1. ..............
2. ..............

Wikibooks | 75
 Chapter 8

3. ..............
4. ..............
5. ..............
6. ..............
2. Tener
1. ..............
2. ..............
3. ..............
4. ..............
5. ..............
6. ..............
3. The following are all verbs you have learnt. Say if they are stem-
changing, or not, and say if they're E=>IE or O/U=>UE.
1. Jugar
2. Comer
3. Almorzar
4. Querer
5. Vivir
6. Cenar
7. Entender
8. Poder

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Dialogue

Raúl: Hi Sofía. Next week, I'm going to go to Italy.

Sofía: How are you going to get there? By train?
Raúl: No. I hate trains; they're very noisy.
Sofía: Of course. I prefer airplanes, too.
Raúl: Usually I go to Ireland, but I have a ticket for Italy.
Sofía: So, are you going to buy another ticket?
Raúl: No, Italy is good too. I can sunbathe and experience the native
culture.
Sofía: How much time are you going to spend there?
Raúl: Two weeks. I'd like to spend a month, but I can't take myself a month
off work.
Sofía: I understand. See you later!

The Simple Future tense

1. Voy a comer a las seis.

2. Van a jugar al fútbol.

76 | Spanish
¿Dónde vas a ir?

3. Va a almorzar a las seis.

4. Voy a peinarme a las tres.
5. Vamos a vivir en un piso en Inglaterra.
6. Va a llamarse Miguel.
7. ¿Vas a dormir a la una?
8. Vais a ser de Escocia.
9. Voy a tener doce años.

In the future...

1. Mañana por la mañana

2. Mañana por la noche
3. Pasado mañana
4. La semana que viene
5. El mes que viene
6. El año próximo
7. En el futuro

Holidays

1. que
2. a
3. a
4. pasar
5. me
6. un
7. viven
8. los
9. por
10.para
11.el
12.por
13.irnos
14.me
15.son
16.voy
17.el

Stem-Changing Verbs

Comnjugate the following verbs in the present tense.

1. Pensar
1. Pienso
2. Piensas
3. Piensa

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 Chapter 8

4. Pensamos
5. Pensáis
6. Piensan
2. Tener
1. Tengo
2. Tienes
3. Tiene
4. Tenemos
5. Tenéis
6. Tienen
3. The following are all verbs you have learnt. Say if they are stem-
changing, or not, and say if they're E=>IE or O/U=>UE.
1. U=>UE stem changing verb
2. Regular verb
3. O=>UE stem changing verb
4. I=>IE stemn changing verb
5. Regular verb
6. Regular verb
7. I=>IE stem changing verb
8. O=>UE stem changing verb

78 | Spanish
¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

9 ¿C UÁL ES TU TRABAJO ?
live version • discussion • edit chapter • comment • report an error

Dialogue
Vocabulary
clientes customers
Raúl: Hola, Sofía. ¿Cuál es tu trabajo?
Sofía: Trabajo en una tienda.
Raúl: Vale.
Sofía: Y tú, ¿cuál es tu trabajo?
Raúl: Ah, soy profesor de inglés.
Sofía: ¡Qué bueno! ¿Hablas inglés nativamente?
Raúl: No, me encanta aprender idiomas.
Sofía: Sí, quiero aprender el inglés para mi trabajo, también. Siempre hay
clientes que quieren hablar en inglés. Es muy dfícil.
Rául: Sí, entiendo. ¡Adiós!

Jobs and ocupations

In Spanish, to say someone's job, you use ser ("to be"), followed by the name
of the job (some of which are given below). You use no articles - "I am dentist"
(Soy dentista), rather than "I am a dentist" like in English. To ask what someone
else does for a living, you use the phrase ¿Cuál es tu trabajo? (the name of this
lesson).

So, some jobs:

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

Trabajos • Jobs

Inglés Español
Electrician Electricista
Plumber Plomero (m) or Plomera (f)
Builder Constructor (m) or Constructora (f)
Teacher Profesor (m) or Profesora (f)
Lawyer Abogado (m) or Abogada (f)
Doctor Médico (m) or Médica (f)
Dentist Dentista
Engineer Ingeniero (m) or Ingeniera (f)
Chef Cocinero (m) or Cocinera (f)

Wikibooks | 79
 Chapter 9

Notes

• For some of the above jobs, there are two options: one for males and
one for females. For electricista and dentista, there is no difference
between the genders. Even men can be dentistas.

Examples

• Es dentista.
He's a dentist.
• ¿Vas a ser médico?
Are you going to be a doctor?
• Quiero ser abogada, pero cuesta mucho.
I want to be a lawyer, but it costs a lot.
• Son profesores de español así qué hablan español muy bien.
They're Spanish teachers so they speak Spanish really well.
• ¿Cuál es tu trabajo? ¿Eres electricista?
What do you work as? Are you an electrician?

A Few Important Words

At this point, we really need to go through a few important words that have
been overlooked in previous lessons, haven't really got a home, or have generally
not got much air-time. These are really important, and immediately raise your
level of Spanish if you use them.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

Palabritos • Little words

Inglés Español
Too Demasiado
Today Hoy
Now Ahora
In order to Para
A lot Mucho
That Que
How Qué
Currently Actualmente
Always Siempre

80 | Spanish
¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

Notes

• Demasiado means "too" as in "I am too nice" (Soy demasiado amable). It

also means "too much" or "too many", as in "It costs too much" (Cuesta
demasiado) or "It has too many rooms" (Tiene demasiadas habitaciones).
When it's used as a sort of adjective, it has to agree with the noun.
• Para, in the sense "in order to" is always followed by the infinitive. Voy
a ir a francia para relajarme means "I'm going to France in order to relax".
• Mucho means "a lot" ("It has a lot of rooms" - tiene muchas
habitaciones), but also "many" ("I live in many different houses" - vivo en
muchas casas diferentes). Like demasiado, it has to agree with the noun it
describes.
• Qué means "how" only in the sense of "How fantastic!", ¡Qué
fantástico!. Cómo is the question word meaning "how".
• Don't confuse actualmente with "actually". It means currently.

Examples

•¿Por qué vas a Canadá? ¿Para aprender el idioma?

Why are you going to Canada? In order to learn the language?
• Vivo en una casa adosada en Neuva Zelanda que tiene muchas
habitaciones.
I live in a terrace in New Zealand that has many rooms.
• ¿Qué vas a comer ahora?
What are you going to eat now?
• Normalmente, quiere almorzar a la una menos cuarto, pero hoy, quiere
comer a las dos.
Normally, he wants to have lunch at quarter to one, but today, he
wants to eat at two.
• ¿Van a jugar al tenis? ¡Qué fatal!
They're going to play tennis? How awful!
• Siempre ceno a las siete de la tarde.
I always dine at 7pm.

Workplaces
As well as what your job is, it would be undoubtedly useful to be able to say
where you work. A shop? An office? A factory?

To do this, you use the regular verb trabajar (trabajo, trabajas, trabaja,
trabajamos, trabajáis, trabajan), then our friend en (meaning "in"), then one of
the options from this table, or any other building or firm.

Another important little phrase to mention here is ganar dinero, meaning "to
earn money". It's regular, so is conjugated gano dinero, ganas dinero, gana
dinero, ganamos dinero, ganáis dinero, ganan dinero.

Wikibooks | 81
 Chapter 9

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

Workplaces • Lugares de trabajo

Inglés Español
An office Una oficina
A factory Una fábrica
A shop Una tienda
A school Un colegio
A restaurant Un restaurante
A studio Un taller
A garage Un taller mecánico

Notes

• As part of this phrase, you can also use a company name (Trabajo en
Tesco meaning "I work at Tesco"), or even a country or place name
(¿Trabajas en Alemania? meaning "Do you work in Germany?").

Examples

• Trabajamos en un taller mecánico en España.

We work in a garage in Spain.
• Trabajo en una tienda que se llama Woolworths.
I work in a shop called Woolworths.
• ¿Dónde trabajas? ¿En un colegio? ¿Eres profesor?
Where do you work? In a school? Are you a teacher?
• Actualmente trabajo en una fábrica para ganar dinero.
I'm currently working in a factory, in order to earn money.
• Trabajan en una oficina, pero prefieren trabajar en restaurantes.
They work in an office, but they prefer working in restuarants.

The Future Tense

For the past two lessons, we have been using the phrase ir a to refer to the
future. Now, there is a real future tense in Spanish, which is formed by changing
the verb itself, and is translated at "will". It is formed thus:

[future stem][ending]

Let's explain this:

• The future stem is a form of the verb. Luckily for us, in most cases, it's
the same as the infinitive. So, for hablar (meaning "to talk"), the future
stem is simply hablar.
• The endings are shown in the table below. You add them to the future

82 | Spanish
¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

stem as suffixes.

Spanish Vocabulary • ¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

Suffixes • Sufijos

Inglés Español
I é
You ás
He/She/It á
We emos
You all éis
They án

Notes

• Some verbs are have irregular future stems. Assume a verb is regular
unless you know otherwise. Of the verbs you have learnt so far, this only
applies to three:

Tener ("to have"): tendré, tendrás, tendrá, tendremos, tendréis,

tendrán
Poder ("to be able to"): podré, podrás, podrá, podremos, podréis,
podrán
Querer ("to want"): querré, querrás, querrá, querremos, querréis,
querrán

Examples

• Comeré una manzana.

I will eat an apple.
• Pasado mañana, ¿irás a las tiendas?
The day after tomorrow, will you go to the shops?
• Será fontanera.
She will be a plumber.
• El mes que viene, tendré ochenta años.
Next month, I will be 80.
• El año próximo, vivirán en una casa nueva.
Next year, they will live in a new house.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learnt

•How to say what you and others do for a living (soy ingeniero; son
abogados)
• How to ask what someone does for a living (¿Cuál es tu trabajo?)

Wikibooks | 83
 Chapter 9

• How to say various little, but important words (que; demasiado; mucho)
• How to say various workplaces (una fábrica; un taller)
• How to form the future tense (podrán; querré; almorzaremos)

You should now do the exercise related to each section (found in the next
section), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on.

Exercises
live version • discussion • edit exercises • add an exercise (answer) • comment

The answers can be found in the next section. Also, try translating the
dialogue at the top of the lesson.

Jobs and occupations

Match the English to the Spanish.

1. Electricista a. Plumber
2. Fontanera b. Lawyer
3. Constructor c. Engineer
4. Abogado d. Electrician
5. Profesora e. Doctor
6. Médico f. Dentist
7. Concinera g. Teacher
8. Dentista h. Builder
9. Ingeniero i. Chef

A Few Important Words

Translate the following from English to Spanish and vice versa.

1. I have too many apples.

2. Hoy, trabajo en una tienda para ganar dinero.
3. You're a plumber? ¡How fantastic!
4. Muchos niños quieren ser constructores.
5. I prefer men that play rugby.
6. De vez en cuando, quiero jugar al fútbol, pero no ahora.
7. Usually, we go swimming, but today, we're going to play tennis.

Workplaces

Complete the following sentences.

84 | Spanish
¿Cuál es tu trabajo?

1. Soy profesora: trabajo en _____.

2. Es concinero: trabaja en _____.
3. No me gusta mi trabajo en _____, porque es demasiado ruidoso.
4. Odio mi trabajo en _____, porque es muy aburrido. No hay mucho para
hacer.
5. Trabajamos en _____ que se llama Harrods. Siempre es animado y ¡me
encanta hablar!

The Future Tense

Rewrite the following sentences, so that the verb is in the future tense.

1. Voy a Canadá
2. Trabajamos en un restaurante en la ciudad.
3. ¿Ganas veinte euros por hora? ¡Qué bueno!
4. Tienen cuarenta y ocho años.
5. Quiero dormir.
6. ¿Jugáis al tenis?
7. Va a Irlanda para experimentar una cultura diferente.
8. Soy ingeniera.

Exercise answers
live version • discussion • edit answers • add an answer (exercise) • comment

Dialogue

Raúl: Hi, Sofía. What do you do for a living?

Sofía: I work in a shop.
Raúl: Ok.
Sofía: What about you, what do you do for a living?
Raúl: Ah, I'm an English teacher.
Sofía: Great! Do you speak English natively?
Raúl: No, I love learning new languages.
Sofía: Yeah, I want to learn English for my job, too. There are always
customers who want to speak English. It's very difficult.
Ruál: Yeah, I understand. Goodbye!

Jobs and occupations

1. d
2. a
3. h
4. b

Wikibooks | 85
 Chapter 9

5. g
6. e
7. i
8. f
9. c

A Few Important Words

1. Tengo demasiadas manzanas.

2. Today, I'm working in a shop to earn some money.
3. ¿Eres fontanero? ¡Qué fantástico!
4. Many boys want to be builders.
5. Prefiero hombres que juegan al rugby.
6. Occassionally, I want to play football, but not now.
7. Usualmente, practicamos la natación, pero hoy, vamos a jugar al tenis.

Workplaces

1. Un colegio
2. Un restaurante
3. Un taller mecánico; una fábrica
4. Una oficina
5. Una tienda

The Future Tense

1. Iré a Canadá
2. Trabajaremos en un restaurante en la ciudad.
3. ¿Ganarás veinte euros por hora? ¡Qué bueno!
4. Tendrán cuarenta y ocho años.
5. Querré dormir.
6. ¿Jugaréis al tenis?
7. Irá a Irlanda para experimentar una cultura diferente.
8. Seré ingeniera.

86 | Spanish
History & Document Notes

10 H ISTORY & D OCUMENT N OTES

Wikibook History
This book was created on 2003-08-02 by ThomasStrohmann and was
developed on the Wikibooks project by the contributors listed in the next section.
It was the first language book on Wikibooks. During December 2006, it
underwent a complete archive and rewrite by Celestianpower. The latest version
may be found at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish.

PDF Information & History

This PDF was created on 2007-07-15 based on the 2007-07-14 version of the
Spanish Wikibook. A transparent copy of this document is available at
Wikibooks:Spanish/Print version. The SXW source of this PDF document is
available at Wikibooks:Image:Spanish.sxw. The template from which the
document was created is available at Wikibooks:Image:PDF template.sxw.

Wikibooks | 87
 Chapter 11

11 A UTHORS & I MAGE C REDITS

Principal Authors
• ThomasStrohmann ( talk | email | contribs )
• Karl Wick ( talk | email | contribs )
• Wintermute ( talk | email | contribs )
• Mariela Riva ( talk | email | contribs )
• Mxn ( talk | email | contribs )
• Sabbut ( talk | email | contribs )
• Javier Carro ( talk | email | contribs )
• Fenoxielo ( talk | email | contribs )
• Think Fast ( talk | email | contribs )
• Celestianpower ( talk | email | contribs )
• John D'Adamo ( talk | email | contribs )
• AnthonyBaldwin ( talk | email | contribs )

All Authors
Alnokta, AnthonyBaldwin, Aphedox, Austenld, Az1568, Baryonic Being, Batjew,
Beeezy, Canjo, Celestianpower, Chyera, CommonsDelinker, Derbeth, Everlong,
Fenoxielo, Gen Sherman, Hoogli, Javier Carro, Jguk, John D'Adamo, Karl Wick,
Laverdad, ManuelGR, Mxn, Oaso, Pablo.cl, Sabbut, Samuel, Supernaturalist,
Tawagoto, Think Fast, ThomasStrohmann, West Brom 4ever, Xania, anonymous
users

Image Credits
Images are either licensed under the GFDL or released into the public
domain. Creators of GFDL images are listed in image captions.

88 | Spanish
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90 | Spanish
GNU Free Documentation License

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the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this
License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and
required Cover Texts given in the Document's license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
I. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title, and add to it an
item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the

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GNU Free Documentation License

Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled

"History" in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and
publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item
describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public
access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network
locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on.
These may be placed in the "History" section. You may omit a network
location for a work that was published at least four years before the
Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives
permission.
K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve
the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and
tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given
therein.
L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their
text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered
part of the section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section may not be
included in the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled "Endorsements" or to
conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that

qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the
Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as
invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the
Modified Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other
section titles.

You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing

but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties--for example,
statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization
as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a

passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover
Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of
Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one
entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover,
previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are
acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one,
on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give
permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement
of any Modified Version.

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5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this
License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions,
provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of
the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of
your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their
Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple
identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are
multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the
title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the
name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique
number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant
Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the
various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise
combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled
"Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements."

6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents
released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in
the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection,
provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of
the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it
individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into
the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding
verbatim copying of that document.

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and
independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution
medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation
is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the
individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this
License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not
themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the

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GNU Free Documentation License

Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the
Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document
within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in
electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the
whole aggregate.

8. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute
translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant
Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright
holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in
addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any
Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version
of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case
of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this
License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications",

or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will
typically require changing the actual title.

9. TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as
expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify,
sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate
your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or
rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so
long as such parties remain in full compliance.

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU
Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar
in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems
or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the

Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any
later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and
conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been
published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does
not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever

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 Chapter 12

published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.

External links
• GNU Free Documentation License (Wikipedia article on the license)
• Official GNU FDL webpage

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