Irregular/ irregular

The following are adjectives and adverbs with irregular comparative forms:

Adjectives and adverbs	Comparative form
bueno/ good	mejor/better
bien/well	mejor/better
malo/bad	peor/worse
mal/badly	peor/worse
viejo/old (when referring to people only)	mayor/older
joven/young (when referring to people only)	menor/younger

Conditional Tense

The conditional tense in Spanish is equivalent to the conditional tense in English, would + verb.

To form this tense, add the endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, íais, ían to an infinitive. These roots are used for all three conjugations, -ar, -er, and -ir.

Note that all forms have a written accent.

EXAMPLES:

Pronoun	Calcular/ to calculate	Comer/ to eat	Escribir/ to write
yo	calcularía	comería	escribiría
tú	calcularías	comerías	escribirías
él, ella, Ud.	calcularía	comería	escribiría
nosotros	calcularíamos	comeríamos	escribiríamos
vosotros	calcularíais	comeríais	escribiríais
ellos, Uds.	calcularían	comerían	escribirían

Irregular conditional forms

The following verbs have irregular conditional stems to which are added the conditional endings. These forms are the same as their future tense stems.

Infinitive/ Conditional/ English

Salir / saldría /to go out

Venir/ vendría/to come

Tener/tendría/ to have

Poner/ pondría/to put

Poder/podría/ to be able

Valer/ valdría/ to be worth

Haber/ habría/ to be

Saber/ sabría/ to know

Caber/ cabría/ to fit

Hacer/ haría/to do

Decir/ diría/to say

Querer/ querría/ to want

Futuro/ Future Tense

The future tense in Spanish is equivalent to the future tense in English, will or shall + verb.

There are 3 ways to express a future action:

4. The present tense : Indicative mode.

5. Ir + a + infinity : going to + verb.

6. The future tense : includes irregular forms.

THE PRESENT TENSE

This tense can be used to express an action taking place in the near future.

EXAMPLES:

• Esta tarde mi hija va al concierto./ This afternoon my daughter will go to the concert.

• Estoy en la oficina todo el día./ I'll be in the office all day.

The construction ir + a + infinitive

This construction is equivalent to the English expression going to + verb. It is frequently used to express a future action.

Ir / to go

Yo voy/ I am going

tú vas/ you are going

él, ella, (Ud.) va/ he, she, (you are) is going

nosotros vamos/ we are going

vosotros vais/ you are going

Uds., ellos, ellas van/ you, they are going

EXAMPLES:

• Voy a aprender español./ I am going to learn Spanish.

• Vamos a abrir un negocio propio./ We are going to open our own business.

THE FUTURE

To form the future, add these endings to the infinitive, which serves as the stem of almost all Spanish verbs: -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. The endings are the same for all 3 conjugations.

	comprar/ to buy	vender/ to sell	recebir/ to receive
Yo/ I Tú, Ud., / you él, ella/ he, she Nosotros/ we Vosotros/ you Uds., ellos, ellas/ you, they	compraré comprarás comprará compraremos compraréis comprarán	venderé venderás venderá venderemos venderéis venderán	recibiré recibirás recibirá recibiremos recibiréis recibirán

IRREGULAR VERBS

Some verbs have irregular future stems, which are the same as their irregular conditional stems. Add the future endings to them.

Use the future tense in the following situations:

1. To express probability, conjecture or doubt of an action, condition or state, in the present or future time, the future tense is used. It is equivalent to the English expressions: (probably, wonder, suppose, guess).

EXAMPLES:

• Hoy no me puse el reloj. ¿Qué hora será?/ Today I am not wearing my watch. I wonder what time it is? (What time could it be?)

• Serán las dos y pico./ It must be a little after two.

• ¿Quiénes estarán afuera? ¿Serán los niños? / I wonder who are outside? They must be the children. (They are probably the children.)

2. To express the willingness to do something, the verbs desear or querer are used instead of the future tense.

EXAMPLE:

• ¿Quiéren cenar conmigo?/ Will you have dinner with me?

NOTE: The Spanish future tense is NOT used to make requests, as it is in English.

3. The future tense is also used to express orders or commands.

EXAMPLES:

• Mandarás estos folletos esta tarde./ Send these pamphlets this afternoon.

• Niños, no irán al cine./ Children, don't go (won't) to the movies.

Contracciones/ Contractions

In Spanish, there are only 2 contractions, al and del.

The prepositions a (to, toward) and de (from, of) combine with the definite article el to form al (a + el = al) and del (de + el = del).

EXAMPLES:

• Voy al hotel./ I am going to the hotel.

• Vengo del colegio./ I am coming from college.

NOTE: That the pronoun él does NOT contract.

EXAMPLE:

• Decile a él que venga./ Tell him to come.

NOTE: That no other definite articles (la, las, los) form contractions when combined with de.

EXAMPLES:

• La ventana de la casa está sucia./ The window of the house is dirty.

• Las hipotecas de las casas./ The mortgages of the houses.

• Los empleados de los bancos./ The employees of the banks.

El Imperativo/ Imperative Form

The imperative form is used to give an order, direction, or command.

REGULAR VERBS

To form the command, drop the -o of the first person present form (indicative mode) of the verb and add the following endings:

Verbs ending in -ar, such as cobrar/ to collect money:

Positive Imperative	Negative Imperative
cobra (tú) cobre (Ud.) cobremos (nosotros) cobrad (vosotros) cobren (Uds., ellos)	no cobres no cobre no cobremos no cobréis no cobren

Verbs ending in -er and -ir, such as prender/ to turn-on and escribir/ to write, have the same endings, except for vosotros.

IRREGULAR VERBS -COMMANDS

The same endings mentioned above are used for irregular verbs for the imperative form.

Infinitive	Tú	Ud., él	Nos.	Vos.	Uds., ellos
pensar/ to think contar/ to count conocer/ to know poner/to put	Piensa Cuenta Conocepon	Piense Cuente conozca ponga	Pensemos Contemos conozcamos pongamos	Pensad Contad conoced poned	piensen cuenten conozcan pongan

IRREGULAR FORMS -COMMANDS

1. The following have irregular command forms for the pronoun tú:

Infinitive	Pos. Imper.	Neg. Imper.
Ser/to be Tener/ to have Venir/ to come Decir/ to say Salir/ to go out Hacer/ to do Ir/ to go Poner/ to put	sé (tú) ten (tú) ven (tú) di (tú) sal (tú) haz (tú) ve (tú) pon (tú)	no seas no tengas no vengas no digas no salgas no hagas no vayas no pongas

2. The following verbs have irregular negative command forms:

Infinitive	Pos. Imper.	Neg. Imper.
Dar/ to give Estar/ to be Saber/ to know	da (tú) está (tú) sabe (tú)	no des no estés no sepas

Although subject pronouns are rarely used with commands, they can be placed after the verb for emphasis or courtesy.

EXAMPLES:

• Coman Uds. sin falta./ Remember to eat.

• Firme Ud. aquí, por favor./ Please, sign here.

THE EXPRESSION LET'S...

1. This English expression is equivalent to the command form corresponding to nosotros.

EXAMPLES:

• Abramos el vino./Let's open the wine.

• No tomemos tanto./ Let's not drink too much.

2. The expression let's can also be expressed using vamos a + infinitive.

EXAMPLES:

• Vamos a abrir el vino./ Let's open the wine.

• No vayamos a tomar tanto./ Let's not drink too much.

Expresiones Negativas y Afirmativas/ Negative and Affirmative Expressions

The most common way to make a sentence negative is to place no before the verb.

The English auxiliaries do and does are not used in Spanish.

EXAMPLES:

• Juan abre una cuenta bancaria./ Juan opens a checking account.

• Juan no abre la cuenta bancaria./ Juan does not open the checking account.

Affirmative and negative expressions

NOTE: In Spanish, double negation is very common, as stated in the examples below.

ALGO y NADA/ Something and nothing

Algo and nada are invariable and refer to things and objects.

EXAMPLES:

• Hay algo afuera./ There is something outside.

• No hay nada en el refrigerador./ There is nothing in the refrigerator.

ALGUIEN y NADIE / Someone and no one

Alguien and nadie are invariable and refer to people. When alguien, nadie, alguno and ninguno are direct objects, they must be preceded by the personal a when they refer to a person.

EXAMPLES:

• Invité a alguien a salir./ I asked someone out.

• No defiendo a nadie./ I don't defend anybody.

ALGUNO (someone or some) y NINGUNO (no one or none)

Alguno and ninguno can refer to people or things. Furthermore, alguno and ninguno drop the final -o before masculine singular nouns similarly, uno/one shortens to un, and bueno/ good to buen.

EXAMPLES:

• Algún día venderemos millones./ Some day we'll sell millions.

• Ningún producto está fallado./ None of the products is damaged.

NOTE: Ninguno is never used in a plural form.

ALGUNA VEZ/ Ever

Alguna vez is equivalent to ever.

EXAMPLE:

• ¿Has diseñado alguna vez un logotipo?/ Have you ever designed a logo?

THE USE OF MULTIPLE NEGATIVE:

1. Whenever the negative words nada, nadie, nunca, tampoco, jamás, follow the verb, no must precede the verb, which produces a multiple negative construction.

EXAMPLE:

• No como nunca espinaca./ I never eat spinach.

2. The negative word can be placed at the end of the sentence.

EXAMPLE:

• No como espinaca nunca./ I never eat spinach.

3. When the negative word precedes the verb, the word no is NOT used.

EXAMPLE:

• Nunca como espinaca./ I never eat spinach.

DOUBLE NO

When the answer to a question is negative, the word no appears twice. It appears at the beginning of the sentence and also in front of the verb.

EXAMPLE:

• Juan: ¿Abren ahora?/ Are you going to open now?

• Clerk: No, no abrimos hasta las diez./ No, we don't open until ten.

NOTE: Usually the subject pronoun is omitted in the answer because the verb ending identifies the subject, as in the example above.

NUNCA JAMÁS/ never again

Nunca jamás is one of the strongest negative forms that is equivalent to never ever or never again.

EXAMPLE:

• Nunca jamás ganarán./ They'll never ever win.

NUNCA MÁS/ Never again

Nunca más is equivalent to never again.

EXAMPLE:

• Nunca más vi a Ana./ I have not seen Ana ever again

JAMÁS/ Ever

Jamás is used as a superlative and is equivalent to ever.

EXAMPLE:

• Este projecto es el más intenso que jamás he empredido./ This project is the most intense that I have ever undertaken.

TAMBIÉN/ Also or too

También expresses the union of two affirmative sentences. También means also or too.

EXAMPLES:

• Yo quiero comer; también ellos quieren comer./ I want to eat; they want to eat too.

• Nosotros también ganamos la competencia./ We also won the competition.

TAMPOCO/ Neither

Tampoco means neither and is used to unite negative sentences.

EXAMPLE:

• Victoria no comió, y yo tampoco./ Victoria didn't eat and neither did I.

NI/ Nor

Ni connects two negative constructions.

EXAMPLE:

• No quiero ni comer ni beber./ I don't want to eat or drink.

Ni siquiera and sometimes ni are equivalent to not even.

EXAMPLES:

• Pedro ni siquiera me saludó./ Pedro did not even greet me.

• Pedro no quiere ni saludarme./ Pedro doesn't even want to greet me.