Essential Spanish Grammar: A revision before Leaving Certificate

Present tense verbs

All verbs in Spanish need a subject just like in English. A subject is the person doing the action of a verb. The table shows the Spanish subject pronouns.

Subject Sujeto I Yo You (singular / informal) Tú He Él She Ella You (formal) Usted We Nosotros You (all) Vosotros They (boys / mixed) Ellos They (girls) Ellas

Unlike English, you don’t need to say the subject pronoun when saying verbs.

Infinitives

Infinitives are verbs in their “to _____” or “______ing” form. E.g. to love, to play, to read, to eat etc.

When a verb is in its infinitive form you do not know who is doing the verb or when it is being done. The possibilities are infinite.

Common infinitives: ir = to go hacer= to do comer= to eat beber= to drink jugar= to play tener = to have ser = to be escuchar = to listen leer = to read ver = to see

Infinitive verbs in Spanish fall into 3 main groups. -AR; -ER and -IR verbs.

Once we take the -AR; -ER and –IR OFF, then we are left with the ‘stem’. You will need this for most tenses.

NOTE: To conjugate means to make an infinitive match a person (subject) and a time (a tense).

EXAMPLES:

I eat = como

comer (to eat) Com_ _ como

I drink = bebo

beber (to drink) beb_ _ bebo

He dances = baila

bailar (to dance) bail_ _ baila

The rules above are for all regular verbs. If a verb doesn’t follow this pattern, it’s called an irregular verb.

Here are some common irregular verbs in the present tense. Although the endings are the same, the stem changes.

And some, more annoyingly, completely change …

Sadly there is no clever trick, you just have to learn these off by heart!

Important irregular verbs to know

Here are 5 important irregular verbs you must learn by heart in year 7.

There are 2 verbs for « to be ». ser is used for physical descriptions and nationality and estar is used for location and temporary states and emotions. (estoy contento = I am happy ; está en Francia = it’s in France ; es grande = it’s big ; soy inglés = I am English

tener to have Tengo I have Tienes You have Tiene He /she / it has Tenemos We have Tenéis You (all) have Tienen They have

ir to go Voy I go / I’m going Vas you go / you’re going Va He/ she it goes / is going Vamos we go / one goes / we’re

going Vais you all go / you’re all going Van they go / they’re going

Hacer to do Hago I do Haces you do Hace He / she / it does Hacemos We do Hacéis You (all) do Hacen They do

ser estar To be Soy Estoy I am Eres Estás You are Es Está He / she / it

is Somos Estamos We are Sois Estáis You (all) are Son están They are

Jugar = to play Juego = I play Hacer = to do Hago = I do Salir = to go out Salgo = I go out Tener = to have Tengo = I have Ver = to watch Veo = I watch

Ir = to go Voy = I go Ser = to be Soy = I am

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EXAMPLES:

Quiero comer - I want to eat

Puedo comer– I can eat

Debo comer– I must eat

Se puede comer – one can eat

Suelo comer – I often eat / I tend to eat

Tengo que comer – I have to eat

Saying “it is”.

es = it’s era / fue = it was va a ser = it’s going to be

Saying “I like” and “I love”

Me gusta = I like me encanta = I love

Le gusta = he / she likes le encanta = he /she loves

Nos gusta = we like nos gusta = we love

• To say “would like”, swap “gusta” for “gustaría” in each case. me gustaría le gustaría nos gustaría.

• After giving an opinion verb, you have to use the word “the” in Spanish. me gusta el español.

• All opinion verbs can be followed by an infinitive. me gusta estudiar español.

• If the thing you like is plural (e.g. sweets) you need to add an “n” me gustan los caramelos

Modal verbs

We use modal verbs to express obligation (having to do something), desires (wanting to do something), possibilities and capabilities (what you can do). They are always followed by an infinitive.

Making negative verb phrases

to say “I don’t” do something in Spanish, you need “no”. You simply put “no” before the verb

como no como me despierto no me despierto

Add more to the “no” to make more interesting negatives.

No… nunca = never no … nada = nothing / not anything

ya no = any more

quiero I want quiere he / she wants queremos we want Puedo I can Puede He / she can podemos We can debo I must Debe He / she / we / one must Debemos We must Se puede One can Suelo I often Tengo que I have to…

+

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No como nunca / nunca como – I never eat

No como nada – I don’t eat anything

Ya no como – I don’t eat any more

Saying there is / there are

hay = there is / there are

había = there was / were

The future tense (1) – I am going to … (The near future)

To form the future tense in Spanish, you use the verb “ir”, add “a” and then add the infinitive. It’s exactly the same as in English.

EXAMPLES:

voy a ir= I’m going to go. vamos a hacer… = we’re going to do…

vais a comer = you’re all going to eat. van a ver… = they’re going to watch…

va a ser = it’s going to be

Future (2) – I will… (The simple future)

I will be … I will go… he will think… - these are all examples of the 2nd type of future tense in English. Spanish has the same tense

These phrases need to be followed by an article – “some” or “the” or “a” or “many” To know which one to use, you need to know the gender of the noun you’re talking about and how many there are.

A / some The A lot / lots of / many Un El Mucho Una La Mucha Unos Los Muchos Unas Las Muchas

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The future and condtional stem.

To get the stems for these tenses, take the whole infinitive and add the correct ending. All verbs have an accent except the “nosotros” form of the verb. There are some irregular stems that you must learn separately.

hablar comer vivir (add the correct endings)

Sujeto Terminación e.g I will live= viviré You will speak= hablarás He will eat= comerá We will go= iremos You (all) will live= viviréis They will speak= hablarán

Yo é tú ás él / ella / usted á Nosotros emos Vosotros éis Ellos / ellas án

To form the conditional “would” tense – I would eat, I would drink, I would go – you use the same stem but add these endings. All the verbs need an accent on the “i”

Sujeto Terminación e.g I will live= viviré You will speak= hablarás He will eat= comerá We will go= iremos You (all) will live= viviréis They will speak= hablarán

Yo ía tú ías él / ella / usted ía Nosotros íamos Vosotros íais Ellos / ellas ían

The irregular stems are below. You still use the endings above though!

EXAMPLES:

I will say = diré I would say = diría I would put = pondría I will put = pondré

The PAST tense:

There is more than one past tense in Spanish. The two most common past tenses are the preterite and the imperfect, but you will also be expected to recognise the perfect tense.

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Irregular preterite verbs

There are a number of irregular verbs in the preterite tense. Irregular verbs don’t follow a rule and need to be learned. Here are some of the most common ones. Note IR and SER are the same in the preterite tense; two verbs for the price of one!

tener to have Tuve I have Tuviste You had Tuvó He /she / it had Tuvimos We had Tuvisteis You (all) had Tuvieron They had

Ir / ser to go / to be Fui I went / I was Fuiste You went / you were Fue He / she it went / was Fuimos We went / we were Fuisteis You all went / were Fueron They were / they went

Hacer to do Hice I did Hiciste you did Hizo He / she / it did Hicimos We did Hicisteis You (all) did Hicieron They did

Ver To see Vi I saw Viste You saw Vio He / she / it saw Vimos We saw Visteis You all saw Vieron They saw

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A number of verbs that are irregular in the preterite follow a particular pattern.

While their stems change, they all take the following endings:

-e -iste -o -imos -isteis -ieron

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Comparatives and Superlatives We use comparatives and superlatives to say ‘more than’, ‘less than’, ‘most’ or ‘least’. Adjectives and adverbs can be used to compare things or people with each other, e.g. Adam is small --> George is smaller --> Chris is the smallest. Comparatives You're using the comparative when you say: more... (than), less... (than) or as… (as). The words for this in Spanish are:

• más… (que) more... (than) • menos… (que) less... (than) • tan… (que) as… (as)

You have to put an adjective or adverb after plus, moins or aussi:

• Rosa es más grande que Daniela Rosa is taller (more tall) than Daniela • Van menos rápido que yo They go less quickly than me) • Soy tan inteligente que David I am as intelligent as David

Superlatives You're using the superlative when you say that something is the best, the most beautiful, the tallest or the least expensive. The words for this in Spanish are:

• el / la / los /las más... --> the most... • el / la / los /las menos … --> the least...

You just have to put an adjective or an adverb after el / la / los /las más or el / la / los /las menos:

• Anabél es la más grande de la familia Adèle is the tallest in the family • Compré el menos caro I bought the cheapest

You use el/la/los/las más or el/la/los/las menos and the correct form of the adjective, depending on whether you're describing something that's masculine, feminine, singular or plural.

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CORE VOCABULARY - SPANISH LEAVING CERT

The following lists of words are often referred to a ‘high-frequency’ words. This is because they can appear in any topic so it’s really important that you know them! Use this list of really useful words to help you to revise, but also when you are practising writing / speaking.

GIVING OPINIONS (no) me gusta… I (don’t) like… creo que… I believe that… me encanta… I love… en mi opinión in my opinion odio / detesto… I hate a mi modo de ver in my opinion me fascina... I’m fascinated by… me parece que… it seems to me that… le interesa… he / she’s interested in… A mi juicio In my opinion desde mi punto de vista from my point of view estoy en contra de I’m against … pienso que… I think that… Estoy a favor de I’m in favour of / I’m for … pensé que… I thought that… Estoy harto de I’ve had enough of … Lo bueno es que … The good thing is … Lo malo es que … The bad thing is … Lo que más me gusta es que …

The thing I like most is … Lo mejor es que … The best thing is ..

Lo que menos me gusta es que …

The thing I like least is … Lo peor es que … The worst thing is …

COMPARISONS: más (que) more (than) menos (que) less (than) Major better peor worse tan (+ adj)….como as (+ adj) …. as tanto (+noun) ….como as….. much/many as CONNECTIVES: además as well (as)/(apart from) además de apart from claro que clear that/of course dado que given that es decir that is por un lado/por otro

lado on the one hand/on the other hand

por otra parte anyway/in any case sin duda without doubt

PREPOSITIONS: A at/to/on (transport) con with de of/from en in/on hacia toward(s) hasta until para For por for/because of/by según according to sin without NEGATIVES: Jamás Never Ni ….. ni Neither…. Nor Nada Nothing (not anything) Nadie No one/nobody Ninguno/a + noun No + noun/not any No Not Nunca Never Sino If not Tampoco Not…either /neither Ya no Any more

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INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS:

me gusta + INF I like to… Voy a + INF I am going to … me encanta + INF I love to… Me gustaría + INF I would like to … odio + INF I hate to… Quiesiera + INF I would like to … suelo + INF I usually… Quiero + INF I want to … solía + INF I used to… Al + INF On … tengo que + INF I have to… Decidí + INF I decided to … tuve que + INF I had to… Habría que + INF I would have to … tendré que + INF I will have to… Dejé de + INF I stopped … después de + INF after having… Iba a + INF I was going to … antes de + INF before… Necesito + INF I need to … acabo de + INF I have just… Espero + INF I hope to … me interesa + INF I’m interested in… Pienso de + INF I am thinking of … ASKING QUESTIONS: ¿Adónde? To where? ¿Cómo? How? ¿Cuál? Which?/What? ¿Cuándo? When? ¿Cuánto/a? How many? ¿De dónde? From where? ¿De quién? From who? ¿Dónde? Where? ¿Por dónde? Which way? ¿Qué? What? ¿Quién? Who? ¿Con quién? With who? GREETINGS & EXCLAMATIONS:

¡Basta! Enough! ¡Bienvenido! Welcome! ¡Buen viaje! Have a good trip! ¡Buena suerte! Good Luck! ¡Claro! Of course! ¡Cuidado! Careful! ¡Enorabuena! Congratulations! ¡Felices Pascuas! Happy Easter! ¡Felices vacaciones! Have a good holiday! ¡Felicidades! Congratulations! ¡Felicitaciones! Congratulations! ¡Feliz año Nuevo! Happy New Year! ¡Feliz cumpleaños! Happy Birthday! ¡Feliz navidad! Happy Christmas! ¡Feliz santo! Happy Saints Day! ¡Ojo! Watch out! ¡Olé! Bravo! ¡Qué aproveche! Enjoy your meal! ¡Qué lo pase(s) bien! Have a nice time! ¡Qué asco! How disgusting! ¡Qué bien! How great! ¡Qué + adj! How ….! ¡Qué horror! How awful! ¡Qué + noun! What a…! ¡Qué lastima! What a shame! ¡Qué pena! What a shame! ¡Qué va! No way! ¡Socorro! Help!/Save me! ¿Cómo estás? How are you? ¿De veras? Really? ¿Qué hay? So what? ¿Qué pasa? What’s the matter? ¿Qué tal? How are you? Adiós Goodbye Atentamente Yours sincerely/faithfully Buenas noches Good night Buenas tardes Good afternoon/evening Buenos días Good day/Hello Con permiso Excuse me De nada You’re welcome Encantado Delighted Gracias Thank you Hasta el (lunes) See you (Monday) Hasta luego See you later

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Hasta mañana See you tomorrow Hasta pronto See you soon Hola Hello Lo siento I’m sorry Mucho gusto Pleased to meet you Perdón Pardon Perdone Pardon Por favor Please Saludos Best wishes Sí Yes Vale OK Saludar To greet USEFUL ADJECTIVES: Aburrido/a Boring Aceptable Acceptable Afortunado/a Lucky Agradable Pleasant Antiguo/a Old Apropiado/a Suitable Barato/a Cheap Bonito/a Pretty Bueno/a Good La calidad Quality Caro/a Expensive Decepcionado/a Disappointed Decepcionante Disappointing Desafortunadamente Unfortunately Desagradable Unpleasant La desventaja The disadvantage La diferencia The difference Diferente Different Difícil Difficult La dificultad The difficulty Distincto Different/distinct Divertido/a Fun/entertaining/funny Duro/a Hard/difficult Económico/a Economical Emocionante Exciting Encantador Charming/delightful Entretenido/a Entertaining Especial Special Espléndido/a Splendid Estupendo/a Great Estúpido/a Stupid Excelente Excellent Extraordinario/a Extraordinary Fácil Easy Famoso/a Famous Fantástico/a Fantastic Fascinante Fascinating Fatal Awful Favorable Favourable Favorito/a Favourite Fenomenal Great Feo/a Ugly Genial Brilliant/great Hermoso/a Beautiful/lovely Horroroso/a Terrible/awful Ideal Ideal Importante Important Imposible Impossible Impresionante Amazing/incredible Increíble Incredible Inseguro/a Insecure Interesante Interesting Inútil Useless Mal Bad Malo/a Bad Maravilloso/a Marvelous/wonderful Moderno/a Modern Negativo/a Negative Nuevo/a New Perfecto/a Perfect Posible Possible Positivo/a Positive Precioso/a Lovely/beautiful Preferido/a Preferred/favourite Profundo/a Deep/profound Raro/a Strange Regular Regular/average Ridículo/a Ridiculous Seguro/a Sure/secure Sencillo/a Simple/modest Sorprendido/a Surprised Típico/a Typical Tonto/a Silly/stupid Tranquilo/a Quiet/calm Único/a Unique/only Útil Useful La ventaja The advantage Viejo/a Old

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EXPRESSIONS OF TIME: Los días de la semana Days of the week el lunes Monday el martes Tuesday el miércoles Wednesday el jueves Thursday el viernes Friday el sábado Saturday el domingo Sunday Las estaciones The seasons la primavera Spring el verano Summer el otoño Autumn el invierno Winter Los meses The months enero January febrero February marzo March abril April mayo May junio June julio July agosto August se(p)tiembre September octubre October noviembre November diciembre December TIME PHRASES: A menudo Often A partir de From Aproximadamente Approximately A veces Sometimes Ahora Now Al mismo tiempo At the same time Algunas veces Sometimes Anoche Last night Ayer Yesterday Casi nunca Almost never Cada (x) días/horas Every (x) days/hours Casi Nearly De…. a…. From…. To… De momento At the moment De nuevo Again De repente Suddenly De vez en cuando From time to time Dentro de (x) horas Within (x) hours Desde From/since Desde hace For + time antes before Después After El día laboral The working day Diariamente Daily Durante During Hace 2 años 2 years ago En ese/este momento At this moment/time En seguida Right/straightaway El fin de semana The weekend Al final At the end Finalmente Finally Frecuentemente Frequently Futuro/a Future (adj) El futuro The future Generalmente Generally Hace + time Ago Hoy Today Inmediatamente Immediately Lento Slow El/Los lunes On Monday/s Luego Later/then Mañana Tomorrow La mañana The morning El mes The month Mientras tanto In the

meantime/meanwhile El momento Moment

Mucho tiempo Lot of time/long time La noche Night Normalmente Normally Otra vez Again/another time El porvenir The future Al principio At/In the beginning Pronto Soon Próximo/a Next (el mes) que viene Next (month) Quince días 15 days/fortnight Rápido Quick Raramente Rarely Reciente(mente) Recent(ly) La semana Week Siempre Always El siglo Century

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Siguiente Following Sobre About Solamente Only Sólo/a Only Tardar To take (last) Tarde Late La tarde The afternoon/evening Temprano Early Tener prisa To be in a hurry El tiempo Time Todas las (semanas) Every week Todavía Still Todos los (días) Every month Últimamente Ultimately Ultimo/a Last/ultimate Una vez A time/once Dos veces Twice/2 times Volver a + infin To start (over) again COLOURS: Marrón Brown Morado purple El color Colour Gris Grey Naranja Orange Negro Black Rojo Red Rosa Pink Rosado rosy Verde Green Violeta violet Blanco White Amarillo Yellow Azúl Blue

Vocabulary learning strategies

Vocabulary knowledge is without doubt one of the single most important factors in language learning, and crucial for success in your Spanish exams.

With that said, learning and then retaining vocabulary is also known to be one of the most challenging aspects of language learning for most learners. It is not a simple matter of learning words, you will need to learn how to use the words correctly in sentences, be able to store them in your long-term memory, to recognise and recall them in new, unfamiliar contexts, and to use them whilst speaking and writing in Spanish.

As teachers, we can of course give you lists of key words to learn, but then it is up to you to learn them!

Here are some strategies below that may be useful. If one way does not work, then try another – we all learn in different ways…

1 Look, say, cover, write, check

2 Write sentences using the key words you want to learn

3 Use colour coding (e.g. to categorise words to help you remember them)

4 Make a word game – write words in English and in the target language on paper, cut them up, and match pairs together (websites like QUIZLET have ready-made lists that will save you time!)

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5 Use traffic light colours to show what you do know and what you don’t know, e.g.:

Red light = I don't know what this verb means or how to spell it

Amber light = I know what this word means but I can't spell it or use it in a sentence

Green light = I know this word. I can spell it and use it in a sentence.

6 Teach a friend or family member some words

7 Create pairs of rhyming words to learn

8 Strengthen the ‘fixative’ power of learning by using gesture, sound and pictures to learn new or trick-to-learn words.

9 Use music and rhythm in memorisation of key structures / sentences / opinion phrases.

10 Use mini-whiteboards to practise writing out sentences and translations.

11 Revise with a partner / friend to make vocabulary learning varied and more enjoyable, either Q&A style such as speaking lines, or peer testing style, where one person has access to the answers.

12 Use mnemonics (e.g. keywords, word association, first letter, acronyms, acrostics, roman room)

13 Use an app / your phone to record yourself saying the TL words and their English meaning – use this to test yourself.

13 Use online resources to engage in active learning (list of useful websites at the end of this booklet!)

Make some online flashcards and then play the games and activities created with them. Elaboration is the key! Doing something active to re-work the language over and over is how to fix it in long-term memory.

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Really useful websites & apps

Vocab Express Very useful for vocabulary. You need an account here. Quizlet Great website for learning / revising vocabulary. Type

in what you want to revise eg, Spanish clothes vocabulary – you can play games to practise.

www.languagegym.com For vocabulary / grammar activities and games www.reall-languages.com Good game site for revising vocabulary www.spanishspanish.com A good website for practising grammar. Be careful

though, some of the pronunciation that you may hear is Southern American

www.spanishlistening.org Website with short sound clips of native Spanish speakers talking about different topics. Eg. free time / school / sport Really great listening practise to do at home.

www.bbc.co.uk/languages You can watch video clips and much more www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/spanish Allows you to do revision exercises then do ‘exams’ www.conjuguemos.com Helps you practise verbs and grammar. Click on

Student login/register and then go to the resources down the left-hand side

www.conjugation.org A website just for conjugating verbs www.wordreference.com A website that is an English-Spanish or Spanish –

English online dictionary (SO much better than Google Translate!)

spanish.about.com Your questions about Spanish grammar answered (really useful!)

Memrise Website and app Duolingo Apps for learning basic vocabulary http://www.fluentu.com/spanish/blog/spanish-grammar-terms/

Confused by grammar terms? Have a look at this website for explanation of different terms.

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