Spanish Works

Most common uses of PONER

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 17:54:00 +0000

As it turns out PONER doesn't just mean "to put" but also five or six more different things. Here is a summary.

1.Poner means 'to put' which is the most common. This is your verb which you can treat like any other verb.
   Yo pongo mis libros en mi mochila - i put my books in my backpack
   Mis amigos ponen sus cosas en la mesa My friends put their stuff on the table
   Donde pongo esto? where do I put this?


2. Poner means "that something makes you or someone sick, feel bad about certain part of your body.
     La lechuga me pone mal del estomago
     La carne hace que mi pie se ponga rojo, hinchado
     El agua de la maquina me pone mal de la cabeza
   El olor me pone mal, me dan mareos - the smell makes me feel bad, dizzy

3. Poner means "to give an assignment or to have someone do something, get   myself to do something
   Te voy a poner a lavar los platos - I'll have you wash the dishes
   Vamos a ponernos a preparar el desayuno - Let's prepare breakfast
   Pon a tu hijo a hacer su tarea - get your son to do his homework
     Cuando no hay nada que hacer me pongo a leer un libro
     Ponte a estudiar muchacho - get studying boy

4. Poner means "to give as in to give it a name, a price, something on
     Ponle un nombre al perrito - give the doggie a name
   A juan le pusieron un apodo - Juan was given a nickname
   Le pusieron el precio de 40 pesos - They gave it a price of 50 pesos
   Al gatito le ponen un adorno - They put an adornment on the cat
   Le ponemos mucho interes - we give lots of emphasis on

5. Poner means "to set as in set the table, also to set up or set off
   Pon la mesa - set the table
   Ayudame a poner la mesa - help me set the table
   Yo pongo la alarma a las 5am - I set the alarm for 5am
     Yo pongo mis pagos en automatico - i set my bills on automatic
   La gallina pone huevos todos los dias a las 6am
   El carro se pone en marcha - the car sets off
   La operacion se puso en marcha ayer

6. Poner means "to invest, to contribute, to chip in
   Ponle dinero a la canasta - put money in the basket
     La familia Martinez le va a poner dinero al negocio

7. Poner means "to put it on
   Pontela bien - put it on right
   Ponle el gorro al bebe - put the hat on the baby
   Le pondremos adornos al arbol? Should we decorate the tree?
   Ponle salsa a tus tacos - add salsa to your tacos
   Yo le pongo salsa y cilantro a mis tacos - i add salsa and cilantro to my tacos
     Ella le puso queso a su burrito she added cheese to her burrito

So here concludes a summary of the most common uses of Poner. I know there are more but I think these will get you started. If there are questions or comments please send them my way.

Different uses of "QUE" in SPANISH

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 02:23:00 +0000

Most students know that QUE means "What". However many don't know many more key meanings of "QUE" let's take a peek at some of them.

QUE = that, which

El perro que es mi amigo = the dog that is my friend
El muchacho que va a la escuela = the boy that goes to school
La sonrisa que trae felicidad = the smile that brings happiness
La computadora que trabaja bien = The computer that works well
La cancion que cantan todos los dias = the songs that they sing everyday

QUE = than

Una pizza es mejor que un lonche = A pizza is better than a sandwich
Juan es mejor que Ruben = John is better than Ruben
Una pluma es mejor que un lapiz = A pen is better than a pencil
Estudiar en la noche es mejor que estudiar en el dia = To study at night is better than studying during the day
La playa es mejor que la alberca = The beach is better than the pool

PARA QUE = so that

Trae agua para que tome = bring water so that he/she drinks
Toma cafe para que despiertes = drink coffee so that you wake up
Haz ejercicio para que pierdas peso = Do exercise so that you lose weight
Duerme para que descanses = Sleep so that you can rest
Come bien para que no te canses = eat well so that you don't get tired
Prende la television para que veas el juego de futbol = turn on the tv so that you can watch the soccer game

TENER QUE = have to

Tienes que hacer la tarea = you have to do your homework
Tenemos que estudiar = we have to study
Teniamos que estudiar = we had to study
Tuvimos que estudiar mucho = we had to study a lot
Tuve que hablar con mi hijo = I had to talk to my son
Tiene que trabajar mucho = he/she has to work a lot

HAY QUE + INFINITIVO = Got to eat

Hay que dormir temprano = got to sleep early
Hay que leer libros = got to read books
Hay que hacer cosas buenas = got to do good things
Hay que comer bien = got to eat well
Hay que ir a la escuela = got to go to school

ES QUE = it's just that

Es que tengo mucho trabajo = it's just that I have a lot of work
Es que ella tiene que dormir = it's just that she has to sleep
Es que era muy temprano = it's just that is too early
Es que no quiere dormir = it's just that he/she doesn't want to sleep
Es que no queremos ir = it's just that we don't want to go

I hope this provides with an insight into the many more uses of "QUE." I know there are more but these are the most common that are out there and are often missed.

Please post questions and comments

Stress and Accents in Spanish Words

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Make sure to complement this video with the note right below, learn to classify Spanish words!

Accentuation and Stress in Spanish words

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:05:00 +0000

So I got a few requests to provide some direction on how to determine where the accent or stress go in Spanish words.

What I have here is a list of 'general rules' to help with accents.

First some basic concepts:

1. Most Spanish words have an accent in one way or another. Even if a word does not have a marked accent (the accent mark is called 'TILDE') or a tilde there is still a syllable that will stand out the most.

2. The idea of sounding syllables stronger than others is referred as 'Acento prosodico' (compare to acento ortografico, item 6 below, which includes the tilde). Every Spanish words have an 'acento prosodico' and if you are a native speaker you can, from experience, know where the accent lies in a word without a tilde.

3. Syllables that are stressed are referred as 'TONICAS' and those that are unstressed are referred as 'ATONICAS'.

4. These words for the most part do not have an accent: Articles (La, Los, El and Las) prepositions (a, de, en, por), adverbs (tan and aun), pronouns (yo, tu, ellas, se, les), other words such as que, quien, como, cuando and verbs in its infinitive state.

5. Tildes are not added to consonants!

6. There are rules that specify where the accent lies, this accent is referred as 'acento ortografico'. I have listed some of these rules below.

Acentos

In Spanish, words are divided according to where the phonetic accent lies on, for instance, AGUDAS is a group of words in Spanish for which the stress lies in the last syllable of the word (right to left), in LLANAS (OR GRAVES) the accent lies on the penultimate syllable, ESDRUJULA on the syllable before the penultimate and so forth.

Phonetic accents guide words into one of these groups and from there we can determine if a tilde is needed according to some confusing rules.

Let's see if we can make sense of these rules!

AGUDAS: These are words that carry the stress on the last syllable (right to left) and end in 's', 'n' or a vowel. Some examples include reloj, balcón, razón and vas (notice how even though the stress relies on the last syllable, still reloj and vas do not have a tilde)

Notes:

-The 'on' ending is common and it almost always carries a tilde

-Words with a single syllable do not carry a tilde (monosyllable)

-Words that end in a diphthong o in 'n' or 's' proceeded with a consonant (this applies mostly for foreign words that are used in Spanish, i.e. robots) do not have a tilde

Some examples:

tos

pan

pie

altitud

afinidad

ballets

LLANAS: These are words that carry the stress on the second syllable (right to left) and have a tilde if they DO NOT end in 's', 'n' or a vowel.

Some words include:

Bolívar

cárcel

imbécil

débil

cárde

hábil

As a result, if they end in 's', 'n' or a vowel there is no tilde (but the second to last syllable is still stressed!):

crema

examen

salas

casas

lana

ESDRúJULA: A word that has the accent on the third syllable (right to left); these words always carry a tilde.

Some words include:

esdrújula

América

análisis

Bélgica

bioquímica

SOBREESDRúJULAS: A word that has the stress on the fourth syllable (right to left); these words always carry a tilde.

Some words include:

véndemelo

corrígemelo

recomiéndasela

SUMMARY:

As you can see, most if not the entire set of words in the Spanish language have a stress in them. Some have a TILDE and others do not. THE BEST way to learn about stresses and marks is TO STUDY THE SPANISH VOCABULARY ACCORDING TO THEIR CLASSIFICATION, (i.e. agudas, llanas, esdrujulas y sobreesdrujulas), this will help A LOT in determining the stress in a word.

As always, send me your comments or questions,

Luis

Los Numeros DESPUES DE CIEN!

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:50:00 +0000

So you want to be able to learn and remember the numbers in Spanish that are greater than a hundred. You have studied them all but some how after a while you just forget.
What I am about to write is a bit of a strategy I use with my students to help remember the numbers that are greater than 100. Let's hope it helps you.

Some key ideas

1. In English we say 'one hundred and one' but in Spanish we don't add AND just 'one hundred one', so learn to not say this.
i.e. one hundred and one = CIENTO UNO

Reminder: One hundred in Spanish has two translations: CIEN and CIENTO, CIEN is for 'one hundred only' but CIENTO is for every thing else.

2. In Spanish we account for plural, in other words, if it is more than 'one hundred' then it is plural and we would be saying some thing like 'hundredS' or CIENTOS.
i.e. two hundred and one DOS CIENTOS UNO

3. Like English, in Spanish we say 'two hundred and five' or 'DOS CIENTOS CINCO in the same way (except for the AND and plural part).

4. The last key idea is to break numbers apart and put everything together.

238: 200 + 38 = DOS CIENTOS + TREINTA Y OCHO

864: 800 + 64 = OCHO CIENTOS + SESENTA Y CUATRO

2359: 2000 + 300 + 59 = DOS MIL TRES CIENTOS CINCUENTA Y NUEVE

13475: 13K + 400 + 75 = TRECE MIL + CUATRO + CIENTOS + SETENTA Y CINCO

215848: 215K + 800 + 48: DOS CIENTOS QUINCE MIL + OCHO + CIENTOS + CUARENTA Y OCHO

3659347: 3Mil + 659K + 300 + 47

(TRES MILLONES) + (SEIS + CIENTOS + CINCUENTA Y NUEVE MIL) + TRES + CIENTOS + CUARENTA Y SIETE

Do a lot more!

EL GANE una expresion

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:13:00 +0000

So I got a question about the sentence I posted in twitter: 'SIEMPRE NOS HACEN EL GANE'. Lets take a peek a bit.

As I mentioned in twitter, 'GANE' acts as a noun. 'El GANE' then means 'the grab', 'the abusive and advantageous behavior some times someone take over others', 'to have the eyes open and be opportunistic and act at the right time'. This is used widely and in many different situations.

For instance,

Let's say you want to buy something but don't have the money, you go to the ATM only to find that the item is sold, then you say 'somebody already got to it before i did' or 'somebody grabbed it already' 'somebody win me over for it' this is an expression that in Spanish we can say,

somebody me hizo el gane = somebody did me a win/beat me to it

Another example, something meaner, lets say that people send money to this old lady but the caretaker receives the money and steals some, for this we can say:

the caretaker grabs a bit of the money, or the caretaker takes advantage and bids away a bit of the money, or that the caretaker pulls away some of the money, this in spanish we can say: the caretaker le hace el gane with a bit of the money

In the sentence I wrote in twitter: SIEMPRE NOS HACEN EL GANE I was saying that 'they always beat us/take us for a ride

siempre = always

nos hacen = they do to us (hacen implies they do and nos to us)

el gane = the grab the win beat us to it, take advantage

EL GANE its an expression, practice it with with a Spanish speaker

The Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 03:20:00 +0000

So here is a summary of common was to express the weather. Note that many of these will not make any sense! so you will have not memorize them. I will explain why in a bit.

The weather = El Clima or el Tiempo.

TIP: In Spanish we use 'HACE' to mean 'IT IS' whenever we want to say that 'it is cold'. This is confusing for a lot of students as they tend to translate 'IT IS' as 'es' which is by the way correct BUT not for this certain situation. So, here is my advise: just learn it this way: HACE=IT IS when it comes to the weather.

More Vocabulary:

Hace calor = it is hot*
Hace frio = it is cold

These are the two most commonly used, but you can also say

Hace mucha humedad = it is humid, lots of it

Along with 'HACE' there is another word that is used a bit to express the weather: 'ESTA'. Esta means 'IT IS' and it is the third person conjugation of 'ESTAR'. We use ESTA in the following cases:

Esta frio = It is cold
Esta caliente = it is hot*

So when do I use 'esta frio' o 'hace frio'? NO DIFFERENCE! you can use either one. You just have to learn them well and not mix them, ie ESTA CALOR, bad!

Also, 'ESTA' is used to express the progressive or gerund as in 'IT IS RAINING' which means 'ESTA LLOVIENDO'. Remember that the 'ING' ending in English is expressed in Spanish by 'ANDO' and 'IENDO', ANDO for -AR ending verbs and -IENDO for -ER and -IR ending verbs. Because LLOVER end in ER then it becomes LLOVIENDO.

ESTA LLOVIENDO it is raining

ESTA NEVANDO it is snowing

*In Spanish we differentiate within the word 'HOT'.

HOT = CALOR: inside your car after the car has been exposed to the sun, it is 'heat like hot'

HOT = CALIENTE: this is when the heat, the sun or something is burning you up

For instance, if it is 50 degrees outside and you put on a few sweaters and a jacket you will feel the heat inside, CALOR, you will start sweating, but if youleaving that you sking is getting warm and hot and the temperature raises, now it is CALIENTE

I hope this helps, don't hesitate to connect

So feeling bad about when to add ACCENTS to SPANISH words? DON'T!

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:09:00 +0000

Many students of mine have asked me when to add accents to Spanish words. I tell them the same thing I want to tell every one reading this note: you have to memorize those words.

The thing is that rules on accents are derived from people speaking the language (for centuries) and not the other way around. For instance, as a consequence of us native speakers pronouncing a bit stronger the 'o' in CAJON Spanish language leaders (i.e www.rae.es) have created a rule stating that a word such as 'CAJON' must have an accent on 'o'. In other words, there is no way for non native Spanish speakers to know when a certain vowel has an accent unless they have studied it and practiced it.

That being said, there are some ways to figure out when a word has an accent but you have to know how to classify a Spanish word (there are several types: agudas, llanas, esdrujulas y sobresdrujulas) and a bit of experience with the language. I should be posting a note in relation to that here soon....

So how to create the Past Participle for verbs in the present perfect tense?

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:43:00 +0000

Anytime we have to say the following sentene in Spanish we need to convert the infinitve verb to its past participle form:

I have eaten here before

You have read my other Present perfect tense/past particple posting so you know that how to conjugate 'have' but what about 'eaten'?

Well, it boils down to this: Regular vs irregular verbs

Regular verbs follow the next rules:
1. remove the verb ending (ar, er or ir) and replace it with -ado or -ido: -ar ending verbs use ado and -er or -ir ending verbs use -ido

2. Example: Cantar converts to cantado, comer to comido and recibir to recibido

So if you want so say 'I have eaten here before' it would translate to 'yo he comido aqui antes'

Irregular verbs:
sorry, most irregular verbs have no specific conjugational process, you just have to learn them, for instance
hacer hecho
abrir abierto
escribir escrito

I hope this helps

01036 Spanish Lesson - Present Tense - tener (part 2); useful phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:04:00 +0000

Author Luis B Yanez

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Not so Easy Spanish Crosswords by Luis B Yanez (Sep 8, 2010)

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Spanish Coloring Book: Los Animales by Luis B Yanez (Jun 15, 2011)

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Spanish Coloring Book: Los Numeros
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(Apr 17, 2011)

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Spanish Coloring Book: Los Verbos
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Crossword Spanish Verb Conjugation: Practice English to Spanish verb conjugation using crosswords (Volume 1)
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SPANISH GRAMMAR: POR vs. PARA

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:54:00 +0000

Spanish Prepositions List

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Here is a list of commonly used Spanish prepositions.

a
ante
bajo
con
contra
de
desde
en
entre
hacia
hasta
para
por
sin
tras

to; at
before
under
with
against
from; of
from
in; on
between
towards
until
for
for
without
after

Demonstrative Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Demonstrative pronouns are used to show the location of the noun(s) they replace. They are the equivalent to "this one", "these", "that one", & "those". In Spanish they must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

There are 3 categories of demonstrative pronouns in Spanish that relate to the distance of the noun being spoken about from the speaker.

Group 1. Noun is near the speaker
Group 2. Noun is near the person being spoken to
Group 3. Noun is far from both the speaker and the person being spoken to

Group #1 (Noun is near speaker)

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
éste	ésta		éstos	éstas

éste (libro)
éstos (libros)

this one (book)
these (books)

Group #2 (Noun is near person being spoken to)

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
ése	ésa		ésos	ésas

ése (libro)
ésos (libros)

this one (book)
these (books)

Group #3 (Noun is far from speaker and person being spoken to)

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
aquél	aquélla		aquéllos	aquéllas

aquél (edificio)
aquéllos (edificios)

this one (book)
these (books)

Indirect Object Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:04:00 +0000

I. Here are the forms for the indirect object pronoun in Spanish. Notice how the forms for the first and second persons are the exact same as the forms for the direct object pronouns. Remember that indirect object pronouns answer the questions "To whom?", "For whom?", "To what?", and "For what?".

	singular	plural
first person	me	nos
second person	te	os
third person	le	les

II. Indirect object pronouns in Spanish are placed before the conjugated verb, and also before the direct object pronoun (if the sentence has both a direct object and indirect object pronoun).

Antonio me da un regalo.

Antonio nos (I.O.) las (D.O.) compra.

Antonio is giving me a gift.

Antonio buys them for us.

Direct Object Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:03:00 +0000

I. Here are the forms for the direct object pronoun in Spanish. (Please note that for third person singular and plural direct object pronouns, the choice of "lo" or "la" will depend on whether the direct object being referred to is a masculine or feminine noun.)

	singular	plural
first person	me	nos
second person	te	os
third person	lo/la	los/las

II. Direct object pronouns in Spanish are placed directly before the conjugated verb, even if the sentence is a question. If the verb is in its infinitive form or is in the form of a command, this is not the case.

Lo busco.

¿Los tienes?

I am looking for it.

Do you have them?

Subject Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:02:00 +0000

Pronouns are used to replace nouns and are usually used to avoid repetition. The subject pronouns are used for personal nouns such as I, you, them, etc.

There are some special notes that need to be mentioned when discussing subject pronouns in Spanish:

1. Spanish differentiates between formal and familiar "you", whereas English does not. Therefore you need to know when to use the formal or the familiar. In general, tú (or vos, see note #2 below) is used with friends/peers, children, and pets. Usted would be used with strangers, persons of authority, and elders.

2. The pronoun "vos" is used in certain Latin American countries instead of "tú". The singular familiar pronoun for "you" that is taught in the United States is almost always "tú".

3. The pronoun "vosotros" is used in Spain only, not in Latin America. In Latin America, the plural familiar form for "you" will be "ustedes". Therefore, they use "ustedes" for both the formal and familiar plural.

4. Spanish is a pro-drop language, meaning that the subject pronouns "yo", "tú", "nosotros", & "vosotros" are not required in a sentence as they are easily understood by the verb endings.

5. Note that while in English 'it' is used a lot in Spanish it is not. Spanish sticks with the actual name of the noun, no replacement

English: The car needs repairs = it needs repairs
vs
Spanish: El carro necesita reparaciones = el carro necesita reparaciones

Still, Spanish does have an 'it' translation which is 'eso' or 'esa' but as you will see from most Spanish grammar books it will not be listed.

	singular	plural
first person	yo	nosotros
second person	tú; vos*	vosotros
third person	él, ella, usted	ellos, ellas, ustedes

yo
tú, vos
él
ella
usted
nosotros
vosotros
ellos
ellas
ustedes

I
you (familiar singular)
he
she
you (formal singular)we
you (familiar plural)
they (masculine, or any group including a male)
they (feminine)
you (plural)

Make sure to send me questions or comments,

Luis

Common Adverbs

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:01:00 +0000

Here is a listing of commonly used Spanish adverbs.

a menudo
ahora
antes
apenas
aquí
bastante
bien
de nuevo
de repente
demasiado
mal
muy
nunca
siempre
tal vez
tarde
temprano
todavía
ya

often
now
before
hardly
here
enough
well
again
suddenly
too much
badly
very
never
always
perhaps
late
early
still
already

Formation of Adverbs

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Adverbs are words that can modify a verb, adjective, or even another adverb. They are used to express concepts such as time, manner, cause, or place. In Spanish, adverbs are placed after the verb they modify.

I. Most adverbs in Spanish are formed by simply adding "mente" to the feminine singular form of an adjective. (Remember that some adjectives have the same form for both the masculine and feminine.)

Adverbs are usually placed after the verb they modify in Spanish.

slowly
absolutely
evidently

lentamente (the adjective lenta + mente)
absolutamente (the adjective absoluta + mente)
evidentemente (the adjective evidente + mente)

II. Some adverbs have their own formed and must be memorized. A listing of some common adverbs that fall into this category can be found here.

Interrogative Adjectives

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:59:00 +0000

Interrogatives adjectives are used in questions and ask the following questions:what?, which?, how much?, & how many?

1. "Qué" has only one form. It stays the same regardless of gender or number.
2. "Cuál" has only two forms. It does not have a different form for the feminine.
3. "Cuánto" is the only one that has 4 different forms.

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
¿qué?	¿qué?	WHAT?/WHICH?	¿qué?	¿qué?
¿cuál?	¿cuál?	WHICH?	¿cuáles?	¿cuáles?
¿cuánto?	¿cuánta?	HOW MUCH? HOW MANY?	¿cuántos?	¿cuántas?

Examples of usage:

¿Qué libros quiere él?
¿Cuál camisa prefieres?
¿Cuántos años tiene Antonio?

What books does he want?
Which shirt do you prefer?
How old is Antonio?

Possessive Adjectives

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:58:00 +0000

Possessive adjectives are used to modify nouns to show to whom a noun belongs. In Spanish, the possessive adjective will agree in number and gender with the noun it modifies, not with the owner.

Note that the forms are the same for third person singular and plural. If it is not c clear from the context of the sentence who the owner is, then you can use "de" plus the pronoun to make it clear.

For example: el libro de Antonio instead of su libro

Here are singular forms:

	singular	plural
first person	mi	nuestro/a
second person	tu	vuestro/a
third person	su	su

mi libro
tu libro
su libro
nuestro libro
nuestra casa
su libro

my book
your (familiar) book
his book; her book; your (formal) book
our book
our house
their book

Here are the plural forms:

	singular	plural
first person	mis	nuestros/as
second person	tus	vuestros/as
third person	sus	sus

mis libros
tus libros
sus libros
nuestros libros
nuestras casas
sus libros

my books
your (familiar) books
his books; her books; your (formal) books
our books
our houses
their books

Demonstrative Adjectives

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:56:00 +0000

Demonstrative adjectives refer to a noun and and answer the question which?. They are the equivalent to "this, that, these, & those" in English. In Spanish they must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

There are 3 categories of demonstrative adjectives in Spanish that relate to the distance of the noun being spoken about from the speaker.

1. Noun is near the speaker = este & esta
2. Noun is near the person being spoken to = ese & esa
3. Noun is far from both the speaker and the person being spoken to = aquel & aquella

masculine singular	feminine singular	masculine plural	feminine plural
este	esta	estos	estas
ese	esa	esos	esas
aquel	aquella	aquellos	aquellas

este libro
ese libro
aquel libro

this book (by the speaker)
that book (over there)
that book (in a place far from the speaker and the person being spoken to)

The Pluperfect Subjunctive

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:55:00 +0000

The compound tenses are formed by taking the auxilary verb "haber" and adding a past participle.

Therefore, the pluperfect subjunctive takes the imperfect subjunctive tense form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle.

Here is "haber" in the imperfect subjunctive.

	singular	plural
first person	hubiera	hubiéramos
second person	hubieras	hubierais
third person	hubiera	hubieran

Here is an example of "comer" conjugated in the pluperfect subjunctive. Note that the past participle of "comer" is comido.

yo hubiera comido
tú hubieras comido
él/ella/usted hubiera comido
nosotros hubiéramos comido
vosotros hubierais comido
ellos/ellas/ustedes hubieran comido

The Present Perfect Subjunctive

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:54:00 +0000

The compound tenses are formed by taking the auxilary verb "haber" and adding a past participle.

Therefore, the present perfect subjunctive takes the present subjunctive form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle.

Here is "haber" in the present subjunctive.

	singular	plural
first person	haya	hayamos
second person	hayas	hayáis
third person	haya	hayan

Here is an example of "comer" conjugated in the present perfect subjunctive. Note that the past participle of "comer" is comido.

yo haya comido
tú hayas comido
él/ella/usted haya comido
nosotros hayamos comido
vosotros hayáis comido
ellos/ellas/ustedes hayan comido

The Imperfect Subjunctive

noreply@blogger.com (Spanish Works) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:53:00 +0000

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by taking the 3rd person plural form the preterit tense of a verb, dropping the "ron" ending, and then adding the new imperfect subjunctive ending.

Make sure to use QUE before the pronoun, just like in any other subjunctive form

Here are the endings for all regular verbs.

	singular	plural
first person	ra	ramos*
second person	ras	rais
third person	ra	ran

*Special note about the 1st person plural form: An accent will be added to the final letter of the verb stem to which the "ramos" ending is added.

nosotros escribiéramos, nosotros pagáramos, etc...

QUE yo hablara     that I may speak
QUE tú hablaras   that you may speak
QUE él/ella/usted hablara that he/she/it may speak
QUE nosotros habláramos   that we may speak
QUE vosotros hablarais (only in Spain, Argentina)
QUE ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaran that they may speak

There is a second set of conjugations for the imperfect subjunctive. Either set of endings can be used. Here is the other set of endings:

	singular	plural
first person	se	semos*
second person	ses	seis
third person	se	sen

*Special note about the 1st person plural form: An accent will be added to the final letter of the verb stem to which the "semos" ending is added.

QUE yo hablase
QUE tú hablases
QUE él/ella/usted hablase
QUE nosotros hablásemos
QUE ellos/ellas/ustedes hablasen

Here is a small conversion taking place in Spanish and using the above form

Juan visita a Maria, Maria no esta contenta con Juan:

Maria: Ayer Juan queria que yo comiera de su comida!

Susana: Y luego...

Maria: Para nada, yo fui a la sala

Susana: El otro dia, Juan queria que Lily tomara agua fria

Maria: Y?

Susana: No se, Juan queria que todos tomaran agua fria