Spanish Grammar

When learning a language, there are always more than a few aggravating issues that can cause speedbumps in the learning process. Don’t feel like you’re all alone in your frustration, however, as many of these issues tend to be the same for everybody!

• Spanish False Friends (frequent mistranslations)
• Por vs Para
• Ser vs Estar
• Saber vs Conocer
• Preguntar vs Pedir
• Entender vs Comprender
• Oír vs Escuchar
• Llevar vs Traer
• De vs Desde, dè
• Pero vs Sino
• Vaya, Valla & Baya
• The Importance of an Accent `
• Hacia vs Hacìa

Verbs

They are the backbone of a language, understand how they are used and the battle is half won. There are grammatical terms associated with verb conjugation which may be confusing.

At the top of the tree are the Moods which allow us to convey facts, uncertainty and commands. Under each of these moods come the tenses which allow us to distinguish, past, present or future events for example.

Subjunctive, Indicative & Imperative moods in Spanish

The subjunctive (el subjunctivo) is one of the three moods in Spanish. The other two moods are the indicative and imperative.

• We use the indicative to talk about facts – about something that has happened in the past, is happening in the present, or we know will certainly happen in the future.
• We use the subjunctive to describe “virtual information” – in other words, our perception or attitude towards something, rather than the expression of a fact.
• We use the imperative to give orders or commands.

Click here to read more about indicative and subjunctive 

The Tenses

Spanish tenses refer to the time when the performance of an action happens, and they´re an integral part of speaking Spanish.

When we talk about verb tenses, it’s important to consider the following:

• Time: Situates the facts in relation to the moment in which it’s spoken (now)
• Mode: Indicates the attitude of the speaker (indicative, subjunctive and imperative)
• Number: Refers to the special forms that the verb has (changes in the ending of the verb) for the third person singular and third person plural
• Person: Indicates the connection between the individuals that make up the speech act
• Aspect: Describes the scope of progress or completion of the action (indefinite, progressive, and perfect)

Verb tenses can be simple or compound.

Simple verb tenses are when the action is expressed with a single word. They’re compound when the action is expressed with more than one word such as an auxiliary verb [ser and haber (to be and to have)], and a participle non-personal form of the verb that has the ending -do in the regular form of Spanish and can form compound tenses.

For instance: 

ser amado- to be loved
he hablado - I have spoken
hemos comido - we have eaten
ha comido - he/she/it has eaten 

The Spanish language has many tenses, but the three main tenses are the past, the present and the future.

Present tense

The present tense is used to show what a subject usually does or is doing.

Siempre me levanto temprano. (I always get up early).

Past tense

The past tense or preterit is used to express actions or events that happened at a certain time in the past. So, it’s common to use it with expressions that state a certain time period such as ayer (yesterday), la semana pasada (last week) and el año pasado (last year) among others.

Fui al cine la semana pasada. (I went to the movies last week).

Fui al cine la semana pasada. (I went to the movies last week). note: the conjugation Ir - to go is extremely irregular.
me lo habló ayer - He told me about it yesterday

We can think of this as the simple or dot past, it happened once and was done. For a majority of verbs we can think of a little cha cha like the dance.

~ar verbs
è and ò



~er and ~ir verbs

Future tense

The future is used to express actions that have not been performed yet. These actions are independent of any other action. It’s common to use future tense with expressions like mañana (tomorrow), la próxima semana (next week), en dos días (in a couple of days) and others.

Compraré una nueva computadora el próximo fin de semana. (I will buy a new computer next weekend).

Example Verb conjugations

The verb caer – to fall

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