Spanish IV Tutorial: Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and Grammar

61. Object Pronouns

Subject		Direct		Indirect		Object of Prepositions
yo	I	me	me	me	to me	mí	me
tú	you	te	you	te	to you	ti	you
él	he/it	lo	him/it	le	to him/it	él	him/it
ella	she/it	la	her/it	le	to her/it	ella	her/it
Usted	you	la	you	le	to you	Usted	you
nosotros (as)	we	nos	us	nos	to us	nosotros (as)	us
vosotros (as)	you	os	you	os	to you	vosotros (as)	you
Ustedes	you	los, las	you	les	to you	Ustedes	you
ellos (as)	they	los	them	les	to them	ellos (as)	them

An object pronoun generally precedes the conjugated verb, except if is used in an affirmative command, with an infinitive or gerund. Then it is attached to the verb as one word. Déme Ud. el libro. Give me the book.
When you have more than one pronoun, the indirect comes before the direct. If both pronouns begin with the letter l, then the first one is changed to se.
When one or two object pronouns follow and are attached to the verb form, an accent mark must be added to retain the original stress of the word.
For clearness or emphasis, the prepositional form of a plus an object of a preposition may be used. Nos envió a Ud. He sent us to you.
When the preposition con (with) precedes me or te, the words change to conmigo (with me) and contigo (with you).

62. Parts of the Body

ankle	el tobillo	fever	la fiebre	pain	el dolor
arm	el brazo	finger	el dedo	nose	la nariz
artery	la arteria	fist	el puño	palm	la palma
back	la espalda	flesh	la carne	pulse	el pulso
beard	la barba	foot	el pie	rib	la costilla
belly	el vientre	forehead	la frente	shin	la espinilla
bladder	la vejiga	gum	la encía	shoulder	el hombro
blood	la sangre	hair	el cabello / el pelo	skeleton	el esqueleto
body	el cuerpo	hand	la mano	skin	la piel
bone	el hueso	head	la cabeza	skull	el cráneo
brain	el cerebro	health	la salud	sole	la planta
breast	el seno	heart	el corazón	spine	la espina dorsal
breath	el aliento	heel	el talón	stomach	el estómago
calf	la pantorrilla	hip	la cadera	tear	la lágrima
cheek	la mejilla	intestine	el intestino	temple	la sien
chest	el pecho	jaw	la quijada	thigh	el muslo
chin	la barba / la barbilla	kidney	el riñón	throat	la garganta
coccyx	el coxis	knee	la rodilla	thumb	el pulgar
cold	el resfriado	leg	la pierna	toe	el dedo del pie
complexion	la tez	lip	el labio	tongue	la lengua
cough	la tos	liver	el hígado	tooth	el diente
disease	la enfermedad	lung	el pulmón	vein	la vena
ear	la oreja	moustache	el bigote	wound	le herida
elbow	el codo	mouth	la boca	waist	la cintura
eye	el ojo	muscle	el músculo	wrist	la muñeca
eyebrow	la ceja	nail	la uña
eyelid	el párpado	neck	el cuello
face	la cara	nerve	el nervio

To express pain, use an indirect object pronoun + duele(n) + body part.

Me duele la cabeza. My head hurts.
Le duelen los pies. His feet hurt.

63. Asking Questions

Simply raise your voice at the end of the sentence.
Place the predicate in front of the subject of the sentence.
Add no? or verdad? or no es verdad? to the end of the statement. These translate to many phrases in English, such as Isn't it? Aren't you? Don't you? Didn't he? Isn't she? etc.

64. To Give and to Bring

dar - to give			traer - to bring
doy das da	damos dais dan		traigo traes trae	traemos traéis traen

65. Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun connects a dependent clause to a main clause and refers to something already mentioned (the antecedent.) This pronoun may be the subject or object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Que and quien are the most commonly used relative pronouns.

Que (who, whom, that, which) refers to persons or things, except after a preposition, when it refers to things only. El que (and its forms - la que, los que, las que) and el cual (and its forms - la cual, los cuales, las cuales) may replace que or quien. These pronouns are used to avoid ambiguity when there are two antecedents, and with prepositions.

La casa en que vivo es pequeña. The house in which I live is small.
He visitado la ciudad cerca de la cual vive. I visited the city near which he lives.

Quien (-es) (who) is used in a supplementary clause. When used with a preposition, it means whom. Quien (-es) is often used in place of el que and its forms as well, when it means one who, those who, etc.

Lo que and lo cual (which) refer to the whole sentence.

Cuyo (-a, -os, -as) is a possessive adjective and it agrees in gender and number with the thing possessed, which is always the word that follows it.

66. Disjunctive Pronouns

Disjunctive pronouns are used independently of the verb. They are the pronouns which follow prepositions, or show emphasis.

mí
ti
él
ella
Usted

nosotros (-as)
vosotros (-as)
ellos
ellas
Ustedes

Ello is also used as a neuter pronoun meaning it. Sí can mean yourself, himself, herself, yourselves or themselves. When con combines with mí, ti or sí, the words become conmigo, contigo and consigo. The forms of mismo (-a, -os, -as) can be added to these pronouns.

67. To Hear, to Smell and to See

oír - to hear			oler - to smell			ver - to see
oigo oyes oye	oímos oís oyen		huelo hueles huele	olemos oléis huelen		veo ves ve	vemos veis ven

68. Animals

animal	el animal	lark	la alomdra
ant	la hormiga	lion	el león
antelope	el antílope	lizard	el lagarto
antenna	la antena	lobster (spiny)	la langosta
antler	el asta	louse	el piojo
badger	el tejón	mackerel	la caballa
bat	el murciélago	mole	el topo
beak	el pico	monkey	el mono
bear	el oso	mosquito	el mosquito
bee	la abeja	moth	la polilla
beetle	el escarabajo	mouse	el ratón
bird	el pájaro	mule	el mulo
blackbird	el mirlo	mussel	el mejillón
bull	el toro	nest	el nido
butterfly	la mariposa	nightingale	el ruiseñor
calf	el ternero	octopus	el pulpo
carp	la carpa	ostrich	el avestruz
cat	el gato	owl	el buho
caterpillar	la oruga	ox	el buey
cheetah	el guepardo	oyster	la ostra
chicken	el pollo	parrot	el loro
chimpanzee	el chimpancé	partridge	la perdiz
claw	la zarpa	paw	la pata
cockroach	la cucaracha	penguin	el pingüino
cod	el bacalao	pig	el cerdo
cocoon	el capullo	pigeon	el pichón
cow	la vaca	pike	el sollo
crab	el cangrejo	pony	el potro
crayfish	el cangrejo	rabbit	el conejo
crocodile	el cocodrilo	raccoon	el mapache
crow	el cuervo	rat	la rata
deer	el ciervo	rooster	el gallo
dog	el perro	salmon	el salmón
donkey	el burro	scale	la escama
dragonfly	la libélula	scorpion	el escorpión
duck	el pato	sea gull	la gaviota
eagle	el águila (f)	seahorse	el caballito de mar
eel	el anguila	seal	la foca
egg	el huevo	shark	el tiburón
elephant	el elefante	sheep	la oveja
feather	la pluma	shrimp	la gamba
fin	la aleta	skin	la piel
fish	el pez	slug	la babosa
flea	la pulga	snail	el caracol
fly	la mosca	snake	la serpiente / la culebra
fox	el zorro	sole	el lenguado
frog	la rana	sparrow	el gorrión
fur	el pelo	spider	la araña
gill	la branquia	squid	el calamar
giraffe	la jirafa	squirrel	la ardilla
goat	la cabra	starfish	la estrella de mar
goose	el ganso	stork	la cigüeña
gorilla	el gorila	swallow	la golondrina
grasshopper	el saltamontes	swan	el cisne
hamster	la marmota	tadpole	el renacuajo
hare	la liebre	tail	la cola
hedgehog	el erizo	tiger	el tigre
hen	la gallina	toad	el sapo
heron	la garza	trout	la trucha
herring	el arenque	tuna	el atún
hoof	la pezuña	turkey	el pavo
horn	el cuerno	turtle	la tortuga
horse	el caballo	wasp	la avispa
hummingbird	el colibri	weasel	la comadreja
iguana	la iguana	whale	la ballena
insect	el insecto	wing	el ala (f)
jellyfish	la medusa	wolf	el lobo
kitten	el gatito	worm	el gusano
ladybug	la catarina	zebra	la cebra
lamb	el cordero

69. Suffixes

Suffixes may be attached to nouns, adjectives or adverbs. Unaccented vowels should be dropped before adding the suffixes. The most common suffixes are -ito (a) and -cito (a). They express size, affection, admiration, appreciation or pity. The ending -ero (a) indicates the maker or dealer in charge of something. To indicate where something is made or sold, add -ería. When -eza and -ura are added to adjectives, they express abstract nouns. When -dor is added to a verb (minus the final letter), it indicates the performer of the action.

70. Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive is not used very often in English, but it is very common and important in Spanish. Some command forms are actually the subjunctive, so the formation of the present subjunctive should not be too difficult. Start with the first person singular yo conjugation in the present indicative tense, remove the final -o and add these endings:

Present Subjunctive

-ar verbs		-er and -ir
-e -es -e	-emos -éis -en	-a -as -a	-amos -áis -an

(Notice that -ar verbs use -e and -er/-ir verbs use -a)

Usually when there is an irregular spelling change in the present indicative of a verb, that form will be used for the stem of all of the subjunctive forms. (Review #29 from Spanish I) Verbs than end in -erir, -ertir, or -entir use two different irregular spellings in the present subjunctive:

mentir in present subjunctive
mienta mientas mienta	mintamos mintáis mientan

The past subjunctive is formed from the third person plural of the preterite. Remove the -on ending, leaving you with -ar and -ier, and add these new endings:

Past (Imperfect) Subjunctive

all verbs
-a -as -a	-amos -ais -an

An accent is added to the stem vowel as well in the first person plural form. Instead of hablaramos, it is habláramos; instead of comieramos, it is comiéramos, etc. Note that there is another way to form the past subjunctive (a different set of endings), but the endings given are used more often. You must always the past subjunctive after como si. Es como si fuera mi padre. It's as if he were my father.

The present perfect subjunctive is formed with the present subjunctive of haber and the past participle of the main verb. Similarly, the past perfect subjunctive is formed with the past subjunctive of haber and the past participle of the main verb.

Present perfect subjunctive				Past perfect subjunctive
haya hayas haya	hayamos hayáis hayan	+ past participle		hubiera hubieras hubiera	hubiéramos hubierais hubieran	+ past participle

You must always pay attention to the correct usage of verb tenses. When the verb of the main clause is in the present or future, then the verb of the subordinating clause will be in the present subjunctive. But if the verb in the main clause is in a past tense, the verb of the subordinating clause will be in the past subjunctive.

71. Irregular Subjunctive Mood

Many verbs are considered irregular in the present subjunctive mood. However, only six verbs (marked in grey below) do not follow the pattern described above when starting with the yo conjugation of the indicative. Nevertheless, these verbs are still somewhat easy to remember even if they don't follow the pattern because the imperative form will help you determine the stem to use for the subjunctive conjugation.

dar - to give		decir - to say/tell		estar - to be
dé des dé	demos deis den	diga digas diga	digamos digáis digan	esté estés esté	estemos estéis estén
haber - to have		hacer - to do/make		ir - to go
haya hayas haya	hayamos hayáis hayan	haga hagas haga	hagamos hagáis hagan	vaya vayas vaya	vayamos vayáis vayan
poder - to be able to		poner - to put/place		querer - to want
pueda puedas pueda	podamos podáis puedan	ponga pongas ponga	pongamos pongáis pongan	quiera quieras quiera	queramos queráis quieran
saber - to know		salir - to go out		ser - to be
sepa sepas sepa	sepamos sepáis sepan	salga salgas salga	salgamos salgáis salgan	sea seas sea	seamos seáis sean
tener - to have		traer - to bring		venir - to come
tenga tengas tenga	tengamos tengáis tengan	traiga traigas traiga	traigamos traigáis traigan	venga vengas venga	vengamos vengáis vengan

Many verbs are irregular in the past subjunctive as well:

dar - to give		decir - to say/tell		estar - to be
diera dieras diera	diéramos dierais dieran	dijera dijeras dijera	dijéramos dijerais dijeran	estuviera estuvieras estuviera	estuviéramos estuvierais estuvieran
haber - to have		hacer - to do/make		ir - to go
hubiera hubieras hubiera	hubiéramos hubierais hubieran	hiciera hicieras hiciera	hiciéramos hicierais hicieran	fuera fueras fuera	fuéramos fuerais fueran
poder - to be able to		poner - to put/place		querer - to want
pudiera pudieras pudiera	pudiéramos pudierais pudieran	pusiera pusieras pusiera	pusiéramos pusierais pusieran	quisiera quisieras quisiera	quisiéramos quisierais quisieran
saber - to know		ser - to be		tener - to have
supiera supieras supiera	supiéramos supierais supieran	fuera fueras fuera	fuéramos fuerais fueran	tuviera tuvieras tuviera	tuviéramos tuvierais tuvieran
traer - to bring		venir - to come
trajera trajeras trajera	trajéramos trajerais trajeran	viniera vinieras viniera	viniéramos vinierais vinieran

72. Uses of the Subjunctive

The main uses of the subjunctive include (generally, que will follow the verb):

1. After the verbs querer and desear (to want) when there is a change of subject (but use the infinitive if there is no change of subject)

2. When one person tells (decir) or asks (pedir) another person to do something.

3. After verbs of emotion or command, such as esperar (to hope), sentir (to be sorry), temer (to fear), alegrarse (to be glad), mandar (to order), rogar (to request), when there is a change of subject.

4. After dudar (to doubt) and other verbs expressing uncertainty (negative of creer), as well as after quizás, tal vez and acaso (maybe) to reinforce the idea of doubt.

5. After most impersonal expressions, such as es posible que / puede que (it's possible), es importante que (it's important), es necesario que / hace falta (it's necessary) if there is a subject for the subordinate verb.

6. In adjective clauses is the antecedent is indefinite

7. After certain conjunctions, such as para que (in order that), sin que (without), and antes que (before)

8. After time conjunctions, such as cuando (when), en cuanto (as soon as), hasta que (until), when future is implied.

9. After que in expressions of wishes or desires: Que aproveche! Have a good meal!

10. To translate the future tense in subordinating clause: Cuando sea mayor iré a España. When I'm older, I will go to Spain.

In contrary-to-fact conditions, the past subjunctive must be used in the if-clause (and the main clause is in a conditional tense)

73. Adverbs

Most adverbs are formed by adding -mente to the feminine singular form of the adjective. However, two common adverbs that do not end in -mente are despacio (slowly) and demasiado (too much).

Adjective	Adverb
correcto fácil claro absoluto rápido	correctamente fácilmente claramente absolutamente rápidamente	correctly easily clearly absolutely rapidly

Lo + adverb + que expresses how, while lo más + adverb + an expression of possibility is translated: as ... as ...

lo bien que how well
lo más pronto posible as soon as possible

74. Passive Voice

In passive sentences, the subject receives the action of the verb. In active sentences, the subject does the action. However, the meaning of both sentences is the same. The passive voice in Spanish is formed with a tense of ser and a past participle. Ser should be in the same tense as the verb in its corresponding active sentence. The agent is expressed by por if the action is physical; and by de if mental. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject. If you use estar instead of ser, the past participle is called the predicate adjective and it is not a passive sentence.

Active	El viento destruye la casa.	The wind destroys the house.
Passive	La casa fue destruida por el viento.	The house was destroyed by the wind.
Predicate Adjective	Cuando la vi, la casa estaba destruida.	When I saw it, the house was destroyed.

El niño fue castigado por su padre. The boy was punished by his father.
Rosa es amada por todos. Rose is loved by everyone.

75. Uses of the Infinitive

The infinitive is translated as a gerund (the -ing form of the verb) after these words: el, al, a preposition, ver or oír.

El correr es un buen ejercicio. Running is good exercise.
Partió sin hablar. He left without speaking.
Oigo cantar a Maria. I hear Maria singing.

76. Shopping

department store	el almacén	shop/store	la tienda
shopping mall	el centro comercial	(open-air) market	el mercado (al aire libre)
belt	el cinturón	(fixed) price	el precio (fijo)
glasses	las gafas	sale	la rebaja
gloves	los guantes	to bargain	regatear
sunglasses	los lentes de sol	to spend money	gastar

77. Post Office and Bank

post office	el correo	bank	el banco
envelope	el sobre	(traveler's) check	el cheque (de viajero)
mailbox	el buzón	to cash (a check)	cobrar
mail carrier	el cartero	to save (money)	ahorrar
stamps	las estampillas	to deposit	depositar
package	el paquete	account	la cuenta

79. Infinitives followed by Prepositions

The following verbs require a, de, en or con when followed by another infinitive, although the preposition is not always translated into English.

Verb + a + another infinitive		Verb + de + another infinitive
acostumbrarse aprender atreverse ayudar comenzar convidar decidirse dedicarse empezar enseñar invitar ir negarse persuadir principiar rehusar resignarse resistirse resolverse venir volver	to become used to to learn to to dare to to help to begin to to invite to to decide to to devote oneself to to begin to to teach to to invite to go to to refuse to to persuade to to begin to to refuse to to resign oneself to to resist to resolve to to come to to return to	acabar acordarse alegrarse aprovecharse arrepentirse cansarse cesar dejar encargarse gozar jactarse olvidarse tratar	to have just to remember to be glad to to profit by to repent to tire of to cease to cease to take charge of to take pleasure in to boast of to forget to to try to
Verb + en + another infinitive		Verb + con + another infinitive
consentir consistir divertirse empeñarse esforzarse insistir ocuparse pensar persistir tardar	to consent to to consist to amuse oneself to insist on to endeavor to to insist on to busy oneself to think of to persist in to delay in	contar contentarse soñar	to count on to content oneself with to dream of

80. Office / School Supplies

pencil	el lápiz	dictionary	el diccionario
eraser	la goma	tape (audio)	la cinta
pen	la pluma	map	el mapa
ink	la tinta	newspaper	el periódico
paper	el papel	novel	la novela
letter	la carta	backpack	la mochila
notebook	el cuaderno	stapler	la grapadora
book	el libro	scissors	unas tijeras

Go on to Spanish V →

Return to top of page ↑