Spanish in Plain English: With Hint Dictionary

By Anthony Myers

Learn quickly the Spanish grammar that your textbook failed to teach you. Brief concise explanations in plain English. Even if you are not the best at grammar period, this book is for you. It's designed to help an absolute beginner become conversant in Spanish and have an overall understanding of how a Spanish sentence is put together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony Myers
• Release date: Jul 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463425466

Anthony Myers

I am a High School Spanish teacher. Check out my blog with over 7 hours of FREE Spanish lessons. I am also former debate team captain and speech club medalist. I will help you improve your language skills.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Intro

Pronunciation

Nouns

Articles

Adjectives

Pronouns

Conjugations

Verb Types

Verb Tenses in a Nutshell

The Present Tense

Irregular Present Tense

The Present Progressive

Irregular Present Progressive

The Preterit (Past Tense)

Common Irregular Preterit Verbs

The Imperfect

Past Progressive

Preterit vs Imperfect

Perfect Tense

Irregular Past Participles

Past Perfect Tense

Near Future Tense

Future Past Tense

Future Tense

Future Progressive

Future Perfect

Conditional

Conditional Perfect

Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns

What is the Subjunctive?

Present Subjunctive

Past Subjunctive

Perfect Subjunctive

Past Perfect Subjunctive

Future Subjunctive

Irregular Subjunctives

Parts of a Sentence

Direct Object Pronoun

Indirect Object Pronoun

Double Object Pronouns

Tú Commands

Vosotros Commands

Usted Commands

Ustedes Commands

Nosotros Commands

Indirect Commands

Interrogatives

Conjunctions

Prepositions

Por vs Para

Prepositional Pronouns

Possessive Nouns and Adjectives

Possessive Pronouns

Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

How to Form Adverbs

Common Adverbs

Passive Voice

No-Fault Se

Reciprocal Actions

Uses of Se

Comparatives

Superlatives

Ser vs Estar

Common Reflexive Verbs

Saber vs Conocer

Prefixes and Suffixes

Compound Verbs

Why Punctuation Matters

Like and Dislikes

Commonly Confused Words

Hint Dictionary

Table of Contents

What to Do If You Get Stuck

Closing Tips

Intro

I want to teach you Spanish grammar as fast as I can.This book will help you whether you’re a complete beginner or more experienced. Read the chapters in any order you like. Let’s get started!

Pronunciation

Let’s help you sound like a natural! Spanish mostly has the same alphabet as English with a few extra letters and the vowels are pronounced differently.

New Letters

H- Is always silent. (Hernandez is pronounced Air-non-dez)

J - Makes the h sound at the beginning of a word. (Jose is pronounced "Ho-say.")

CC-Makes the ks sound. ( Acción is pronounced "Ak-see-on")

LL - Makes the y sound. ( Tortilla is pronounced Tore-teeyah.)

Ñ- Makes the ny sound. (Piñata is pronounced Pin-yata.)

RR- Makes a purring sound. Basically purr like a cat and this will help you pronounce the RR.

Y - Makes the ee sound and means and, when used as a separate word.

Accent Marks

Ó The tilde (not an apostrophe) means that you say that letter harder in the word.

Ü The umlaut (or diéresis) Makes the U sound like a W

How the Vowels sound

A = Ah

E = Eh

I = EE

O = O

U = OO

How vowels sound together

If there is more than one vowel in the word, say each vowel. Spanish typically does not have a silent e at the end of words (Notice you say the "e" in the Spanish name Jose as oppose to the silent e in the English word Rose). There are a few exceptions when certain vowels are next to each other:

Examples

Fuego is pronounced: "F-way-go"

Veinte is pronounced: "Veyn-tay"

Guerra is pronounced: "Geh-rrah"

Nouns

A noun is a person, place, physical object, or idea (i.e. Thomas, Tank, or engineering).

Number: (Singular or plural)

Just like English, in Spanish add s to make a noun plural

Gato = Cat (singular)

Gatos = Cats (plural)

If the noun ends with a consonant, add es to make a noun plural

Árbol = Tree

Árboles = Trees

Gender: (Masculine or Feminine)

English only has a few nouns with gender. Waiter is masculine and waitress is feminine. In Spanish, even inanimate objects are assigned a gender. The best way to tell the gender of a word in Spanish is to look it up in the dictionary! However, here are some basic guidelines to get you started.

Masculine Nouns end with o, e, á, é, í, ó, ú, ma, pa

Gato = Cat

Mapa = Map

Sistema = System

Feminine nouns: end with a, d, dad, z, or -ión:

Gata = Female-Cat

Paz = Peace

Amistad = Friendship

Claridad = Clarity

Note: Nouns of inanimate objects never change gender.

La Silla (The chair) would still be feminine, even if a man were sitting in the chair.

Nouns of humans and animals can change gender depending on if the phrase is about a male or female.

Singular and masculine: Maestro (1 male teacher)

Plural and masculine: Maestros (Multiple male teachers)

Singular and feminine: Maestra (1 female teacher)

Plural and feminine: Maestras (Multiple female teachers)

Articles

Articles come before nouns and tell you the gender and number of the noun. In English, articles are words such as a, an, the, or some.

Definite Article (The) vs. Indefinite article (A, or An)

The definite article (the) refers to a particular object. "The sofa" is a specific sofa. Whereas the indefinite article (a, an) refers to any object in general. "A sofa" refers to sofas in general.

Articles with Gender and Number

In Spanish, the article must have the same number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) as the noun next to it. For the rest of this book we will use abbreviations to keep it simple. Singular (Sing.), Plural (Plu.), Masculine (Mas.), Feminine (Fem.).

Definite Articles (The)

El Hombre = The man. Los Hombres = The men.

La Mujer = The woman. Las Mujeres = The women.

Indefinite Articles (A, an)

Un cuchillo = A Knife. Unos cuchillos = Some Knives.

Una manzana = An Apple. Unas Manzanas = Some Apples.

Adjectives

Adjectives describe a noun. In Spanish, most adjectives come after the noun.

La Casa Roja = The Red House.

(Notice that in Spanish the word for house Casa comes first so it literally says The House Red.)

Number and Gender

Adjectives that end in o come in 4 forms (o, a, os, as) depending on the number and gender of the noun. Let’s use the word simpático, which means nice, as an example:

Adjectives that end in a consonant do not change gender however they add es in the plural.

La camisa azul = The blue shirt

Las camisas azules = The blue shirts.

Adjectives that end in z do not change gender but replace the z with a ces in the plural.

El hombre feliz = The happy man.

Los hombres felices = The happy men.

Adjectives that end in e do not change gender. Simply add s in the plural.

La silla grande = The big chair.

Las sillas grandes = The big chairs.