1. "h" makes no sound in Spanish.
Example:
Hola sounds like oh-la.
2. Vowel sounds: a (ah), e (ay), i (ee), o (oh), u (ooh)
3. Accentuation (stress) in Spanish normally falls on second to last syllable, unless the word ends in a vowel, n, or s.
Examples:
casa
manzana
calle
Written accent
marks indicate:
a.) Exception to the stress rule where the emphasis falls on a different syllable.
Examples:
fútbol
teléfono
corazón
b.) Differentiation between words otherwise spelled the same way.
Examples:
se = reflexive pronoun
sé = I know
c.) Question words/interrogatives
(who, what, when, where, why, how).
Examples:
¿Quién?
¿Qué?
¿Cuándo?
¿Dónde?
¿Por qué?
¿Cómo?
4. Every noun has a gender. Feminine nouns normally end with "a," "dad," or "ción." All others are normally masculine.
Exceptions:
-ma ending words are always masculine and are of Greek origin.
Example:
el problema
5. Cognates are words that come directly from English but follow Spanish phonetics (i.e., liberal, importante).
6. ñ is the only survivor the four non-English letters; lost were ll, rr, ch.
7. "g"
makes different sounds based on the vowel that proceeds it:
ga - hard
ge - soft
gi - soft
go - hard
gu - take on an "a" and is pronounced (wah)
Examples:
amiga
general
gitano
amigo
agua
8. All nouns in Spanish have a gender article and adjectives must agree with nouns in number and gender.
Definite articles:
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
| Masculine |
el
(the)
|
los
(the)
|
| Feminine |
la
(the)
|
las
(the)
|
Indefinite articles:
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
| Masculine |
un
(a/an)
|
unos (some/a few) |
| Feminine |
una
(a/an)
|
unas
(some/a few)
|
9. b and v sound the same.
10. To make nounds plural, you add "s" to words that end in vowel and "es" when words end in consonates.
Examples:
casa > casas
papel > papeles
árbol > árboles
11. "hay" (pronounced "eye") has only one form. It's a medieval verb meaning "there is" or "there are." There is no infinitive.
Examples:
Hay un libro en la mesa.
No hay más manzanas.
12. Yes / No questions in Spanish must be answered first and then explained further. No questions must also negate the verb, as well.
Examples:
¿Te gusta café?
-No, no me gusta café.
¿Quieres
estudiar ahora?
-Sí, quiero estudiar ahora.
13. "en" equals in, at, or on.
14. To be pleasing to = gustar
|
gustar
- to be pleasing to
|
|
| me gusta(n) | nos gusta(n) |
|
te gusta(n) |
les gusta(n) |
| le gusta(n) | |
Examples:
Me gustan las enchiladas de pollo.
¿No te gusta café?
15. Time requires either ser in 3rd personal singular or plural. Those are es or son.
es/son la/las +
# de la mañana/tarde (before 7 p.m.)/noche (alter 7 p.m.)
Before 30: y (and) number of minutes.
After 30: menos (minus) - subtract number of minutes
en punto: on the dot
Examples:
Son las siete de la mañana. (It's 7:00 a.m.)
Son las siete menos veinte de la mañana. (It's 6:20 a.m.)
Son las siete y diez de la mañana. (It's 7:10 a.m.)
Son las siete en punto de la mañana. (It's 7:00 a.m. on the dot.)
16. How do you
call yourself?
|
llamarse
(to call oneself)
|
|
| me llamo (my name is) | nos llamamos (our name is) |
| te llamas (your name is) | se llaman (your/their name is) |
| se llama (your/his/her name is) | |
Example:
¿Cómo te llamas?
Me llamo Ricardo.
17. Spanish is a SVO language (Subject, Verb, Object)
Example:
Ella estudia
el español.
18. There are two
forms of "to be" in Spanish.
|
estar
- to be (temporary)
|
|
| estoy (I am) | estamos (we are) |
| estás (you are) | están (they are) |
| está (he/she/it is) | |
|
ser
- to be (permanent)
|
|
| soy (I am) | somos (we are) |
| eres (you are) | son (they are) |
| es (he/she/it is) | |
19. Personal Pronouns
| I = yo | we = nosotros/nosotras (fem.) |
| you (familiar) = tú | y'all
= Uds. they = ellos (masc.) they = ellas (fem.) |
| you
(formal) = Ud. he= él she = ella |
20. The 3rd person verb form needs to express a subject. Other forms don't because the subject is contained in the conjugation.
| yo | nosotros/nosotras |
| tú | Uds./ellos/ellas |
| Ud./él/ella |
21. Possessive
pronouns
| my = mi(s) | our = nuestro(s)/nuestra(s) |
| your = tu(s) | y'all's/their = su(s) |
| your/his/hers = su(s) |
22. Infinitive
of verb: indicates the action or state of being, with no reference to whom or
what performs the action or when action is done (present, past, future).
all infinitives end in -ar, -er, or -ir.
Examples:
estudiar
comer
vivir
23. 90% of verbs
in Spanish are -ar ending in infinitive.
Regular -ar verbs follow this pattern:
| -o | -amos |
| -as | -an |
| -a |
24. All articles,
nouns, and adjectives must agree in gender and number (masc./fem. and sing./plural).
The noun determines the articles and adjectives.
25. Ways to Generate Restating:
Repita, por favor.
(Repeat, please.)
Otra vez, por favor. (Again, please.)
Más despacio, por favor. (More slowly, please.)
Más lentamente, por favor. (More slowly, please.)
26. Two contractions which must always be formed when their components are adjacent to one another:
a + el = al (to
the)
de + el = del (from/of the)
Examples:
Voy al mercado. (I am going to the market.)
Nuestro restaurante favorito es Casa del Sol. (Our favorite restaurante is House
of the Sun.)
27. Two conjugated
verbs can never be adjacent to each other.
Conjugate the first verb.
Examples:
Me gusta hablar. (I like to speak.)
Deseas estudiar. (You desire to study.)
Queremos comer. (We want to eat.)
28. Conjugation of Regular -ar, -er, and -ir Verbs.
|
-ar
verbs (estudiar)
|
|
| estudio | estudiamos |
| estudias | estudian |
| estudia | |
|
-er
verbs (comer)
|
|
| como | comemos |
| comes | comen |
| come | |
|
-ir
verbs (vivir)
|
|
| vivo | vivimos |
| vives | viven |
| vive | |
29. Boot Verbs
- Irregular
|
tener
= to have
|
|
| tengo | tenemos |
| tienes | tienen |
| tiene | |
30. After all prepositions,
infinitive verb forms only.
31. -ing/present
participle/progressive tense/gerend if formed by adding -ando or iendo to respective
verb stems (e.g., hablando, comiendo).
must be used with an estar form:
|
estar
= to be
|
|
| estoy | estamos |
| estás | están |
| está | |
Examples:
Estoy hablando. (I am speaking.)
Estamos comiendo (We are eating.)
32. Demonstrative
Adjectives
distinguish 3 levels of proximity to the speaker, if the speaker so desires.
| Singular | Plural |
| this | these |
| esto/este/esta | estos/estas |
| that | those |
| esos/esas | eso/ese/esa |
| that over there | those over there |
| aquel/aquella | aquellos/aquellas |
33. Boot Verbs
Many irregular verbs follow the boot pattern. This means that the "we"
form is the only conjugated form that truly reflects the spelling of the infinitive.
|
poder
= to be able/can
|
|
| puedo | podemos |
| puedes | pueden |
| puede | |
34. Go Verbs
Irregular boot verbs that contain the verbal suffix of "go" and do
not follow regular conjugation
|
tener
= to have
|
|
| tengo | tenemos |
| tienes | tienen |
| tiene | |
|
salir
= to leave
|
|
| salgo | salimos |
| sales | salen |
| sale | |
35. Tener is used in many idioms (phrases that do not translated word for word) that use "to be" in English.
| tener (conjugated) + | sueño | to be tired |
| ## años | to be ## years old | |
| hambre | to be hungry | |
| sed | to be thirsty | |
| frío | to be cold | |
| calor | to be hot | |
| miedo de ____ | to be afraid of ____ | |
| razón | to be right | |
| prisa | to be in a hurry | |
| que + infinitive | to have to ____ |
36. The future
tense can be expressed using ir + a + infinitive.
|
ir
= to go
|
|
| voy + inf. (I am going to ____) | vamos + inf. (we are going to ____) |
| vas + inf. (you are going to ____) | van + inf. (you/they are going to ____) |
| va + inf. (you/he/she/it is going to ____) | |
e.g., Van a bailar = They are going to dance.
37. Reflexive Verbs
are verbs that the subject of the verb is also the object of the verb. The infinitive
form carries with it the reflexive pronouns "se" to indicate that
a reflexive pronoun must precede the conjugated verb form.
|
bañarse
= to bathe oneself
|
|
| me baño (I take a bath) | nos bañamos (we take a bath) |
| te bañas (you take a bath) | se bañan (y'all/they take a bath) |
| se baña (you/he/she takes a bath) | |
"se"
indicates that one of the reflexive pronouns must precede. Usually indicates
daily routine.
i.e., I shave myself - must indicate yourself.
See page 144 in text.
38. "a"
1. directional (traveling to Mexico/viajo a México)
2. personal (I visit my grandmother/visito a mi abuela)
3. mandatory with certain verbs (asistir a la fiesta)
4. informal future (voy a estudiar)
5. to or towards (viene a la cocina)
6. Event at a specific time requires a + la/las xxx (a las dos)
39. Ser vs. estar (see page 171 in text)
| Uses
of ser (to be) - PERMANENT To identify people To express nationality With de to express origin With de to tell what material something is made of With para to tell for whom something is intended To tell time With de to express possession With adjective that describes basic, inherent characteristics To form generalizations |
Uses
of estar (to be) - TEMPORARY To tell location To describe health (or how you feel) With adjectives that describe conditions In a number of fixed expressions With present participles to form the progressive tense. |
Present progressive
is formed with estar and the present participle, formed by adding -ando to the
stem of -ar / adding -iendo to the stem of -er and -ir verbs.
Tomar > tomando = talking, drinking
Preferir > prefiriendo = preferring
Abrir > abriendo = opening
40. Ordinal Numbers
First and third drop the -o in the singular (primero and tercero).
Cardinal Ordinal (to describe order of position)
| 1 | uno | primero |
| 2 | dos | segundo |
| 3 | tres | tercero |
| 4 | cuatro | cuarto |
| 5 | cinco | quinto |
| 6 | seis | sexto |
| 7 | siete | séptimo |
| 8 | ocho | octavo |
| 9 | nueve | noveno |
| 10 | diez | décimo |
41. Prepositional
phrases generally require a "de" to relate the position of the object
to its referent.
42. Linking Words
| pero | but |
| sin embargo | however |
| entonces | so, then, next |
| luego | then |
| todavía | yet, still, although |
| por otro lado | on the other hand |
| además | besides |
| sobre todo | above all else |
| aunque | although |
| sino | but rather |
| también | also |
| tampoco | neither |
| por último | last of all |
| por eso | therefore |