This document provides a summary of Spanish grammar concepts including: - The present tense formation of regular and irregular verbs. - The differences between ser and estar. - Verbs like gustar and their usage. - Spanish noun and adjective agreement including gender and number. - The differences between the preterite and imperfect tenses.

1. Grammar Book
Emma Waldron

2. Table of Contents
El Presente
Ser y Estar
Verbs like Gustar
Nouns and Articles
Adjectives
Preterite vs. Imperfect

3. El Presente
• Regular –ar –er –ir verbs are formed by dropping the
infinitive ending and add these endings.
AR Endings ER/IR
Endings
o emos/imos
o amos
as áis es éis/ís
a an e En
• Also used to express habitual actions or actions that
will take place in the near future.

4. El Presente
• Stem Changing Verbs change all forms of the
verb EXCEPT FOR nosotros or vosotros
• e:i pedir
– Jugar changes its stem vowel from u to ue.
– Add a y before personal endings for construir, destruir,
incluir, and influir.
– Jugar: juego, juegas, juegam jugamos, juegan

5. El Presente
• Irregular yo Forms
– Verbs ending in –cer or –cir change to –zco in the
yo form
– Verbs ending in –ger or –gir change to –jo.
– Example: caer- yo caigo & conducir- yo conduzco
– Ending in jo: escoger yo escojo
saber yo sé
- Verbs with prefixes FOLLOW THE SAME PATTERNS!

6. Irregular Verbs
• Some verbs are irregular in the present tense
or combine a stem-change with an irregular to
form another spelling change.

7. Ser and Estar
• Both mean to be, but they are not interchangeable.
• Ser is used to express the idea of permanence, such as
inherent or unchanging qualities and characteristics
• Ser and Estar with adjectives
– Ser is used with adjectives to describe inherent, expected
qualities.
– Estar is used to describe temporary qualities.
– Ser and estar can both be used with most descriptive
adjectives, but have different meanings.
*Estar, not ser is used with muerto/a.

8. Ser vs. Estar
Ser Estar
– Nationality and place of origin • Location or spatial relationships
– Profession or occupation • Health
– Characteristics of people, • Physical states and conditions
animals, and things • Emotional states
– Generalizations • Certain weather expressions
– Possession • Ongoing actions(progressive
– Material of composition tenses)
– Time, date or season • Results of actions (past
– Where or when an event participles)
takes place

9. Verbos como gustar
• Though gustar is translated as to like in English, its literal
meaning is to please.
• Because the things or person that pleases is the subject,
gustar agrees in person and number with it. Most
commonly the subject is third person singular or plural.
• When gustar is followed by one or more verbs in the
infinitive, the singular form of gustar is always used. Les
gusta cantar y bailar.
• It is often used in the conditional

10. Verbs como gustar
• Verbs like gustar: aburrir, caer bien/mal, disgustar, doler,
encantar, faltar, fascinar, hacer falta, importarm interesar,
molestar, preocupar, quedar, sorprender, and apetecer
• The construction a + [prepositional pronoun] or a + [noun]
can be used to emphasize who is pleased, bothered, etc.
• Examples: A Felipe le molesta ir de compras.
• Faltar expresses what someone or something lacks and
quedar expresses what someone or something has left.
Quedar is also used to talk about how clothing looks or fits
on someone.

11. Nouns and Articles
• In Spanish, there are feminine nouns and masculine
nouns. In general, nouns that end in –a are feminine, and
nouns that end in –o are masculine. However, there are
some exceptions. (El agua)
• The article used before a noun depends on whether it is
indefinite or definite and whether the noun is masculine
or feminine.
Definite Feminine Masculine Indefinite Feminine Masculine
Articles Articles
Singular La El Singular Una Un
Plural Las Los Plural Unas Unos

12. Adjectives
• In Spanish, an adjective must agree in number
and gender with the noun it is describing.
• Examples
• La chica alta
• Las chicas altas
• El hombre fuerte
• Los hombres fuertes

13. Pretérito vs. Imperfecto
• A single instantaneous • A description of a scene
action or event in the past
• An event that is done and • Tells in general when an
over with action took place
• A series of completed • Used to talk about a
events recurring action in the
• Tells specifically when an past
event took place • An ongoing action in the
• Used to describe actions past
with definite beginnings • Used to describe a
or endings physical or mental
condition in the past

14. El Pretérito
• Regular Verbs
AR Verbs ER/IR Verbs
é amos í imos
aste asteis iste isteis
ó aron ió ieron
Verbs ending in –aer, -eer, -oír, oer
The third person singular form of these verbs uses the “yó” ending.
The third person plural form uses “yeron.” Add an accent on “i” for all other
forms.
Example: creer í, ó
Creí Creímos
Creíste Creísteis
Creyó creyeron

15. Los verbos irregulares en el pretérito
• Car, Gar, Zar Verbs
– These verbs have changes in the “yo” form only.
– Car- qué
– Gar- gué
– Zar- cé
• Four Irregulars
Ser y Ir Dar
Fui Fuimos Di Dimos
Fuiste Fuisteis Diste Disteis
Fue Fueron Dio Dieron
Hacer
Hice Hicimos
Hiciste Hicisteis
Hizo Hicieron

16. Los verbos irregulares en el pretérito
Stem Changers
Snake Verbs - These verbs change to the
- Only stem changing following stems and have
IR verbs change in these endings:
the preterite. They - Andar- anduv
- Estar- estuv
only change in the - Tener- tuv
third person. - Caber- cup
- ei ou - Haber- hub
- Poder- pud
- Example: - Poner- pus
Preferir - Saber- sup
- Hacer - hic
Preferí Preferimos - Querer - quis
Preferiste Preferisteis - Venir- vin
Prefirió Prefirieron
- Endings
e imos
iste isteis
o ieron