This document provides a grammar book table of contents covering various topics of Spanish grammar, including: reflexive verbs, por vs para, ways to say "to become", the future, conditional, present perfect, relative pronouns, subjunctive mood usage, comparisons and superlatives, adverbs, diminutives and augmentatives, the present perfect subjunctive, uses of se, past participles as adjectives, time expressions with hacer, the future perfect, conditional perfect, si clauses, transitional expressions, passive voice, negative and indefinite expressions, and prepositions. Each topic includes a brief definition or examples.

1. Grammar Book
Spring 2013
Raquel Hynes

2. Table of contents
 reflexive verbs
 por + para
 to become- hacerse, ponerse, volverse, llegar a
 Future
 conditional
 present perfect
 relative pronouns
 qué vs cuál
 the neuter lo
 subjunctive in adverbial clauses
 past subjunctive
 comparisons + superlatives
 Adverbs

3. Table of contents
 diminutives + augmentatives
 present perfect subjunctive
 uses of se
 past participles as adjectives
 time expressions with hacer
 Future perfect
 conditional perfect
 si clauses
 transitional expressions
 pero vs. sino
 passive voice
 negative and indefinite expressions
 Past perfect
 past perfect subjunctive se
 uses of the infinitive
 prepositions: a, hacia, con de, desde, en, entre, hasta, sin

4. Reflexives
 Reflexive pronouns are often followed by
a verb :
 Example: I brush my teeth.
 This goes for Spanish language as well:
Me Nos
Te Os
Se Se

5. Por vs Para
Por
•Movement
•Duration
•Meaning
•Unit
•Exchange
Para
•Destination
•Deadline
•Recipient
•Purpose
•Employment
•Comparison

6. To Become
• hacerse, ponerse, volverse, llegar a ser all
mean to become.
• Followed by a noun or adjective
• Indicate a change brought about by
effort
Hacerse
• Followed by an adjective
• Indicates an involuntary physical or
emotional change
Ponerse
• Followed by an adjective
• Indicates a sudden, profound changeVolverse
• Followed by a noun or adjective
• Indicate a change brought about by
effort
Llegar a
ser

7. Future
• Drop the ar/er/ir and ad ending
• Endings: É, ás, á, emos, éis, án
• Irregulars: ; caber (cabr-), haber (habr-
), poder (podr-), querer (querr-), saber
(sabr-), poner (pondr-), salir (saldr-),
tener (tendr-), valer (valdr-), venir
(vendr-), decir (dir-), hacer (har-)
• To express future you can also use
Ir+a+infinitivie

8. • Expresses what would could or should happen or
what could happen as result of another action
• Endings: Ía, ías, ía, íamos, ías, ían
• Irregulars: caber (cabr-), haber (habr-), poder
(podr-), querer (querr-), saber (sabr-), poner
(pondr-), salir (saldr-), tener (tendr-), valer (valdr-),
venir (vendr-), decir (dir-), hacer (har-)

9. Present Perfect
• Expresses things that have just recently
happened
• The present perfect is conjugated haber +
conjugated verb
• The verb endings are: -ado for –ar and –
ido for er and ir
9

10. Relative Pronouns
• Relative pronouns are practically conjunctions.
They connect sentences to make more interesting
and complex sentences.
• que, el/la que, el/la cual, quien/quienes, cuyo
• Que refers to people or things
• El cual and la que are used in more formal
sentences, but are basically the same thing
• Quien and quienes are used for people only.
• Cuyo refers to whose
10

11. Que vs Cual
Qué is used when asking for
definitions or general
information.
Cuál usually is used
before es and other forms
ofser when not seeking a
definition or more specific
things.

12. Neuter Lo
• Use lo and a masculine singular
adjective to relay ideas.
• The adjective cant describe
anything tangible, just an idea or
characteristic.
12

13. Subjunctive in Adverbial
Clauses
 antes (de) que: before
 para que & a fin de que: in order that
 sin que: without
 con tal (de) que: provided that
 en caso de que: in case
 a no ser que & a menos que: unless
 cuando: when
 hasta que: until
 en cuanto: as soon as
 luego que: as soon as
 después (de) que: after
 mientras (que): while

14. Past Subjunctive
 take third person plural in the preterit and add the
endings
 ending “-se” may be seen replacing “-ra”
-ra -ramos
-ras -rais
-ra -ran

15. comparisons + superlatives
 comparisons indicate that something has
more or less of a quality like –er.
 superlatives indicate that something has
the most of a quality like –est.

16. Adverbs
 formed by adding –mente to the feminine
singular form of the adjective.
 Probablemente
 Rápidamente
 felizmente

17. diminutives + augmentatives
 diminutives indicate smallness or show affection
 augmentatives indicate that something is large
or undesirable
 diminutives: if the noun ends in o or a, drop the
vowel and add ita or ito. If the noun doesn‟t end
in a vowel, add cita or cito to the ending.
Augmentatives: -azo/-aza
-ón/-ona
-ote/-ota
-ucho/-ucha
-acho/-acha
-udo/-uda

18. Present Perfect Subjunctive
 formed by the present subjunctive
conjugation of haber + the past participle
Conjugation
haya + past participle
hayas + past participle
haya + past participle
hayamos + past participle
hayáis + past participle
hayan + past participle

19. Se
 „Se‟ becomes impersonal when the
subject of the verb is unidentified, but
obviously third person.
 This is most commonly used when making
a general statement.
 se + 3rd person singular verb
 Examples:
 Se habla español aquí.

20. past participles as adjectives
 as adjectives, they agree with the nouns
they describe in both gender and number
(plurals have an s added)
 add –ado to –ar verbs; add –ido to –er/-ir
verbs

21. time expressions with hacer
 This format is used to explain the amount
of time that the action took.
 Hace+Time+Que+Present Tense
Hace
Tres
ańos
Que
bailo

22. Future Perfect
refers to an event “will have” or “shall have”
happened
formed by the future indicative form of
haber followed by the past participle
habré + past participle habremos + past participle
habrás + past participle habréis + past participle
habrá + past participle habrán +past participle

23. Conditional Perfect
 conjugated form of haber + the past
participle
 expresses something that would have
happened
habría habríamos
habrías habríais
habría habrían

24. Si Clauses
 They can come before or after the main
clause and often contradict the main
clause.

25. transitional expressions
 cause and effect: por, porque, como, ya
que
 clarification and explanation: además (de),
en otras palabras
 contrast and similarity: sin embargo, aunque,
igualmente
 general and specific: en general,
específicamente
 Introduction and conclusion: en primer
lugar, para concluir

26. pero vs. sino
 Pero indicates contrast, but sino indicates
direct negation of the other cause.

27. Passive Voice
 A common use of the passive voice is to
indicate what happened to the subject of
the sentence without saying who or what
carried out the action.
 Las computadoras fueron vendidas. It is
not specified who carried out the action.

28. Negative Expressions
 Used when referring to nobody or nothing.
 nada
 nadie
 ningún
 ninguno/a
 ni
 nunca
 tampoco

29. Indefinite Expressions
 Used when the subject is unknown or
unspecific
 Algo
 alguien
 alguna vez
 alguno/a
 cualquier/a

30. Past Perfect
 participles are formed by adding –ado to
“-ar” verbs and –ido to “-er/-ir” verbs
Conjugation
he + past participle
has + past participle
ha + past participle
hemos + past participle
habéis + past participle
han + past participle

31. Past Perfect Subjunctive Se
 completed actions that had happened
before another past action
 conditional constructions
 hypothetical situations that could‟ve
happened, but did not happen
 imperfect subjunctive of haber + past
participle

32. Uses of the infinitive
 translated as “to + verb”
 Use when the verb is being used as a
subject, object of the verb or the
preposition, or the predicate noun.

33. Prepositions
a to, at
Antes de Before
Con with
contra against
de Of, from
desde since
durante during
en In, on
entre between
hasta until
Par/por for
sin without
sobre about