This document provides an overview of various Spanish grammar topics including: stem changing verbs, indirect object pronouns and their placement, gustar, superlatives, reflexive verbs, commands, preterite tense, sequencing words, irregular preterite verbs ending in -car, -gar, -zar, using deber + infinitive, modal verbs, present progressive tense, and forming adverbs. It explains how to conjugate and apply these different elements of Spanish grammar.

1. Juan Minter

2. • Nacionalidades
• Stem Changing Verbs
• Para
• Indirect Object Pronouns
• Pronoun placement
• Gustar
• Affirmative and Negative Words
• Superlatives
• Reflexives
• Affirmative tu commands + Irregulars + Pronoun Placement
• Negative tu commands + Irregulars + Pronoun Placement
• Sequencing Events
• Preterite
• Trigger words
• -car, -gar, -zar
• Deber+infinitive
• Modal verbs
• Present progressive
• adverbios

4. When a verb corresponds to a particular
subject, it needs to be conjugated
appropriately, ex: 1st, 2nd and 3rd person and
their plural counterparts
o-ue e-i e-ie u-ue
Ex: costar Ex: pedir Ex: pensar Ex: jugar
Cuesto Costamo Pedimo Piens Pensam Jugamo
s
Pido os
Jueg
Yo s o s
Nosotros o
Cuesta Costáis
Pides Pedís Piens Pensá
s Vosotro Juega Jugáis
Tú s as is
s
Cuest Cuesta Pide Piden
a n Piens Piens
Ellos, a an Juega Juega
El, Boot Boot Boot
Ellas, n
Ella,
Uds.
Ud.
0-UE (ex): El vaso cuesta viente pesos.
E-IE (ex): Yo pienso la fiesta de mi hermano.
E-I (ex): ¿Pido un postre y lo compartimos?
U-UE (ex): Yo juego el baloncesto y béisbol.

5. • Means for or in order to
• It is used to indicate when you want to include for in a
sentence to emphasize possesion or belonging in most
cases.
• Ex: Yo preparo la fiesta para mi hermano.
• This means I prepare the party for my brother.
• Ex: Quisiera un bicileta para dos.
• This means I want a bicycle intended for two people to ride
(tandem).
• Vive para comer
• This means he/she lives to eat.

6. Me Nos
Te Vos
le Les
• Indirect object pronouns are placed after direct object
pronouns to indicate to whom or for whom the action is being
specified.
Indirect object before it is
• Tú escribas las cartas a Anna. turned into a pronoun
A Anna is changed to le because the DO
• Tú le escribas las cartas.
is directed toward Anna and so it is le.
These are the IOP pronouns.
The IOP’s can be placed in 3 places which include in between
the verb and subject, attached to an infinitive, and before the
DOP.
Ex (between verb and subject): Tú le escribas las cartas.
Ex (attached to an infinitive): Ellos va a comprarte los flores.
Ex (before the DOP): Yo te lo compro.

7. Ejemplos Attach the
• Me afeito. pronoun to
a
• Yo te escribo las cartas a ti. progressive
tense
Attach the
pronoun
to the
infinitive
Place the Attach the
pronoun pronoun to
before the an
conjugated affirmative
verb command

8. • Gustar is used to show that someone likes something
because Gustar literally means, in the infinitive, to like.
• The Pronouns that are associated with gustar are the
same as IOPs.
Me Nos
Te Vos
Le Les
• Ex: Me gusta los chicharones.
• This means I like chicharones.
• Ex: Me gustas tú.
• This means I like you.

9. • Affirmatives and negatives are used to give something a
negative or affirmative connotation.
Affirmativos Negativos
Algo- something Nada- nothing
Alguien- someone Nadie- no one
Algún/ Alguno- some Ningún/ Ninguno- none, not
any
Siempre- always
Nunca- never
También- also
Tampoco- neither, either
• Quisiera algo de tomar.
• This means I would like something to drink.
• Quisiera nada de tomar.
• Obivously, this is negated from the former sentence
and becomes I would like nothing to drink.
• Las chicas quieren ningún postre.
• This means the girls would not like any desert.

10. • When you express adjectives in an exaggerated way, you have to drop
the final vowel and add the ending of –ísimo(a). Then you have to make
it agree with gender and number to the specific noun it modifies.
• Ex: ¡El monstruo es feoísimo! Male and singular
• Ex: ¡Las ideas de Rosa son intersantísimas! Feminine and plural
• When the last consonant is a C, G, or Z, spelling changes have to take
place.
• C  QU
• Rico(a)  riquísimo(a)
• Ex: El postre es riquísimo.
• G  GU
• Largo(a)  larguísimo(a)
• Los pantalones son larguísimo.
• ZC
• Feliz  felicísimo(a)
• La fiesta es felicísima.

11. • Reflexives are used when you refer back to yourself like I wash my
self or to dry one’s hair; basically it is an action that you perform to
yourself.
• They need to be properly formatted; this is done by taking the se off
the back end of the reflexive verb. Once you do this, you can then
place it in front of the verb with one of these pronouns 
• Reflexives only end in se
• So, (acostarse) Me Nos
• Step 1: conjugate  (yo) acuesto Te Os
• Step 2: add appropriate reflexive pronoun Se Se
• Where can you put them?
• In front of a conjugated verb
• Attached to a gerund
• Attached to infinitive
• Attached to an affirmative command

12. Affirmative Tú Simply drop the Can attach DOP
Affirmative Tú command ‘S’ to ending
• ¡Come!
• This means, eat! It is an affirmative command put in tú form the s dropped.
• ¡Habla!
• ¡Roba!
• ¡Estudia!
• Irregulares  Di, Haz, Ve, Pon, Sal, Sé, Ten, Ven
• Di  Decir  say or tell
• Haz  Hacer  make or do
• Ve  Ir  go Pronnoun Placement
• Pon  Poner  put • Attach to infintive
• Sal  Salir  leave • Gerund
• Sé  Ser  be • Before a conjugated verb
• Ten  Tener  have • Affirmative Command
• Ven  Venir  come

13. • Negativos Change to the
opposite vowel
Negative Tú Put in ‘yo’ form Add an ‘S’
command Ar  e
Er, ir  a
• These are used to indicate something is not.
• TV DISHES
• Tener  No tengas Pronoun Placement
• Venir  No Vengas • Infinitive
• Dar/ Decir  No des/ digas • Gerund
• Ir  No vegas • Before conjugated verb
• Ser  No Seas • Affirmative command
• Hacer  No hagas
• Estar  No estes
• Saber  No Sepas

14. • There are many sequencing words used to indicate time
and place. They include primero, entonces, luego/
después, por fin, antes de/ después de, por la mañana/
tarde/ noche, los lunes
• Ex: Primero, Alberto se afeita por la mañana.
• Después de se ducha, se acuesta.
• Antes de me pongo la ropa, me maquillo.
• Luego, se duerme.
• Por fin, me duerme.

15. • In Spanish, preterite is used to signify past actions that
are completed. Basically they show words like played or
danced.
• Most any verb can be conjugated in this manner. All you
have to do is drop the –ar, -er, -ir ending and add one of
these for –ar
Ella camino por al parque. É Amos
-She walked through the park. Aste asteis
ó aron
• If you have a verb ending in –er/-ir, drop the ending and
Í Imos
add Ayer escribí tres cartas.
-Yesterday, I wrote three letters. Iste Isteis
ió ieron

16. English Spanish
• Trigger words are the words used to
Signify that a preterite is about to take One day Un día
Place. In a sense, they are beacons that Once Una vez
Help us identify preterites and these are
Yesterday Ayer
Only a few of the countless trigger words
Possible. At night A noche
A year ago Hace un año
Already Ya
Ex: Ayer, escribí tres cartas.
Last month El mes pasado
-Yesterday I wrote three letters.
Day before Anteayer
yesterday
For one hour Por una hora
Finally Porfin
At eight A las ocho
On February fifth El cinco de febrero
twice Dos veces

17. • Tocar, jugar, and comenzar are all irregular preterite
verbs. In fact, any verb ending in car, gar, or zar is
irregular for preterites. This is almost the same as in
other verbs because what happens here is that for a verb
with a car, gar, or zar ending, the yo form is affected.
Tocar Jugar Comenzar
Toqué Tocamo Jugué Jugamo Comencé Comenzam
s s os
Tocaste Tocastei Jugaste Jugastei Comenzaste Comenzaste
s s is
tocó Tocaron Jugó Jugaron comenzó comenzaron
Ex: Yo toqué deportes de Futbol Americano y Beisbol.
- I played the sports of Football and Baseball.

18. • Deber + infinitive is used to show when someone should
do something. When you want to say that someone
should do something, you conjugate deber appropriately
then add an infinitive.
• Step 1- conjugate deber  Debo Debemos
Debes ----------
debe deben
• Step 2- add infinitive
Ex: Yo debo pasar la aspiradora.
-I should vacuum.
Ex: Diego debe sacar la basura.
-Diego should take out the trash.

19. • Modal verbs are verbs are the verbs used in verb
combinations. These verbs when combined make It so
that the modal verb is conjuagted leaving the verb after it
in the infinitive form.
• Ex: Deber: should, ought to
• Desear: to desire
• Necesitar: to need
• Poder: can, could, might, be able to
• Querer: want, would like to
• Saber: know, know how to
• Soler: usually, used to
• Ex: Yo debo pasar la aspiradora.
• I should vacuum. Debo is the modal verb in this case.

20. • Present progressives are used to show –ing endings. Present
progressives are used to show actions taking place in the
present.
• To make a verb present progressive, first conjugate estar to fit
with the subject.  Yo estoy
• Then, take a verb, drop its ar, ir, or er ending and add the
proper ing ending.  Yo estoy pasando la aspiradora.
• Estar + ing
• AR ending  ANDO ending
• ER/IR ending  IENDO ending
• Exception: if there is a 3 vowel conjugation, the ing ending
becomes yendo
• Ex: Yo estoy creyendo come from creer which normally would be
creiendo
• Ex: Diego está quitando el polvo.

21. • When modifying a verb, we use adverbs. In spanish, this
is denoted by the –mente ending. Many adverbs only
require changing the ending.
• For e, l, or z endings, just add –mente
• For adjectives ending in –o or –a endings, change their
gender. This means change –o to –a before adding –
mente, and changing –a to –o before adding –mente.
• EX: Yo estoy paso la aspiradora cuidadosomente
• Taken from the adjective cuidadosa, I vacuum carefully
• Ella está quitando el polvo lentement.
• She is dusting slowly.