Spanish Classroom: Basic Spanish

Learn Spanish at the best Spanish Language centre  in Coimbatore. Starting from the basics the Spanish language course takes the students to the higher leves of leaning.

Basic Spanish Phrases

¡Buenos días! bway-nohs dee-ahs Hello! / Good morning!	¡Buenas tardes! bway-nahs tard-ays Good afternoon!	¡Buenas noches! bway-nahs noh-chays Good evening! / Good night!
¡Hola! / ¡Chao! oh-lah / chow Hi! / Bye!	Adiós. ah-dee-ohs Good bye.	Por favor. por fah-bor Please.
Hasta la vista / Hasta luego. ah-stah lah vees-tah / ah-stah loo-ay-go See you / See you later.	Hasta pronto. ah-stah prohn-toh See you soon.	Hasta mañana. ah-stah mahn-yahn-ah See you tomorrow.
(Muchas) Gracias. (moo-chahs) grah-see-ahs  Thank you (very much).	De nada. day nah-dah You’re welcome.	Bienvenidos byen-veh-nee-dohs Welcome
Lo siento loh see-ehn-toh I’m sorry	Con permiso / Perdón / Disculpe kohn pehr-mee-soh / pehr-dohn / dees-kool-peh Excuse me / Pardon me	¡Vamos! bah-mohs Let’s go!
¿Cómo está usted? koh-moh ay-stah oo-sted How are you? (formal)	¿Cómo estás? koh-moh ay-stahs  How are you? (informal)	¿Qué tal? kay tahl  How’s it going?
Bien / Muy bien bee-ehn / moy bee-ehn  Good / Very good	Mal / Muy mal / Más o menos mahl / moy mahl / mahs oh may-nohs Bad / Very bad / OK	Sí / No see / noh Yes / No
¿Cómo se llama usted? koh-moh say yah-mah oo-sted What is your name? (formal)	¿Cómo te llamas? koh-moh tay yah-mahs  What is your name? (informal)	Me llamo…  / Mi nombre es… may yah-moh  / mee nohm-breh ess My name is…
Mucho gusto. / Encantado. moo-choh goo-stoh / en-cahn-tah-doh Nice to meet you.	Igualmente. ee-guahl-mehn-tay Same here. / Same to you.	Señor / Señora / Señorita sayn-yor / sayn-yor-ah / sayn-yor-ee-tah Mister / Mrs. / Miss
¿De dónde es usted? day dohn-day ehs oo-sted  Where are you from? (formal)	¿De dónde eres? day dohn-day eh-rehs  Where are you from? (informal)	Yo soy de… yoh soy day  I’m from…
¿Cuántos años tiene usted? quahn-tohs ahn-yohs tee-ay-nay oo-sted  How old are you? (formal)	¿Cuántos años tienes? quahn-tohs ahn-yohs tee-ayn-ays  How old are you? (informal)	Yo tengo _____ años. yoh tayn-goh _____ ahn-yohs  I am _____ years old.
¿Habla usted español? ah-blah oo-sted eh-spahn-yol Do you speak Spanish? (formal)	¿Hablas inglés? ah-blahs een-glehs Do you speak English? (informal)	(No) Hablo… noh ah-bloh I (don’t) speak…
¿Entiende usted? / ¿Entiendes? ehn-tyen-deh oo-sted / ehn-tyen-dehs Do you understand? (formal / informal)	(No) Entiendo. noh ehn-tyen-doh I (don’t) understand.	Yo (no lo) sé. yoh noh loh seh I (don’t) know.
¿Puede ayudarme? pweh-deh ah-yoo-dar-meh Can you help me? (formal)	Claro / Claro que sí klah-roh / klah-roh keh see Sure / Of course	¿Cómo? koh-moh What? Pardon me?
¿Dónde está / Dónde están… ? dohn-deh eh-stah / dohn-deh eh-stahn Where is … / Where are … ?	Aquí / Ahí ah-kee / ah-ee Here / There	Hay / Había… eye / ah-bee-ah There is / are… / There was / were…
¿Cómo se dice ____ en español? koh-moh seh dee-seh ___ en eh-spahn-yol How do you say ____ in Spanish?	¿Qué es esto? keh ehs ehs-toh What is that?	¿Qué te pasa? keh teh pah-sah What’s the matter (with you)?
No importa. noh eem-por-tah It doesn’t matter.	¿Qué pasa? keh pah-sah What’s happening?	Sin novedad. seen noh-veh-dahd Nothing much.
No tengo ninguna idea. noh tehn-goh neen-goo-nah ee-deh-ah I have no idea.	¡Buena idea! bweh-nah ee-deh-ah Good idea!	¡Pase! pah-seh Go ahead!
Estoy cansado / enfermo. eh-stoy kahn-sah-doh / ehn-fehr-moh I’m tired / sick.	Tengo hambre / sed. tehn-goh ahm-breh / sed I’m hungry / thirsty.	Tengo calor / frío. tehn-goh kah-lohr / free-oh I’m hot / cold.
Estoy aburrido. eh-stoy ah-boo-ree-doh I’m bored.	No me importa. noh meh eem-por-tah I don’t care.	No se preocupe. noh seh preh-oh-koo-peh Don’t worry
Está bien. ehs-tah bee-ehn That’s alright. / It’s ok.	Me olvidé. meh ohl-vee-deh I forgot.	Tengo que ir ahora. tehn-goh keh eer ah-oh-rah I must go now.
¿Listo? lees-toh Ready?	Quizás / Depende. kee-sahs / deh-pehn-deh Maybe / It depends.	Todavía no. toh-dah-vee-ah noh Not yet.
¡Qué chistoso! keh chees-toh-soh How funny!	¡Que le vaya bien! keh leh vah-yah bee-ehn Have a nice day!	¡Nos vemos! nohs veh-mos We’ll see you!
¡Salud! sah-lood Bless you!	¡Felicitaciones! feh-lee-see-tah-see-oh-nehs Congratulations!	¡Buena suerte! bweh-nah swehr-teh Good luck!
Te toca a ti. teh toh-kah ah tee It’s your turn. (informal)	¡Callate! kah-yah-teh Shut up!	Te amo. tay ah-moh  I love you. (informal and singular)

1. Notice that Spanish has informal and formal ways of speaking. This is because there is more than one meaning to “you” in Spanish (as well as in many other languages.) The informal you is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal you is used when talking to someone you just met, do not know well, or someone for whom you would like to show respect (a professor, for example.)
2. Encantado, cansado, enfermo, and aburrido are the masculine forms of the words. If the words refer to a woman or are spoken by a woman, then the final o changes to a: encantada, cansada, enferma, and aburrida
3. In Spain, as well as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, the Spanish language is called castellano instead of español.
4. Por favor is often shortened to just porfa. Porfis can also be used (at least in Mexico) to mean pretty please.
5. Please keep in mind that because Spanish is spoken in many countries, there are several regional dialects and accents so pronunciation rules may not apply to all countries. This tutorial is mostly concerned with the standardized varieties that are spoken in Mexico and northern/central Spain, but will also include common variants from other countries and/or regions. (The southern region of Spain, Andalucía, and the Canary Islands, exhibit features that are closer to Latin American Spanish.)

Spanish Subject Pronouns

singular				plural
first person	yo	yoh	I	nosotros nosotras	noh-soh-trohs noh-soh-trahs	we
second person	tú vos	too bohs	you (informal)	vosotros vosotras	boh-soh-trohs boh-soh-trahs	you (informal)
third person	él ella usted	ail ay-yah oo-sted	he / it she / it you (formal)	ellos ellas ustedes	ay-yohs ay-yahs oo-sted-ays	they (masculine) they (feminine) you (informal / formal)

1. The various pronouns meaning you can be tricky to use correctly in Spanish. The informal forms are used to show familiarity with other people, while the formal forms indicate social distance. There are many factors that determine the familiarity or formality, such as gender, age, location, social class, etc. In general, informal you is used with family members, friends, children, animals, etc. while formal you is reserved for those to whom you wish to show respect. These rules are not steadfast though, and there is a lot of variation throughout the Spanish-speaking world. For example, usted is used among family members in Colombia, whereas most other Spanish speakers would use tú or vos. It is best simply to listen to which pronoun is used in the variety of Spanish that you are most interested in learning to figure out when to use each one.
2. The use of vos as a second person singular pronoun, either in addition to tú or in place of tú, is called voseo. Old Spanish used this pronoun in addition to tú, but it became somewhat stigmatized when the standardized language of Spain stopped using it. Various regions of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela use both tú and vos, while Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay (known together as the Río de la Plata region) and most of Central America use vos in place of tú. Although voseo rarely appears in Spanish textbooks, it is used in some form by a majority (about two-thirds) of the Spanish-speaking population.
3. Because every noun in Spanish has a gender, there are two ways to express it. If the noun is masculine, use él, which also means he. If the noun is feminine, use ella, which also means she.

1. Vosotros is the plural form of tú in northern and central Spain only, for informal you. Ustedes is the plural form of usted for formal you. Since vosotros is not used in the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries, Ustedes is both informal and formal plural you in these countries.
2. Usted can be abbreviated to Ud. or Vd. (from the phrase vuestra merced). Ustedes can also be abbreviated to Uds. or Vds.
3. Nosotras and vosotras refer to a group of all females, as does ellas. If there is a group of people that is mixed (both male and female), use the masculine forms: nosotros, vosotros and ellos.
4. Subject pronouns are often only used for emphasis or to avoid ambiguity when the verb conjugation is the same for different people (such as él and usted.)

Spanish Nouns, Articles, Demonstratives

	Masc. Singular	Fem. Singular		Masc. Plural	Fem. Plural
the	el	la	the	los	las
a, an	un	una	some	unos	unas
this	este	esta	these	estos	estas
that	ese	esa	those	esos	esas
that	aquel	aquella	those	aquellos	aquellas

El is also used with feminine nouns beginning with a or ha when the accent is on the first syllable.  Words that end in -o and -or are generally masculine, with a few exceptions: la mano (hand), la foto (photo). Words that end in -a are generally feminine, with a few exceptions: el mapa(map), el problema (problem). Other feminine words end in -ción, -tad, -dad, or -tud. Use the ese forms to mean that when what you are talking about is near the person you are addressing.  Use the aquel forms when what you are talking about is far from both you and the person you are addressing.  Esto and eso are the neuter forms of this and that.  They can be used in general and abstract ways. Demonstrative adjectives (listed above) are used before a noun; if you want to use the demonstrative pronouns, which are used before a verb, add an accent on all of the first e’s: éste, ésta, éstos, éstas, ése, ésa, ésos, ésas, aquél, aquélla, aquéllos, aquéllas.

Formation of Plural Nouns

1. If a singular noun ends in a vowel, just add -s to make it plural: la casa → las casas
2. If a singular noun ends in a consonant, a vowel with an accent, or y, add -es to make it plural: el papel → los papeles
3. Singular nouns that end in -z change the z to c and add -es to form the plural: la luz → las luces
4. A few nouns that have an accent in the singular will lose it in the plural and vice versa: la canción → las canciones, el examen → los exámenes (but notice that there is no change for el lápiz → los lápices)

Spanish Verbs Be and Have

ser – to be
	present		preterite	imperfect		future
(yo)	soy	I am	fui	era	I was	seré	I will be
(tú / vos)	eres / sos	you are	fuiste	eras	you were	serás	you will be
(él / ella) (usted)	es es	he / she / it is you are	fue fue	era era	he / she / it was you were	será será	he / she / it will be you will be
(nosotros / -as)	somos	we are	fuimos	éramos	we were	seremos	we will be
(vosotros / -as)	sois	you are	fuisteis	erais	you were	seréis	you will be
(ellos / ellas) (ustedes)	son son	they are you are	fueron fueron	eran eran	they were you were	serán serán	they will be you will be

estar – to be
	present		preterite	imperfect		future
(yo)	estoy	I am	estuve	estaba	I was	estaré	I will be
(tú / vos)	estás	you are	estuviste	estabas	you were	estarás	you will be
(él / ella) (usted)	está está	he / she / it is you are	estuvo estuvo	estaba estaba	he / she / it was you were	estará estará	he / she / it will be you will be
(nosotros / -as)	estamos	we are	estuvimos	estábamos	we were	estaremos	we will be
(vosotros / -as)	estáis	you are	estuvisteis	estabais	you were	estaréis	you will be
(ellos / ellas) (ustedes)	están están	they are you are	estuvieron estuvieron	estaban estaban	they were you were	estarán estarán	they will be you will be

tener – to have
	present		preterite	imperfect		future
(yo)	tengo	I have	tuve	tenía	I had	tendré	I will have
(tú / vos)	tienes / tenés	you have	tuviste	tenías	you had	tendrás	you will have
(él / ella) (usted)	tiene tiene	he / she / it has you have	tuvo tuvo	tenía tenía	he / she / it had you had	tendrá tendrá	he / she / it will have you will have
(nosotros / -as)	tenemos	we have	tuvimos	teníamos	we had	tendremos	we will have
(vosotros / -as)	tenéis	you have	tuvisteis	teníais	you had	tendréis	you will have
(ellos / ellas) (ustedes)	tienen tienen	they have you have	tuvieron tuvieron	tenían tenían	they had you had	tendrán tendrán	they will have you will have

Highlighted forms are only used in northern/central Spain. You do not need to use the subject pronouns unless you want to emphasize the person, or to avoid ambiguity. The conjugation for vos is usually only different from the tú conjugation in the present tense and the imperative (commands), though there can be differences in the preterite and subjunctive as well. Sometimes the present tense conjugation is identical to the tú conjugation (in which case, there will only be one form given in the conjugation charts). For the present tense conjugation of ser, in some regions of Chile, Colombia, and Cuba the vos conjugation is soi, whereas in some parts of Panama and Venezuela it is sois. A final -s may or may not be used for the vos conjugation in the preterite tense. There is a lot of variation in the vos conjugations, in addition to the use of the pronoun tú with a vos conjugation or the pronoun vos with a tú conjugation. Voseo is usually associated with Argentina but there are many more places in Latin America that use vos in some form so it is important to be aware of it. The difference between the preterite and imperfect tenses will be explained in Spanish II. In general, the preterite expresses a completed action in the past while the imperfect expresses a repeated or continuing action in the past. For now, just learn the forms for recognition purposes. Ser is used to identify or describe.  It tells what something is, its basic characteristics, or its origin.  Estar is used to tell the location of something or how someone feels.

Uses of Ser

Identify person/object Inherent characteristics or qualities Nationality/Occupation Telling time Express ownership Impersonal expressions Passive voice

El edificio es un templo. La casa es grande. Carlos es pobre. Es carpintero. Son las tres. Los libros son de Juan. Es necesario. El teléfono fue inventado por Bell.

The building is a temple. The house is large. Charles is poor. He is a carpenter. It’s three o’clock. The books are John’s. It is necessary. The telephone was invented by Bell.

Uses of Estar

Location/position Temporary condition/state State of health Form progressive tense

El libro está en la mesa. La ventana está abierta. Juan está enfermo. Miguel está estudiando.

The book is on the table. The window is open. John is sick. Michael is studying.

Sometimes changing the verb can completely change the meaning: ser aburrido means to be boring, while estar aburrido means to be bored. Others include: ser bueno – to be nice, estar bueno – to be in good health; ser callado – to be discrete, estar callado – to be silent; ser moreno – to have brown hair, estar moreno – to be tan.

Many common expressions using the verb “be” in English use the verb “tener” in Spanish (but not all):

to be afraid	tener miedo	to be in a hurry	tener prisa, estar de prisa
to be against	estar en contra	to be jealous	tener celos
to be at fault	tener la culpa	to be lucky	tener suerte
to be careful	tener cuidado	to be patient	tener paciencia
to be cold	tener frío	to be sleepy	tener sueño
to be curious	ser curioso/a	to be successful	tener éxito
to be fed up	estar harto/a	to be thirsty	tener sed
to be happy	estar contento/a	to be tired	estar cansado/a
to be hot	tener calor	to be ___ years old	tener ___ años
to be hungry	tener hambre

Tener is also used with the following expressions that use “have” in English: No tengo ni idea. I have no idea. ¿Tienes un resfriado? Do you have a cold? Tengo que irme. I have to go.

Spanish Question Words

what	qué	which	cuál(es)
who	quién(es)	how much	cuánto (-a)
how	cómo	how many	cuántos (-as)
when	cuándo	whom	a quién(es)
where	dónde	whose	de quién(es)
why	por qué

Spanish Days

Monday	lunes	loo-nays
Tuesday	martes	mar-tays
Wednesday	miércoles	mee-air-coh-lays
Thursday	jueves	hway-bays
Friday	viernes	bee-air-nays
Saturday	sábado	sah-bah-doh
Sunday	domingo	doh-ming-oh
day	el día	dee-ah
week	la semana	say-mahn-ah
weekend	el fin de semana	feen day say-mahn-ah
today	hoy	oy
tonight	esta noche	es-tah noh-chay
last night	anoche	ah-noh-chay
yesterday	ayer	eye-yair
tomorrow	mañana	mahn-yahn-ah
my birthday	mi cumpleaños	mee coom-play-ahn-yohs
next	próximo / próxima	prok-see-moh / mah
last	pasado / pasada	pah-sah-doh / dah
day before yesterday	anteayer	ahn-teh-eye-yair
day after tomorrow	pasado mañana	pah-sah-doh mahn-yahn-ah
the following day	el día siguiente	dee-ah see-gwee-ehn-teh
the day before	la víspera	vees-peh-rah

Days of the week are all masculine in gender and they are not capitalized in writing. The definite article is not used after the verb ser, but at all other times it is required and there is slight change in meaning if it is singular or plural: el lunes = on Monday but los lunes = on Mondays

Spanish Months of the Year

January	enero	ay-nair-oh
February	febrero	fay-bray-roh
March	marzo	mar-soh
April	abril	ah-breel
May	mayo	mi-oh
June	junio	hoo-nee-oh
July	julio	hoo-lee-oh
August	agosto	ah-gohs-toh
September	septiembre	sayp-tee-aim-bray
October	octubre	ohk-too-bray
November	noviembre	noh-bee-aim-bray
December	diciembre	dee-see-aim-bray
month	el mes	mais
first of [a month]	el primero de [month]	pree-mair-oh day _____
year	el año	ahn-yoh
decade	la década	deh-kah-dah
century	el siglo	see-gloh
millennium	el milenio	mee-leh-nee-oh

The preposition en is used with months: en abril = in April. Also notice that primero is used for the first of the month, but the rest of the days are referred to using the regular cardinal numbers: el primero de junio but el dos de julio. Months of the year are also all masculine and not capitalized in writing. ¿Cual es la fecha de hoy? What is today’s date? Hoy es el primero de agosto. Today is August 1st.

Spanish Seasons

spring	la primavera	in spring	en primavera
summer	el verano	in summer	en verano
winter	el invierno	in winter	en invierno
autumn	el otoño	in autumn	en otoño

Spanish Directions

to the right	a la derecha
to the left	a la izquierda
straight ahead	todo derecho

north	el norte	northeast	el noreste
south	el sur	northwest	el noroeste
east	el este	southeast	el sureste
west	el oeste	southwest	el suroeste

Spanish Colors and Shapes

red	rojo / roja	circle	el círculo
pink	rosado / rosada	square	el cuadrado
orange	anaranjado / anaranjada	rectangle	el rectángulo
yellow	amarillo / amarilla	triangle	el triángulo
green	verde	oval	el óvalo
blue	azul	cube	el cubo
light blue	celeste	sphere	la esfera
purple	morado / morada	cylinder	el cilindro
violet	violeta	cone	el cono
brown	marrón	octagon	el octágono
black	negro / negra	box	la caja
gray	gris	pyramid	la pirámide
white	blanco / blanca
golden	dorado / dorada	dark	oscuro / oscura
silver	plateado / plateada	light	claro / clara

All adjectives in Spanish are placed after the noun that they describe and they agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun. Notice that some colors do not change for gender (marrón) or number (gris). To change an adjective to the feminine form, you usually just change the final -o to -a. To make an adjective plural, simply add an -s.

a red house = una casa roja

Spanish Time

¿Qué hora es?	What time is it?
Es la una.	It’s one.
Son las dos/tres/cuatro…	It’s two/three/four…
Es mediodía.	It’s noon.
Es medianoche.	It’s midnight.
Son las cinco y cinco.	It’s 5:05
Son las ocho y cuarto.	It’s 8:15
Son las diez menos cuarto.	It’s 9:45
Son cuarto para las diez.	It’s 9:45 (common in Mexico)
Son las nueve menos diez.	It’s 8:50
Son diez para las nueve.	It’s 8:50 (common in Mexico)
Son las tres y media / treinta.	It’s 3:30
de la mañana	in the morning / AM
de la tarde	in the afternoon / PM
de la noche	in the evening / PM
en punto	exactly / sharp
¿A qué hora?	At what time?

Spanish Weather

¿Qué tiempo hace?	What’s the weather like?
Hace buen tiempo.	The weather’s nice.
Hace mal tiempo.	The weather’s bad.
Hace frío.	It’s cold.
Hace calor.	It’s hot.
Hace sol.	It’s sunny.
Hace viento.	It’s windy.
Hace fresco.	It’s chilly.
Está nublado.	It’s cloudy.
Hay niebla.	It’s foggy.
Hay neblina.	It’s misty.
Hay humedad.	It’s humid.
Hay granizo.	It’s hailing.
Llueve.	It’s raining.
Nieva.	It’s snowing.
Truena.	It’s thundering.
Llovizna.	It’s sprinkling.

Spanish Family

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