Welcome to Gaia! ::

¡Hola! Bienvenidos a español.

About me

I live in San Francisco, and I'm a student of both Spanish and French~ My native language is not Spanish, but I do speak and write it fluently. I have taken Spanish classes for four years and I have studied grammar intensively on my own for the last year or so. All of the info included in my lessons is taken from the knowledge I have gained from various grammar books and websites, and also from the courses I have taken (most of it is copied from my notebook). The examples are taken from Spanish literature. All of the info is checked before I submit, so it is all accurate. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or flames, send me a private message. Don't be afraid to bother me if you have any questions! ^^ Sometimes I'm in a bad mood though, so watch out. scream

Remember, I can only give you words and teach you how to put them together to make a sentence. Learning grammar is one thing, using it is another. The only way you will ever be fluent in any language is if you practice reading it, writing it, and speaking it (a lot), so don't expect to be fluent after reading all of these lessons.

List of helpers
Drakuli
QuintesentialyNonsensical
Domingo Vrolok
metarukaze

List of lessons
All lessons are works in progress. I'll be adding more to each lesson every day.
i. Basics
ii. Gender of nouns
iii. Plural forms of nouns
iv. Articles
v. Adjectives
vi. Personal pronouns
vii. Verbs
viii. Ser and estar
ix. Negation
x. Questions
xi. Adjectives 2
xii. Verbs 2
xiii. Adverbs
xiv. Existential sentences

Lesson 2: Gender of nouns

Spanish places a great deal of emphasis on gender, unlike English, and it is important to know what the gender is of the nouns you use. For this reason, I add the articles before the nouns.

Nouns (a person, place, thing, or idea) in Spanish are either masculine or feminine in gender (with the exception of a few words).

Note: Not all words ending in -o are masculine, and just as well, not every word ending in -a is feminine. This is a common error among beginners, that will say el mano and not la mano (the hand), the correct gender of the word. So make sure you know the gender of the noun you're using, otherwise you might confuse someone!

Every noun is preceded by an article. Below is a list of the definite articles used in Spanish (in English the definite article is simply "the").

singular masculine: el
plural masculine: los
singular feminine: la
plural feminine: las

And the following are the indefinite articles (in English we use "a", or "an").

singular masculine: un
plural masculine: unos
singular feminine: una
plural feminine: unas

Note: The masculine plural is used for either a group of males, or a mixed group of males and females. In fact the masculine plural is usually assumed, out of context, to refer to both sexes, which confuses English speakers. The instinctive answer to ¿tienes hermanos? might be tengo dos hermanos y una hermana "I have two brothers and one sister". Likewise hoy vienen los padres de los niños = "the children's parents are coming today". "the children's fathers are coming" would have to be clarified by vienen los padres de los niños, los padres solos.

Articles will be discussed in a later lesson. Let's return to the gender of nouns now.

This is a list of basic Spanish nouns. Notice the article before each noun, this will tell you what the gender of the noun is. The articles "el" (masculine) and "la" (feminine) mean "the".

el gato the cat
la gata the (female) cat
el perro the dog
la perra the (female) dog
el chico the boy
la chica the girl
el niño the boy (referring to a child)
la niña the girl (referring to a child)

If the noun is plural, the plural definite article must precede the noun (see the next lesson on forming the plural of nouns):

los gatos the cats
las gatas the (female) cats
los perros the dogs
las perras the (female) dogs
los chicos the boys
las chicas the girls
los niños the boys (referring to children)
los niñas the girls (referring to children)

In general, it is easy to predict the gender of a living thing. But what about inanimate objects? For items such as books, keys, clothes, etc. it is more difficult to predict the gender. When you look at window, you can't really say whether or not it is masculine or feminine by nature. You might guess that "dress" is feminine, as it implies something "feminine". However, "dress" is not feminine in Spanish, it is actually masculine: el vestido.

el libro the book
la ventana the window
el dinero the money
la casa the house

Again, the gender of most nouns cannot be predicted, so it is a good idea to buy a Spanish-English dictionary, or go to a website like wordreference, to study nouns.

✖ Masculine nouns that end in a consonant often have a corresponding feminine form. Some examples:

el profesor the (male) professor
la profesora the (female) professor
el doctor the (male) doctor
la doctora the (female) doctor
el señor the (gentleman)man
la señora the lady

✖ Nouns that end in -ez, -eza, -ía, -sión, -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre, -ie, -nza, -cia, -sis, -itis, are all feminine (notice that words that end in -dad correspond to english -ty).

la serie the series
la virtud virtue
la versión the version
la pereza laziness
la niñez childhood
la televisión the television
la decisión the decision
la conversación the conversation
la habitación the room
la ciudad the city
la universidad the university
la dificultad difficulty
la libertad liberty
la actitud attitude
la gratitud gratitude

Note: There are a few exceptions however:
el análisis analysis
el pez the fish
el éxtasis ecstasy
el doblez the fold, crease

Also note that avión (plane) is not feminine. -vión nouns do not qualify for this rule.

✖ The following are common nouns that end in -a but take the masculine article:

el problema the problem
el mapa the map
el sistema the system
el poema the poem
el día the day
el tema the subject, topic
el clima the climate
el idioma the language
el sofá the sofa, couch
el planeta the planet

✖ In Spanish there are special forms for the male or female which must be learned separately. The following are common:

el actor/la actriz the actor, the actress
el emperador/la emperatriz the emperor, the empress
el héroe/la heroína the hero, the heroine
el hombre/la mujer the man, the woman
el marido/la mujer the husband, the wife (or the woman)
el rey/la reina the king, the queen
el hijo/la hija the son, the daughter

✖ The following are nouns that end in -a but do not change their endings in the masculine form (if your male friend is a pianist, you say he is "un pianista", if your friend is a female pianist, you would say that she is "una pianista"). Simply change the article, and voilà:

el/la artista the artist
el/la astronauta the astronaut
el/la atleta the athlete
el/la colega the college
el/la guardia the guardian
el/la guía the guide
el/la pianista the pianist
el/la estudiante the student

✖ Masculine by meaning

Many nouns acquire the gender of an underlying or implied noun (metonymic gender). The following are typical:

(1) Rivers (el río): el Amazonas (the Amazon), el Plata (the River Plate), el Sena (the Seine), el Támesis (the Thames). Locally some rivers may be feminine, but outsiders rarely know this and the masculine is always correct.

(2) Mountains, oceans, seas and lakes (el monte, el océano, el mar, el lago): el Etna, el Everest, el Himalaya (singular), el Pacífico, el Caribe, etc.

(3) Months and days of the week (los meses y los días de la semana): enero/abril pasado (last January, April), el lunes (Monday), un viernes frío (a cold Friday).

(4) All infinitives, and all quoted words: el fumar (the smoking), l escupir (the spitting).

(5) And adverb, interjection or other genderless word used as a noun: el más allá (the Beyond), un algo (a "something"), tiene un no sabe uno qué que gusta (she's got something nice about her).

(6) Numbers (el número): un seis (six), un 5 (a five), el dos por ciento (two per cent).

(7) Colo(u)rs (el color): el azul (blue), el verde (green), etc.

✖ The majority of foreign-words, especially English words, will be feminine or masculine according to the gender of the person referred to. El recordman, los yuppies, etc. But you say La nanny (because nanny refers to a female).

Foreign words without gender are usually masculine. El forum (sometimes el foro), el thread, el software, el yoga, etc.

✖ A number of common words have meanings differentiated solely by their gender. Well-known examples are:

el cometa comet
la cometa kite
el cólera cholera
la cólera wrath, anger
el capital capital (money)
la capital capital (of a city)
el guardia policeman
la guardia guard
(el) génesis genesis (=birth)
(la) génesis Genesis (Bible)
el mañana tomorrow
la mañana morrow, morning
el parte bulletin
la parte part (of something)
el policía policeman
la policía police force
el pendiente earring
la pendiente slope

Lesson 4: Articles

There are two different kinds of articles. Definite and indefinite. The difference can be observed in the following two sentences:

I want the cookie.
I want a cookie.

The first sentence refers to a particular cookie, and thus uses the definite article.

I want the cookie

The second sentence does not refer to a particular cookie, but simply a cookie.

I want a cookie.

English uses "the" for the definite article, regardless of whether or not what it introduces is singular or plural:

the cookie
the cookies

In Spanish this is not the case, and the proper article must precede the noun. The following is a list of the Spanish definite articles:

• Masculine
el (singular), los (plural)
• Feminine
la (singular), las (plural)

Note for students of Italian and French: la is not shortened to l' in modern Spanish. Compare la artista with Italian l'artista or French l'artiste.

The masculine singular definite article precedes a singular masculine noun. The masculine plural definite article precedes a plural masculine noun, etc. All articles in Spanish must agree with the gender of the noun that follows it, and also must correspond with whether the noun is singular or plural.

el gato the cat
los gatos the cats
la mano the hand
las manos the hands

Beginners: pay attention to which article you use! You cannot say el gatos, you must say los gatos.

At this point you're probably wondering what the indefinite articles are; those articles that mean "a" or "an". Here is the list of them:

• Masculine
un (singular) unos (plural)

• Feminine
una (singular) unas (plural)

Again, pay attention to which article you use. You cannot say un chica, you must use the article that corresponds to the gender of the noun and say una chica (a girl).

The indefinite articles listed above can also mean "one" (the number one is written uno) or "some" (in their plural form). In example:

un libro a book, one book
una pluma a pen, one pen
una manzana an apple, one apple
unos libros some books
unas manzanas some apples

Note: You do not write uno libro, but un libro. You might be asking, "Why? That doesn't make sense!" To be honest, I don't know. That is just how it is. ^^;

Use and omission of the Definite Article

The following may be helpful for students of both French and Spanish (if you're not learning French just skip the chart):



✖ (1)
in French
Used with unqualified names of countries, regions: l'Espagne est un beau pays, vive l'Espagne!, la Normandie, etc.

in Spanish
Not used (with few exceptions): España es un hermoso país, ¡viva España!, Normandía, etc.

✖ (2)
in French
Used when addressing people: salut les gars!, oui, monsieur le Président

in Spanish
Not used: ¡hola muchahos!, sí, señor Presidente

✖ (3)
in French
No preposition with numerous time words: le soir (in the evening), le matin (in the morning), le lendemain (on the next day), le mardi (on Tuesday).

in Spanish
Preposition often required: por la tarde, por la mañana, al día siguiente, but el año pasado (last year), el martes (on Tuesday), etc.

✖ (4)
in French
Not used in time expressions of the type il est huit heures

in Spanish
Used: son las ocho

✖ (5)
in French
Replaces possessives with parts of body: il ferme les yeux, il lui caresse les cheveux, il a les yeux bleus, etc.

in Spanish
Similar, but also with clothing and personal possessions: cierra los ojos, la acaricia el pelo, he perdido el pasaporte (I've lost my passport), te he aparacado el coche (I've parked your car), etc.

✖ (6)
in French
Double article in superlatives when adjective follows noun: le livre le plus intéressant

in Spanish
Only one article, el libro más interestante.

✖ (7)
in French
Used with superlative adverbs: c'est lui qui chante le mieux

in Spanish
Not used: él es quien mejor canta

Lesson 6: Personal pronouns

We will start with subject pronouns first, because they are simplest. But first, let's examine verbs. Because if you don't know what a verb is, and how it is used, then pronouns are useless. ninja

A verb is an "action" word. This means any word that that is used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forms the main part of the predicate of a sentence. Here are some English verbs:

run
drink
eat
study

Notice how all of these words imply an action. Something you can do. The main form of a verb is called the infinitive. In English the infinitive includes the word "to":

to run
to drink
to eat
to study

The infinitive is the "pure" form of the verb; the verb before it is eaten by the subject.

Let's add some subject pronouns to the verb:

I run
you run
he/she runs
we run
they run

When you add a pronoun to a verb, it is called conjugation. The above examples are all in the present tense, which means the action is happening right now.

Now let's look at the Spanish subject pronouns.

Spanish subject pronouns:

yo I
tú you (informal)
usted (the Latin-American voseo form will be discussed later) you (formal)
él/ella he/she
nosotros/nosotras we
ellos/ellas they
ustedes you all

Note: él (he) must be written with the accent, as it differentiates from the article el (the). Also note the omission of Spain's vosotros (informal you all), which I will talk about later. Ustedes (formal you all) is fine for now.

Regarding the form ustedes (you all): This form is not standard in English. That is, in English we simply say "you" when we refer to a group of people, e.g. "You (all) are going to see the film?" In Spanish the distinction must be made between "you", and a group of "you". In order to avoid confusion, I will use "you-all" when I refer to ustedes in this lesson.

Let's look more closely at the list above. Notice that there are two different ways of using the subject pronoun "you" in Spanish. Tú and usted.

• usted
The subject pronoun usted is considered the formal "you". It is used to express respect. You use it for people older than you, strangers, teachers, etc.

• tú
The subject pronoun tú is regarded as the less formal "you". Sometimes called the "informal you" or "familiar you". It is used for family, friends, classmates, and when addressing children.

Here are some examples of when to use them:

Speaking to your boss: usted
Speaking to your daughter: tú
Speaking to your teacher: usted
Speaking to your friend: tú

This same distinction with regard to degree of formality occurs in the plural form of each as well. When referring to "you-all," there are two choices in Spanish: ustedes and vosotros.

Once again, the difference of both of these lies in the degree of formality conveyed by the speaker. However, the vosotros form is used primarily in Spain. Throughout Latin America, ustedes is generally used in both formal and informal situations to refer to "you-all."

Note: usted can be abbreviated Ud. or Vd. ustedes can be abbreviated Uds. or Vds. These abbreviations are sometimes encountered on internet forums and such, because people like to write fast. ^^

Spanish is more gender specific than English. Look at the list above and notice that two of the subject pronouns have two different versions or genders (él and ella are excluded however as one means "he" and the other means "she"). As you can see, nosotros (we) and ellos (they) can either be masculine or feminine.

If you haven't guessed yet, nosotros (we) is used when it refers to a group of males (or mixed group of males and females), and the feminine form, nosotras, is used when referring to a group of females.

• nosotros (we)
Used for a group of males, or a mixed group.

• nosotras (we)
Femine form used for a group of females.

The same applies for the subject pronoun ellos (they). ellos is used to refer to a group of males or a mixed group, while ellas is used when referring to a group of females.

Some examples of these pronouns:

ellas van al cine they (or a group of females) are going to the cinema
ellos van al parque they (a group of males, or a group of both sexes) are going to the park

Note: Don't get confused over the difference between talking to a group or talking about a group. When talking to a group, use the subject pronoun for "you-all", when talking about a group, use the subject pronoun for "they".

Again, here is the list of the subject pronouns:

• yo
I

• tú
you (familiar)

• usted
you (formal)

• él
he

• ella
she

• nosotros
we

• ellos
they

• vosotros
you-all (familiar, used primarily in Spain)

• ustedes
you-all

More about subject pronouns:

(Beginners can continue to the next lesson and then return to this later.)

Subject pronouns are used to emphasize the subject of a verb: yo hablo "I am talking", él duerme "He is sleeping".

Let's take a look at the uses of subject pronouns. First, emphasis and contrast.

The indentity of the subject of a Spanish verb is usually made clear by the verb ending: hablo "I speak", habló "He/she/you/it spoke", vendimos "we sold", salieron "they/you-all went out", etc. The forms yo/tú/él/ella/usted(es)/ellos/ellas are all therefore usually only required for emphasis or contrast. It is a bad error, common among English-speakers (and students of French), to use Spanish subject pronouns unnecessarily. As grammarians will point out, yo me vestí, y depués yo fui a recoger a mi hijo, pero yo llegué tarde is completely unacceptable for "I got dressed, then I went to pick up my son, but I arrived late". All the yos must be erased except, perhaps, the first, and only if it is needed for emphasis or contrast. Using pronouns unnecessarily not only confuses readers, but annoys them too.

✖ There are times when the pronoun can be used alone:

¿Quién ha venido? —Ellos Who has come? —They have
¿Quién lo ha hecho? —Nosotros Who did it? —We did
¿Quién es? —Yo Who is it? —Me

✖ When there is a change of subject (not necessarily with the same sentence) and the subjects are contrasted with one another, the subject pronoun is used:

tú eres listo, pero ella es genial you are clever, but she is a genius
mi mujer trabaja y yo me quedo en casa con los niños my wife works and I stay at home with the children

Confusion is caused by English speakers who ignore this rule. Mi hermana es médica y ella nunca está en casa means "my sister's a doctor and she (not the sister) is never at home", whereas ...y nunca está en casa refers to "my sister".

✖ the subject is pronoun used to clarify verb endings

The imperfect tense of the verb tener (to have) for instance is ambiguous. Tenía alone can imply yo tenía or él tenía (I had or he had), thus the subject pronoun should be used to clarify the verb, when the meaning is uncertain.

English can focus on or emphasize almost any word simply by pronouncing it louder, e.g. "you want to talk to her not to her brother"; but this use of loudness or stress usually produces an unfortunate effect in Spanish. Spanish uses other devices, e.g. "cleft sentences": es con ella con la que deberías hablar, no con su hermano, or even changes of word order: con ella deberías hablar, no con su hermano.

Usted/ustedes (you/you-all formal) are used more frequently, either to avoid ambiguity or to emphasize the polite tone of a sentence: ¿adónde van ustedes? (where are you going?), si (usted) quiere, iré con usted (if you want, I'll go with you).

✖ subject pronouns for inanimate nouns

él/ella/ellos/ellas may translate "it" or "them" when applied to non-living things, especially after prepositions: no fuera de la casa sino dentro de ella "not outside the house but in it. Notice that the subject pronoun agrees in gender with the object to which it refers.

Formal and informal modes of address

✖ Voseo

In Spain vos for "you" is archaic. Vos however, is used in place of tú in many parts of Latin America. Vos for tú is nowadays universal in Argentina, so if you plan on traveling to Argentina, it would be a good idea to learn the voseo form of verbs, which we'll get to in a minute~

It is also common in Uruguay, Paraguay, and most of Central America (in Costa Rica, for example, tú is considered unnatural), and it also heard in some the southern parts of Mexico. ninja In some countries it is considered "lower-class" or provincial. In Chile for instance, it is shunned by the middle and upper classes.

Spanish object pronouns
Coming soon. dramallama

Lesson 8: Ser and estar

Ser and estar both translate the English "to be", but the difference between these two verbs is subtle. Entire books have been written about the two; there are many websites with lengthy and confusing tutorials; and beginners usually tend to get lost and very quickly give up trying to understand the differences. But wait! O_O They are actually not that hard. In this lesson I'll try to explain the differences between these two verbs which mean the same thing; when to use them, when not to use them, and how to use them to get lots of gold. dramallama

First, let's conjugate the English verb "to be".

• to be
I am
you are
he/she/it is
we are
you-all are
they are

As you can see, the English verb is also kind of strange, because it doesn't conjugate like most English verbs ("to eat" for instance is conjugated, "I eat", "you eat", etc). Let's compare two English sentences, and see how the verb is used.

She is very bored.
She is very boring.

As you can see, both sentences use the same verb and are very similar, but mean completely different things. In Spanish, the distinction between the two sentences is made by using two different verbs (ser or estar).

In the first example, the sentence speaks of a condition (She is very bored). If she were to read a book or watch a film, maybe she wouldn't be bored anymore. So basically, the first example shows a condition; a state that is not permanent.

The second example speaks of an essential characteristic of the girl (She is very boring). It is not a state, but a characteristic of the girl herself, and thus it might be considered something permanent.

So, using the English verb "to be", we can tell someone about the condition of some one or some thing, or the characteristics/permanent attributes of some one/some thing.

In Spanish, a different verb is used to express "to be" depending on whether the speaker is speaking of a condition, or an essential quality. Now let's move on to the two Spanish verbs.

General

The presente forms of both verbs (full conjugations can be found here and here):

• ser
yo soy I am
tú eres you are
él/ella/usted es he/she/you are
somos we are
sois you-all are
son they are

• estar
yo estoy I am
tú estás you are
él/ella/usted está he/she/you are
estamos we are
estáis you-all are
están they are

Note: Make sure to write está with the accent! esta is a demonstrative feminine adjective meaning "this".

Both verbs are very "irregular" in their conjugations. These are the two most important verbs in the language though, so memorize them.

For beginners, it is best to follow this rule for now: If you are talking about what something is, use ser; if you are talking about how something is, use estar. See below for more about the two verbs~

Basically, ser is used to answer questions about who or what something or someone is. Whereas estar answers questions about where, how, or in what condition something is: soy español, pero estoy en Londres (I am Spanish, but I'm in London); es callado (he/she is the quiet type), está callado (he's quiet [at the moment]); puede que sea así (perhaps he/she/it is like that), puede que esté así (perhaps that is the condition/situation he/she/it's in).

It is usually true that ser indicates permanent features and estar temporary conditions, but this is contradicted by está muerto (he's dead), or durante varias horas fue feliz (for several hours he/she was happy), or by the fact that one can say either soy calvo or estoy calvo (I'm bald). Nor is a charactersitic expressed by ser necessarily permanent: a brunette can change the colour of her hair and say antes era morena pero ahora soy rubia (I was a brunette before, but now I'm a blonde): each colour is considered, at the time, to be a typical feature of the woman, not a temporary state.

Ser is often used with a few adjectives that indicate what can be thought of as stages, e.g. feliz (happy), desgraciado (unhappy), pobre (poor), rico (rich), consciente (conscious), but these are probably best treated as exceptions: está deprimido (he/she is depressed), está contento (he/she is happy), está animado (he's very happy/animated/full of life).

Some adjectives, e.g. gordo (fat), divorced (divorced), casado (married), mayb be used with either ser or estar with hardly any significant change of meaning.

Estar before a noun phrase can normally only denote location: compare ¿es la profesora (is she/are you the teacher?) with ¿está la profesora? (is the teacher here?).

It seems like learners constantly forget that ser must be used for the location of events as opposed to people or things: ¿dónde es la fiesta? (where's the party?), but ¿dónde está el libro? (where's the book?).

Both ser and estar are often echoed or "resumed" by the neuter gender article lo, as in Ana parece sueca. —Lo es (Ana looks Swedish. —She is).

Again, beginners can return to the rest of this lesson later, for now it is best to follow this rule: If you are talking about what something is, use ser; if you are talking about how something is, use estar.

In detail

Uses of ser

✖ In equational sentences like A = B

Ser is used to link elements in statements of the type "A = B", where A and B are nouns or pronouns. Some examples:

parís es la capital de Francia paris is the French capital
es médico/abogado/bibliotecario he's a doctor/lawyer/librarian
es la una/Son las doce it's one o'clock/twelve o'clock
esto es lo que me fastidia this is what I find annoying
ha sido un año/verano frío it's been a cold year/summer

Note that the verb estar cannot appear before nouns or pronouns unless the latter are its subject: yo estoy maestro is not Spanish for "I'm a schoolteacher": soy maestro.

Exceptions to this rule are extremely rare. They include ranking, as in estoy pez en historia (I'm an idiot when it comes to History), and weather expressions like está un día que da gusto salir a la playa (it's one of those days when you like going to the beach). With an adjective, estar is used in weather expressions—está lluvioso (it's rainy)—but with certain nouns the verb hacer (to do, make) is used: hoy hace frío/calor/viento (it's cold/hot/windy today); but hay niebla helada (it's foggy/frosty). See the lesson on weather and time here (this will be added later).

✖ ser with adjectives

Ser is used with adjectives or adjectival phrases which indicate identity or nature (physical, moral, and mental characteristics, as opposed to conditions of state):

esa remera es bien bonita that shirt is very nice
así soy de testarudo that's just how stubborn I am
¿quién eres? —soy te who are you? —I'm tea
¿cómo eres? —pues, no soy muy alta well, I'm not very tall

✖ ser de

Ser can be followed by de + noun, or by de + un + adjective, to denote identity, nature, origin, or the material something is made of.

¿de qué es ese pastel? what flavour is that cake?/what is that cake made of?
la situación era de risa the situation was extremely funny
es de día/noche it's day/night
es una película de guerra it's a war film

✖ ser in impersonal statements

es verdad/mentira/una tontería/una pena/una lata it's true/a lie/nonsense/a pity/a bore, etc.

But phrases that are based on adverbs take estar, e.g. está bien/mal (it's fine/bad). With adjectives, ser is the usual verb, but there are some exceptions, for instance:

es triste/trágico/increíble qu ehaya muetro tan joven it's sad/tragic/incredible that he/she died so young
está visto que... it's clear that...
claro está... clearly/of course...

es claro is common in Latin American: es claro que... (it's obvious that/obviously...)

✖ ser to denote possession

Ser is used with possesive adjectives (never estar). For example:

todo esto es mío, el día de mañana será tuyo all of this is mine, tomorrow it will be yours
el piso es de mi yerno the apartment belongs to my son-in-law

✖ ser to denote impressions

me es/resulta simpática I find her likeable
esto me es/resulta molesto this is uncomfortable for me
todo le era distinto everything seemed different to her

✖ And finally, ser of events

If "to be" means "to be held" or "to happen" it must be translated by ser

la fiesta es/se celebra en su casa the party is at his place
el entierro sería a las cinco the funeral was to be at five

Use of estar may imply a physical object. For example, el jarro es/va encima del estante (the vase belongs/goes on top of the shelf), as opposed to el jarro está encima del estante (the vase is on the top of the shelf).

Uses of estar

✖ estar to describe state as opposed to identity or nature

Estar is used with adjectives that indicate mood, physical condition, temporary physical appearance or other non-characteristic features. Note the difference between es guapa (she's good-looking) and está guapa (she's looks nice/attractive [right now]), eres inaguantable (you're unbearable) and estás inaguantable (you're [being] unbearable). Examine the following and notice how the verb estar is used to describe a temporary state:

estás más bien triste she's rather sad
estuvo enferma una temporada he/she was ill/sick for some time
hoy no estoy muy católico/no me siento muy bien hoy I don't feel very good today
estaba roja de vergüenza he/she was red with shame
estuvo callado todo el tiempo he/she was silent all the time

✖ estar de

Estar de + adjective or noun is used to indicate a mood or situation:

está de buen/mal humor he/she is in a good/bad mood
están de veraneo/de viaje they're taking their summer vacation/traveling

✖ estar con

Estar is sometimes followed by con (with) + noun to mean certain things:

está con gripe he/she has the flu (lit. he/she is with flu)
estaba con una cara malísima he/she looked terrible
estaba con un vestido muy bonito she was wearing a beautiful dress

✖ estar + adverb

¿cómo estás? —estoy bien/mal how are you? —I'm fine/not well

Adverbs are invariable in form, e.g. estamos mal (we're in trouble), están mejor/peor (they're [feeling] better/worse). Mejor and peor are the comparative forms of the adverbs bien and mal.

✖ estar to indicate location

segovia está en españa segovia is in spain
no está (en casa) he/she is not at home
está encima del estante it's on top of the shelf

But with nouns that are in a permanent place, or permanent features, there is a colloquial tendency to use ser:

¿dónde es la casa de tu amigo? where's your friend's house?

Even though estar would be correct here too. ninja

✖ estar meaning "to suit" or "to fit"

este traje te está muy bien this dress suits you
el abrigo te está corto the coat is too short for you

Notice the use of the object pronoun with the verb though.

Ser and estar with different meanings

There are some words that mean different things depending on the choice of ser or estar. The following list are the most common~

ser aburrido to be boring
estar aburrido to be bored

ser atento courteous
estar atento attentive

ser cansado tiresome
estar cansado tired

ser católico catholic
no estar católico unwell

ser decidido resolute
estar decidido decided

ser despierto sharp/alert
estar despierto awake

ser un enfermo be an invalid
estar enfermo be ill/sick

ser listo clever
estar listo ready

ser malo bad
estar malo ill

ser torpe slow/dim
estar torpe clumsy

ser violento violent/embarrassing
estar violento embarrassed

ser vivo bright/attentive/astute
estar vivo alive

Lesson 10: Questions

If you don't know how to make the Spanish accents on your computer, see here (or here if you have a mac).

In Spanish, to ask a question, you put an inverted question mark at the beginning of the sentence (¿) and a "regular" question mark (?) at the the end.

Question-indicating words, known as interrogatives, all have their equivalents in English:

qué what
por qué why
cuándo when
dónde where
cómo how
cuál which
quién who
cuánto/cuánta how much
cuánto/cuántas how many

Note: por qué and porque are two different words, meaning "why" and "because" respectively.

Notice that each of these words has an accent on one of the vowels. The accent shows that these words are stressed in speech, and this can radically alter the meaning. Compare: yo sé que piensan (I know that they are thinking), and yo sé qué piensan (I know what they are thinking).

Several of these change meaning when preceded by a preposition: a quién (to whom), de quién (from whom), de dónde (from where), de qué (of what), etc. See the lesson on prepositions here (this will be added later)

Generally a verb follows the interrogative. The structure of a question in Spanish is similar to the English structure, so that many Spanish questions using interrogatives can be easily understood, provided that one's Spanish vocabulary is sufficient:

¿qué es eso? what is that?
¿dónde es tu casa? where is your house?
¿por qué fue a la ciudad? why did he go to the city?

When the verb in a question has a subject, the subject is written after the verb, unlike English. For example:

¿qué estudia Pili? what does Pili study?
¿cuánto cuesta la corbata? how much does the tie cost?
¿cómo se llama tu hermana? what's your sister's name? (literally: how does she call herself your sister?
¿qué hizo usted? what did you do? (literally: what did you do you?

Usted in the last example is added more for politeness actually, but it is still a subject, and thus is written after the verb~

It sounds a lot like Engrish, yes, but you will get used to it. whee

Let's look at some of these words in-depth now. scream

✖ cuál

This word is a pronoun whose basic meaning is "which one" (of a set of things):

¿cuál prefieres? which one do you prefer?
¿a cuál prefieres? which one of them do you prefer? (referring to a person)
¿a cuál de los tres se refiere usted? to which of the three are you referring [to]?

When persons are referred to though, quién is preferred: han venido algunos de tercero, pero no sé quiénes (rather than cuáles): "some of the third year have come, but I don't know which/who".

✖ saying "what is/are/were", etc.

The translation of the English "what is...?" is ¿cuál es?: ¿cuál es/era el motivo/la diferencia? (what is/was the motive/difference?).

¿Qué es? literally means "what thing?" or "what kind of thing?", and it is used to ask the definition of something's nature, as in: ¿qué es un agujero negro? (what is a black hole?). More examples~

¿cuál es el problema? what is the problem?
¿cuál es su impresión de los acontecimientos? what is your impression of the events?

Compared with:

¿qué es la videa? what is life?
¿qué hora es? what time is it?
¿qué es su hermano? what is your brother? (i.e. "what does he do?")
¿qué ruido es ese? what's that noise?

In Spain and in some parts of Latin America, cuál is almost never used adjectivally (i.e. directly before a noun): one says ¿qué chicas vienen esta noche? (which girls are coming tonight?) and not ¿cuáles chicas vienen esta noche?

More coming soon
dramallama

Lesson 12: Verbs 2