Duolingo Grammar Guides
 
 

 
Spanish
  
 
 
Spanish
Duolingo Grammar Guide
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents
Basics 1..................................................................................................................................1
Common Phrases................................................................................................................3
Basics 2..................................................................................................................................4
Animals..................................................................................................................................5
Possessives...........................................................................................................................6
Questions..............................................................................................................................9
Verbs: Present 1.................................................................................................................10
Food 2..................................................................................................................................11
Adjectives 1.........................................................................................................................12
Determiners........................................................................................................................13
To Be: Ser/Estar.................................................................................................................14
Object Pronouns...............................................................................................................16
Verbs: Past..........................................................................................................................18
Verbs: Phrasal Future Tense............................................................................................20

Also In The Series..............................................................................................................21

Basics 1
Masculine and Feminine Nouns
In Spanish all nouns are masculine or feminine. Usually, nouns that end with an
"o" are masculine, and nouns that end with an "a" are feminine. For example,
"manzana" (apple) is feminine and "diario" (newspaper) is masculine.

The articles "el" and "un" are used with masculine nouns, and the articles "la" and
"una" are used with feminine nouns. "The apple" is "la manzana" and "a
newspaper" is "un diario."

Accent Marks
Vowels in Spanish can have an accent mark, such as the "u" in "menú" (menu).
One use of the accent mark is to indicate which syllable should be stressed in
the pronunciation. For example, in "teléfono" (telephone), the second "e" has the
most stress.

Accent marks are also used to distinguish homophones. For example, "él" and
"el" are homophones because they have the same pronunciation. However, "él"
is a masculine pronoun (meaning "he" or "him") and "el" is a masculine article
(meaning "the").

The Second Person Singular

"Tú," "usted" and "vos" are different ways of referring to the second person
singular (you). "Usted" is the formal way of saying "you," and "vos" is used in
informal speech in certain countries instead of "tú."

The three pronouns are synonyms, but they change the way verbs are
conjugated. For instance, for the verb "comer" (to eat), it is "tú comes," "usted
come," and "vos comés."
 
The decision of which form of "you" to use is regional and cultural, but you can
typically use "usted" when referring to strangers.

1
Verb Conjugation
Verb conjugation in Spanish is more complicated than in English. In Spanish, the
verb endings change in order to describe who is doing the action and when. For
example, for "comer," "I eat" is "yo como" and "you eat" is "tú comes."
 
Because the conjugations indicate who is doing the action, it is usually possible
to omit the pronoun. For instance instead of saying "yo como arroz" (I eat rice),
you can say "como arroz."

2
Common Phrases
Tardes and Noches
In English, "afternoon" comes before "evening," which in turn comes before
"night." In Spanish there are only two words that cover these times of the day:
"tarde" which means "afternoon," but overlaps with "evening," and "noche,"
which means "night" but also overlaps with "evening." Therefore, at 6:30pm it is
ok to say either "buenas tardes" or "buenas noches."

Buenos Días
Even though "buenos días" literally means "good days," it is used in the mornings
to mean "good morning."

Conjugation of ‘Hablar’
Present indicative (presente del indicativo):

• yo hablo
• tú hablas
• usted habla
• él habla
• ella habla
• nosotros/as hablamos
• ustedes hablan
• ellos/ellas hablan

In Spanish, the most common negative word is "no". As an adverb negating a

sentence, it always comes immediately before the verb.

I speak - [Yo] hablo.

I do not speak - [Yo] no hablo.
He is - [Él] es / está.
He is not - [Él] no es / está.

3
Basics 2
The Second Person Plural
In Latin America the pronoun for the second person plural is "ustedes,” and in
Spain it is "vosotros."

The two pronouns are synonyms, but they change the way of conjugating verbs.
For example, to say “you guys eat,” in Latin America you would say "ustedes
comen," and in Spain "vosotros coméis."

In an affirmative statement with one verb, the direct object pronoun comes
immediately before the conjugated verb.

Leo = I read Leo el diario. = I read the newspaper (Yo) Lo leo. = I read it. The
pronoun (lo) comes immediately before the verb (leo).

Notice that if the subject of the sentence changes, this does not affect the direct
object pronoun.

Juan la lee.

Juan lee = John reads. Juan lee la carta. = John reads the letter. Juan la lee =
John reads it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4
Animals
Adjectives. As a general rule, in Spanish adjectives come after the noun they
describe, e.g.

Un perro ingles ~ An English dog

Un caballo español ~ A Spanish horse

5
Possessives
Possessive Determiners
Possessive determiners are adjectives that are used to show ownership, such as
"my" in "my dog." There are five possessive determiners in Spanish:

The first three of these have only two forms, singular and plural:

For example, "my dog" is "mi perro" and "my dogs" is "mis perros."

"Mi", "tu" and "su" do not have masculine and feminine forms, so for example you
say "mi gato" and also "mi gata."

Nuestro and vuestro have four forms depending on the gender and number of
the noun being referred to:

6
For example, it is "nuestro gato," "nuestra gata," "nuestros gatos," and "nuestras
gatas."

Long-Form Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

The determiners above are always used before the noun. Spanish has an
additional "long-form" way to describe possession, which usually comes after
the noun:

"El gato es mío" means "The cat is mine."

Note that the possessive adjectives vary by number and gender. The change is
with the nouns they modify, not with the person(s) who possess the object. For
example, for a male cat you say "El gato es tuyo" (The cat is yours) regardless of
whether you are talking to a man or a woman.

The short form and long forms of nuestro and vuestro and related pronouns are
identical. They differ only as to whether they are used before or after the noun.

7
Tu Versus Tú
The two words "tu" and "tú" are pronounced the same. "Tú" is the personal
pronoun meaning "you" (informal), and "tu" is the possessive adjective meaning
"your" (informal).

8
Questions
The Upside Down Question Mark
In written Spanish, questions should always start with an upside down question
mark (¿). For example, to ask “What are you eating?” you would write “¿Qué
comes?”

Position of Personal Pronouns

When asking a question, it is possible to place the personal pronoun in different
places without affecting the meaning. For example “¿Qué comes tú?” and “¿Tú
qué comes?” mean the same thing (and also the same thing as “¿Qué comes?”).

The position of the personal pronoun is sometimes used for emphasis. For
example “Tú qué comes” places the emphasis on “you” and would mean
something like “You, what are you eating?”

“Por Qué” versus “Porque”

Even native speakers sometimes confuse “por qué” and “porque,” because they
sound exactly the same. However, “por qué” means “why” and “porque” means
“because.” That is, “por qué” is typically used when asking a question and
“porque” is used when answering it.

• Q: “¿Por qué no eres un niño?” (Why are you not a boy?)

• A: “Porque soy una niña” (Because I am a girl)

9
Verbs: Present 1
Present Tense Verb Endings
In Spanish, the verb endings change in order to describe who is doing the action
and when. Most verbs are "regular," meaning they change their endings in
predictable ways.

10
Food 2
Sí Versus Si
Although "sí" and "si" sound the same, "sí" (with an accent mark) means "yes" and
"si" means "if."

Y, E, O, U
The word for "and" in Spanish is "y," and the word for "or" is "o." However, if the
word after "and" starts with an "i" or "hi" (which sounds the same as "i" because
the "h" in Spanish is always silent), then you need to use "e" instead of "y." For
example "sons and daughters" is "hijos e hijas." Similarly, if the word after "or"
starts with "o" or "ho," then you have to use "u" instead of "o." For example, "dog
or bear" is "perro u oso."

11
Adjectives 1
Adjectives In Spanish
In Spanish, adjectives have to match the noun they refer to in terms of gender
and number. For example, since "vestido" is a masculine noun, you say "el
vestido es bonito" (the dress is pretty), but you say "ella es bonita" (she is pretty).
Note, however, that not all adjectives change with gender.

Usually, masculine adjectives that end in -o or -os (in the plural) can become
feminine by changing the ending to -a or -as. For example, "viejo" (old) becomes
"vieja."

Spanish doesn't use suffixes such as "-er" or "-est" to indicate superlatives.

Instead, the adverb "más" (more) is used. For example, "she is prettier" would be
"ella es más bonita," and "she is the prettiest" would be "ella es la más bonita."

Usually, though not always, adjectives are placed after the noun they refer to.
For example, "the red car" is "el coche rojo."

A few adjectives are shortened when they appear before singular nouns. One of
the most common is "grande," which is shortened to "gran." For example, you
can say "el hombre grande" (the big man) or "el gran hombre."

12
Determiners
Demonstrative Determiners
Demonstrative determiners are used to point at something. In English, they are
"this", "that", "these" and "those."

Spanish has three sets of demonstrative determiners, which vary by number and
gender, so there are 12 in total:

Ese/Este versus Eso/Esto

It is important to note that the masculine singular forms in the table above don't
end in "-o." The words "esto" (this) and "eso" (that) are also demonstrative
pronouns, but they are gender neutral and used when the gender of the noun
they refer to is unkown. For example, you would say "qué es eso?" (what is that?)
when you don't know if the object you're asking about is masculine or feminine.

Ese versus Aquel

Both "ese" and "aquel" and their related forms are translated to English as "that"
or "those." However, they have slightly different meanings. "Ese" is more
common, and usually refers to things that are closer in terms of distance or time.
For example, "esos perros" would be "those dogs," whereas "aquellos perros" is
closer in meaning to "those dogs over there."

13
To Be: Ser/Estar
Ser versus Estar
One of the hardest things to learn about Spanish is the distinction between the
verbs "ser" and "estar," since in English they both mean "to be."

By now you should be familiar with the conjugations of "ser," such as in "él es un
niño" (he is a boy), "yo soy un hombre" (I am a man), and "ustedes son mujeres"
(you are women). "Estar" is also an irregular verb, and its different conjugations
in the present tense are below:

"Ser" refers to what something is, while estar refers more to what something
does. For example, "estoy enfermo" would mean "I am being sick" or "I am
currently sick." On the other hand "soy enfermo" translates to something closer
to "I am a sick person" or "I am sickly." Below are more examples:

14
  
You can think of "ser" as being equivalent to "equals." Alternatively, you can think
of "estar" as refering to a temporary condition, while "ser" frequently refers to a
permanent condition. However there are some exceptions. For example, "ser" is
used in expressions of time, such as "son las cuatro de la tarde" (it's 4 in the
afternoon). Also, "estar" is used to indicate someone has died, so "he is dead"
would be "está muerto."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15
Object Pronouns
In English, the words "he" and "I" can be used as subjects (the ones doing the
action in a sentence), and they change to "him" and "me" when they are objects
(the ones the action is applied to). For example, we say "He likes me" and "I like
him." "Me," "him", "her," etc. are called object pronouns.

Objects pronouns can either be direct or indirect. The direct object is the thing
or person that is directly receiving the action. For example, "him" is the direct
object in "she likes him." The indirect object is the receiver of the direct object.
For example, "him" is the indirect object in "she writes him a book."

In English, object pronouns are the same for both direct and indirect objects, but
in Spanish they can change.

The object pronouns in Spanish are:

16
Unlike in English where object pronouns go after the verb ("I see him"), Spanish
object pronouns are generally placed directly before the verb. Below are some
examples:

Further clarification about who the sentence is talking about can always be
added. For example, "I see him" can be translated as "Yo lo veo" and "Yo lo veo a
él." Sometimes this clarification is necessary in order to remove ambiguity, while
other times it is simply redundant. For example, "Yo los veo" is ambiguous
because it could mean "I see them" or "I see you guys," so unless it is clear from
context you would say "Yo los veo a ellos" or "Yo los veo a ustedes." However, "él
nos ve" and "él nos ve a nosotros" mean exactly the same thing, since there is no
ambiguity with "nos."

17
Verbs: Past
Past Tense Verb Endings
The past tense is used to refer to actions that occurred in the past. The past
tense in Spanish has two predictable verb endings: one for –ar verbs, such as
hablar (to speak), and another for –er and –ir verbs, such as comer (to eat) and
escribir (to write). It is important to point out that many verbs in Spanish have an
irregular past tense conjugation. For those irregular cases, the best way to learn
their conjugation is with memorization and practice.

Regular –ar verbs are conjugated as follows:

Regular –er and –ir verbs are conjugated as follows:

18
19
Verbs: Phrasal Future Tense

Phrasal Future
There are two future tenses in Spanish. The easier one to learn is the so called
"phrasal future," in which the verb "ir" (to go) is used an auxiliary. Much like in
English, where you can express future by saying "I am going to run tomorrow," in
Spanish you can say "Voy a correr mañana." Thus, the future is formed by
conjugating the irregular verb "ir" to the appropriate person, then adding the
word "a," and then the infinitive of the main verb. Below are the conjugations of
the verb "ir," followed by examples of phrasal future.

20
Also In The Series...
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21
1
2

 
Spoken in 21 countries, many with beautiful
beaches and ancient cultures, Spanish is one of
the most important languages in the western
hemisphere and the third most spoken
language in the world. On Duolingo, you'll
learn a version of Spanish closer to what you'd
hear in Latin America than in Spain, but the
differences are relatively small and everybody
will be able to understand you.