Have you ever wondered why a table is feminine and a book is masculine in Spanish? Today I’ll explain when we use the articles EL and LA, I’ll show you which words are masculine and which are feminine. Welcome to the world of grammatical genders in Spanish! You’ll be surprised to learn the gender of some things. And I have prepared a quiz for you to practice at the end, don’t miss it.

Let's start with the basics.

In Spanish, every noun has a gender, either masculine or feminine. And you need to know the gender because the adjectives and articles that accompany a noun have to match with it. “El” is the article for masculine nouns and “La” is the article for feminine nouns. 

Generally, if a word ends in 'o', it’s masculine, like 'el libro' (the book), and if it ends in 'a', it’s feminine, like 'la mesa' (the table). For nouns that refer to persons or animals that really have a gender, they have both versions. 

La abuela (Grandma)

El abuelo (Grandpa)

El gato (Male cat)

La gata (Female cat)

But it’s not always like this for the rest of nouns. Pay attention to this list of endings for each gender.

In general, nouns that end with these terminations are masculine and use “el”. 

-o: we already saw this one. El perro (The dog)-aje: El equipaje (The luggage)

-ar -or: El lugar (The place) El ordenador (The computer)

-án -én -ín -ón -ún (with accent): El capitán (The captain) El Edén (The Eden) El cojín (The cushion) El camión (The truck) El atún (The tuna)

-és: El interés (The interest)

-ate -ete -ote: El combate (The combat) El juguete (The toy) El bigote (The moustache)

-ama -ema: El programa (The program) El problema (The problem)

And nouns that end in these are feminine and use “la”.

-a: the legendary 

-a. La cama (The bed)

-ción -sión: La canción (The song) La ilusión (The illusion)

-dad -tad: La ciudad (The city) La libertad (The freedom)

-ez -eza: La vejez (The oldness) La pereza (The laziness)

-ed: La sed (The thirst)

-tud: La actitud (The attitude)

But what about words that don’t follow these endings? Let’s see some of the exceptions that might confuse you. And keep reading cause coming up next I’ll tell you something very important...

But first, if you are struggling a little with Spanish grammar, I recommend you download our Free Study Guide, in which we guide you step by step while you learn Spanish on your own. 

Okay, there are some words, usually words that come from Greek, that end in -o and are feminine or that end in -a and are masculine. In the name of Spanish, I am so sorry about this. Here are some examples:

El día (The day)

El mapa (The map)

El planeta (The planet)

El poema (The poem)

La foto (The photograph)

La mano (The hand)

La radio (The radio)

La moto (The motorcycle)

These irregularities show why memorization isn’t enough. Spaniards learn the genders just by listening to Spanish when they grow up. If you listen to a lot of Spanish and read a lot it will become natural for you too. I have some vlogs speaking slow Spanish that would be a great listening practice.

LEARN SPANISH with this VLOG

SPANISH VLOG with subtitles: A Unique Spanish Tradition

I ate nothing but less than 1€ food in Spain for 24 hours

Ok so now let’s learn how changing 'el' to 'la' with some words can change the whole meaning of them. 

There are not many words that do this, but it’s important that you know. Don’t forget to stay with me till the quiz at the end.

El cura - La cura (The priest - The cure) So for example we have “el cura”, which means “the priest” and “la cura”, which means “the cure”.

El cometa - La cometa (The comet - The kite)

El capital - La capital (The money - The capital)

El coma - La coma (The coma - The comma)

El corte - La corte (The cut - The court)

El final - La final (The end - The championship game in a tournament)

El mañana - La mañana (The future - The morning)

And one thing, EL and LA are the singular articles. Do you know which are the plural ones? It’s LOS and LAS.

El beso - Los besos (The kiss - the kisses)

La flor - Las flores (The flower - The flowers)

And remember that adjectives have to match the gender and number of the noun too. 

La casa bonita (The beautiful house)

El jardín bonito (The beautiful garden)

Las casas bonitas (The beautiful houses)

Los jardines bonitos (The beautiful gardens)

Before the quiz, just one more thing that you will love. If a feminine noun starts with an a- that has the stress of the word, the strong vowel, in singular we use “el” instead of “la” so it sounds better. That’s what happens with “El agua” (The water). It is feminine but we use “el” so it sounds better. “La agua”, 2 As in a row, doesn’t sound good. But in plural we say “las aguas” because we have an S in the middle. The same with “El águila”. El águila - Las águilas (The eagle - The eagles)

Now that you’re mastering genders, are you ready to put your knowledge to the test? Let’s do a quick quiz to review what we’ve learned today.

EL or LA? I say the noun, you say the article. 

1.      mesa (The table)

2.      sol (The sun)

3. __ doctor (The doctor)

4. __ chupete (The pacifier)

5. __ presión (The pressure)

6. __ mapa (The map)

7. __ foto (The photography)

8. __ timidez (The shyness)

9. __ oro  (The gold)

How many did you get right? Leave it in the comments.

Conclusion

Now you know when to use el or la, but do you know exactly when to use tú or usted? Foreigners usually address me using “usted” but I feel very uncomfortable when they do because I feel very old and strange. So I went to the streets of Spain to interview Spanish people to show you how the Spaniards use tú and usted. Don’t miss it out!

Welcome to the complete Spanish verb tenses guide! I will explain every single verb tense in 20 minutes. After reading this article or watching the video below, you will have a way better understanding of Spanish grammar. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner looking for a refresher, today’s lesson is made for you. 

To help you with this, I’ve created a free PDF with all the Spanish verb tenses. You can download it by clicking the download button below. I’ve also included some irregular verbs there to complete the explanation.

So let’s go! I’ll explain all the tenses first, and after that I’ll put examples of each tense for you to process the tenses better. And to finish, a quick recap that will make things very easy for you, so read or watch till the end.

In Spanish we have 3 types of verbs:

Verbs that end in -AR

Verbs that end in -ER

And verbs that end in -IR.

We also have 3 different moods:

Modo indicativo (Indicative mood)

Modo subjuntivo (Subjunctive mood)

Y Modo imperativo (Imperative mood)

El indicativo has 10 tenses, el subjuntivo has 6 tenses and el imperativo has just 1 tense.

Let’s learn them all! Starting with the non-finite verb forms, las formas no verbales.

Infinitivo (Infinitive): the verb ending in -AR, -ER or -IR. Today we’ll use CANTAR (To sing), COMER (To eat) and VIVIR (To live).

Gerundio (Gerund):
Cantando (Singing)
Comiendo (Eating)
Viviendo (Living)

Participio (Participle):
Cantado (Sung)
Comido (Eaten)
Vivido (Lived)

Infinitivo compuesto (Perfect infinitive): Haber + participle.
Haber cantado (To have sung)
Haber comido (To have eaten)
Haber vivido (To have lived)

Gerundio compuesto (Perfect gerund): Haber in gerund + participle.
Habiendo cantado (Having sung)
Habiendo comido (Having eaten)
Habiendo vivido (Having lived)

MODO INDICATIVO (Indicative mood)
We use the indicative mood to talk about anything factual, true events. It is the mood we use the most. We have 5 simple tenses and 5 perfect tenses.

Let’s start with the present. PRESENTE DE INDICATIVO 

If the verb is regular, the verbs of the same group (-ar, -er, -ir) will have the same endings. You have the endings of each tense in green so you can note them.

We use the present tense for facts, descriptions and things that you usually do. Like in English.

Carolina canta muy bien (Caroline sings very well)

Yo como macarrones todos los jueves (I eat macaroni every Thursday)

Nosotras vivimos en Sevilla (We live in Sevilla)

Each simple tense is related to a perfect tense. El presente is connected with…

Pretérito perfecto compuesto (Present perfect)

This tense is made with the verb HABER, which is irregular, in the present tense plus the participle of the verb you are conjugating. So you only need to learn this verb HABER. It means “there is, there are”, and it works like HAVE in English.

He
Has
Ha
Hemos
Habéis
Han

• Cantado / Comido / Vivido (have sung, have eaten, have lived)

We generally use the present perfect for actions related to the present or that have taken place immediately before the present moment.

He cantado una canción por la mañana (“I have sung a song this morning”)

Ana ha comido hoy en mi restaurante favorito (“Ana has eaten in my favorite restaurant today”)

Mis abuelos han vivido muy felices (My grandparents have lived very happily)

Now, how do you talk about actions that happened yesterday or even ten minutes ago? That’s where the past tenses come into play. Up next, we tackle the preterite and imperfect, and you’ll learn when to choose the right past tense every time.

Pretérito perfecto simple (Simple past)

We use it to talk about completed actions in the past, actions that took place in a specific time in the past.

María le cantó una canción preciosa a su novio (Maria sung a beautiful song to her boyfriend)

Ayer comí lentejas (Yesterday I ate lentil stew)

Mi abuelo vivió la guerra civil (My grandpa lived through the civil war)

The perfect tense related to the simple past is:

Pretérito Anterior (Former past)

This is formed with the verb HABER conjugated in pretérito perfecto simple + the participle of the verb you are conjugating.

Good news for you, we don’t really use pretérito anterior nowadays, just in literature. But here it is: 

Hube

Hubiste

Hubo

Hubimos

Hubisteis

Hubieron

+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido

The pretérito anterior expresses that a past action took place before another action in the past. But for that, we use another tense. Stay tuned!

Tan pronto como hubo cantado, se fue al hotel (As soon as he had sung, he went to the hotel)

Pretérito imperfecto (Past progressive)

We use the pretérito imperfecto to talk about an action that was ongoing or that was habitual in the past.

CANTAR	COMER	VIVIR
Cantaba (I sang)	Comía (I ate)	Vivía (I lived)
Cantabas (You sang)	Comías (You ate)	Vivías (You lived)
Cantaba (He sang)	Comía (He ate)	Vivía (He lived)
Cantábamos (We sang)	Comíamos (We ate)	Vivíamos (We lived)
Cantábais (You sang)	Comíais (You ate)	Vivíais (You lived)
Cantaban (They sang)	Comían (They ate)	Vivían (They lived)

Mi madre cantaba en el coro cuando iba a la escuela primaria (My mum used to sing in the choir when she was in primary school)

Nosotras comíamos mucho pescado cuando éramos pequeñas (We used to eat a lot of fish when we were little)

Tú vivías en Barcelona en aquella época (You lived in Barcelona at that time)

The perfect form derived from the pretérito imperfecto is the…

Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto (Past perfect)

We use it to talk about an action that took place before another action in the past.  We conjugate the verb HABER in pretérito imperfecto and add the participle. Like “had sung,” “had eaten…”

Había
Habías
Había-
Habíamos
Habíais
Habían
+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido

Nunca había cantado delante de tanta gente (I had never sung in front of so many people)

Ayer María se encontraba mal. Había comido demasiado antes de irse a dormir. (Yesterday María was feeling sick. She had eaten too much before going to sleep.)

Ellos ya habían vivido en Sevilla antes de mudarse aquí otra vez (They had already lived in Seville before moving here again)

Let’s draw the map of the past tenses:

So generally, if the present is now, presente, canto, things that happened in the immediate past and ended use pretérito perfecto compuesto, he cantado. Things that happened a little or long before that and had an end, use pretérito perfecto simple, canté. Things that happened before another thing in the past we are talking about, use pretérito pluscuamperfecto, había cantado. And things that we did for some time in the past or that didn’t have a clear end, use pretérito imperfecto, cantaba.

And what about the future plans? I bet you have some future plans, so let’s go with the

Futuro simple (Future)

We use it to talk about what we will do, an action in the future, or suppositions about an action in the present or future. 

Mañana cantaré a las 21:00 (Tomorrow I will sing at 9 pm)

El fin de semana comeremos paella (We’ll eat paella on the weekend)

- Nunca he vivido una pelea (I’ve never experienced a fight)

+ Ya la vivirás (You’ll experience it)

And from the future we build the perfect future:

Futuro compuesto (Perfect future)

We conjugate the verb HABER in the futuro simple.

Habré 

Habrás

Habrá

Habremos

Habréis

Habrán

+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido (Will have sung, will have eaten, will have lived)

With this tense we can make suppositions about a completed action, or tell an action that will have been completed by a certain time in the future. Will have + participle.

Pasado mañana ya habrás cantado en tu primer concierto (The day after tomorrow you will have sung in your first concert)

- ¿Qué le pasa a María? (What’s wrong with María?)

+ Habrá comido demasiado (She must have eaten too much)

Cuando seamos ancianos, habremos vivido una vida muy feliz (When we are old, we will have lived a very happy life) 

We also think of probabilities and hypothetical scenarios… What do we use for that? In English, the conditional is a different mood itself, but in Spanish, it is a tense inside the indicative mood.

Let’s check the…

Condicional simple (Conditional) 

We use the Condicional simple to talk about hypothetical situations, give advice and make requests. 

CANTAR	COMER	VIVIR
Cantaría (I would sing)	Comería (I would eat)	Viviría (I would live)
Cantarías (You would sing)	Comerías (You would eat)	Vivirías (You would live)
Cantaría (He would sing)	Comería (He would eat)	Viviría (He would live)
Cantaríamos (We would sing)	Comeríamos (We would eat)	Viviríamos (We would live)
Cantaríais (You would sing)	Comeríais (You would eat)	Vivirías (You would live)
Cantarían (They would sing)	Comerían (They would eat)	Vivirían (They would live)

Si yo fuera tú, cantaría todos los días (If I were you, I would sing everyday)

That “fuera” is a subjunctive tense… stay tuned.

¿Te comerías mi segundo plato? (Would you eat my second plate?) Yo viviría la vida de Taylor sin pensarlo dos veces (I would live Taylor's life without a second thought) And what do we make out of the simple conditional? The perfect conditional!

Condicional compuesto (Perfect conditional)

We build it by conjugating HABER to the conditional and adding the participle. Like in English; I would have…

Habría

Habrías

Habría

Habríamos

Habríais

Habrían

+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido (Would have sung, would have eaten, would have lived)

We use the perfect conditional to talk about what one "would have" done or what "would have" happened in a hypothetical situation.

Si lo pudiera hacer otra vez, habría cantado otra canción (If I could do it again, I would have sung a different song) Subjunctive with conditional.

Qué pena que no vinieras, habrías comido muy bien (So sad you didn't come, you would have eaten very well) Subjunctive with conditional.

Si Marina hubiera venido, habría vivido la mejor experiencia de su vida (If Marina had come, she would have had the best experience of her life) Subjunctive with conditional again.

If you’re a little lost in Spanish grammar, something that will help you A LOT is this Free Study Guide that you can download here. It will guide you step by step while you learn Spanish on your own. 

Now, the most hated mood by Spanish learners, all Spaniards also hate it when we study it at school, but you get used to these tenses pretty quickly when you hear them being used. And I’m going to give you good news in a little while.

Let’s dive into the subjunctive mood!

EL MODO SUBJUNTIVO 

We use it to give a subjective thought, and communicate things like wishes and doubts. Ojalá (I wish) is always accompanied with a subjunctive form. We also see “Si…” (If…) followed by subjunctive a lot, and subordinate clauses that start with “que” (that). Using the subjunctive well will make you advanced, so pay attention.

Presente de subjuntivo (Present subjunctive)

Mainly used to express wishes and doubts:

Quiero que me cantes una canción (I want you to sing a song for me)

No creo que Ana coma pollo hoy (I don’t think Ana will eat chicken today)

Ojalá vivamos muchos años juntos (I hope we could live many years together)

With the present we can form the…

Pretérito perfecto compuesto del subjuntivo (Present Perfect Subjunctive Tense)

We conjugate the verb HABER to present subjunctive. Remember it is irregular.

Haya

Hayas

Haya

Hayamos

Hayáis

Hayan

+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido (Sang, ate, lived) 

Llámame cuando hayas cantado (Call me when you have sung)

Espero que hayas comido bien (I hope you ate well)

Ojalá hayáis vivido una experiencia inolvidable (I hope you have had an unforgettable experience)

Pretérito imperfecto del subjuntivo (Imperfect Subjunctive Tense)

I really like this tense but I have something sad to tell you... There are two different forms for this tense, and both are always interchangeable. But they are very easy to remember!

Also used for thoughts and wishes… Here are some examples for you to see when we use it:

Si cantáramos a las 5, podríamos salir de fiesta esta noche (If we sang at 5, we could go out partying tonight)

Ojalá comiésemos tortilla de patatas hoy (I wish we could eat potato omelet today)

Me encantaría que los perros vivieran más años (I would love for dogs to live longer)

And the perfect tense that uses this pretérito imperfecto is…

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo (Past perfect subjunctive tense)

If the imperfecto has two forms, the pluscuamperfecto also has two forms. We conjugate HABER to the pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo and add the participle.

Hubiera/Hubiese

Hubieras/Hubieses

Hubiera/Hubiese

Hubiéramos/Hubiésemos

Hubierais/Hubieseis

Hubieran/Hubiesen

+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido (Had sung, had eaten, had lived)

We use it to reflect on actions in the past that were followed by another. Most commonly, to wish something had or hadn’t happened or to give thoughts.

Si hubieras cantado más tarde, te habría podido escuchar (If you had sung later, I would have been able to hear you)

Ojalá no hubiéramos comido espinacas (I wish we hadn't eaten spinach)

Si hubiesen vivido más tiempo, habrían conocido a sus nietos (If they had lived longer, they would have met their grandchildren)

And now the good news…

Next is the future and future perfect of the subjunctive mood. But we don’t use them! Yayyy! I think those might be used only in court. A normal person like me never uses these tenses. Now it’s old Spanish. But in case you need it, here it is:

Futuro simple de subjuntivo (Future subjunctive tense) 

The only sentence I’ve heard with future subjunctive is a Spanish proverb that says: Adonde fueres, haz lo que vieres (Wherever you go, do what you see)

Aaaand the…

Futuro compuesto de subjuntivo (Future perfect subjunctive tense)

HABER in futuro simple de subjuntivo + participio. Never heard this tense in any conversation.

Hubiere

Hubieres

Hubiere

Hubiéremos

Hubiereis

Hubieren

+ Cantado / Comido / Vivido (Will have sung, will have eaten, will have lived)

Let’s cut the examples because you won’t use this tense. 

And now the last one, yay!

MODO IMPERATIVO, the imperative mood.

And this is just one tense! And just for the second person, you! Is this paradise?

Pronouns: 

Tú (You, singular informal)

Vosotros (You, plural informal)

Usted (You, singular formal)

Ustedes (You, plural formal)

CANTAR	COMER	VIVIR
Canta (Sing)	Come (Eat)	Vive (Live)
Cantad (Sing)	Comed (Eat)	Vivid (Live)
Cante (Sing)	Coma (Eat)	Viva (Live)
Canten (Sing)	Coman (Eat)	Vivan (Live)

Canta una canción (Sing a song)

Comed mucho (Eat a lot)

Viva su vida y déjeme en paz (Live your life and leave me alone) 

Great job on following all the tenses with me! I know it was a lot, so let’s review it in a more simple way in a quick recap for you to remember, using the sentence HABLAR ESPAÑOL (To speak Spanish)

TIEMPOS NO VERBALES:

Infinitivo: Hablar español (To speak Spanish)

Gerundio: Hablando español (Speaking Spanish)

Participio: Hablado español (Spoken Spanish)

Infinitivo compuesto: Haber hablado español (To have spoken Spanish)

Gerundio compuesto: Habiendo hablado español (Having spoken Spanish)

MODO INDICATIVO

Presente: Yo hablo español (I speak Spanish)

Pretérito perfecto compuesto: Yo he hablado español (I have spoken Spanish)

Pretérito perfecto simple: Yo hablé español (I spoke Spanish)

Pretérito anterior: Yo hube hablado español (I had spoken Spanish)

Pretérito imperfecto: Yo hablaba español (I spoke Spanish/I used to speak Spanish)

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto: Yo había hablado español (I had spoken Spanish)

Futuro simple: Yo hablaré español (I will speak Spanish)

Futuro compuesto: Yo habré hablado español (I will have spoken Spanish)

Condicional simple: Yo hablaría español (I would speak Spanish)

Condicional compuesto: Yo habría hablado español (I would have spoken Spanish)

MODO SUBJUNTIVO

Presente: que yo hable español (That I speak Spanish)

Pretérito perfecto compuesto: que yo haya hablado español (That I had spoken Spanish)

Pretérito imperfecto: que yo hablara/hablase español (That I spoke Spanish)

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto: que yo hubiera/hubiese hablado español (That I had spoken Spanish)

Futuro simple: que yo hablare español (That I will speak Spanish)

Futuro compuesto: que yo hubiere hablado español (That I will have spoken Spanish)

MODO IMPERATIVO:

¡Habla español! (Speak Spanish!)

Conclusion

Review them every now and then and you’ll remember them all! It would be great if you read or listen to Spanish and analyze all the verb tenses they use there. I have this video blog speaking slow Spanish that will help you a lot. Watch it and have a look at the tenses I’m using. Keep on practicing!

Check out This Complete Guide to Mastering SER vs. ESTAR in Spanish!

SER

Conjugation

When to use ser

A common device for learning the uses of ser is to remember the acronym ‘DOCTOR.’ Each letter stands for a situation where you’d use ser.

D= Descriptions

This refers to the permanent or essential qualities of a person or object. Let’s look at some examples.

O= Occupations

*Note that in Spanish, you don’t have to use ‘a’ or ‘an’ before an occupation. You say ‘soy médico’ rather than ‘soy un médico.’

C=Characteristics

T=Times

O=Origins

R=Relations

ESTAR

Conjugation 

When to use estar

A useful way to remember when to use estar is the acronym ‘PLACE.’

P=Position

L=Location

There is an exception to this one. When you’re saying where an event is being held, you use ser.

So it would be ‘la fiesta es en mi casa’ rather than ‘la fiesta está en mi casa.’

C=Condition

Here's another useful rhyme to remember in choosing whether to use ser or estar.

Words that change meaning when used with ser and estar

Interestingly, some adjectives can be used with either ser or estar, and they have different meanings with each!

Sometimes the difference is subtle and linked to the permanence of the adjective, and sometimes it’s quite a big difference in meaning.

It’s tricky, but helpful to learn them. Some of the common ones are in the table below.

Be careful with these... the last thing you want is to try and say you’re rich but accidentally claim to be tasty!

Well done!

If you’ve followed this article, then you’ve done well, as the differences between ser and estar can be subtle. It takes practice before they start to come naturally, so do a little bit of Spanish every day and watch the improvement!

Learn Spanish verb drills without memorizing anything. You can check it out below!

Adjectives

There are lots of adjectives to describe something annoying or frustrating. Some work better with things, and some work better with people, as you can see in the examples below. Remember, some will need to agree in number and gender. We’ve identified the ones that change with gender. Add ‘-s’ to any of them to make them plural.

Linked to the verb “irritar” (“to irritate”).

Linked to the verb “fastidiar” (“to annoy,” “to bother”).

Linked to the verb “frustrar” (“to frustrate”).

Linked to the verb “desalentar” (“to discourage”).

Linked to the verb “molestar” (“to annoy,” “to bother”).

Linked to the verb “sufrir” (“to suffer”).

Linked to the verb “aguantar” (“to put up with,” “to tolerate”).

Linked to the verb “soportar” (“to bear,” “to put up with”).

Set phrases

Set phrases

Next, we’ll look at some set phrases which you can use when you’re annoyed or indignant about something.

Estar harto/a

Estar hasta las narices

Estar hasta los huevos/los cojones

Estar indignado/a

Estar ofendido/a

No te concierne

¡No me estás escuchando!

¡Ya vale!

Me da igual

Although this phrase means that you don't care, it can be said in a sarcastic and indignant way, showing that actually you are upset.

No me lo puedo creer

¡Para!

Deja de …

¡Por fin!

No es justo

No puedo …

Me fastidia

Me molesta

Me da rabia

Estoy enfadado/a (Spain), enojado/a (Latin America)

Interjections: sounds

Let’s look at interjections. Quite often, these are sounds.

¡Ay!

¡Pf!

¡Uy!

Interjections: curse words

Sometimes instead of a wordless sound, an angry phrase might creep out of your mouth. We’ll have a look at some of them here.

¡¿Qué?!

¡¿Qué demonios?!

¡Cállate!

¡Qué rollo!

¡Madre mía!

WARNING: This final section contains extremely offensive language. Please do not read on if you are a minor.

Right, let’s get to the rude stuff.

Joder

You might hear children try to get away with cursing by using these versions:

Mierda

Hostia

And now the PG version:

Me cago en …

These are expressions of general annoyance and anger. Some of them are direct insults to a person, some of them aren’t. We’ve given you the literal translations, but when these phrases are said in Spanish, they’re more expressive rather than taken literally.

Remember, Spanish speakers aren’t literally pooping on these things (luckily).

Coño

A really interesting thing about the word “coño” is that when it’s used in Spain, it’s nowhere near as strong as the c-bomb in English. It can be heard used around children, because the connotation is simply not as strong as it is in English.

… and, breathe out!

Right, after all that annoyance and indignation, let’s take some time to breathe. These words can be useful but don’t go chasing confrontation!

We’ve made a list of rules to help you form all sorts of plurals, but generally it’s pretty simple.

Rule #1: Change the article

The first rule is that when you make a singular noun plural, you must remember to change the article that goes with it (the article is the tiny word in front), for example la chica becomes las chicas.

Here’s how to change the common articles, with examples:

Rule #2: Add an -s when it ends in a vowel

When a Spanish noun ends in an unstressed vowel, it’s a simple case of adding an -s to the end of it.

Rule #3: Add an -s when it ends in -é or -ó

We’ve seen what to do with unstressed vowels, but what if the vowel at the end of the noun has an accent? Words ending in -é or -ó also take their plurals by adding -s, just like in Rule #2. Nice and simple.

Rule #4: Add an -es if it ends in -á, -í, or -ú (exceptions apply)

If a noun ends in -á or -í or -ú, we usually add -es. 

There are exceptions to this rule. Some of these nouns (a lot of the common ones, actually) form their plurals irregularly, such as mamá, or menú, for which we just stick an -s on the end.

Rule #5: Add an -es when it ends in a consonant other than s

The general rule for words ending in consonants is that we add -es.

Rule #6: If the noun ends in -s, leave it as it is

As long as there’s no stress on the final syllable, the noun remains unchanged in the plural.

This rule often applies to Spanish compound nouns. We’re talking about words where a verb and a noun are joined together to make a bigger word, e.g. paraguas = parar (to stop) + agua (water)!

But if the final syllable is stressed ...

Rule #7: Add an -es when the noun ends in a stressed vowel + -s

If the noun ends in -s and the emphasis is on the last syllable when spoken (which will also be the case for words that only have one syllable!), then add -es.

*See rule #8 to find out why we removed the accent.

Rule #8: If the noun ends in a consonant and the last syllable has an accent, you can usually remove it

In Spanish, we have rules surrounding stress and emphasis within words. If our noun ends in a consonant, then we’re most likely going to be adding -es, which adds an extra syllable onto the end of the word. 

This means that we don’t need the accent anymore. Don’t worry, you won’t mess up the stress—follow the rules and the syllables sort themselves out!

Rule #9: If the noun ends in -en, do the opposite of #8!

Sometimes making a noun plural means we actually have to add an accent, to maintain the stress when we add the new -es syllable. This usually applies to words ending in -en.

Rule #10: If it’s a foreign word, just add -s

One of the cool things about languages is that they’re always borrowing and adapting words from each other! When a non-Spanish word (or an adapted version of it) is used in Spanish, we usually just add an -s to it!

Rule #11: Families

When we use a surname to talk about members of a family, we don’t add -s or -es. (Royalty is an exception.)

Rule #12: Some nouns are only ever plural

So you don’t need to worry about changing these, e.g. los celos (jealousy), and las tijeras (scissors). You can’t have just one scissor—you need a pair!

Rule #13: Some nouns are only ever singular

So you don’t need to worry about making these plural, e.g. el tenis (tennis). You can have more than one game of tennis, but you can’t have more than one tennis. These nouns are called mass nouns. They’re uncountable.

Rule #14: Spelling changes!

This last one is just a quick note on spelling. If the noun in the singular form ends in -z, we’ll need to change it to a -c before we add -es. Don’t worry, change can be a good thing.

Quiz

Try and figure out the plural form of each of the following nouns! The parts in parentheses  give you the meaning of the singular noun in English, and then the plural that you want to get to. Don’t forget to change the article!

 1. un libro (a book -> some books)

 2. el tentempié (the snack -> the snacks)

 3. una mamá (a mommy -> some mommies)

4. el corazón (the heart -> the hearts)

5. el lápiz (the pencil -> the pencils)

6. el germen (germ -> germs)

7. una vez (one time -> a few/several times)

8. un guardaespaldas (one bodyguard -> two bodyguards)

9. un Hernández (a member of the Hernández family -> some members of the Hernández family)

10. la crisis (the crisis -> the crises)

So, there are your rules! Now you know how to turn Spanish singular nouns into plurals ... which is a very useful skill to have. Otherwise, you’d only ever be able to talk about one of anything (#notideal)! ¡Hasta la próxima!

Meta

If you want to talk about more than one of anything, you’ll need to turn singular nouns into plurals! Read our rules for forming Spanish plurals, and try our quiz.

What are relative pronouns?

A noun is a word that names a person or object. A pronoun is simply a word that replaces a noun, which helps to avoid repeating it.

A relative pronoun is a pronoun we use to introduce some information that relates to the noun (a “relative clause”). The relative pronoun goes right after the noun.

It means that “This is my friend, Juan. Juan works with me.” can become “This is my friend Juan, who works with me.” Sounds smoother, right?

Sometimes in English we can just skip the relative pronoun altogether. For example, either of the following would be acceptable:

But in Spanish you can never leave them out!

So, what are the relative pronouns you need to know? Here they are, with their English counterparts:

*Some grammarians will argue that cuyo is a relative adjective not a pronoun, but we’ve chosen to include it so that you’re aware of how to use and recognize it!

The truth is that in most cases, que will be enough to make yourself understood, but you should really learn the others too, as there are times when they’re more appropriate, especially in formal written Spanish.

Que (who, whom, which, that)

Que is the most common Spanish relative pronoun and can be used in lots of different ways: it can mean “who,” “whom,” “which,” or “that.” We can use it with humans or inanimate objects.

Quien (who, whom)

The next relative pronoun we’ll look at is quien, meaning “who” or “whom.” It’s pretty similar to que, but it’s used only for people.

There are two forms of it: quien (singular) and quienes (plural).

*Note that this is the “personal a.”

Cuyo (whose)

This one means “whose” and has four forms, to make it agree in number and gender (with the noun that follows, not the person who owns the noun). The options are: cuyo, cuya, cuyos, and cuyas.

Although “whose” is commonly used with people, we can use it with objects, too.

It’s not used in question form like it is in English. We can say “Whose is this book?” in English, but we can’t say “Cúyo libro es esto?” Instead, we’d opt for “De quién es este libro?” 

*Notice that the cuyo agrees with “boyfriend” or “girlfriend,” not with “Olivia.”

El que (see que)

El que also has four forms: el que, la que, los que, and las que. It means pretty much the same as que, but is used in a slightly different way. 

If you’re referring to a general abstract idea, you can use the genderless lo que.

El cual (see el que)

El cual can have an extremely similar meaning to el que, but el cual is more formal and emphatic. This also means it’s not heard in everyday speech. Use it when you want to look sophisticated in your writing!

Don’t forget to make everything agree (el cual, la cual, los cuales, las cuales)!

Quiz

Okay, let’s see what you’ve learnt. Choose the correct relative pronoun for each of the following:

 1. ¿Cómo se llama la chica con ___ saliste? (What is the name of the girl who you went out with?)

     a. quienes

     b. la que

     c. las que

 2. Es la mujer ___ perro acaba de morir. (It’s the lady whose dog just died.)

     a. cuyo

     b. de quien

     c. que

 3. Dame un boli ___ escriba bien. (Give me a pen that writes well.)

     a. que

     b. el que

     c. cual

 4. Soy la mujer fuerte sobre ___ tu madre te advirtió. (I’m the strong woman about whom your mother warned you.)

     a. cual

     b. cuya

     c. la cual

5. Isabel, ___ tiene novio, me rechazó. (Isabel, who has a boyfriend, rejected me.)

     a. cuya

     b. quien

     c. quienes

Good work!

So now you know how to use relative pronouns in Spanish. Don’t worry if you get muddled up, as a lot of these can be interchangeable (and remember: if in doubt, use que). ¡Hasta la próxima!

Click here to learn what relative pronouns are in Spanish. Que, quien, cuyo, el que, and el cual are vital for linking clauses together, so let’s learn how!

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A Comprehensive Guide to Counting from 1 to 100

Pronunciation

Cardinal Numbers in Spanish

So, to learn how to count, we need the cardinal numbers.

Clearly we’re not going to list every single number from 0 to 1,000 or 1,000,000 or beyond! Luckily, we have patterns that mean you only have to learn the small numbers (and the big multiples like ‘hundred’ and ‘thousand’ in order to be able to figure out how to say any number.

* The number one is uno. However, if you want to say that you have one of something, you use un for a masculine noun, and una for a feminine noun! For example, ‘Tengo un hermano y una hermana.’ (‘I have one brother and one sister.’)

** You may have heard of a celebration called the quinceañera that’s celebrated in parts of Latin America and parts of the US. It marks a girl’s 15th birthday, and, as you can see, comes from the word quince (‘15’) and the word año (‘year’)!

Okay, let’s move on to 21-30:

With the twenties, we carry on blending words together, e.g. veintidos (‘22’) comes from veinte y dos (twenty and two).

* We mentioned earlier that uno becomes un or una before a noun. It’s similar with 21, 31, and so on: 

Tú tienes veintiún plátanos. Yo tengo veintuna manzanas. (‘You have 21 bananas. I have 21 apples.’)

In the thirties, we still do a little bit of math, but we don’t need to worry about mashing words together now! For example, 35 is simply treinta y cinco (‘thirty and five’).

The same rule applies for the 40s, 50s, all the way up to and including the 90s!

When you’re counting to 100, you can use either ciento or cien. When we’re using it to count a noun, it has to be cien. 

For example,

When we’re using numbers from 101-199, we have to use ciento:

Next, we’ll look at the hundreds, from 100-900.

Some of them are just counting hundreds, e.g. cuatrocientos is a joined-up version of cuatro cientos. How many hundreds? Four hundreds. Others (500,700, and 900) are a tiny bit different because what would Spanish be without exceptions to the rules?!

Now for the big ’uns! Let’s look at 1,000-1,000,000,000!

* Interestingly, with Spanish numbers, commas are used when in English we’d use decimal points, and vice versa. So the English ‘5.5’ (five and a half) translates into Spanish as 5,5! And it works the other way round, too. The English 2,000 (two thousand) translates into Spanish as 2.000!

How to say your age in Spanish

In English, we use the verb ‘to be’ when it comes to age. In Spanish, we use ‘to have.’

Ordinal Numbers in Spanish

As we mentioned at the start, ordinal numbers are used for stating the position of something.

* primero becomes primer before a masculine singular noun, and the same happens with tercero-->tercer.

Note that the Spanish ordinals all end in -o, which is simpler than English (we have ‘-st’ and ‘-nd’ and ‘-rd’ and ‘-th’ to choose from)!

Quiz time!

Write out the following numbers in words (in Spanish!). Take your time with this one, and try to figure them out using the patterns we’ve shown you.

1. 14

2. 152

3. 800 female nurses

4. 1.003

5. 1994

6. 20.000

7. 5th

8. 20th

9. 38th

10. (I can’t control myself. I just ate my) 102nd cookie!

Amazing work!

If you’re new to Spanish numbers and made it through that quiz, then I really applaud your effort!

There are some numbers that you’ll use more frequently than others, but it’s good to know the patterns so when you see any number written down, you have the knowledge you need to figure out how to say it out loud! 2,935,096? No problem

The verb haber (‘to have’/’to be’) is an unusual but really useful Spanish verb that can be used in everyday speech and certain set phrases! Haber is an important addition to your Spanish repertoire.

Bonus audio

This article comes with free MP3 files to demonstrate the correct pronunciation of the verb forms and to give you the chance to practice your listening skills. The audio files work as drills—the more you listen, the better acquainted you get with the verb haber.

The audio is included in the comprehensive Spanish Learning Package, which you can access for FREE when you sign up to our mailing list!

Uses of haber  

There are two main meanings of the verb haber. The first meaning is ‘to have.’ However, be careful! It doesn’t mean ‘to have’ in the sense of possession—that would be tener. Rather, it’s used as an auxiliary verb (like ‘I have seen’) in compound tenses:

1. Haber = to have

Example: He comprado algo interesante. (I have bought something interesting.)

The use of auxiliary verbs in this way is more common in Spain than in Latin America. Similarly, the English version is more common in British English than US American English. So, if you’re in America, be careful of overusing it!

Example (Europe): ¿Has cenado ya? (Have you had dinner yet?)

Example (America): ¿Cenaste ya? (Did you have dinner yet?)

The second use of haber is as an impersonal verb to describe the existence of something. With this meaning, it’s only used in the third person singular (whether it’s talking about a singular thing or many things!). When translated, you’ll usually need the word ‘there’ followed by the appropriate form of ‘to be’:

2. Haber = to be

Example: Hay un error en el texto. (There is an error in the text.)

Example: Hay unos errores en el texto. (There are some errors in the text.)

As well as these two main uses, haber is used in some set phrases, where it doesn’t fall neatly into either of the categories above.

Example: Haber que + infinitive. (To be necessary to …)

Example: Haber de + infinitive. (To have to/must …)

Example: Ha de + infinitive. (It must be/probably is the case that …)

Example: He aquí … (Here is/are …)

Example: Habérselas con … (To be up against …/To have it out with …)

Conjugation of haber in the indicative

We’ve seen what haber is used for, so now you need to know how to use it properly in a sentence—time to learn how to conjugate it! 

How to conjugate haber in the present tense (presente) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the imperfect (imperfecto) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the preterite (pretérito indefinido) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the future (futuro) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the conditional (condicional) 

Listen to the audio drill:

Haber as a past participle in compound tenses 

As we’ve seen above, haber is used in compound tenses, but it’s used as the auxiliary verb, not the past participle. So, it wouldn’t make sense to say, for example ‘he habido’ or ‘habríamos habido.’ Compare this to, for example, ‘he podido’ (‘I have been able to’). 

How to conjugate haber in the present perfect (pretérito perfecto)

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto)

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the future perfect (futuro perfecto)

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the conditional perfect (condicional compuesto)

Listen to the audio drill:

Conjugation of haber in the subjunctive

Now that you’ve seen haber in its indicative forms, it’s time to check out how it works in the subjunctive mood. Take the following translations with a pinch of salt, as the subjunctive can be really difficult to get across. Read more about it here!

How to conjugate haber in the present subjunctive (presente de subjuntivo) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the imperfect subjunctive (imperfecto de subjuntivo) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the perfect subjunctive (pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo) 

Listen to the audio drill:

How to conjugate haber in the pluperfect subjunctive (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo) 

Listen to the audio drill:

Other uses of haber

Listen to the audio drill:

Infinitive (infinitivo)

Perfect infinitive (infinitivo compuesto)

Rare except with ‘deber.’

haber habido

to have been (in existence)

Past participle (participio pasado)

Gerund (gerundio)

Use this with a perfect participle.

habiendo habido

there having been

Imperative mood (imperativo)

In practice, you won’t need to use haber in the imperative form, and there’s disagreement among linguists as to whether it needs to be listed and how it should be conjugated. Here are the forms that you might see in some super old literary texts!

(yo) ---	---
(tú) he/hé/habe	have (you informal singular)
(usted) haya	have (you formal singular)
(nosotros/as) hayamos	let’s have
(vosotros/as) habed	have (you informal plural)
(ustedes) hayan	have (you formal plural)

Imperative mood—negative (imperativo—negativo)

Quick exercise: multiple choice

Pick the best translation from the options provided.

Conclusion

Great work making it through this article—we know that haber can be a tricky verb to get your head around, but it’s so common and useful that it’s well worth the time.

Practice little and often with our Verb Conjugation Course. Combine it with our audio drills, and haber should start to come naturally to you over time!

When we’re speaking Spanish, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s a super subtle difference between purpose and reason.

Expressing purpose

These words have similar meanings, and are almost interchangeable—like in English, the trick is to use the one that sounds most natural in a specific context. Practice makes perfect when figuring out what’s natural!

Let’s have a look at these in context:

Here’s what we get if we slightly adjust the examples about Susie:

Expressing reason

Here’s how they’re used in context:

*Bonus tip: take a look at the table below to ensure you don’t let that last one confuse you. In this case, it’s a noun, the reason. It doesn’t mean ‘why?’ or ‘because.’ Watch out for the spelling differences.

Okay, back to our motives, reasons, and causes:

Quiz

Time to test out your understanding! For each question, choose the translation that you think is most appropriate.

Purpose

  1. Explain the aim of the project to me.

  a. Explíqueme la finalidad del proyecto.

  b. Explíqueme la razón por el proyecto.

  c. Explíqueme el costo del proyecto.

  2. Rupert went to Peru to learn Spanish.

  a. Rupert fue a Perú porque aprender español.

  b. Rupert fue a Perú debido a aprender español.

  c. Rupert fue a Perú a aprender español.

Reason

  1. Be careful. She seems nice but she has an ulterior motive.

  a. Ten cuidado. Parece agradable pero tiene un por que ulterior.

  b. Ten cuidado. Parece agradable pero tiene un motivo ulterior.

  c. Ten cuidado. Parece agradable pero tiene un ya que ulterior.

  2. Kain and I don’t speak, due to the nature of our breakup.

  a. Kain y yo no hablamos, porque la naturaleza de nuestra separación.

  b. Kain y yo no hablamos, ya que la naturaleza de nuestra separación.

  c. Kain y yo no hablamos, debido a la naturaleza de nuestra separación.

Bonus Question

  1. What was the reason for the judge’s decision?

  a. ¿Cuál fue el por qué de la decisión del juez?

  b. ¿Cuál fue el porqué de la decisión del juez?

  c. ¿Cuál fue el porque de la decisión del juez?

¡Muy bien!

Today we’ve covered the differences between purpose and reason, and seen some ways of expressing both. Don’t worry too much about differentiating between the two. Just try practicing the vocab that we’ve covered in this article, and you’ll soon be justifying things all over the place!

What is a pronoun?

A pronoun is a word that can be used to replace a noun. For example, the following sentence is pretty boring and unnatural:

"Lucy went to the shop because Lucy had run out of fruit for Lucy's apartment."

When we add pronouns (highlighted in bold), things look a lot better.

What makes an indefinite pronoun?

The indefinite pronouns in Spanish are called that because they don’t refer to a defined noun. They're unspecific, and they don't refer to a definite, concrete noun (whereas above, both 'she' and 'her' clearly refer to Lucy). Instead, they refer to unknown people, objects, and thoughts.

What about indefinite adjectives?

A lot of the time in Spanish, pronouns and adjectives have some sneaky overlapping areas. We're going to focus on words which we'll call indefinite pronouns, but bear in mind that those same words can also be used with nouns, which turns them into indefinite adjectives. For example:

Sometimes we use pronouns as adjectives, and sometimes we use adjectives as pronouns. The difference can be extremely subtle, so don’t worry too much about getting it exactly right every time! Even within this article you might spot some overlaps.

Algo = something, anything

Nada = nothing, not anything

Alguien= somebody, anybody

Nadie = nobody

Alguno/a/os/as = some, one (or more)

Ninguno/a/os/as = none, not any, nobody

Mucho/a/os/as = much, many, a lot

Poco/a/os/as = little, a little, few, a few