Complete Spanish Grammar

This page gives you a complete summary of Spanish grammar.

If you want a quick summary of what some term in Spanish grammar means, you’ll find it here.

This is based on the complete LingoToGo Spanish grammar curriculum.

Check out our Complete Guide to Spanish Conjugations here – including both Latin American and Castilian Spanish!

Basic expressions

Learn basic Spanish expression like:

• Good evening in Spanish – Buenas noches
• Have a good day in Spanish – Ten un buen día
• I am from the USA in Spanish – Yo soy de los Estados Unidos
• No problem in Spanish – No hay problema

To learn Spanish from scratch, start your spanish journey here!

Easy words in Spanish 1

There are thousands of words that are almost identical in English and Spanish. 

Jump start your vocabulary by learning these easy Spanish words. It will take almost no time to learn, and it will give you a solid base for Spanish conversation.

For example, chocolate, doctor, natural and hospital in Spanish are exactly the same as English.

Here is your starter list of easy Spanish words.

Alphabet

The alphabet in Spanish is almost the same as English, but there are a three extra letters that you need to learn in order to read Spanish:

• ñ
• ll
• rr

In this lesson you’ll learn how to read and pronounce the alphabet in Spanish. For example, the letter h in Spanish is is often silent – “hola” in Spanish is pronounced “ola”.

Articles

In grammar, the word “articles” refers to words like “the”, “he”, and “she”, “those” and “some”.

Articles in Spanish work the same way as articles in English – with one big difference. 

All articles in Spanish have a gender. So, for example, “the” in English has no gender, while “the” in Spanish will be “el” if it refers to something masculine and “la” if it refers to something feminine.

Learn the essential articles in Spanish here, with audio!

Basic words 1

Now you’ve learned a bunch of easy words in Spanish and the fundamentals of basic Spanish grammar. It’s time to learn the most common Spanish nouns that you’ll use in everyday conversation.

For example:

• friend – amigo
• beer – cerveza
• bar – bar

Here is the full list of Basic Words 1.

Nouns (singular-plural-gender)

In English, a few nouns have a specific gender, like man, woman, wife and husband, but many words are gender neutral, like doctor and teacher.

Gender in Spanish is more complicated.

In Spanish, all nouns have a gender, even if they refer to an inanimate object like the time or a house. And you have to know the gender of a noun to use it correctly in a sentence.

For example “el tiempo” is “the time” (masculine) and “la casa” is “the house” (feminine).

This takes some practice to get your head around, but there are some easy tricks to learn the correct genders of Spanish words. (Spoiler alert: the way most people try to memorize vocabulary is all wrong. We’ll give you tips to do it right.)

We also cover singular and plural nouns: “the house” –  “la casa” and “the houses” – “las casas”.

Learn all about Spanish nouns (single, plura and gender) here, with audio!

Easy adjectives

Adjectives describe qualities of a noun. For example “A famous person” – “Una persona famosa” or “A unique experience” – “Una experiencia única“

In this lesson you’ll learn easy adjectives – ones that sound almost the same in English and Spanish.

Adjectives

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use adjectives in Spanish.

Here’s the Spanish Adjectives lesson, with audio!

Useful adjectives

Now that you’ve learned how to use adjectives in Spanish, using the easy cognates, it’s time to fill out your vocabulary with the most common adjectives in Spanish.

We’ve hand-picked the adjectives that you’ll use most often in everyday conversations.

Subject pronouns

Subject pronouns are words like “he”, “she”, “you” and “it”.

In this lesson you’ll learn the Spanish subject pronouns, for example, how to say:

• I in Spanish – “yo”
• He in Spanish – “él”
• She in Spanish – “ella”

There are only a few subject pronouns in Spanish, and they’re pretty easy to learn. 

Here is the complete lesson.

Ser and estar

English has only one verb “to be” while Spanish has two words, which are used in different situations – ser and estar.

This is tricky for native English speakers to learn, as there are lots of rules for when to use ser and when to use estar.

We’ll break it down for you and give you lots of examples, so you can use ser and estar properly in Spanish.

We’ll also cover 

• ser conjugation (“I am an entrepreneur” – “Yo soy empresario”, “You are an entrepreneur” – “Tu eres empresario”, etc.)
• estar conjugation (“I am tired” – “Yo estoy cansado”, “You are tired.” – “Tú estás cansado”, etc.)

Here is the complete article.

Vocabulary 1

There are a few essential Spanish words you’ll need to learn to have basic conversations in Spanish.

This lesson contains the essentials to get you started.

Present progressive (Present continuous)

This lesson gives you a quick and easy hack for using verbs in Spanish. 

The present progressive (also known as the present continuous) tense is easy to learn and use, and will get you started in having real conversations in Spanish.

NOTE: Most Spanish courses teach the simple present tense (also known as the present indicative) first, but that’s much harder to learn without any real benefit for the extra work. We get you started with the present progressive, which is much easier and lets you get talking right away.

Here’s the complete Present Progressive in Spanish lesson, with audio!

Common verbs 1

You learned to use the present progressive tense in Spanish using easy verbs – those that are almost identical in English and Spanish. 

Now it’s time to learn the most common verbs in Spanish, for example:

• to walk – caminar
• to study – estudiar
• to talk – hablar

We’ve hand-picked the most useful common verbs in Spanish to speak Spanish in most everyday situations.

Prepositions 1

“The plate is on the table”, “I am with my friend.”

In both English and Spanish, prepositions tell us about the relationships between things. Fortunately, Spanish prepositions are very similar to English prepositions, so they’re pretty easy to learn.

In this lesson you’ll learn to use Spanish prepositions to talk about the relationships between things.

Here’s the quick and easy introduction to prepositions in Spanish.

To have / Have to

Do I really have to learn how to use the verb to have in Spanish? 

Yes you do!

It’s a really useful verb with two uses that come up all the time in Spanish:

• “I have a girlfriend” – “Tengo una novia”
• “I have to go to the supermarket” – “Tengo que ir al supermercado.”

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use “to have” in Spanish – “tener” and how to use “to have to” – “tener que” in Spanish.

Days, months and seasons

In Spanish conversation, days of the week, months and seasons come up a lot.

In this lesson you’ll learn basic Spanish words for

• The days of the week in spanish (Monday – lunes)
• Months in spanish (January – enero)
• Seasons in spanish (summer – verano)

You’ll learn about the hours of the day in a later lesson.

Here’s the complete lesson on Days, months and seasons in Spanish, with audio!

Interrogative pronouns

“Who is that person?”, “What is she doing?”, “When will she stop?”

Asking questions is an essential part of everyday conversations. In this lesson you’ll learn the Spanish questions words, including:

• What in Spanish – qué
• When in Spanish – cuándo
• Who in Spanish – quién

At the end of the lesson, you’ll be able to use Spanish question words in everyday conversations. 

Here’s the complete lesson on Spanish Interrogative Pronouns, with audio!

Near future

In this lesson, you’ll learn another very easy and useful Spanish tense – the near future in Spanish.

• “I’m going to study today.”
• “He’s going to eat dinner.”

This is a great verb tense to learn, as it’s super easy and will expand your conversational skills significantly.

Possessive adjectives

“My friend”, “Your coffee”, “Our apartment”

In this lesson you’ll learn Spanish possessive adjectives, my, his, her, your, our, their, etc. Possessive adjectives work just the same way in English and Spanish, so it’s an easy addition to your conversational toolkit.

Here’s the complete Possessive Adjectives in Spanish lesson, with audio!

Easy verbs

In this lesson you’ll learn easy verbs in Spanish – words that are almost the same in English and Spanish.

Learning these easy verbs will expand your vocabulary with almost no effort. 🙂

Simple present tense (Present indicative)

“I talk.”, “You walk”, “We eat”, “I study Spanish with LingoTogo.”

The simple present tense, also known as the present indicative, expresses actions that are happening now or actions that you do regularly.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the simple present tense in everyday conversations.

This topic is a bit tricky in Spanish, so we’ll cover the basics here, and get into more depth about verb conjugations of the simple present tense in a later lesson.

Common verbs 2

There are some common verbs in Spanish that come up all the time. You’ll learn the essentials like:

• To ask – pedir
• To talk – hablar

You’ll also get comfortable using these common Spanish verbs in conversational situations. Here they are.

Conjugations of the Simple Present Tense 

In the previous lesson, you learned to use the simple present tense with regular -ar verbs – ones that follow simple rules that are easy to understand and use. For example, hablar, caminar and estudiar.

In this lesson you’ll learn about another set of conjugations in the simple present tense: the -er and -ir verbs.

Common stem-changing verbs

In this lesson, you’ll learn the conjugations of the common stem changing verbs in the simple present tense.

Stem changing verbs simple present tense 

We’re still digging into the conjugations of the present tense, but now it gets more tricky: stem changing verbs in the simple present tense.

Some verbs, like sentir – to feel and saber – to know, change their ‘stems’ or the first part of the verb. 

If you followed the regular rules for sentir you would get “Yo sente”, but the correct conjugation is “Yo siento”.

Similarly, if you follow the regular rules for saber, you would get “Yo sabe”, but the correct conjugation is “Yo sé”. 

There’s good news and bad news here. The stem changing verbs in simple present tense are used a lot so you’ll have plenty of practice in using them once you’ve learned them. The bad news is that they are used so much that you can’t get away with not learning them.

In this lesson, you’ll learn all about the stem changing verbs in the simple present tense and how to use them.

I like, I love, I prefer

Latin cultures are generally much more affectionate and expressive than English-speaking cultures. You’ll want to learn to navigate these expressions of affection so that you don’t come across as a cold fish when you talk to people you care about. 

And equally important, so you don’t freak out when someone you’ve just met says “My love” – “Mi amor”. Just chill. It doesn’t mean what it would mean on a first date in English!

In this lesson you’ll learn how to say:

• I like in Spanish
• I love in Spanish
• I want in Spanish
• I prefer in Spanish
• I need in Spanish

And you’ll learn all the subtleties of what different expressions of affection really mean in Latin culture. 

Connectors 1

“And”, “but”, “because”…

Spanish transition words, also known as connectors – help you join phrases together to express more complex ideas.

In this lesson, you’ll learn the most common Spanish transition words, and understand how to use them.

Common reflexive verbs

In this lesson, you’ll learn the most useful reflexive verbs in Spanish – those that you’ll use every day in Spanish conversation.

Reflexive verbs 

“I’m going to wash myself“, “She’s going to get herself ready to go out.”

English has reflexive verbs, where we habitually use “myself”, “himself”, “herself”, “themselves”, etc. with the verb.

Similarly, Spanish has reflexive verbs as well.

Having said that, the rules for Spanish reflexive verbs are much stricter than the rules for English. In English, the reflexive part of the sentence is often optional, whereas is Spanish, you must always use reflexive verbs properly.

In this lesson you’ll learn about how and when to use Spanish reflexive verbs.

Adverbs of frequency

“I’m never going to do that again”,  “I always brush my teeth”, “I go to bed late“.

Spanish adverbs of frequency describe the frequency, time or duration of an action.

In this lesson, you’ll learn the essential spanish adverbs of frequency and understand how and when to use them.

Here’s the complete lesson on Spanish Adverbs of Frequency, with audio!

Vocabulary 2

In this lesson, you’ll learn more useful spanish words, to expand your conversational skills.

Demonstrative pronouns

“This book is mine”, “That coffee is cold”, “Those trees are far away”.

“Demonstrative pronouns in Spanish” is the fancy grammatical name for words like “this”, “that” and “those”.

To understand and use demonstrative pronouns in Spanish, there are two key differences that you need to learn:

• In Spanish, the demonstrative pronoun matches the gender and quantity of the object(s) being referred to:
  • This book – este libro
  • These books – estos libros
  • This table – esta mesa
  • These tables – estas mesas
• In English we only have two levels of ‘distance’: “this” for things that are close by, and “that” for things that are further away. In Spanish, there are three levels of ‘distance’: “this”, “that” and “that way over there”.

In this lesson, you’ll learn the Spanish demonstrative pronouns, and get comfortable using them in different situations.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish demonstrative pronouns.

Possessive pronouns 

As Golum famously says in Lord of the Rings, “My precious, my precious.”

The possessive pronouns in Spanish are used for exactly what it sounds like – to express ownership of an object:

• My boyfriend
• Your house
• His computer
• Our class
• Their party

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use possessive pronouns in Spanish conversation.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish possessive pronouns.

Numbers

“Let me count the ways I love you…”

Whether you’re talking about love or bananas, it’s pretty important to know how to count.

In this lesson, you’ll learn numbers in Spanish:

1. uno
2. dos
3. tres

… and literally thousands more.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to numbers in Spanish.

And here’s a comprehensive guide to numbers in Spanish.

The time

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say the time in spanish. For example, “Dos de la tarde” is “2:00 PM”

And as a bonus, you’ll learn about how the relationship to time is totally different in Latin cultures from English-speaking cultures.

If you say “We’ll meet at 7:00PM” in English, you probably mean “We’ll meet at 7:PM” – plus or minus 15 minutes. 

But in many Latin cultures, “Nos vemos a las 7” can mean “I’ll start getting ready at about 7 PM, and I’ll arrive a couple of hours after that.”

Similarly, “right now” in English means “right now”. But “ya mismo” (right now) in Spanish can mean “Sometime today… or maybe tomorrow…”

If you’re living in a Latin culture or even just visiting, these cultural differences will drive you crazy at first.

But once you understand what time really means in Latin cultures, your life will become less frustrating and waaaay easier.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to telling the time in Spanish.

Prepositions 2

In this lessons you’ll learn some more useful Spanish prepositions like:

• With in spanish – con
• Without in spanish – sin

Here’s a quick and easy guide to these Spanish prepositions.

Ser and estar in the past tense

So far all the verb tenses you have learned refer to the present and future.

In this lesson, you’re going to learn your first verb tense that refers to the past.

Here you’re going to get an easy hack to learn the easiest past tense using the to verbs for to be – ser and estar.

By learning just the ser conjugation and estar conjugation in the past tense, you’ll open up a whole new world of conversational Spanish.

You’ll learn to say things like:

• I was a good student – Yo era buena estudiante
• I was in my house yesterday – Yo estaba en mi casa ayer

This tense is called the past progressive tense. You’ll learn the basics of this tense here, and then practice it some more after you’ve learned some more vocabulary.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to using ser and estar in the Spanish past progressive tense.

Common verbs 3

In this lesson you’ll learn some more common verbs in Spanish to increase your conversational range.

For example:

• To repeat – repetir
• To jog or trot – trotar

As you can see from the two examples, you’re going to get more common verbs in Spanish that are both useful and easy to learn.

Here are the common Spanish verbs in this lesson.

Past progressive (Past continuous)

In this lesson, you’ll learn another past tense in Spanish – the past progressive tense.

You’ve already learned half of what you need to know to use the past progressive tense, with sentences like “I was at the university” – “Yo estaba en la universidad”..

Now you’re going to be able to add another verb to describe what you were doing in the past:  “I was studying at the university” – “Yo estaba estudiando en la universidad”.

To do this, you just need to learn that the progressive of to study – estudiar – is estudiando.

Here’s the complete lesson on the Spanish Past Progressive Tense, with audio!

Adverbs of quantity

A lot, a little, too much, almost… these are all adverbs of quantity.

In this lesson, you’ll learn the essential adverbs of quantity in Spanish and how to use them.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to adverbs of quantity in Spanish.

Prepositions of place

In this lesson, you’ll learn more Spanish prepositions of place, so you can speak Spanish even more fluently.

For example:

• Above – arriba de: “My bedroom is above the kitchen” – “Mi habitación está arriba de la cocina”.
• Below – abajo de: “The shoes are under the bed” – “Los zapatos están debajo de la cama”

Here’s a quick and easy guide to prepositions of place in Spanish.

There is / there are

In this lesson you’ll learn about a super-useful, multi-functional word, “hay” in Spanish.

You can use hay in Spanish to say things like “There are two bedrooms in my house” – “En mi casa hay dos baños”.

“Hay” comes from the verb Haber – to have or to exist. But lucky for you, all you need to know for now is that “hay” is Spanish means “there is” or “there are”.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to using “there is” and “there are” in Spanish.

Cada, ambos, ninguno, todo

In this lesson you’ll learn how to talk about quantities in Spanish like every, both, none, all – cada, ambos, ninguno, todo/toda.

For example, “I can dance all night” – “Yo puedo bailar toda la noche”

Here’s a quick and easy guide to saying each, both, all, any, either and neither in Spanish.

Connectors 2

In this lesson, you’ll learn more useful Spanish connectors like:

• After – después
• Even – incluso

Here’s the quick and easy guide to more connectors in Spanish.

Conditional 1 (if clause)

In this lesson, you’ll learn to say things like “If someone talks to me in Spanish, I reply in Spanish” – “Si alguien me habla en Español, contesto en Español.”

We actually have three lessons on how to use “if” in Spanish. This is the easiest one, as it uses the present tense, which you already know.

You’ll need to learn a little more grammar before we can teach you the other two uses of if in Spanish, so they’ll come later in the course.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the Spanish conditional 1 clause.

Poder verb

“Yes, I can dance salsa” – “Sí, puedo bailar la salsa”.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the poder verb, to express things like “I can”, “I’m able to”, “I may”. 

Poder is an irregular verb, so we include a poder conjugation chart for quick reference. 

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the verb “poder” in Spanish.

Object pronouns

“I want to do it!”
“¡Quiero hacerlo!”

“Maria ate it“
“María lo comió”

“I gave it to them“
“Yo los di”

Object pronouns are used pretty much the same way in Spanish as in English.

There are only two things you need to be aware of.

The first is that English has only one direct object word for “them”, which applies to both masculine and feminine things. In Spanish, there are two words, “los” and “las”.

“Los” is used when you’re referring to some masculine things, or a mixed group of masculine and feminine.

“Las” is used when you’re referring to some feminine things.

The other is only relevant when you’re writing. In the first example above, “¡Quiero hacerlo!” you’ll notice that the direct object is ‘stuck onto’ the verb without a space. We never do this in English, but it’s always done in Spanish.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to object pronouns in Spanish.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to direct object pronouns in Spanish, with exercises.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to indirect object pronouns in Spanish, with exercises.

Here’s a comprehensive guide on direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish, with exericses.

Indefinite pronouns

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say nothing, something and everything in Spanish, plus a bunch more indefinite pronouns that come up in everyday conversations.

For example, “There is someone in the house” – “Hay alguien en la casa”.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish indefinite pronouns.

Adverbs already and yet in Spanish

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use the adverbs “yet” – “aún” and “still” – “todavía” in Spanish.

For example, “I can’t leave school yet.” – “No puedo salir de la escuela todavía“.

Here’s a quick and easy explanation of how to say “already” and “yet” in Spanish.

Comparatives of inequality

In this lesson you’ll learn how to describe differences between people and things using comparatives of inequality.

• “Luis is less friendly than me” – “Luis es menos amigable que yo”
• “Juan is taller than Maria” – “Juan es más alto que María.”

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish comparatives of inequality.

Equality comparatives

In this lesson you’ll learn how to describe similarities between people and things using comparatives of equality.

• “Juan is as tall as María” – “Juan es tan alto como María”.
• “Luis is as friendly as me” – “Luis es tan amigable como yo”.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish comparatives of equality.

Superlatives

“This lesson is the most awesome in the course!” – “¡Esta lección es la mejor en el curso!”

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use superlatives in Spanish: the best, the worst, the biggest, the smallest…

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish superlatives.

Diminutives

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use diminutives in Spanish, which describe smaller versions of things:

• “El gato” – “The cat”
  “El gatico” – “The kitten”
• “El carro” – “The car”
  “El carrito” – “The little car”.

Diminutives are often used in Spanish to express affection, in a similar way that “baby” is used as a term of endearment between couples in English:

• “Mi amor” – “My love”
  “Mi amorcito” – “My little love.”

Here’s a quick and easy guide to Spanish diminutives.

Easy words 2

In this lesson, you’ll continue to boost your vocabulary by learning more easy Spanish words. It will take almost no time to learn, and it will give you a solid base for Spanish conversation.

For example, conclusión (conclusion in English), exterior (exterior in English) and ideal (ideal in English). 

How easy is that!

Preterite tense (Past participle)

“I talked”, “She walked”, “They studied”.

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use the simple past tense in Spanish, known as the preterite in Spanish or the past participle.

In this lesson you’ll get a simple introduction to the preterite in Spanish. In the next lesson we’ll go into more depth about the conjugations in preterite tense.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the preterite tense in Spanish.

Conjugations preterite tense 

In this lesson you’ll learn the conjugations of regular verbs in the past participle for regular verbs ending in -ar, -er and -ir.

Here’s a https://lingotogo.cool/regular-verb-conjugations-spanish-preterite-concise/quick and easy introduction to regular verb conjugations in the Spanish pretirte tense.

Stem changing verbs preterite tense 

Some Spanish verbs are irregular in the preterite tense. They actually change their roots – or the beginnings of the word – in the past participle.

For example, querer – to want – in Spanish changes its root:

• Yo quise
• Tú quisiste
• Él, ella quisó
• Nosotros queremos
• Ellos quisieron

The bad news is that the stem-changing verbs tend to be the most commonly-used words, so you really do need to learn these root-changing verbs. The good news is that you’ll be using them a lot in everyday conversation, so you’ll get plenty of practice, so they’ll become second nature and natural pretty quickly with conversational practice. 

Here’s the quick and easy introduction to stem-changing verbs in the Spanish preterite tense.

Prepositions 3

“According to Juan, this is a good book”, “I like this one less than that one.’

In this lesson, you’ll learn more useful Spanish prepositions.

Here’s the quick and easy introduction to the Spanish prepositions durante (during), hasta (unitl), sobre (on, about), según (according to), and contra (against).

Vocabulary 3

In this lesson, you’ll learn more useful spanish words, to expand your conversational skills.

Whose

“Whose dog is that?”

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use “whose” – “¿De quién?” in Spanish.

Here’s the quick and easy introduction to “whose” in Spanish.

Por vs para

“I need to study for six hours today.” – “Tengo que estudiar por seis horas hoy.”
“I leave for Argentina tomorrow” – “Salgo para Argentina mañana”

English just has one word for for, while Spanish has two words – por and para. These two words have different meanings and are used in different circumstances.

There are fifteen rules that determine when you should use por vs para. *gulp*

This causes a lot of confusion for native English speakers when learning to use por and para correctly. 

Fortunately, there’s an easier way to learn when to use por and para.

We’ll teach you using the easy way, of course.

Here’s the complete Por vs para lesson, with audio!

Want more practice? Here are a bunch of Por and Para Examples, with audio!

Imperfect tense

“I traveled a lot when I lived in Mexico” – “Yo viajaba mucho cuando vivía en México”.

“I studied a lot until I graduated” – “Yo estudiaba mucho hasta que me gradué”

In this lesson, you’ll learn the Spanish imperfect tense. 

The Spanish imperfect tense is used to talk about things you used to do regularly in the past.

Here’s the complete Imperfect tense in Spanish lesson.

Conjugations imperfect tense

In this lesson, you’ll learn more about regular verb conjugations in the Spanish imperfect tense.

We include a Spanish conjugation chart for the imperfect tense.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to conjugation of regular verbs in the Spanish imperfect tense.

Stem changing verbs imperfect tense

There are only three stem changing verbs in the imperfect tense: “to go” – “ir”, “to be” – “ser” and “to see” – “ver”.

In this lesson you’ll learn how to conjugate those three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense. 

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the three irregular verbs in the Spanish imperfect tense.

Common verbs 4

In this lesson you’ll learn some more common verbs in Spanish to increase your conversational range.

Conditional tense

“I would eat pizza, but I am on a diet” – “Yo comería pizza, pero estoy en dieta”

“I would like to ask a favor of you” – “Me gustaría pedir un favor de ti”

The Spanish conditional mood, also known as the Spanish conditional tense, is used to talk about hypothetical situations (I would eat pizza) and to make polite requests (I would like to).

In this lesson, you’ll learn what the Spanish conditional mood is and when to use it.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the Spanish conditional mood and when to use it.

Conjugations conditional mood 

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the conditional tense in Spanish.

We include spanish conjugation chart for the conditional mood.

Here’s the quick and easy guide to conjugating the Spanish conditional mood.

Connectors 3

“In spite of the rain, I still had a good time” –
“A pesar de la lluvia, todavía tuve un buen tiempo”

“I don’t enjoy noisy environments. For example, I never go to concerts.”
“No me gustan los ambientes ruidosos. Por ejemplo, nunca me voy a conciertos.”

In this lesson, you’ll learn more spanish transition words.

By the end of the lesson, you’ll know all the connectors that you’ll need to speak in Spanish fluently.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to five more useful Spanish connectors.

Present perfect tense  

“I have never been to Guatemala” – “Yo nunca he viajado a Guatemala”

“He has never eaten Indian food” – “Él nunca ha comido comida hindú”

“She has studied Spanish” – “Ella ha estudiado Español”

The name “present perfect tense” in Spanish is a bit misleading, as this tense actually refers to things in the past.

The present perfect tense is pretty easy to learn, as it’s just the same as the corresponding tense in English. The words even sound similar – “He has…” – “El ha…”

We teach the idea of the present perfect tense with some very simple examples in this lesson. 

You’ll get the full scoop on how to conjugate the verbs that follow the “has” in the next lesson.

Here’s the quick and easy introduction to the present perfect tense in Spanish.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to the Spanish present perfect tense, with exercises.

Conjugations present perfect tense

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to conjugate verbs in the present perfect tense. 

We include a Spanish conjugation chart for the present perfect tense. 

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the conjugations of the the present perfect tense in Spanish.

Present perfect progresive tense

“I have been having nightmares recently” – “Yo he estado teniendo pesadillas últimamente”

The present perfect progresive tense is used to describe something that started in the past and continues to happen – “I have been having…”

It builds on two spanish tenses you already know, so it’s pretty easy to learn:

• “have been” – “he estado” is the present perfect of estar
• “estado tieniendo” uses the same conjugation of tener as “estoy tieniendo” which you already learned in the present progressive tense.

So, you put these two building blocks together and you already know the present perfect progressive tense!

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the meanng and uses of the Spanish present progressive tense.

Conjugation of the present perfect progressive tense

“I have been having crazy dreams recently” – “Yo he estado teniendo sueños locos últimamente”

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to conjugate verbs in the present perfect progressive tense.

You already know how to do this from the lesson on present progressive tense, so this is an easy review of that material in a new context. 

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the conjugation of the present perfect progressive tense in Spanish.

Subjunctive mood: Present subjunctive 1

“I wish you would listen to me” – “Me gustaría que me escuches“

In the past, the subjunctive was used in English in just the same way as in Spanish today. 

If you’ve watched period series like Downton Abbey or other ‘high class’ period English series and movies, you would have heard phrases like:

• I wish you would…
• If only I could…
• I hope that you were…

These are all examples of the subjunctive in English.

The subjunctive in Spanish is very similar.

In this lesson you’ll learn the present subjunctive in Spanish. It is used to talk about desires, doubts, emotions, necessity or uncertainty.

By the way, if you ever get invited to tea with the Queen of England, you better brush up on your subjunctive in English. The royals and high class Brits still use it!

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the Spanish present subjunctive mood.

And here’s a comprehensive guide to the Spanish present subjunctive mood, with exercises.

Conjugations present subjunctive 1

In this lesson you’ll learn the verb conjugations for the present subjunctive in Spanish.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to conjugations of the Spanish present subjunctive mood.

Subjunctive mood: Imperfect subjunctive 2

“If we had the ingredients, we would cook pasta” – “Si tuviéramos los ingredientes, nosotros cocinaríamos la pasta”

The imperfect subjunctive is similar to the present subjunctive in that it talks about possibilities, but in this case, ones that refer to the past rather than the present. 

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the meaning and usage of the Spanish imperfect subjunctive 2.

Conjugations imperfect subjunctive 2

In this lesson you’ll learn the verb conjugations for the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the conjugations of the Spanish imperfect subjunctive 2 mood.

Conditional 2 (if clause)

“If I were a millionaire, I would buy mansión” – “Si fuera un milionario, compraría una mansión”

The second conditional is Spanish is used to talk about unlikely situations.

It uses an if-then sentence structure: if something were to happen, then something else would happen.

The if part of the sentence is expressed in the imperfect subjunctive (which you have already learned) and the then part of the sentence is expressed in the second conditional, which you will learn in this lesson.

Here’s a quick an easy guide to the Spanish conditional 2 if clause.

Imperative mood (Commands)

“Come here!” – “¡Ven acá!

“Wait for me!” – “¡Esperame!”

The imperative mood is used to express commands in Spanish.

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use imperative commands in Spanish, and we’ll give you examples.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the Spanish imperative mood.

Relative pronouns

“The man who lives there is friendly” – “El hombre que vive allá es amistoso”

“Do you remember the topics that we were talking about yesterday?” – “¿Recuerdas los temas de los que hablamos ayer?”

Relative pronouns are used to introduce clauses that tell us more about the subject of the sentence.

There are six relative pronouns in Spanish: 

• que
• quien
• el que
• el cual
• cuando
• donde

English uses relative pronouns in the same way as Spanish, so the concept is pretty easy to learn.

The only difference is that in English, the relative pronoun can often be omitted, for example you could say “Do you remember the topics that we were talking about yesterday?” or “Do you remember the topics we were talking about yesterday?” In Spanish, the relative pronoun can never be omitted.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the Spanish relative pronouns.

Easy words 3

In this lesson, you’ll continue to boost your vocabulary by learning more easy Spanish words. It will take almost no time to learn, and it will give you a solid base for Spanish conversation.

For example, global (global in English), intelectual  (intellectual in English) and expedición (expedition in English). 

How easy is that!

Here’s the list Spanish words that are easy to learn for native English speakers.

Colors in Spanish

In this lesson, you’ll learn some basic colors in Spanish.

Ordinal numbers

“The first one in line” – “El primero en la fila”

“Fifth Avenue” – “Avenida quinta”

In this lesson, you’ll learn the ordinal numbers in Spanish – first, second, third… and understand how to use them in conversation.

Common verbs 5

In this lesson you’ll learn more common verbs in Spanish to increase your conversational range.

Future tense (Simple future)

“I will write a novel about my life in two years” – “Yo escribiré una novela sobre mi vida en dos años”

The simple future tense in Spanish describes things that will happen in the future – obviously!

You’ve already learned the near future tense “I’m going to…” – “Yo voy a…”. 

In contrast, the simple future tense refers to things that will not happen immediately, but in the more distant future.

In English, we just use “will” to refer to the future, but in Spanish, there are distinct verb conjugations to refer to the future.

In this lesson you’ll learn what the simple future tense is and how to use it.

Here is the complete lesson: Future Tense in Spanish: The Complete Guide, with audio!

Conjugations future tense

In this lesson, you will learn how to conjugate verbs in the simple future tense. You’ll learn the simple future conjugations of both regular and irregular verbs.

We include a verb conjugation chart for easy reference.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the conjugations of the Spanish future tense.

Stem changing verbs future tense

In this lesson we’ll go deeper into how to conjugate verbs in the simple future tense. You’ll learn the simple future conjugations of stem-changing verbs in the future tense.

As is always true with the stem-changing verbs, these tend to be the most commonly-used words, so you really do need to learn them. The good news is that you’ll be using them a lot in everyday conversation, so you’ll get plenty of practice, so they’ll become second nature and natural pretty quickly with conversational practice.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the conjugations of stem-changing verbs in the Spanish future tense.

Progressive future tense

“Juan will be working in the office tomorrow” – “Juan estará trabajando en la oficina mañana”

The progressive future tense, also called the future continuous tense, is used to talk about things that will be happening for a while in the future.

This tense is very similar to the present progressive tense, which you learned early on “Juan is working in the office today” – “Juan está estudiando en la oficina hoy”. 

The only difference is that instead of using estar in the present tense, you use it in the future tense “Juan will be working in the office tomorrow” – “Juan estará trabajando en la oficina mañana”

It’s easy to learn and expand the range of things you can talk about in Spanish.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the Spanish progressive future tense.

I used to

Old habits die hard.

Spanish has a very cool verb about habits, “soler”, which literally means “to be in the habit of”.

It’s almost always used in the past imperfect tense to talk about habits people used to have. 

“I used to sing when I was a child” – “Yo solía cantar cuando era pequeña”

In this lesson you’ll learn how soler is used in the past imperfect to talk about past habits.

You’ll also learn the soler conjugations in the past imperfect.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to how to use “soler” to talk about habits.

Direct and indirect speech (Reported speech)

Compare:

1. “Ana said, “I am happy” – “Ana dijo “Yo estoy feliz””
2. “Ana said that she was happy” – “Ana dijo que estaba feliz”

The first example is direct speech, where we directly quote what the person said. 

The second is indirect speech, where we report what the person said, without directly quoting them.

The rules about the use of direct and indirect speech are just the same in English and Spanish. 

You just have to be careful about making sure that the verb conjugations match by changing the “yo” form in direct speech to the él/ella form in indirect speech.

In this lesson you’ll practice using direct and indirect speech, so you can use them fluently in conversations. 

Here’s a quick and easy guide to understanding direct and indirect speech in Spanish.

Active and passive voice

Compare:

1. “Ana is cooking dinner” – “Ana está cocinando la cena”
2. “Dinner is being cooked by Ana” – “La cena está siendo cocinada por Ana”

The first example is in the active voice. 

The second is in the passive voice.

The usage of the active and passive voices are just the same in English and Spanish.

In this lesson you’ll practice using active and passive voices, so you can use them fluently in conversations. 

Here’s a quick and easy guide to using the active and passive voice in Spanish.

Past perfect tense (Pluperfect)

“I had a dog when I lived in New York”

“Yo había tenido un perro cuando vivía en Nueva York”

“They had served the food when I arrived”

“Ellos habían servido la comida cuando yo llegué”

The past perfect is used to talk about what a person had done in the past before something else happened.

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use the past perfect tense with some simple examples.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the Spanish past perfect tense.

Conjugations past perfect tense

In this lesson you’ll learn how to conjugate verbs in the past perfect tense, also known as the pluperfect tense. 

We include a Spanish conjugation chart for the past perfect tense.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to conjugating the Spanish past perfect tense.

Subjunctive mode: Present perfect subjunctive 3

“It’s good that we have talked after the fight”

“Es bueno que hayamos hablado después de la pelea”

The present perfect subjunctive is used to talk about past actions that are connected to the present.

That’s a mouthful to get your head around. But you couldn’t explain the concept of the present perfect subjunctive in English, so there’s absolutely no reason for you to understand the concept in Spanish either.

It’s pretty easy to learn if you learn by examples – which is exactly what you’ll do in this lesson.

You’ll master it easily by practicing with a bunch of examples.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction the meaning and uses of the Spanish present perfect subjunctive.

Conjugations present perfect subjunctive

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to conjugate the present perfect subjunctive with our spanish conjugation chart.

Here’s a quick and easy introductin to the conjugations of the Spanish present perfect subjunctive.

Subjunctive mood: Past perfect subjunctive (Pluperfect)

“María would have cooked if we had brought food”

“Maria hubiera cocinado, si nosotros hubiéramos traído la comida”

The past perfect subjunctive, also known as the pluperfect subjunctive, is used to talk about things that might have happened in the past.

• There are three different situations in which the past perfect subjunctive is used:
  Hypotheticals
• Conditionals
• Past actions preceding other past actions

You can waste a lot of time trying to learn all the grammatical rules, but when you come to speak they’ll just trip you up. Instead of just talking, you go into your head for a few minutes while you try to figure out which rule to apply.

Instead, we’ll take the practical approach of learning by practicing a ton of easy examples.

When you just practice, without thinking about the rules, you’ll be able to talk fluently without straining your brain.

Here’s a quick and easy introduction to the Spanish past perfect subjunctive.

We’ll cover conjugations in the next lesson.

Conjugations Past perfect subjunctive

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to conjugate the past perfect subjunctive. We include a Spanish conjugation chart.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the conjugations of the Spanish past perfect subjunctive.

Conditional 3 (if clause)

Last but not least (drumroll please…)

The conditional 3 in Spanish, or the third “if” clause in Spanish.

“If I had lived in Italy, I would have learnt Italian”

“Si yo hubiera vivido en Italia, habría aprendido italiano”

This is used to talk about things in the past that might have happened, but didn’t actually happen.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to the Spanish conditional 3 (if clause).

Closing thoughts

If you’ve made it through this entire Spanish grammar course, you know more Spanish than almost any other non-native Spanish speaker.

Honestly, you will have mastered a lot more grammar than many native Spanish speaking college graduates use on a regular basis.

So, if you’ve skipped to the end without going through every lesson, there’s great news for you.

You really don’t have to!

The 80-20 rule is your friend.

If you want to get conversational in Spanish, be able to live comfortably in a Spanish speaking country, have a great social life and maybe date a native Spanish speaker..

you really only need the basics. 

The basic grammar, basic vocabulary, and maybe a bunch of easy words (that sound the same in English and Spanish) to fill out your vocabulary.

It’s just not that hard.

But what you really need is a ton of conversational practice.

Without practice, now matter how much grammar theory you know and how big your vocabulary is, you’ll always struggle to communicate.

With basic grammar and vocabulary, and a ton of practice, your conversations will become easy and natural.

And if you are a super grammar nerd, here’s an even more extensive guide to complete Spanish grammar.