Spanish cheat sheet

Nouns and articles

Spanish nouns have grammatical gender. Articles and many adjectives agree with the noun’s gender and number.

el libro rojo / los libros rojos

Present tense

Regular -ar, -er and -ir verbs use different present-tense endings. Subject pronouns can often be omitted.

hablo, comes, vive

Ser and estar

Both can translate as “be”, but they occur in different constructions. Learn the pattern, rather than a permanent/temporary shortcut alone.

Soy estudiante. / Estoy en casa.

Questions and accents

Written questions use opening and closing question marks. Accent marks can distinguish otherwise similar words.

¿Dónde está? — Where is it?

Past viewpoints

The preterite commonly presents an event as bounded, while the imperfect often supplies an ongoing situation, habit or background. Context determines the viewpoint.

Ayer compré un libro. — Yesterday I bought a book. De niño leía mucho. — As a child I used to read a lot.

Direct-object pronouns

Lo, la, los and las commonly replace direct objects in standard usage, with regional variation. Their position depends on the verb construction.

Compro el libro. → Lo compro. — I buy it.

Ir a plus infinitive

A present form of ir followed by a and an infinitive commonly expresses a plan or near-future action. Conjugate ir rather than the following infinitive.

Vamos a estudiar. — We are going to study.

Por and para

These prepositions have several uses. Para often marks a purpose or destination; por can mark a cause, route or exchange. Learn a construction with its context rather than one English translation.

Estudio para aprender. — I study in order to learn. Gracias por ayudar. — Thanks for helping.

Worked example: agreement and time

Ayer compré dos libros nuevos combines a past time expression, a first-person preterite verb and a masculine plural noun–adjective phrase.

ayer = yesterday; compré = I bought; dos libros nuevos = two new books.

Common mistake: permanent versus temporary

Ser and estar cannot be reliably reduced to “permanent” and “temporary”. Classification, identity, location, state and particular expressions guide the choice.

Madrid está en España describes a stable location with estar.

Check your understanding

Complete the plan: Nosotros ___ a estudiar.

Vamos: “Nosotros vamos a estudiar.” The verb estudiar stays in the infinitive.

Curriculum connections

Sources