Exercises – Grammar

We use the acute accent in Spanish to distinguish between interrogative and relative pronouns, e.g., “¿Dónde vives?” (Where do you live?) vs. “No hay transporte donde vivo” (There is no transportation where I live).

We use the acute accent in Spanish to distinguish between the meaning of words that would otherwise be written in the same manner.

For example, “el” is the masculine definite article “the,” whereas “él” is the personal pronoun “he,” “mas” (formal use only) is a conjunction meaning “but,” whereas “más” means “more.”

The English word "actual" and the Spanish word "actual" look similar.

However, they are false cognates.

The English word "actual" is translated to real in Spanish, whereas the Spanish word "actual" means "current" in English.

To form the negation in Spanish, we add “no” in front of the verb (and before any object pronoun before the verb), e.g., “No juego al fútbol” (I don’t play soccer), “No lo quiero” (I don’t want it), etc.

Notice the doubling of the letters in the abbreviation of “Estados Unidos” (United States) as “EE. UU.” because it is a plural noun.

To form the negation in Spanish, we add “no” in front of the verb (and before any object pronoun before the verb), e.g., “No juego al fútbol” (I don’t play soccer), “No lo quiero” (I don’t want it), etc.

There is no general rule. Words ending with “-e” tend to be masculine especially those ending in “-aje” or “-ambre”, but with a lot of exceptions that are feminine such as: la calle (street), la carne (meat), la gente (people), la llave (key), la fiebre (fever), la noche (night), la nube (cloud), la sangre (blood), la suerte (luck), la tarde (afternoon or evening), la fuente (source or fountain), la torre (tower), la sede (headquarter), la serpiente (snake), la corriente (current), la clave (key), la clase (class), la base (base), la madre (mother), la muerte (death), la nieve (snow), la frase (phrase).

Notice that we use the masculine definite article, i.e, “el hambre” because the word “hambre” starts with “ha-.”

Most words ending in “-o” are masculine, with few exceptions that are feminine such as: la mano (hand), la radio (radio), la foto (photo), la moto (motorcycle), la libido (libido).

Most words ending in “-a” are feminine, except:
1. Words with “-ma”, “-pa”, and “-ta” endings that originate from Greek, which are masculine.
2. Words ending in “-ista” referring to masculine performing a profession such as: el taxista (taxi driver).
3. Words that end with “-a” and used to refer to professions that have the same masculine and feminine forms, e.g., “el/la atleta” (athlete).
4. Few masculine words that are learned by practice, such as: el día (day), el buda (buddha), el panda (panda).

To form the plural, the letter “s” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a vowel, e.g. “casa” (house), “casas” (houses) and “es” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a consonant, e.g. “mujer” (woman), “mujeres” (women). Notice that adjectives in Spanish also can be in the plural, e.g. “mujeres jóvenes” (young women).

To form the plural, the letter “s” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a vowel, e.g. “casa” (house), “casas” (houses) and “es” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a consonant, e.g. “mujer” (woman), “mujeres” (women). Notice that adjectives in Spanish also can be in the plural, e.g. “mujeres jóvenes” (young women).

Most words ending in “-a” are feminine.
However, words ending in “-ista” can refer to masculine or feminine people performing a profession such as: el/la taxista (taxi driver), el/la artista (artist), el/la analista (analyst), el/la pianista (pianist), etc.

Most words ending in “-o” are masculine, with few exceptions that are feminine such as: la mano (hand), la radio (radio), la foto (photo), la moto (motorcycle), la libido (libido).

To form the plural, the letter “s” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a vowel, e.g. “casa” (house), “casas” (houses) and “es” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a consonant, e.g. “mujer” (woman), “mujeres” (women). Notice that adjectives in Spanish also can be in the plural, e.g. “mujeres jóvenes” (young women).

To form the plural, “es” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a consonant, e.g., “mujer” (woman), “mujeres” (women). In the case of words ending with “z,” the final “z” becomes “c.”

Most words ending in “-a” are feminine.

However, some exceptions are only learned by practice, such as: el día (day), el buda (buddha), el panda (panda).

To form the plural, the letter “s” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a vowel, e.g. “casa” (house), “casas” (houses) and “es” is added if the noun or adjective ends with a consonant, e.g. “mujer” (woman), “mujeres” (women). Notice that adjectives in Spanish also can be in the plural, e.g. “mujeres jóvenes” (young women).

Most words ending in “-o” are masculine, with few exceptions that are feminine such as: la mano (hand), la radio (radio), la foto (photo), la moto (motorcycle), la libido (libido).

Most words ending with a consonant other than “d” or “z” are masculine, with some exceptions such as: la miel (honey), la piel (skin), la sal (salt), la hiel (gall), la flor (flower), la coliflor (cauliflower), la labor (labor).

Most words ending in “-ión” are feminine.

However, some words with “-ión” ending are masculine such as: el avión (plane), el camión (truck), el embrión (embryo).

There is no general rule. Words ending with “-e” tend to be masculine especially those ending in “-aje” or “-ambre”, but with a lot of exceptions that are feminine such as: la calle (street), la carne (meat), la gente (people), la llave (key), la fiebre (fever), la noche (night), la nube (cloud), la sangre (blood), la suerte (luck), la tarde (afternoon or evening), la fuente (source or fountain), la torre (tower), la sede (headquarter), la serpiente (snake), la corriente (current), la clave (key), la clase (class), la base (base), la madre (mother), la muerte (death), la nieve (snow), la frase (phrase).

Most words ending in “-a” are feminine.
However, words that end with “-a” and are used to refer to professions have the same masculine and feminine forms. For example, “el/la atleta” can refer to a male or female athlete, and “el/la espía” can refer to male or female spy.

There is no general rule. Words ending with “-e” tend to be masculine especially those ending in “-aje” or “-ambre”, but with a lot of exceptions that are feminine such as: la calle (street), la carne (meat), la gente (people), la llave (key), la fiebre (fever), la noche (night), la nube (cloud), la sangre (blood), la suerte (luck), la tarde (afternoon or evening), la fuente (source or fountain), la torre (tower), la sede (headquarter), la serpiente (snake), la corriente (current), la clave (key), la clase (class), la base (base), la madre (mother), la muerte (death), la nieve (snow), la frase (phrase).

Although the letter “y” at the end of a word is considered a vowel, the “es” ending is used to form the plural in such words, e.g., “rey” (plural “reyes”).

Most words ending with a consonant other than “d” or “z” are masculine, with some exceptions such as: la miel (honey), la piel (skin), la sal (salt), la hiel (gall), la flor (flower), la coliflor (cauliflower), la labor (labor).

Most words ending in “-a” are feminine, except:
1. Words with “-ma”, “-pa”, and “-ta” endings that originate from Greek, which are masculine.
2. Words ending in “-ista” referring to masculine performing a profession such as: el taxista (taxi driver).
3. Words that end with “-a” and used to refer to professions that have the same masculine and feminine forms, e.g., “el/la atleta” (athlete).
4. Few masculine words that are learned by practice, such as: el día (day), el buda (buddha), el panda (panda).

Words ending with accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú) are generally masculine, e.g. el maní (peanut), el ají (chili pepper), el ñandú (rhea), el colibrí (hummingbird).

Most words ending in “-ión” are feminine.

However, some words with “-ión” ending are masculine such as: el avión (plane), el camión (truck), el embrión (embryo).

When describing items in millions or billions, one must add “de” after “millón(es)” or “billón(es),” e.g., “un millón de estudiantes” (a million students), “dos millones de habitantes” (two million inhabitants), etc.

The multiples of hundred (200-900) can have a masculine “-os” or a feminine “-as” ending depending on the nouns they describe, e.g., “doscientos libros” (200 books), “doscientas manzanas” (200 apples).

In Spanish, there are two forms of the singular “you”; the first is the informal “tú” and is used with familiar, and the second is the formal “usted” which is used with older people and with people we are not familiar with or to show respect.

There is no direct translation of the subject pronoun “it” in English. To refer to a statement or a situation in Spanish, the subject pronoun is not needed, e.g., “No significa mucho” (It does not mean much).

Alternatively, the neuter personal pronoun “ello,” often translated as “it,” can be used to refers to a statement or a situation, e.g., “Ello no significa mucho” (It does not mean much). In spoken Spanish, we can also use the masculine demonstrative article “esto,” meaning “this,” e.g., “Esto no significa mucho” (It does not mean much).

In Spanish, there are two forms of the singular “you”; the first is the informal “tú” and is used with familiar, and the second is the formal “usted” which is used with older people and with people we are not familiar with or to show respect.

In Spanish of Spain, "vosotros/-as" is used instead for the informal plural “you.”

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-er" verb. The stem of the verb "comer" is "com-", formed by removing the final "er".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-er" verb. The stem of the verb "comer" is "com-", formed by removing the final "er".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-er" verb. The stem of the verb "comer" is "com-", formed by removing the final "er".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ir" verb. The stem of the verb "vivir" is "viv-", formed by removing the final "ir".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ir" verb. The stem of the verb "vivir" is "viv-", formed by removing the final "ir".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-er" verb. The stem of the verb "comer" is "com-", formed by removing the final "er".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ir" verb. The stem of the verb "vivir" is "viv-", formed by removing the final "ir".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ir" verb. The stem of the verb "vivir" is "viv-", formed by removing the final "ir".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ir" verb. The stem of the verb "vivir" is "viv-", formed by removing the final "ir".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-er" verb. The stem of the verb "comer" is "com-", formed by removing the final "er".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ir" verb. The stem of the verb "vivir" is "viv-", formed by removing the final "ir".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-er" verb. The stem of the verb "comer" is "com-", formed by removing the final "er".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Regular verbs in the present indicative tense are conjugated by adding the appropriate suffix to the stem.
This is an "-ar" verb. The stem of the verb "hablar" is "habl-", formed by removing the final "ar".

Languages and nationalities in general need a definite article in Spanish.

Exceptionally, we drop the definite article in Spanish when the language name is an object of a verb, e.g., “Hablo y enseño español” (I speak and teach Spanish), “Me gustaria aprender arabe” (I would like to learn Arabic), or after the preposition “en,” e.g., “escrito en italiano” (written in Italian).

We use the indefinite article "unas" before a plural feminine noun.