SECOND SEMESTER GRAMMAR
BOOK
Jazmin Roldan

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Imperfect
 El Preterito
 -car/-gar/-zar
 Spock
 Cucaracha
 Snake
 Modal Verbs
 Los Adverbios
 Irregular Adverbs
 Progressive Tense
 Past tense
 Present tense

 Future
 Conditional
 Superlatives
 Formal Commands
 Prepositions
 Demonstratives

IMPERFECT
 Regulars:
Hablar Comer Escribir
Yo Hablaba Comía Escribía
Tú Hablabas Comías Escribías
Él/Ella/Ud. Hablaba Comía Escribía
Nosotros Hablábamos Comíamos Escribíamos
Vosotros Hablabais Comíais Escribíais
Ellos/Ellas/ Hablaban Comían Escribían
Uds.

 Irregulars:
Ir Ser Ver
Yo Iba Era Veía
Tú Ibas Eras Veías
Él/Ella/Ud. Iba Era Veía
Nosotros Íbamos Éramos Veíamos
Vosotros Ibais Erais Veíais
Ellos/Ellas/ Iban Eran Veían
Uds.
Uses: Trigger Words:
1. Ongoing action (was/were) -todos los dias -los lunes
2. Repeated action (used to) -de vez en cuando -a veces
3. No definite beginning or end -generalmente -mientras
4. Time/date/age/feelings/descriptions -siempre -a menudo
5. Interrupted activity (cuando) -cada dia -muchas veces

EL PRETERITO IRREGULAR
 Spelling change in the first person only.
 Tocar:
 Toqué
 Tacaste
 Tocó
 Tocamos
 Tocaron
 Jugar:
 Jugué
 Jugaste
 Jugo
 Jugamos
 Jugaron

 Comenzar:
 Comencé
 Comenzaste
 Comenzó
 Comenzamos
 Comenzaron

-CAR, -GAR, -ZAR
 Regular verbs with these endings have a spelling
change in the “yo” form to keep the sound of the
verb.
-car yo -qúe
-gar yo -gúe
-zar yo -cé
Examples:
Sacar: the c changes to qu: (yo) saqúe: Yo saqúe la basura.
Pagar: the g changes to gu: (yo) pagúe: Yo pagúe dos dólares.
Empezar: the z changes to c: (yo) empecé: Yo empecé un trabajo nuevo.

SPOCK VERBS (IRREGULAR PRETERITE
VERBS)
Hacer Dar/Ver Ir/ser
hice i fui
hisiste iste fuiste
hizo io fue
hicimos imos fuimos
hicieron ieron fueron

CUCARACHA
Andar
Estar
Poder
Poner
Querer -é (yo)
Saber -iste (tú)
Tener -o (él, ella, ud., una cosa)
Venir -imos (nosotros)
Decir -isteis (vosotros)
Traer -ieron (ellos, ellas, uds., una cosas)
Conducir
Producir -i
Traducir

SNAKE SNAKEY
 Preterite verbs with a „y‟ spelling change
*Stem Changers
Dormir
Dormí
Dormimos
Dormiste *Y Changers
Durmió
Leer
Dumieron
Leí
Leimos
Leiste
Leyó
Leyeron

 To write “Snake Snakey” in the third person
preterite form of –er and –ir verbs with stems that
end in a vowel, change the l to y.
 All of these preterite forms require an accent,
EXCEPT the ustedes/ellos/ellas forms.

MODAL VERBS
 Conjugate and pair the modal verb with an infinitive
to get a new meaning.
 ir+a+infinitive (going to do something)
 poder+infinitive (are able to do something)
 querer+infinitive (want to do something)
 deber+infinitive (should do something)
 tener que+infinitive (to have to do something)
 soler+infinitive (to be accustomed to)

LOS ADVERBIOS
 Most are formed by adding –mente to the feminine
singular form of the adjective. Corresponds to –ly
ending in English.
 When two adverbs modify the same verb only the
second one uses the –mente ending. Note, the
adverb is the same as the feminine singular form of
the adjective.
Adjective Feminine Form Adverb
Claro Clara Claramente
Constante Constante Constantemente
Difícil Difícil Difícilmente
Perfecto Perfecta Perfectamente

IRREGULAR ADVERBS
Irregular Adverbs Translation
Mucho A lot
Muy Very
Mal Bad
Bastante Quite/enough
Bien Good/well
Ya Already
Tan So

PROGRESSIVE TENSE
 Present Progressive
 Formed by combining the verb “to be” with the present
participle.
 Estar + -ando/-iendo/-yendo
 Past Progressive
 Also formed by combining the verb “to be” with the
present participle.

FUTURO (WILL)
Los Irregulares:
Decir Dir-
Hacer Har-
-é
-é Poner Pondr-
-ás
-ás Salir Saldr-
-á
-á Tener Tendr-
Infinitive + -emos
-emos Valer Vendr-
-éis
-éis Poder Podr-
-an
-an Querer Querr-
Saber Sabr-

CONDITIONAL
 The conditional is used to express
probability, possibility, wonder or conjecture. Conditional
will usually translate as would, could, must have, or
probably.
 When would is used in the sense of a repeated action in
the past, the imperfect is used.
 To conjugate regular –ar, -er, and –ir verbs in the
conditional, simply add one of the following to the
infinitive:
 Ía
 Ías
 Ía
 Íamos
 Íais
 Ían

 Here are all three regular conditional verb forms
together:
Hablar Comer Vivir
Hablaría Comería Viviría
Hablarías Comerías Vivirías
Hablaría Comería Viviría
Hablaríamos Comeríamos Viviríamos
Hablaríais Comeríais Viviríais
Hablarían Comerían Vivirían
 Some specific uses of the conditional tense are:
 To express speculation about the past.
 To express the future from the perspective of the past.
 To express hypothetical actions or events which may or may
not occur.
 To indicate what would happen if not for a specific
circumstance.
 For polite use to soften a demand.
 To ask for advice.

SUPERLATIVES
 These phrases say that one item has more or less
of a certain quality than another item has.
 Más... que
 Menos… que
 When you want to say that something has the most
or the least of a certain quality, use a superlative.
 El/Los/La/Las más…
 El/Los/La/Las menos…
Examples:
Luis es el más alto.
Carmen es la más pequeña.
Mercedes es la menos cansada.

 To use a noun with the superlative form, put it after
the article.
 Luis es el chico más alto. Mercedes es la chica menos
cansada.
 Juan prepara las comidas más sabrosas.
 Be sure the adjective matches the noun in both
gender and number!

FORMAL COMMANDS
 Formal commands are used when ordering, or
telling someone to do something. This is often
referred to as the “imperative” form of the verb.
 Compre usted el anillo. : (You) Buy the ring.
 Haga usted la tarea. : (You) Do the homework.
 Compren ustedes los libros. : (You all) Buy the books.
 Informal commands are used among friends or
people around your age. Formal commands are
typically used to be polite or when talking to
someone much older than you.
 If the first person singular (yo) form is irregular, that
irregularity is carried over into the formation of the
formal command. This also applies to stem-
changing verbs.

 The formal commands are formed the same way as
present subjunctive.
 Start with the yo form of the present indicative.
 Then drop the –o ending.
 Then add the following endings:
 -ar verbs:
 -e (for usted), -en (for ustedes)
 -er and –ir verbs:
 -a (for usted), -an (for ustedes)
 As the present subjunctive, the following verbs are
irregular:
 Dar
 Estar
 Ir
 Ser
 Saber

PRONOUNS AS OBJECTS OF PREPOSITIONS
 A pronoun is a word that is used instead of the name of a
person or thing.
 Ex.: he, him, she, her, they, them
 As the name implies, subject pronouns are the pronouns to
use for the subject of the sentence.
 When the pronoun acts as the object of a preposition, a
different set of pronouns is used.
Subject Pronouns Obj. Prep. Nouns
Yo Mí
Tú Ti
Él Él
Ella Ella
Usted Usted
Nosotros/as Nosotros/as
Vosotros/as Vosotros/as
Ellos/as Ellos/as
Ustedes Ustedes

 Use the second set of pronouns to replace the noun
that comes immediately after a preposition.
 Juan habla de mí. : Juan speaks of me.
 Hablo con ellos. : I speak with them.
 Pablo compró un anillo para ella. : Pablo bought a ring
for her.
 Whenever mí follows the preposition con, the words
combine to form conmigo.
 Whenever ti follows the preposition con, the words
combine to form contigo.

DEMONSTRATIVES
 When you‟re pointing out specific things, you use
demonstrative adjectives and pronouns.
 Eso, esto, aquello refer to a situation or ideas, not
to specific nouns.
 Accent marks denote pronouns which take the
place of a noun.
 All demonstratives always agree in gender and
number in the noun it modifies.
Singular Singular Plural Plural
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
Ese Esa Esos Esas
Este Esta Estos Estas
Aquel Aquella Aquellos Aquellas