The Spanish Language Speed Learning Course

Speak Spanish Confidently … in 12 Days or Less!

DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT

The author and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing this report. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this report. The information contained in this report is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this report, you are taking full responsibility for your actions.

EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO ACCURATELY REPRESENT THIS PRODUCT AND IT'S POTENTIAL. HOWEVER, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL IMPROVE IN ANY WAY USING THE TECHNIQUES AND IDEAS IN THESE MATERIALS.  EXAMPLES IN THESE MATERIALS ARE NOT TO BE INTERPRETED AS A PROMISE OR GUARANTEE OF ANYTHING.  SELF-HELP AND IMPROVEMENT POTENTIAL IS ENTIRELY DEPENDENT ON THE PERSON USING OUR PRODUCT, IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES. 

YOUR LEVEL OF IMPROVEMENT IN ATTAINING THE RESULTS CLAIMED IN OUR MATERIALS DEPENDS ON THE TIME YOU DEVOTE TO THE PROGRAM, IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES MENTIONED, KNOWLEDGE AND VARIOUS SKILLS.  SINCE THESE FACTORS DIFFER ACCORDING TO INDIVIDUALS, WE CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SUCCESS OR IMPROVEMENT LEVEL.  NOR ARE WE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOUR ACTIONS. 

MANY FACTORS WILL BE IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING YOUR ACTUAL RESULTS AND NO GUARANTEES ARE MADE THAT YOU WILL ACHIEVE RESULTS SIMILAR TO OURS OR ANYBODY ELSE'S, IN FACT NO GUARANTEES ARE MADE THAT YOU WILL ACHIEVE ANY RESULTS FROM OUR IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES IN OUR MATERIAL.

The author and publisher disclaim any warranties (express or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided “as is”, and without warranties.

As always, the advice of a competent professional should be sought.

The author and publisher do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to in this report.

All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction										5

DAY 1:										8
Getting Started with Greetings and Basic Expressions in Spanish

DAY 2:										12
Recognizing Letters and Sounds in the Spanish Alphabet

DAY 3:										16
Forming Spanish Nominal Words and Phrases
Gender-Specific Characteristic
	Number-Specific Characteristic
	Definite and Indefinite Articles
	Learn More Spanish Nouns

DAY 4:										25
Getting Familiar with Spanish Pronouns						
	Subject Pronouns
	Object Pronouns
	Possessive Pronouns
	Demonstratives

DAY 5:										29
Learn to Describe with Spanish Adjectives

DAY 6:										34
Making Longer and Complete Phrases with Prepositions

DAY 7:										36
Introduction to Spanish Verbs
	AR Verbs
	ER Verbs
	IR Verbs

DAY 8:										43
Conjugating Verbs to Present Tense
	Regular Forms
	Irregular Forms
	Ser vs. Estar
	Present Progressive Form

DAY 9:										51
Conjugating Verbs to Past Tense
	Regular Forms
	Irregular Forms

DAY 10:										56
Conjugating Verbs to Future Tense
	Regular Forms
	Irregular Forms
	Be-Going-To Form

DAY 11:										59
Forming Basic Spanish Sentences
	Declarative Sentences
	Interrogative Sentences
	Imperative Sentences

DAY 12:										66
Familiarizing Situational Phrases
	Asking for Directions
	Giving Directions
	At the Airport
	Checking in at Hotels
	Riding a Bus
	Riding the Train
	Hiring a Taxi
	Hiring a Boat
	Driving Cars
	Shopping for Clothes
Shopping for Food
	Dining Out and Ordering Food
	Visiting the Beach
	Doing Sports
	Problems and Complaints
	Dealing with Emergencies

Conclusion										75

INTRODUCTION

¡Buenas dias!
Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It belongs to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European language family, and is primarily spoken at the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America of about 250 million people. It is also called Castilian, which was derived from the dialect it came from. This language was brought and introduced by the Spaniards in Canary Island, Antilles, the Philippines, the southern part of North America, South America, and the coast of Africa. 
The Standard Spanish language is being spoken at 43 countries, not including Spain. Most of them consider it as their official language and use it for business, education, industry, politics, and everyday conversation.
This shows how widely popular the Spanish language is and how it will continue to be for many years to come. Foreign language courses are already being offered at different colleges and universities. Spanish training is always included in them. Students taking up such courses are continuously increasing in number. New books and training materials are being published and sold. 
Aside from the possibility of having to deal with so many Spanish speakers in business or education, another reason to learn Spanish is that it is regarded as a romantic language, both in literature and everyday conversations. 
This is the reason why a lot of movies and television programs nowadays use the language – to captivate and touch the hearts of millions of audiences. Imagine how many friends and loved ones you can impress with lines like Te amo (I love you) or Te quiero (I need you) and actually knowing how they came to be!
Whether you’re having a hard time coping up with Spanish in school, you’re dealing with many Spanish speakers in the office or business, or you simply like adding another entry on the “language spoken” part on your résumé, you have chosen the right report to help you learn the language by yourself. 
With this report, you’ll be learning basic Spanish not within a whole year, not during one term in school, not even a month! You can learn how to speak Spanish confidently in just 12 days, or even less! Imagine that.
Common foreign language trainings usually bombard you with thousands of words and phrases in their vocabulary. They let you memorize these words and phrases until you get used to speaking them out – without really knowing how they became that way. 
How this book differs from those word factories is that it applies the linguistic approach in training you to learn the language effectively. This means, as a foreign language learner, you start by studying the letters and sounds of the language. From these sounds, you create words and phrases. As you gather up these words, you’ll be able to form sentences.
In the first few days of your training using this report, you’ll be concentrating on Spanish sounds. This is important as you will be encountering sounds that are not present in the English language, or sounds familiar to your native tongue but not used in the Spanish language. 
Sounds are among the fundamentals of one language because all throughout your language training, you’ll be using these sounds as you speak out words and form sentences.
From the 3rd to the 10th day, you will be forming different kinds of Spanish words and phrases. These words consist of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs. Among these basic parts of speech, more days will be given to the training of verbs as they are the most important and complicated topic in learning the Spanish language. You will be taught to conjugate different types of verbs according to tenses such as past, present, and future. 
Finally, as you approach the 11th day of our training, you’ll be able to compose sentences in Spanish using the words and phrases you’ve learned. Recall that simple sentences are actually composed of only a subject and a predicate, where a subject can be as simple as a pronoun, and a predicate can be composed of only a verb. Hence, excellent knowledge of word formation will help you a lot in forming sentences.
During your final day of training, you will be provided with some useful situational phrases you can use when you actually deal with Spanish culture, like when you visit Spanish countries or live with Spanish people.
Are you still unconvinced that you can learn the language in just 12 days? It’s always easier said than done. Nevertheless, if you really put your mind to it, and if you’re determined to achieve success, you can actually learn to speak Spanish in 1 day – if you choose to finish reading and comprehending the book today!
With faith and patience, nothing is impossible. In Spanish, nada es imposible. So, are you ready to speak Spanish?

DAY 1:
Getting Started with Greetings and Basic Expressions in Spanish

The first step to learning a new language is being familiar with its greetings and most basic phrases. Listed below are everyday expressions in Spanish words, with pronunciation guides, to help you enunciate them properly. Please be reminded that when written, the Spanish language use both the inverted question mark (¿) and inverted exclamation mark (¡) at the beginning of every interrogative and exclamatory sentence, respectively.
¡Hola!
[oh-lah]
‘Hi, Hello’

¡Hola! is the most basic Spanish expression in greeting other people. It means ‘hi’ or ‘hello’. It can be used both for people you know, and for those you don’t know to get them to notice you. This is also the phrase used when answering calls from the phone, followed by a good morning or good evening in Spanish. 
Note: Spanish people do not pronounce the letter /h/, making it a silent letter, except when used in the /ch/ sound. Thus, the above expression should not be read [hoh-lah] but [oh-lah].
To Remember Easily: Change the common hello to hallo. Interchange the position of the vowels /o/ and /a/ to make it holla, then eventually hola, without pronouncing the letter /h/.
¡Buenos dias!			¡Buenas tardes!		¡Buenas noches!
[bwe-nos di-yahs]			[bwe-nas tar-des]		[bwe-nas noh-ches]
‘Good morning/day’		‘Good afternoon’		‘Good evening/night’

These are the daily or timely greetings in Spanish. Similar to English, they are composed of two words, namely bien which means ‘good’ and the Spanish words for morning, afternoon, and night.
To Remember Easily: Dias is ‘day(s)’ in Spanish (Note the change of /y/ to /i/ and the rearrangement of letters). Since daytime is usually associated with mornings, you should not forget that ¡Buenos Dias! is to be greeted to a person during the morning.
To associate the Spanish tardes with ‘afternoon,’ simply imagine the time of the day when you feel the laziest or, say, tardiest – during the afternoon! Now you know why you always feel like taking a short nap after lunch.
Using alliteration, a literary style where words beginning with the same consonant are placed together in a phrase or sentence, we can easily relate noches with its English translation meaning ‘night’ since they both start with the letter /n/.
		¿Cómo te llamas?			¿Cómo se llama?
		[ko-mo te lya-mas]			[ko-mo se lya-mah]
		‘What is your name?’			‘What is your name?’ (Formal)

Literally, these phrases mean ‘How do you call yourself?’ The former is being used during informal or casual conversations, like when asking a lost kid what his name is, when meeting new acquaintances in school or organizations, or when getting to know a person younger or the same age as you are. The latter is being used during formal instances, like when talking to an elder or anybody with high societal and political positions like professors, mayor, or your friend’s mother. The literal translation of “What is your name in Spanish?” is…
¿Qué es tú nombre?
[ke es tu nom-bre]
‘What is your name?’

If someone asks for your name using any of the above questions, you may also respond with various answers:
Yo soy [name].		   Me llamo [name].		  Mi nombre es [name].
[yo soy … ]		   [me lya-mo … ]		  [mi nom-bre es … ]
‘I am …’			   ‘I am called …’		  ‘My name is …’

Though there are variations when telling your name in Spanish, all are accepted and are used to introduce yourself to other people. However, be reminded that the first introduction is usually a response to the direct question ¿Quién eres tú? or ‘Who are you?’; the second introduction is the most common response among Spanish; and the third introduction is used when giving emphasis to what your name is (i.e. My name is [name1], not [name2]).
			¿Qué tal?			¿Como estas?
			[ke tal]				[ko-mo es-tas]
			‘What’s up?’			‘How are you?’

Both expressions above are used for asking how another person is today, what he has been doing lately, how he is feeling, and the likes. 
Note: When talking formally, use esta instead of estas in the latter expression. The topic on formality in the Spanish Language, especially on pronouns, will be discussed on Day 4.
			(Muy) Bien			(Muy) Mal
			[(muy) byen]			[(muy) mal]
			‘(Very) Good’			‘(Very) Bad’

Questions on knowing ‘how you are doing’ can be answered depending on how you are actually feeling during the moment you are asked. Hence, from the options above, you can reply with a good, a very good, a bad, or a very bad.

To Remember Easily: Know that muy is ‘much’ in English, literally. Hence, if something is much, extreme words like ‘very’ should be used to emphasize it. In this case, ‘very’ is translated as muy.
As we have already mentioned earlier, bien is ‘good;’ while mal is ‘bad.’ If you can’t relate the English word to its Spanish counterpart using creative thoughts, try associating the number of letters from one to another – both bien and ‘good’ has 4 letters, while both bad and ‘mal’ has 3 letters.
Por favor
[por fa-vor]
‘Please’

Por favor is the Spanish way of showing respect when asking a favor. It can be used either at the beginning of your sentence or at the end.
To Remember Easily: Don’t you usually say please when you ask por (for) a favor? 
			Gracias			De nada
			[gra-thyas]			[de na-dha]
			‘Thank you’		    	‘You’re welcome’ or
‘Don’t mention it’

To Remember Easily: Gracia, without /s/, is ‘grace’ or ‘blessing’ in English. Don’t you say thank you for all the gracia(s) you receive? De nada literally means ‘it’s nothing.’ When it’s nothing, you don’t have to mention it.
¡Adiós!
[a-dhyos]
‘Goodbye’

¡Adios! or ‘goodbye’ is used when you bid farewell to somebody you know – whether personally or through the telephone. It’s like wishing that God be with the other person as he continues his journey as a diós literally means ‘to God.’
DAY 2:
Recognizing Letters and Sounds in the Spanish Alphabet

As you are now familiar with the everyday greetings in Spanish, you can start learning the Spanish alphabet. You must know how each letter is called, and the sound it produces. 
The Spanish alphabet is composed of 30 letters. However, Spanish sounds are more than the total number of letters, as there are instances that a letter is pronounced in various ways according to its position in a word. 
In addition, each letter has a name different from the ABC’s of English. The table below will show you how each letter in Spanish is called, how each one of them is pronounced, and some examples for practice.
Alphabet	Name		Pronounce It!					Examples

A	a	[ah]		/ah/ as in English other, shut, son		alto ‘tall’ 
										[al-to]

B	b	[beh]		/b/ as in English boy, about, crib		bien ‘good’
										[byen]

C	c	[theh]	 	/k/ as in English cup, rocky, milk		cuatro ‘four’
				when followed by the vowels a, o, u		[kwat-ro]
 
/th/ as in English thin, Catherine, math	cinco ‘five’
				when followed by the vowels e, I		[thing-ko]

Ch	ch	[cheh]		/ch/ as in English child, Richard, beach	chica ‘girl’
										[chi-ka]

D	d	[deh]		/d/ as is English doll, idea, glad		donde ‘where’
				when used in the start of a word or syllable	[don-de]

				/th/ as is then, mother, breathe		nada ‘nothing’
				when placed in between vowels in a word	[na-dha]

E	e	[eh]		/eh/ as in English enter, let, said		estado ‘state’
										[es-ta-dho]

F	f	[eh-feh]	/f/ as in English fan, raffle, wife		falso ‘false’
										[fal-so]

G	g	[keh]		/g/ as in English gift, beagle, dog		gordo ‘fat’
				when followed by the vowels a, o, u		[gor-do]

				gargled /k/ as in German Bach when		gente ‘person’
				followed by the vowels e, I			[khen-te]

H	h	[ah-cheh]	the letter h is not pronounced in Spanish	hasta ‘until’
				words making it a silent letter			[as-ta]

I	I	[i]		/i/ as in English income, hit, pity		ídolo ‘idol’
										[i-do-lo]

J	j	[hoh-tah]	gargled /k/ as in German Bach		jabón ‘soap’
										[kha-bon]

K	k	[kah]		/k/ as in English kite, wacky, silk		kilo ‘kilo’
										[ki-lo]

L	l	[eh-leh]	/l/ as in English light, blame, ball		lapiz ‘pencil’
										[la-piz]

Ll	ll	[eh-lyeh]	/ly/ as in English galleon			llover ‘rain’
										[lyo-ver]

M	m	[eh-meh]	/m/ as in English money, summit, tame	mal ‘bad’
										[mal]

N	n	[eh-neh]	/n/ as in English net, tiny, green		norte ‘north’
										[nor-te]

Ñ	ñ	[eh-nyeh]	/ny/ as in English canyon, onion 		ñaque ‘junk’
										[nya-ke]

O	o	[oh]		/o/ as in English Auckland, saw, decor	obra ‘work’
										[ob-ra]

P	p	[peh]		/p/ as in English party, happy, leap		pato ‘duck’
										[pa-to]

Q	q	[kuh]		/k/ as in English kite, wacky, silk		quema ‘fire’
										[ke-ma]

R	r	[eh-reh]	/r/ as in English roll, mark, lyre		robo ‘robbery’
										[ro-bo]

Rr	rr	[ehr-reh]	/r/ with a roll of the tongue; hard /r/		correr ‘to run’
										[kor-rer]

S	s	[eh-seh]	/s/ as in English son, daisy, office		salsa ‘sauce’
										[sal-sa]

T	t	[teh]		/t/ as in English time, later, belt		taza ‘cup’
										[ta-za]

U	u	[uh]		/u/ as in English put, book, push		único ‘single’
										[u-ni-ko]

V	v	[uh-veh]	/v/ as in English vase, lava, have		vaca ‘cow’
				when used in the start of a word or syllable	[va-ka]

				soft /b/ when placed in between vowels	ave ‘bird’
										[a-be]

W	w	[uh-veh	/w/ as in English whale, lower, show		wáter ‘toilet’
		do-ble]								[wa-ter]

X	x	[eh-kis]	gargled /k/ as in German Bach when		Xavier (name)
				used in the start of a word			[khav-yer]

				/ks/ as in English taxi, box, fix when		sexto ‘sixth’
				placed inside a word				[seks-to]

Y	y	[i-gri-yeh-gah]	 /y/ as in English yoyo, boy, Sunday		yate ‘yacth’
										[ya-te]

				/i/ as in English receive, cream, ski when
				used as the conjunction y ‘and’

Z	z	[zeh-tah]	/z/ as in English zebra, lazy, buzz		zona ‘zone’
										[zo-na]

To summarize, sounds not present or are very minimal in the English language but are common in Spanish includes /ch/, /th/, gargled /k/ of German, /ly/, /ny/, /rr/, and the soft /b/. Meanwhile, the letter h is common in the written language of Spanish, but is not pronounced verbally unless it belongs to the /ch/ sound.
As this day ends, you should now be able to recite the 30 letters of the Spanish alphabet using the names they are called (ah, beh, theh, etc.), distinguish the different sounds made by some letters like c, d, g, v, x, and y according to certain conditions, and cite some examples where all letters and sounds can be observed.

DAY 3:
Forming Spanish Nominal Words and Phrases

With enough knowledge on Spanish letters and sounds, you are now ready to begin forming words and phrases. On this 3rd day of training, the focus will be on forming nominal words and phrases. These are what we usually call nouns. These words name people, places, animals, events, and even abstract entities.
Spanish is a gender- and number-specific language. This means that its words, particularly nouns and adjectives, contain within them the categorization whether they are masculine, feminine, or neuter; and whether they are plural or singular. 

Gender-Specific Characteristic

Nouns in Spanish may be classified according to gender – masculine, feminine, or neuter. How do we know which gender fits which noun?
To help you resolve this problem, I’d like you to meet two good friends of mine: Lawrence, a clever guy from California, and Dazcion, a pretty maiden from Mexico. Lawrence can help you remind which nouns in Spanish are masculine because he is a guy, while Dazcion can do the same for feminine nouns. How is that possible? Read on.
Spanish nouns ending in L, O, R, E, N, and S are masculine. Here are some examples:
Árbol		[ar-bol]	‘tree’			Azucar		[ah-zu-kar]	‘sugar’
Barrio		[bar-ryo]	‘town’			Bebé		[be-be]		‘baby’
Cinturón	[sin-tu-ron]	‘belt’			Disco		[dis-ko]	‘disk’
Examen	[ek-sa-men]	‘exam’			Freno		[fre-no]	‘brake’
Garaje		[ga-ra-he]	‘garage’		Hombre	[om-bre]	‘man’
Imán		[i-man]		‘magnet’		Jamón		[ha-mon]	‘ham’
Libro		[lib-roh]	‘book’			Miedo		[mye-do]	‘fear’
Nombre	[nom-bre]	‘name’			Oído		[oy-do]		‘ear’
País		[pa-is]		‘country’		Pupitre		[pu-pit-re]	‘desk’
Queso		[ke-so]		‘cheese’		Regalo		[reh-ga-lo]	‘gift’
Sello		[sel-yo]	‘stamp’		Tacón		[ta-kon]	‘heel’
Traje		[tra-he]		‘dress’			Zorro		[zor-ro]	‘fox’

On the other hand, nouns ending in D, A, Z, and Cion are feminine. Some examples are shown below:
Agua		[ah-gwa]	‘water’			Barba		[bar-ba]	‘beard’
Blusa		[blu-sa]	‘blouse’		Cama		[ka-ma]	‘bed’
Circulación	[sir-ku-la-thyon] ’traffic’		Cosa		[ko-sa]		‘thing’
Dirección	[di-rek-thyon]	‘address’		Estrella	[es-tre-lya]	‘star’
Fruta		[fru-ta]		‘fruit’			Guerra		[ger-ra]	‘war’
Hora		[oh-ra]		‘hour’			Hierba		[yer-ba]	‘grass’
Iglesia		[ig-le-sya]	‘church’		Juventud	[hu-ven-tud]	‘youth’
Luz		[luz]		‘light’			Mancha	[man-cha]	‘stain’
Nación		[na-syon]	‘nation’		Página		[pa-hi-na]	‘page’
Profesión	[pro-fe-syon]	‘profession, job’	Querida	[ke-ri-da]	‘dear’
Red		[red]		‘net’			Suela		[swe-la]	‘sole’
Salud		[sa-lud]	‘health’		Tinta		[tin-ta]		‘ink’
Uña		[uh-nya]	‘nail’			Voz		[voz]		‘voice’
Vida		[vi-da]		‘life’			Zona		[zo-na]		‘zone’	

Hence, when you encounter a Spanish noun, all you have to do is look at its ending and see if it belongs to Lawrence (L-O-R-E-N-S) or Dazcion to know its gender. However, there are some exceptions to these rules. You would notice that most of them are borrowed words from other languages like English. Observe the table below:
Masculine Nouns					Feminine Nouns
     Not Ending in L-O-R-E-N-S			       Not Ending in Dazcion

Arroz		[ar-roz]	‘rice’			Calle		[ka-lye]	‘street’
Bistec		[bis-tek]	‘steak’			Cancer		[kan-ser]        ‘cancer’
Champu	[cham-pu]	‘shampoo’		Carcel		[kar-sel]         ‘prison’
Dia		[di-ya]		‘day’			Carne		[kar-ne]	‘meat’
Esqui		[es-ki]		‘ski’			Flor		[flor]	          ‘flower’
Fax		[faks]		‘fax’			Ley		[ley]		‘law’
Mapa		[ma-pa]	‘map’			Lente		[len-te]		‘lens’  
Menú		[me-nu]	‘menu’			Mujer		[mu-her]	‘wife’
Pez		[pez]		‘fish’			Noche		[noh-cheh]	‘night’
Programma	[pro-gra-ma]	‘programme’		Orden		[or-den]    ‘command’
Reloj		[re-loh]	‘watch’		Razón		[ra-zon]          ‘reason’
Rey		[rey]		‘king’			Suerte		[swer-te]	‘luck’

You should also note that not because the actual entity which is being referred by the word is associated with a certain gender (i.e., pants for men, skirts for women); the word takes the gender of the actual thing. Look how ironic Spanish nouns can be just for the sake of following its gender-specific characteristic:
Masculine Nouns					Feminine Nouns

Camison	[ka-mi-son]	‘nightdress’		Cantera	[kan-te-ra]	’case’
Pantys		[pan-tis]	‘thights’		Corbata	[kor-ba-ta]	’tie’
Paraguas	[pa-ra-gwas]	‘umbrella’		Ginebra	[khi-ne-bra]	‘gin’
Salvaslips	[sal-vas-lips]	‘panty liner’		Gorra		[gor-rah]	‘cap’
Sujetador     	[su-he-ta-dor]	‘bra’			Guardia	[gwar-dya]	‘guard’
Pendiante	[pen-dyan-te]	‘earrings’		Guitarra	[gi-tar-ra]	‘guitar’

Nouns referring to persons and animals are inflected depending on the gender of the noun being referred to:
        Masculine Nouns		        Feminine Nouns			  Meaning

Arquitekto	[ar-ki-tek-to]		Arquitekta	[ar-ki-tek-ta]		‘architect’
Cajero		[ka-he-ro]		Cajera		[ka-he-ra]		‘cashier’
Chico		[chi-ko]		Chica		[chi-ka]		‘boy/girl’
Director	[di-rek-tor]		Direktora	[di-rek-to-ra]		‘director’
Dueño		[dwe-nyo]		Dueña		[dwe-nya]		‘owner’
Esposo		[es-poh-so]		Esposa		[es-poh-sa]		‘spouse’
Granjero	[gran-he-ro]		Granhera	[gran-he-ra]		‘farmer’
Hermano	[er-ma-no]		Hermana	[er-ma-na]		‘sibling’
Huesped	[wes-ped]		Huespeda	[wes-pe-da]		‘guest’
Hijo		[i-ho]			Hija		[i-ha]			‘son/daughter’
Ladron		[lad-ron]		Ladrona	[lad-ro-na]		‘thief’
Medico	[me-di-ko]		Medica		[me-di-ka]		‘doctor’
Nieto		[nye-to]		Nieta		[nye-ta]		‘grandchild’
Perro		[per-ro]		Perra		[per-ra]		‘dog’

Notice that most of the masculine nouns referring to persons and animals above end in -o or use the base form (without any suffix) of the word, while the feminine nouns end in -a.

The third gender in Spanish noun classification is called neuter. Words belonging to this category can be both male and female, depending on the actual gender of the noun being referred to. They do not need to be inflected with any suffix. Look at some examples below:
Agente			[ah-hken-te]			‘agent’
Adolescente		[ah-doh-le-sen-te]		‘adolescent’
Artista			[ar-tis-ta]			‘artist’
Canguro		[kan-gu-ro]			‘babysitter’
Ciclista		[si-klis-ta]			‘cyclist’
Cliente			[kli-yen-te]			‘client, customer’
Especialista		[es-pe-sya-lis-ta]		‘specialist’
	Estudiante		[es-tu-dyan-te]			‘student’
	Gerente		[he-ren-te]			‘manager’
	Periodista		[per-yo-dis-ta]			‘journalist’
	Policia			[po-li-thyah]			‘policeman, policewoman’
	Representante		[re-pre-sen-tan-te]		‘representative’

Number-Specific Characteristic

Similar to English, Spanish can be inflected for number – an affix is placed on words to show plurality. Below are the rules in forming plural nouns in Spanish:
1.	Add -s to nouns ending in vowels.

Vaca 	 	Vacas 		[va-kas]	‘cows’
Gato 	 	Gatos 		[ga-tos]	‘cats’
Plaza 	 	Plazas		[pla-zas]	‘towns’
Calle 	 	Calles 		[ka-lyes]	‘streets’
Tía 	 	Tías 		[ti-yas]		‘aunts’

2.	Add -es to nouns ending in consonants except /s/.

Papel		Papeles	[pa-pe-les]	‘papers’
Color		Colores	[ko-lo-res]	‘colors’
Ciudad		Ciudades	[thyu-da-des]	‘cities’
Hotel		Hoteles	[o-te-les]	‘hotels’
Flor		Flores		[flo-res]	‘flowers’

3.	Most nouns ending in /s/ remain themselves when pluralized.

Jueves		Jueves		[khwe-ves]	‘Thursdays’

4.	Add -es to some other nouns ending in /s/.

Mes		Meses		[me-ses]	‘months’
País		Países		[pay-ses]	‘countries’

5.	For nouns ending in /z/, change first the letter /z/ to /c/ before adding -es.

Pez		Peces		[pe-thes]	‘fishes’
Luz		Luces		[lu-thes]	‘lights’
Vez		Veces		[ve-thes]	‘number of times’
Voz		Voces		[vo-thes]	‘voices’
Lapiz		Lapices	[la-pi-thes]	‘pencils’

Apart from adding the suffixes -s and -es, numbers can be observed in Spanish nouns by using the numerals themselves with the nouns. They should agree with one another – if the noun is more than one, a plural suffix should be present in the word. Here is the table for Spanish numerals:
0	cero		[se-ro]			16	diez y seís	[dyez i seys]

1	uno		[u-no]			17	diez y siete	[dyez i she-te]

2	dos		[dos]			18	diez y ocho	[dyez i ocho]

3	tres		[tres]			19	diez y nueve	[dyez i nwe-ve]

4	cuatro		[kwat-ro]		20	veinte		[veyn-te]

5	cinco		[thing-ko]		21	veinte y uno	[veyn-te i u-no]	

6	seís		[seys]			22	veinte y dos	[veyn-te i dos]

7	siete		[she-te]		30	treinta		[treyn-ta]

8	ocho		[oh-cho]		40	cuarenta	[kwa-ren-ta]

9	nueve		[nwe-veh]		50	cincuenta	[thing-kwen-ta]

10	diez		[dyez]			60	sesenta		[se-sen-ta]

11	once		[on-the]		70	setenta		[se-ten-ta]

12	doce		[doh-the]		80	ochenta	[oh-chen-ta]

13	trece		[tre-the]		90	noventa	[no-ven-ta]

14	catorce		[ka-tor-the]		100	cien		[shen]

15	quince		[kin-the]		1000	mil		[mil]

Here are examples of nouns and numbers forming nominal phrases:

	Una dia			[u-na di-ya]			‘one day’
Ocho vasos de agua		[oh-cho va-sos de a-gwa]	‘8 glasses of water’
	Doce meses cada año		[do-the me-ses ka-da a-nyo]	’12 months a year’
	Treinta y dos años		[treyn-ta i dos a-nyos]		’32 years’
	Cien pesos			[shen pe-sos]			‘100 pesos’

Definite and Indefinite Articles

As we have already started forming nominal phrases with the use of numbers, let us continue by using articles in Spanish this time.
A nominal phrase is usually composed of an article and a noun, Articles can be either definite or indefinite. In English, we use the article “the” to show definiteness, while we use “a” to refer to indefinite nouns. As a review of definiteness, consider the following English sentences below:
	[The child] is playing.
	[A child] is playing.

In the former sentence, the one playing is the child whom perhaps we already know or have been talking about earlier; unlike in the latter where the one playing is a child who we don’t really know.
In Spanish, articles are also used to show a noun’s definiteness. Since it is again a gender- and number-specific language, these articles are also inflected for gender and plurality. Study the table below that introduces these articles:

	D E F I N I T E	I N D E F I N I T E	
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	

Masculine	el [el]

el libro
[el lib-roh]
‘the book’	los [los]

los libros
[los lib-rohs]
‘the books’	un [un]

un chico
[un chi-ko]
‘a boy’	unos [unos]

unos chicos
[u-nos chi-kos]
‘boys’	

Feminine	la [la]

la plaza
[la pla-za]
‘the town’	las [las]

las plazas
[las pla-zas]
‘the towns’	una [una]

una chica
[u-na chi-ka]
‘a girl’	unas [unas]

unas chicas
[u-nas chi-kas]
‘girls’	

To summarize, here are the steps in forming nominal phrases:

1.	Identify the gender of the noun. Check its ending but remember the exceptions.
2.	How many are being talked about? If it’s more than one, observe the ending so you would know what suffix to add.
3.	Is the noun definite or not? This would determine what article to use.
Examples: Answer the questions in Spanish.

	Q:	What did you have for breakfast?
	A:	2 bananas and a glass of milk

1.	Platano ‘banana’ is a male.
Vaso ‘glass’ is also a male.
2.	2 bananas. Hence, add -s to platano  2 platanos.
1 glass. Hence, vaso remains.
3.	2 bananas - definite, with numeral  dos platanos
1 glass - indefinite, use un  un vaso

			Dos platanos y un vaso de leche

	Q:	Who called while I was gone?
	A:	The neighbors (girls) and a student (boy)

1.	The neighbors are girls. Use vecina (instead of vecino).
Estudiante is neuter. No need for inflection.
2.	Neighbors. Hence, add -s to vecina  vecinas.
Student. Hence, estudiante remains.
3.	The neighbors – definite, use las  las vecinas
A student – indefinite, use un  un estudiante

•	Las vecinas y un estudiante

Learn More Nouns that are Spanish!

It is also important to learn the following Spanish nouns that are used in daily conversations. Take time to get yourself familiar with these nouns and memorize each one of them.
1.	Months in a Year (los meses en un año) 

Enero			[e-ne-ro]		‘January’
Febrero		[feb-re-ro]		‘February’
Marzo			[mar-zo]		‘March’
Abril			[ab-ril]			‘April’
Mayo			[ma-yo]		‘May’
Junio			[hu-nyo]		‘June’
Julio			[hu-lyo]		‘July’
Agosto			[a-gos-to]		‘August’
Septiembre		[sep-tyem-bre]		‘September’
Octubre		[ok-tu-bre]		‘October’
Noviembre		[no-vyem-bre]		‘November’
Diciembre		[di-thyem-bre]		‘December’

2.	Days of the Week (las dias en una semana)

Lunes			[lu-nes]		‘Monday’
Martes			[mar-tes]		‘Tuesday’
Miercoles		[myer-ko-les]		‘Wednesday’
Jueves			[khweh-ves]		‘Thursday’
Viernes		[vyer-nes]		‘Friday’
Sabado			[sa-ba-dho]		‘Saturday’
Domingo		[do-ming-go]		‘Sunday’

3.	Time of the Day (hora en la diya)

De la mañana		[de la ma-nya-na]	‘am’
De la tarde		[de la tar-de]		‘pm’

Hora			[o-ra]			‘time, hour’
Media hora		[me-dya ora]		‘half hour’
Cuarto de hora		[kwar-to o-ra]		‘quarter of an hour’

4.	What is The Date Today? (¿Que fecha es hoy?) 

Dates, in Spanish, are formed by stating the date (number) first before the month. The number is introduced by an article, while the preposition de ‘of’ is used to link that date to the month. Let’s try it!

¿Que fecha es hoy?		El cinco de marzo.		El seis de Julio.
[ke fe-cha es oy]		[el thing-ko de mar-zo]	[el seys de hu-lyo]
‘What’s the date today?’	‘It’s the 5th of May.’		‘It’s the 6th of July.’

	¿Que dia es?			Es domingo.			Es miercoles.
	[ke di-ya es]			[es do-ming-go]		[es myer-ko-les]
	‘What day is it?		‘It’s Sunday’			‘It’s Wednesday’

	Note:

	- The months and days in Spanish do not begin with capital letters when written.

5.	What Time Is It? (¿Que hora es?)

¿Que hora es?			Es la una de la tarde		Son las dos y media
[ke o-ra es]			[es la u-na de la tar-de]	[son las dos i me-dya]
‘What time is it?’		‘It’s 1:00 p.m.’		‘It’s 2:30’

DAY 4:
Getting Familiar with Spanish Pronouns

Pronouns are noun substitutes. Even though you can already form nominal phrases, it isn’t enough that you proceed in studying verbs and then forming sentences right away. You would not want el gato to be present just at each of your sentences, would you? Trust me; it will only sound bad.
Hence, you should understand and know the proper usage of pronouns in Spanish. This day’s lesson is divided into learning subjective, objective, possessive, and demonstrative pronouns.

Subject Pronouns

In Spanish, subject pronouns are usually used only once in a context and are generally omitted. This is because Spanish verbs already contain in them both the person and number of the subject being talked about. (Verbs will be discussed further in later days to come.) Hence, once the subject pronoun is stated, the next sentences about it can become grammatical even without the said pronoun, or even noun for that matter.
The subject pronoun chart appears like this:

Person	Singular	Plural	
1st Person	Yo [yo] ‘I’	Nosotros [no-sot-ros] ‘we’	

2nd Person	Familiar	Tu [tu] ‘you’	Vosostros [vo-sot-ros] ‘you all’	
	Formal	Usted [us-ted] ‘you’	Ustedes [us-te-des] ‘you all’	
3rd Person	Male	El [el] ‘he/it’	Ellos [eh-lyos] ‘they’	
	Female	Ella [eh-lya] ‘she/it’	Ellas [eh-lyas] ‘they’	

Pronouns in the first person, both in singular and plural forms, should be familiar to you as they function just the same as in English.
As for the 2nd person, pronouns here are of two forms, the familiar and the formal. You should know that Spanish people value respect greatly for the elderly and authority. This is what the formal form of the 2nd person pronouns refers to. Usted and ustedes have respect inherent in them. Hence, they should be used when talking to people you regard highly.
Finally, you should notice that the 3rd person pronouns have also 2 forms according to gender of the person or thing being talked about. Here, it is important to be able to identify the gender of the noun before substituting it with a pronoun.
The use of subject pronouns will be further shown when they are already being used in sentences. As for now, it is enough that you become familiar with each one of them.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are generally substituted for direct and indirect objects in sentences with transitive verbs. 
Study the object pronoun chart below:

Person	Singular	Plural	
1st Person	Me [meh] ‘me’	Nos [nohs] ‘us’	
2nd Person	Familiar	Te [teh] ’you’	Os [ohs] ‘you all’	
	Formal	Le [leh] ‘you’	Les [lehs] ‘you all’	

3rd Person	Male	Lo [loh] ‘he/it’ (DO)
Le [leh] ‘he/it’ (IO)	Los [lohs] ‘they’ (DO)
Les [lehs] ‘they’ (IO)	
	Female	La [lah] ‘she/it’ (DO)
Le [leh] ‘she/it’ (IO)	Las [lahs] ‘they’ (DO)
Les [lehs] ‘they’ (IO)	

For the 1st and 2nd persons, you would notice that the direct and indirect objects have the same form; while the direct object differs from its indirect counterpart in the 3rd person. This is to avoid confusion when they both appear in a single sentence. (More of this to be discussed further on Day 11) 

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns, those that show ownership, also depend on the gender and number of the nouns they accompany. Take note that a pronoun’s gender – particularly, 1st and 2nd person plural (‘our’ and ‘your’) – do not correspond to what the gender of the owner is, but to the gender of the noun.
	Singular Nouns	Plural Nouns	
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	
‘My’	Mi [mi]	Mis [mis]	
‘Your’	Familiar	Tu [tu]	Tus [tus]	
	Formal	Su [su]	Sus [sus]	
‘His, her, its’	Su [su]	Sus [sus]	
‘Our’	Nuestro
[nu-wes-tro]	Nuestra
[nu-wes-tra]	Nuestros
[nu-wes-tros]	Nuestras
[nu-wes-tras]	
‘Your’ Pl.	Familiar	Vuestro
[vu-wes-tro]	Vuestra
[vu-wes-tra]	Vuestros
[vu-wes-tros]	Vuestras
[vu-wes-tras]	
	Formal	Su [su]	Sus [sus]	
‘Their’	Su [su]	Sus [sus]	

Examples of phrases we can make using possessive pronouns are as follows:

	Mi madre		[mi mad-re]			‘my mother’
	Tu coche		[tu ko-che]			‘your car’
	Sus blusas		[sus blu-sas]			‘her blouses’
	Nuestro mundo	[nu-wes-tro mun-do]		‘our world’
	Vuestros pantalones	[vu-wes-tros pan-ta-lo-nes]	‘your (pl.) pants’
	Sus hermanos		[sus er-ma-nos]		‘their brothers’
Su nombre, por favor	[su nom-bre por fa-vor]	‘your name, please’ (formal)

Demonstratives

Demonstratives refer to certain nouns in terms of their positions relative to the speaker. In Spanish, there are three specific positions of nouns in which demonstratives are used: near the speaker, near the listener, and far away from both the speaker and listener. These demonstratives also conform to the gender and number of the nouns being referred to.
	Singular		Plural	
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine	
‘This’	Este [es-te]	Esta [es-ta]	‘These’	Estos [es-tos]	Estas [es-tas]	
‘That’	Ese [e-se]	Esa [e-sa]	‘Those’	Esos [e-sos]	Esas [e-sas]	
‘That over there’	Aquel
[a-kel]	Aquella
[a-ke-lya]	‘Those over there’	Aquellos
[a-ke-lyos]	Aqueallas
[a-ke-lyas]	
 
For clear examples: 

An apple near the speaker: Esta manzana	[es-ta man-za-na]	‘This apple’
An apple near the listener: Esa manzana 	[e-sa man-za-na]	‘That apple’
An apple far away: Aquella manzana		[a-ke-lya man-za-na]	‘That apple’ 
 (over there)

	12 apples near the speaker: Estas manzanas	[es-tas man-za-nas]	‘These apples’
	12 apples near the listener: Esas manzanas	[e-sas man-za-nas]	‘Those apples’
	12 apples far away: Aquellas manzanas 	[a-ke-lyas man-za-nas] Those apples
										  (over there)

DAY 5:
Learn to Describe with Spanish Adjectives

The principal function of adjectives is to modify or describe nouns. Therefore, the number and the gender of an adjective should conform to the noun involved (i.e. if the noun is male singular, the adjective describing it should be the same). However, unlike in the English language that the adjective comes before the noun it modifies, Spanish adjectives usually follow the noun they give description to, although there are instances that the Spanish language follows the Adj-N order. Compare the following examples:
	Eng.	A pretty girl		Span.	Una chica bonita	[u-na chi-ka bo-ni-ta]	
		Art-Adj-N			Art-N-Adj

		The naughty boys		Los chicos malos	[los chi-kos ma-los]
		Art-Adj-N			Art-N-Adj

At first, it may be a bit confusing; but as you practice more, you can easily get used to forming adjectival phrases. Just remember, noun first before the adjective.
Adjectives in Spanish can be categorized into two types according to form – regular & neuter:
1.	Regular Forms: -o, -a, -os, -as. Most adjectives have masculine and feminine, singular and plural forms: the suffix to show masculinity is -o, while the suffix to show femininity is -a. An -s is added to the vowel at the end of the word to form the plural. 
Ex.	Un bolso largo		[un bol-so lar-go]		‘a new bag’
Una mesa nueva	[u-na me-sa nwe-va]		‘a new table’

Dos bolsos largos	[dos bol-sos lar-gos]		‘two new bags’
		Dos mesas nuevas	[dos me-sas new-vas]		‘two new tables’

2.	Neuter Forms. Adjectives having this form usually end in an -e, in -ista, or in a consonant in the singular form. They use the same form for both masculine and feminine forms. To form the plural, add an -s or -es.
Ex.	Un libro interesante	[un lib-ro in-te-re-san-te]	‘an interesting book’
Una obra dificil	[u-na ob-ra di-fi-sil]		‘a difficult work’

Los libros interesantes	[los lib-ros in-te-re-san-tes]	‘the interesting books’
Los obras dificiles	[los ob-ras di-fi-si-les]		‘the difficult works’

The classifications below, on the other hand, are according to the common descriptions they provide. Study them well and learn to describe in Spanish:
1.	Cardinal Numbers. These may be used as adjectives, aside from pluralizers, as they describe the quantity of certain nouns.
(Refer back to page 20, Day 3 for the chart of Spanish cardinal numbers)

Notes:

-	Numbers such as 1999 must be expressed as mil novecientos noventa y nueve (not ‘nineteen hundred ninety-nine’ as some people often say).
-	Numbers ending in uno ‘one’ have feminine singular forms when used with feminine nouns: veinte y una mujeres ’21 wives’, cincuenta y una piedras ’51 stones’. 
-	The preposition de is used between millón ‘million’ and a noun being counted: un millón de dólares ‘1 million dollars’, cien millones de habitantes ‘100 millions inhabitants’. 
-	In writing out Spanish numerals, commas are used in place of periods, and periods are used in place of commas: 1.240,5 (is equivalent to 1,240.5). 
2.	Ordinal Numbers. These adjectives indicate the order in which something occurs (first, second, etc). Remember that they also agree with the nouns being modified in terms of gender and number, and that they occur before the nouns, not after. 
Name		Pronounce It!		To Easily Remember

1st	primero	[pri-me-ro]		From the word primary meaning first
2nd	segundo	[se-gun-do]		Close to English word second
	3rd	tercero		[ter-the-ro]		Use alliteration: third and tercero
	4th	cuarto		[kwar-to]		Cuatro is 4, while cuarto is 4th
	5th	quinto		[kin-to]		From Latin quintus ‘fivefolds’
	6th	sexto		[seks-to]		Six becomes sex + to
	7th	séptimo	[sep-ti-mo]		From Latin septem ‘seven’	
	8th	octavo		[ok-ta-vo]		From Latin octavus ‘eighth’
	9th	noveno		[no-ve-no]		From Latin novem ‘nine’
	10th	décimo		[de-thi-mo]		From Greek deka- ‘ten’	

	Ex.	Mi primera clase	[mi pri-me-ra kla-se]		‘my first class’
		El tercer párrafo	[el ter-ther par-ra-fo]		‘the third paragraph’

	Notes:

-	Feminine forms of the above cardinal numbers use the suffix -a. They are pluralized by adding -s at the end of each word.
-	The forms primer ‘first’ and tercer ‘third’ can be used before masculine singular nouns. 
-	When used as part of names, such as Felipe II (read as ‘Felipe the second’), the word the is not translated in Spanish; hence, Felipe Segundo.
3.	Nationality.  These words state the nationality or place of origin. Keep in mind that the base form (without suffix) and -o form is masculine, while the -a form is the feminine counterpart. Their plural forms are created by adding -s or -es.
Español	[es-pa-nyol]	Española	[es-pa-nyo-la]		‘Spanish’
Aleman	[a-le-man]	Alemana	[a-le-ma-na]		‘German’
	Mexicano	[me-hi-ka-no]	Mexicana	[me-hi-ka-na]		‘Mexican’
	Argentino	[ar-khen-ti-no]	Argetina	[ar-khen-ti-na]		‘Argentinian’
	Italiano	[i-tal-ya-no]	Italiana		[i-tal-ya-na]		‘Italian’
	Brasileño	[bra-si-le-nyo]	Brasileña	[bra-si-le-nya]		‘Brazilian’
	Egipcio	[e-hip-thio]	Egipcia	[e-hip-thia]		‘Egyptian’
	Suizo		[swi-zo]	Suiza		[swi-za]		‘Swiss’
	Inglés		[ing-gles]	Inglesa		[ing-gle-sa]		‘English’
	Francés	[fran-thes]	Francesa	[fran-the-sa]		‘French’
	Japonés	[ha-po-nes]	Japonesa	[ha-po-ne-sa]		‘Japanese’
	Holandés	[o-lan-des]	Holandesa	[o-lan-de-sa]		‘Holland’
	Portugués	[por-tu-ges]	Portuguesa	[por-tu-ge-sa]		‘Portuguese’
	Indonés	[in-do-nes]	Indonesa	[in-do-ne-sa]		‘Indonesian’	
Filipino	[fi-li-pi-no]	Filipina	[fi-li-pi-na]		‘Filipino’

However, there are Spanish adjectives of nationality that do not have unique feminine forms. These are the words that end in -ense such as:
Estadosunidense	[es-ta-dos-u-ni-den-se]	‘American’
Canadiense		[ka-na-dyen-se]		‘Canadian’

	Ex.	un libro Español	[un lib-ro es-pa-nyol]		‘a Spanish book’
		una obra española	[u-na ob-ra es-pa-nyo-la]	‘a Spanish work’

		dos libros españoles	[dos lib-ros es-pa-nyo-les]	‘two Spanish books’
		dos obras españolas	[dos ob-ras es-pa-nyo-las]	‘two Spanish works’

4.	Descriptive Adjectives. These are words you use to describe nouns, especially when you want your listeners to picture out what you’re talking about. They agree with the nouns they modify in terms of number and gender, and appear after the nouns.
Alto		[al-to]		‘high, tall’	Bajo		[ba-ho]		‘low,
Largo		[lar-go]	‘long’		Corto		[kor-to]	‘short’
Grande		[gran-de]	‘large’		Pequeño	[pe-ke-nyo]	‘small’
Gordo		[gor-do]	‘fat’		Delgado	[del-ga-do]	‘thin’
Esbelto		[es-bel-to]	‘slender’	Sexy		[se-hi]		‘sexy’
Bonito		[bo-ni-to]	‘beautiful’	Feo		[fe-yo]		‘ugly’
Rico		[ri-ko]		‘rich’		Pobre		[pob-re]	‘poor’
Bién		[byen]		‘good’		Mal		[mal]		‘bad’
Rápido		[ra-pi-do]	‘fast’		Lento		[len-to]		‘slow’
Caro		[ka-ro]		‘expensive’	Barato		[ba-ra-to]	‘cheap’
Viejo		[vye-ho]	‘old’		Joven		[ho-ven]          ‘young'

Adjectives that refer to color are listed below:

Negro		[neg-ro]	‘black’		Blanco		[blan-ko]	‘white’
Azul		[a-zul]		‘blue’		Rojo		[ro-ho]		‘red’
Amarillo	[a-ma-ri-lyo]	‘yellow’ 	Verde		[ver-de]	‘green’	
Naranja	[na-ran-ha]	‘orange’	Rosa		[ro-sa]		‘pink’
Morado	[mo-ra-do]	‘purple’	Marrón		[mar-ron]       ‘brown’
Moreno	[mo-re-no]	‘dark’		Claro		[kla-ro]	‘light’			
Adjectives that refer to taste and food are listed below:

Dulce		[dul-the]	‘sweet’		Agrio		[ag-ri-yo]	‘sour’		Amargo	[a-mar-go]	‘bitter’		Salado		[sa-la-do]	‘salty’
Delicioso	[de-li-thyo-so]	‘delicious’	Picante		[pi-kan-te]	‘spicy’
Caliente	[kal-yen-te]	‘hot’		Frio		[fri-yo]		‘cold’
Insípido	[in-si-pi-do]	‘tasteless’

5.	Possessive and Demonstrative Adjectives. The possessive and demonstrative pronouns we have studied earlier in this course can be considered adjectives when they function as modifiers of nouns. 
(Refer to pages 27 to 28, Day 4 for the chart of Spanish pronouns)
These adjectives come before the nouns they modify, similar to the way they are used in English: mi casa ‘my house,’ esos coches ‘those cars’

DAY 6:
Making Longer and Complete Phrases with Prepositions

Spanish learners should never neglect the proper usage of prepositions. Generally, when you answer questions like “Where do you live?” or “When will you come over?” you don’t reply with complete sentences, starting them with “I live at …” or “I will come over after …” Normally, “at Sta. Rosa St.,” or “after I finish eating” replies are enough to answer such questions. 
Hence, correct usage of prepositions is necessary to learn in order to be able to respond properly, give directions and instructions, or simply create accurate sentences. Prepositions function as words that connect other words or phrases, and create relationships between them. Like English, Spanish has perhaps a few dozen prepositions. The following list shows the most common ones along with some basic examples:
Prepositions	Meaning	Examples	Translations	
a
[ah]	‘to’
‘at’
‘by means of’	a la ciudad
a las tres y media
a pie	‘to the city’
‘at 3:30’
‘by foot’	
antes de
[an-tes de]	‘before‘	antes de dormirme	‘before going to sleep’	
bajo
[ba-ho]	‘under’	bajo la mesa	‘under the table’	
cerca de
[ther-ka de]	‘near’	cerca de la mesa. 	‘near the table’	
con
[kon]	‘with’	con él	‘with him’	
contra
[kon-tra]	‘against’	contra la huelga	‘against the strike’	
de
[de]	‘of’
‘from’ possession	de papel
de Nueva York
coche de Juan	‘of paper’
‘from New York’
‘car of John’ or 
‘John’s car’	
delante de
[de-lan-te de]	‘in front of’	delante de la casa	‘in front of the house’	
dentro de
[den-tro de]	‘inside’	dentro de la jaula. 	‘inside the cage’	
desde
[des-de]	‘since’
‘from’	desde ayer
desde el carro	‘since yesterday’
‘from the car’	
después de
[des-pwes de]	‘after’	después de la clase	‘after class’	
detrás de
[de-tras de]	‘behind’	detrás de la mesa	‘behind the table’	
durante
[durante]	‘during’	durante la clase	‘during the class’	
en
[en]	‘in’
‘on’	en Nueva York
en la mesa	‘in New York’
‘on the table’	
encima de
[en-thi-ma de]	‘on top of’	encima de la casa	‘on top of the house’	
enfrente de
[en-fren-te de]	‘in front of’	enfrente de la mesa	‘in front of the table’	
entre
[en-tre]	‘between’	entre la mesa y el sofá	‘between the table and the sofa’	
fuera de
[few-ra de]	‘outside of’	fuera de la casa	‘outside of the house’	
hacia
[a-thi-ya]	‘towards’	hacia la escuela	‘towards the school’	
hasta
[as-ta]	‘until’	hasta las seis	‘until 6:00’	
para
[pa-ra]	‘for’
‘in order to’	para usted
para ser rico	‘for you (formal)’
‘in order to be rich’	
por
[por]	‘for’
‘by’	por la comida
por Juan	‘for the meal’
‘by Juan’	
según
[se-gun]	‘according to’	según el periódico 	‘according to the newspapers’	
sin [sin]	‘without’	sin él	‘without him’	
sobre
[sob-re]	‘over’
‘about’	sobre la silla. 
sobre el presidente. 	‘over the chair’
‘about the president’	
DAY 7:
Introduction to Spanish Verbs

Spanish verbs are among the most, if not the most, complicated topics in Spanish. That is why after finishing half the session of this training program, the next 4 days will be allotted in studying Spanish verbs. This is the first of our 4-day training session regarding Spanish verbs.
First, you need to know that verbs in the Spanish language are divided into 3 categories. Let’s call them the AR verbs, the ER verbs, and the IR verbs. The two-letter names of these groups are actually the ending sounds or syllables of the verbs in Spanish.
Aside from that, these verbs are conjugated for number, person, and tense. Conjugation is the process of adding patterned suffixes on the base (original) form of the verb to show differences on certain criteria. Verbs belonging to the same group are inflected the same way – they use the same affixes. Hence, there is no better way to make conjugations fun and easy to learn than to simply memorize these “patterns.”
We will discuss the conjugations of these verbs on the next days ahead – conjugation of verbs on present tense tomorrow, on past tense the day after tomorrow, and on future tense the day after that. For now, let me introduce you to the three groups of Spanish verbs that I’m talking about.

AR Verbs

The verbs written below end in -ar. In conjugating, you will take off this ending and add the appropriate suffixes. Meanwhile, try to familiarize yourself first with the different verbs below. Creative thoughts (note that they are not the actual meaning of the words and are for memorization purposes only) are provided so you can easily associate them with their English counterparts. 
Verb		Say It!		Meaning	To Easily Remember

Aceptar	[ak-sep-tar]	to accept	Aceptar is to accept arrest.

Acompañar	[a-kom-pa-	to accompany	Acompañar is to accompany a rebel.
		nyar]

Aconsejar	[a-kon-se-har]	to advise	Aconsejar is to advise a convicted, sedated 
harasser.

Arreglar	[ar-reg-lar]	to arrange	Arreglar is to arrange an array of irregular 
shapes and other things.

Ayudar		[a-yu-dar]	to help		Ayudar is to help a youthful darling.

Bailar		[bay-lar]	to dance	Bailar is a dancing bailar-ina.

Bajar		[ba-har]	to go down	Bajar is bad harry going down.

Borrar		[bor-rar]	to erase	Borrar is to erase the board arrogantly.

Caminar	[ka-mi-nar]	to walk		Caminar is a walking camel in a road.

Cantar		[kan-tar]	to sing		Cantar is to sing a country and R&B song.

Celebrar	[the-leb-rar]	to celebrate	Celebrar is to celebrate and rave.

Cenar		[the-nar]	to eat dinner	Cenar is to eat celery, nans, and raisin for 
dinner.

Cocinar	[ko-thi-nar]	to cook		Cocinar is to cook cocoa in a red pot.

Comprar	[kom-prar]	to buy		Comprar is to buy a computer and radio 
with recorder.

Contestar	[kon-tes-tar]	to answer	Contestar is the answer of contestants in a 
rivalry.  

Cortar		[kor-tar]	to cut		Cortar is a cut corsage shaped like a star.

Dejar		[de-har]	to leave	Dejar is a leaving deaf jargonist.

Desear		[de-se-yar]	to wish		Desear is to wish upon a dazzling, 
enchanted, seasonal star.

Empujar	[em-pu-khar]	to push		Empujar is to push an empty puce jar.

Entrar		[en-trar]	to enter	Entrar is to enter a rocky road.

Escuchar	[es-ku-char]	to listen	Escuchar is to listen from an escalated 
cubicle on what people say about your 
character.

Estudiar	[es-tu-dyar]	to study	Estudiar is a (e)student in a room studying.

Firmar		[fir-mar]	to sign		Firmar is to sign firmly using a red ink.

Ganar		[ga-nar]	to win, earn	Ganar is winning anything but a gallon of 
narcotics.

Gastar		[gas-tar]	to spend	Gastar is when you gasp t(e)arfully because 
you realized you have spent too much.

Gritar		[gri-tar]	to shout	Gritar. When you greet a rock band 
member in a concert, you shout becaue of the loud environment.

Hablar	[ab-lar]		to speak	Hablar is to speak about large and small
topics under the sun.

Invitar		[in-vi-tar]	to invite	Invitar is to invite a rock band to a party.

Llamar		[lya-mar]	to call		Llamar is to call a close friend and say,
“Come over because I’ll make a yam with margarine for you.’

Llevar		[lye-var]	to wear		Llevar is a lyepard wearing varbie (barbie) 
						clothes.

Llorar		[lyo-rar]	to cry		Llorar. When a friend comes crying to you, 
say, “I’ll punish yor (your) enemy by arresting him!”

Mandar	[man-dar]	to send		Mandar is to send a mandatory rule.

Mirar	[mi-rar]	to look at	Mirar is to look at yourself at the mirrar 
					(mirror).

Nadar	[na-dar]	to swim	Nadar is to swim naked in the dark.

Necesitar	[ne-the-thi-tar]	to need		Necesitar. When it’s a necessity and 
					requirement, it’s a need. 

Parar	[pa-rar]	to stop		Parar is to stop and park along the road.

Pasar	[pa-sar]	to spend time	Pasar is to spend time before it passes by a 
					whole year round.

Patinar	[pa-ti-nar]	to skate	Patinar is a skating parrot with tiny little 
					arms.

Pintar	[pin-tar]	to paint	Pintar is to paint using a pint of aerosol.

Preguntar	[pre-gun-tar]	to ask		Preguntar is to ask a pregnant woman how 
					she understands tarantism.

Preparar	[pre-pa-rar]	to prepare	Preparar is to prepare a rice bowl.

Presentar	[pre-sen-tar]	to present	Presentar is to present a ribbon for the best 
					students.

Quitar	[ki-tar]	to take off	Quitar is to quit bumming around and take 
					off.

Regresar	[re-gre-sar]	to return	Regresar is to return because you regret 
					saying farewell to a friend.

Saludar	[sa-lu-dar]	to greet	Saludar is to greet and salute da (the) 
					referee.

Terminar	[ter-mi-nar]	to end		Terminar is terminating a bad routine.

Tirar	[ti-rar]	to throw	Tirar is to throw the left-over tiramisu 
					that’s rotten.

Tocar	[to-kar]	to play		Tocar is playing the triangle, oboe, cello, 
					and guitar.

Tomar	[to-mar]	to take in 	Tomar is to take in a tomato and radish 
					juice at the same time.  

Trabajar	[tra-ba-khar]	to work	Trabajar is to work using a truck, bus, car.

Usar	[u-sar]	to use		Usar is to use the USA Robotics.

ER Verbs

	Verbs belonging to this category have -er endings that are to be taken off when conjugated. Here are some of the ER verbs that you will soon be able to conjugate. Make use of the creative thoughts in order to familiarize them well
Verb		Say It!		Meaning	To Easily Remember

Aprender	[a-pren-der]	to learn	Aprender is to learn how the 12 apostles 
					rendered services to many people.

Barrer	[bar-rer]	to sweep	Barrer is to sweep dust off the barrel and 
					container.

Beber	[be-ber]	to drink	Beber is to drink any kind of beberage 
					(beverage).

Comer	[ko-mer]	to eat		Comer is to ask someone to come here and 
					eat.

Comprender	[kom-pren-der]	to understand	Comprender is a computer that renders 
					useful information, understand?

Correr	[kor-rer]	to run		Correr is a running corpse with a red 
					ribbon on the head.

Deber	[de-ber]	to have to	Deber is to have to deliver beret for the 
					cadets.

Leer	[le-er]	to read		Leer is Bruce Lee with a newspaper, 
					reading.

Meter	[me-ter]	to put, insert	Meter is to put a metal inside its container.

Prender	[pren-der]	to catch	Prender is a police rendering a mission by 
					catching thieves and criminals. 

Romper	[rom-per]	to break	Romper. Ever broken a vase because you 
					romped around?

Temer	[te-mer]	to fear		Temer is to fear ten mermaids.

Toser	[to-ser]	to cough	Toser is a coughing toddler due to serious 
					illness.

Vender	[ven-der]	to sell		Vender. It’s a vendor with an e!

IR Verbs

	The IR verbs below (as they end in the segment –ir) are much fewer than the previous other groups. However, they should be given equal attention, because you will be using them as you go along with the lesson. 
Verb		Say It!		Meaning	To Easily Remember

Abrir	[ab-rir]	to open		Abrir is to open a briefcase in the room.

Añadir	[a-nya-dir]	to add		Añadir is to add shame to an honorable man 
					yacking about dir (deer) hunting.

Asistir	[a-sis-tir]	to attend	Asistir is the attendant who assists in the 
					reception.

Describir	[des-kri-bir]	to describe	Describir is to describe clearly.

Discutir	[dis-ku-tir]	to discuss	Discutir is to discuss tiring measures.

Escribir	[es-kri-bir]	to write	Escribir is to write an essay about a crib in 
					the room.

Interrumpir	[in-ter-rum-pir]	to interrupt	Interrumpir is to interrupt a man talking 
					about pir (peer) pressures.

Ocurrir	[o-kur-rir]	to occur	Occurir is an event occurring in Rome.

Partir	[par-tir]	to leave	Partir is to leave a parti (party) by walking 
					out of the room.

Recibir	[re-thi-bir]	to receive	Recibir is to recib (receive) international 
					reward.

Subir	[su-bir]	to go up	Subir is to go up from the subway and into 
					the main road.

Sufrir	[suf-rir]	to suffer	Sufrir is to suffer from ridicule and rant.

Vivir	[vi-vir]	to live		Vivir is to live vividly in the rural and urban 
					areas of the world.

DAY 8:
Conjugating Verbs to Present Tense

It’s the 8th day! Were you able to familiarize yourself with the different verbs in Spanish? The three endings of the verbs that you have learned in Day 7 are important because they will become the basis of the conjugations you are going to learn for the next few days. 
It was mentioned earlier that conjugation is actually the process of inflecting (adding suffixes to show differences in certain criteria such as number, gender, and/or tense) verbs in a set of patterns. In Spanish, when you conjugate verbs, you remove the endings (-ar, -er, and -ir) of the verbs and then replace them with the patterned affixes. 
For this day, you will learn how to conjugate verbs to show current, general, and habitual actions. Hence, the lesson today will include conjugation on present and present progressive tenses.

Regular Forms

When verbs are in the regular form, it can be conjugated by:

a.	Removing the endings (-ar, -er, -ir).
b.	Attaching the following suffixes (written in bold letters):
In the table below, take note that even without the subject pronouns, the conjugated verbs can stand alone since the person and number are already inherited in the suffixes they use. For example, you can say hablo Español (without the pronoun yo) and still mean ‘I speak Spanish.’
 	-AR Verbs
Ex. Hablar (to speak)	-ER Verbs
Ex. Comer (to eat)	-IR Verbs
Ex. Vivir (to live)	

Yo	Hablo
[a-blo]
‘I speak’	Como
[ko-mo]
‘I eat’	Vivo
[vi-vo]
‘I live’	

Tu	Hablas
[a-blas]

‘You speak’	Comes
[ko-mes]

‘You eat’	Vives
[vi-ves]

‘You live’	

El / Ella / Usted	Habla
[a-bla]

‘You speak’ (formal)
‘He / She / It speaks’	Come
[ko-me]

‘You eat’ (formal)
‘He / She / It eats’	Vive
[vi-ve]

‘You live’ (formal)
‘He / She / It Lives’	

Nosotros	Hablamos
[a-bla-mos]

‘We speak’	Comemos
[ko-me-mos]

‘We eat’	Vivimos
[vi-vi-mos]

‘We live’	

Vosotros	Habláis
[a-bla-is]

‘You (all) speak’	Coméis
[ko-me-is]

‘You (all) eat’	Vivéis
[vi-ve-is]

‘You (all) live’	

Ellos / Ellas / Usteded	Hablan
[a-blan]

‘You (all) speak’ (formal)
‘They speak’	Comen
[ko-men]

‘You all eat’ (formal)
‘They eat’ 	Viven
[vi-ven]

‘You all live’ (formal)
‘They live’	

To Easily Remember: Note that the only difference between the ER and IR verbs in forming the present tense is the nosotros form.
These patterns work for all regular verbs in Spanish. So how do you know if a verb is regular or irregular? Read on.

Irregular Forms

Verbs under this category do not exactly follow the above pattern; or if they do, there are still changes in the spelling of their stem (the part of the verb without the suffix) as they form the present tense.
Irregular forms, or the exceptions to the rules, usually cannot be distinguished perfectly. Therefore, you have to exert extra effort to memorize and get familiar with the way they form their present tense. This is no different from having to memorize that the plural of mouse is mice and not mousse, or that the past tense of sing is sang and not singed, like any other regular verbs in English.
1.	Irregular Stems. These verbs use the same endings as the regular verbs. What made them irregular are the changes their stems undergo. Hence, remember to still identify their endings and use the regular conjugation patterns, but don’t forget to change their spellings by:
a.	Replacing -e by -ie

Ex. 	Querer ‘to like’			Cerrar ‘to close’
	
Yo quiero				Yo cierro
	Tu quieres				Tu cierras
	El/Ella/Usted quiere			El/Ella/Usted cierra
	Nosotros queremos			Nosotros cerramos
	Vosotros queréis			Vosotros cerráis
	Ellos/Ellas/Uds quieron		Ellos/Ellas/Uds cierron

		Other verbs of this form:

			Defender ‘to defend’			Despertar(se) ‘to wake up’
			Empezar ‘to start’			Entender ‘to understand’
			Perder ‘to lose’			Sentar(se) ‘to sit, settle’
			Pensar ‘to think’			Recomender ‘to recommend’
			Sentir ‘to feel’				Preferir ‘to prefer’
			Divertir(se) ‘to have a good time’	Mentir ‘to lie’

		Notes:

-	Notice that these verbs have changes in all persons except nosotros (we) and vosotros (you all).
-	With verb stems having two or more syllables with both -e, the 2nd syllable with the -e undergoes the change.
b.	Replacing -o by -ue

Ex.	Volver ‘to turn’			Almorzar ‘to eat lunch’

	Yo vuelvo				Yo almuerzo
	Tu vuelves				Tu almuerzas
	El/Ella/Usted vuelve			El/Ella/Usted almuerza
	Nosotros volvemos			Nosotros almorzamos
	Vosotros volvéis			Vosotros almorzáis
	Ellos/Ellas/Uds vuelvon		Ellos/Ellas/Uds almuerzon

		Other verbs of this form:

	Acostar(se) ‘to lie down’		Contar ‘to count’
	Costar ‘to cost’			Demonstrar ‘to demonstrate’
	Encontrar ‘to encounter’		Recordar ‘to record’
	Dormir ‘to sleep’			Morir ‘to die’

- Nosotros and vosotros forms are still unchanged.

c.	Replacing -e by -i

Ex.	Pedir ‘to ask for, request’		Servir ‘to serve’

	Yo pido				Yo sirvo
	To pides				Tu sirves
	El/Ella/Usted pide			El/Ella/Usted sirve
	Nosotros pedimos			Nosotros servimos
	Vosotros pedéis			Vosotros servéis
	Elllos/Ellos/Uds piden		Ellos/Ellas/Uds sirven

Other verbs of this form:

	Repetir ‘to repeat’			Vestir(se) ‘to get dressed’

-	Nosotros and vosotros forms are still unchanged.

2.	1st Person Irregularity. Verbs having this irregularity use the pattern of the endings of the regular forms but the 1st person singular (yo) undergoes some changes. These include:
a.	The -go form.

Ex.	Caer ‘to fall’		Hacer ‘to do’		Poner ‘to put’
	Yo caigo ‘I fall’	Yo hago ‘I do’		Yo pongo ‘I put’

	Salir ‘to go out’	Traer ‘to bring’	Valer ‘to be worth’
	Salgo ‘I go out’	Traigo ‘I bring …’	Valgo ‘I worth …’

Notes:

-	Some verbs do not just use the suffix -go to form the present tense of the 1st person singular, but also add other letters like /l/ or /i/ so as not to make the words sound bad.
-	All other persons (2nd, 3rd, and plural persons) use the regular pattern.
b.	The -oy form.

Ex. 	Ir ‘to go’		Dar ‘to give’
	Voy ‘I go’		Doy ‘I give’

c.	The -guir verbs. In the 1st person singular form, -guo becomes -go only

Ex.	Dinstinguir ‘to distinguish’
	Yo distingo ‘I distinguish …’

d.	The -ger / -gir verbs. These verbs change the –ger or -gir to a -jo.

Ex.	Escoger ‘to choose’	Coger ‘to get’		Exigir ‘to demand’
	Yo escojo ‘I choose’	Yo cojo ‘I get’		Yo exijo ‘I demand’

	Recoger ‘to pick up’	Proteger ‘to protect’
	Yo recojo ‘I pick up’	Yo protejo ‘I protect …’

Ser vs. Estar

The verbs ser and estar are the be-verbs of Spanish. They are conjugated as follows:
	SER
(to be)	ESTAR
(to be)		
Yo	Soy [soy]	Estoy [es-toy]	‘I am’	
Tu	Éres [e-res]	Estás [es-tas]	‘you are’	
El / Ella / Usted	És [es]	Está [es-ta]	‘you are’ (formal)
‘he / she/ it is’	
Nosotros	Somos [so-mos]	Estamos [es-ta-mos]	‘we are’	
Vosotros	Sois [so-is]	Estáis [es-ta-is]	‘you (all) are’	
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	Son [son]	Están [es-tan]	‘you (all) are’ (formal)
‘they are’	

This subtopic of Spanish verbs has always been a topic of confusion. Why does the Spanish language have 2 forms of the verb ‘to be’? When do we use ser or estar? To clarify this issue, we have listed the uses of each verb below.
Uses of ser:

-	To introduce one’s self in terms of name, profession, and nationality.

Soy Maria.			[soy ma-ri-ya]		‘I am Maria.’
¿Es Alemana?		[es a-le-man]		‘Are you German?’ (formal)
Somos estudiantes.	[so-mos es-tu-dyan-tes] ‘We are students.’

-	To show possession.

Es de Miguel		[es de mi-gel]		‘Miguel’s’ or ‘of Miguel’
Son de las vecinas		[son de las ve-thi-nas]	‘the neighbors’ or 
‘of the neighbors’

-	To show what material a certain thing is made of.

La falda es de seda	[la fal-da es de se-da]	‘The skirt is (made of) silk.’
Sus casas son de marmol.	[sus ka-sas son de mar-mol]	‘Their houses are 
(made of) marble.’

-	To describe a noun according to a characteristic that changes gradually or doesn’t change at all (i.e. personality, size, length, religion, color, etc.).
Es inteligente		[es in-re-li-khen-te]	‘He is intelligent.’
Madrid es grande.		[mad-rid es gran-de]	‘Madrid is big.’
¿Sois católicos?		[so-is ka-to-li-kos]	‘Are you (all) Catholic?
Rosas son rojos.		[ro-sas son ro-khos]	‘Roses are red.’
El es muy serio		[el es muy ser-yo]	‘He is very serious.’

-	To express time, dates, and days of the week.

Son las nueve.		[son las nwe-ve]	‘It’s 9 o’clock.’
Es el cuarto de mayo.	[es el kwar-to de ma-yo] ‘It’s the 4th of May.’
Es viernes.			[es vyer-nes]		‘It’s Friday.’

Uses of estar:

-	To state location or position (not origin), whether it is temporary or permanent.

Yo estoy en un mercado.		Manila está en la Filipinas.
[yo es-toy en un mer-ka-do]	[ma-ni-la es-ta en la fi-li-pi-nas]
‘I am in a market.’			‘Manila is in the Philippines.’

-	To describe a noun according to a condition or feeling that is temporary or can change immediately.
Estoy cansado.		[es-toy kan-sa-do]		‘I’m tired.’
La puerta está cerrada.	[la pwer-ta es-ta ther-ra-dho]	‘The door is closed.’

Present Progressive Form

Another use of the verb estar is to form the present progressive form of the verbs in Spanish. In the English language, the present progressive is recognized by the use of a be-verb and the -ing form of another verb. Examples include: is cooking, are eating, am playing, etc. This verb form falls under the present condition of the verb since the action is being done on the same moment the thought is being expressed.
So how do we form the present progressive in Spanish? Like what we have mentioned above, we will be using estar as the be-verb. If English has its -ing form of the verb, Spanish has -ando and -iendo as its counterparts. Hence, present progressive in Spanish is formed according to the following:
1.	The subject should agree with the conjugated form of the verb estar.

Ex.	Maria is eating.
	Subject: Maria, 3rd person singular  Está

I am waiting.
Subject: I, 1st person singular  Estoy

2.	Remove the endings of the infinitive action verbs, and replace them with -ando for -ar verbs and -iendo for both -er and -ir verbs.
Comer ‘to eat’  Comiendo ‘eating’
Esperar ‘to wait’  Esperando ‘waiting’
 
3.	Therefore, present progressive form of Spanish verb is: estar + -ando/-iendo.

Maria está comiendo.			Yo estoy esperando.	
[ma-ri-ya es-ta ko-myen-do]		[yo es-toy es-pe-ran-do]
‘Maria is eating.’			‘I am waiting.’

DAY 9:
Conjugating Verbs to Past Tense and Past Participle

After learning conjugation of Spanish verbs to present tense, we now move on to conjugating them in the past tense. In doing everyday conversations, we cannot avoid talking about something that has already happened some time ago – may it be last week, yesterday, or even just a few seconds ago. Hence, included in learning this course is how to express events in the past.
Preterite (read as [pre-te-rit]) is the term used in Spanish that speaks about the past. To form this tense, there is again a need for conjugation.

Regular Forms

Regular verbs form their past by, again, having to omit their infinitive endings and replacing them with the following suffixes:
	-AR Verbs
Ex. Hablar (to speak)	-ER and –IR Verbs
Ex. Comer (to eat)
Escribir (to write)	
Yo	Hablé [a-ble]	Comí [ko-mi]
Escribí [es-kri-bi]	
Tu	Hablaste [a-blas-te]	Comiste [ko-mis-te]
Escribiste [es-kri-bis-te]	
El / Ella / Usted	Habló [a-blo]	Comió [kom-yo[
Escribió [es-krib-yo]	
Nosotros	Hablamos [a-bla-mos]	Comimos [ko-mi-mos]
Escribimos [es-kri-bi-mos]	
Vosotros	Hablasteis [a-blas-te-is]	Comisteis [ko-mis-te-is]
Escribisteis [es-kri-bis-te-is]	
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes	Hablaron [ab-la-ron]	Comieron [ko-mye-ron]
Escribieron [es-kri-bye-ron]	

Notice that from the above table, the conjugation of -er and -ir verbs for the preterite is the same. Also, remember that the vowels with the accent mark on top of them signify an emphasis on the syllable. You should be able to interpret by now the examples given above. They stand for ‘I spoke,’ ‘I ate,’ ‘I wrote,’ and so on.

Irregular Forms

In forming the past tense, there are also Spanish verbs that don’t comply exactly with the above pattern of endings. These verbs have their own form in one or more of the persons, which is why they belong to the irregular forms.
1.	Irregular AR Verbs. Verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar has a different 1st person singular form, but carry the same endings as the regular verbs for the rest of their forms.
a.	-car. Uses -que in the 1st person singular form.

Ex.	Sacar ‘to take out’		Explicar ‘to explain’	
	Saqué [sa-ke] ‘I took out’	Expliqué [eks-pli-ke] ‘I explained’

	Tocar ‘to play’			Buscar ‘to look for’	
	Toqué	[to-ke] ‘I played’	Busqué [bus-ke] ‘I looked for’	

	Indicar ‘to indicate’		    Practicar ‘to practice’
	Indique [in-di-ke] ‘I indicated’  Practiqué [prak-ti-ke] ‘I practiced’

b.	-gar. Uses -gue in the 1st person singular form.

Ex.	Llegar ‘to arrive’		Pagar ‘to pay’		
	Llegué [lye-ge] ‘I arrived’	Pagué [pa-ge] ‘I paid’	

	Pegar ‘to glue’			Apagar ‘to put out’
	Pegué [pe-ge] ‘I glued’	Apagué [a-pa-ge] ‘I put out’

	Jugar ‘to play’
Jugué [hu-ge] ‘I played’

c.	-zar. Uses -ce in the 1st person singular form.

Ex.	Cruzar ‘to cross’		Lanzar ‘to throw’
			Crucé [kru-the] ‘I crossed’	Lancé [lan-the]‘I threw …

Almorzar ‘to eat breakfast’
Almorcé [al-mor-the] ‘I ate breakfast’

2.	Irregular IR Verbs. These verbs follow the patterned endings of the regular verbs but undergo spelling changes in the stem, particularly on the 3rd person form – both singular and plural. These changes are done by:
a.	Replacing -e by -i 

Ex.	Servir ‘to serve’			Pedir ‘to ask for’

	Yo serví				Yo pedí
	Tu serviste				Tu pediste
	El/Ella/Usted sirvió			El/Ella/Usted pidió
	Nosotros servimos			Nosotros pedimos
	Vosotros servisteis			Vosotros pedisteis
	Ellos/Ellas/Uds sirvieron		Ellos/Ellas/Uds pidieron

		Other verbs of this form:

			Repetir ‘to repeat’			Preferir ‘to prefer’

b.	Replacing -o by -u

Ex.	Dormir ‘to sleep’			Morir ‘to die’

	Yo dormí				Yo morí
	Tu dormiste				Tu moriste
	El/Ella/Usted durmió			El/Ella/Usted murió
	Nosotros dormimos			Nosotros morimos
	Vosotros dormisteis			Vosotros moristeis
	Ellos/Ellas/Uds durmieron		Ellos/Ellas/Uds murieron

3.	Verbs with Double Vowels. Usually, when these verbs are conjugated to past tense, they form segments that can be read in two different ways, particularly in the 3rd person form. To avoid confusion in pronunciation, these verbs change the -ió to -yo and -ieron to -yeron in the singular and plural forms of the 3rd person, respectively.
Ex.	Leer ‘to read’				Construir ‘to construct’

	Yo leí					Yo construe
	Tu leíste				Tu construiste
	El/Ella/Usted leyó			El/Ella/Usted construyó
	Nosotros leímos			Nosotros construimos
	Vosotros leísteis			Vosotros leyeron
	Ellos/Ellas/Uds leyeron	           Ellos/Ellas/Uds construyeron

Other verbs having this form:

	Oir ‘to hear’				Caer ‘to fall’
	Creer ‘to believe’			Poseer ‘to possess’
	Concluir ‘to conclude’		Huir ‘to run away from’
	Incluir ‘to include’			Contribuir ‘to contribute’

4.	Other Irregular Forms. Verbs displaying this irregularity change their spellings to those farther from the original, before adding a different set of patterned endings – not the same as the pattern for the regular verbs. In other words, there is a change both in the stems and in the patterned endings. These verbs are:
-	Venir ‘to come’ becomes vin-					
-	Poner ‘to put’ becomes pus-		then add the following endings:
-	Saber ‘to know’ becomes sup-			-e	-imos
-	Estar ‘to be’ becomes estuv-			-iste	-isteis
-	Tener ‘to have’ becomes tuv-			-o	-ieron
-	Poder ‘to be able to’ becomes pud-
					
-	Hacer ‘to make’ becomes hic-	     	3rd person singular form is hizo

-	Decir ‘to say’ becomes dij-			
-	Producir ‘to produce’ becomes produj-		3rd person plural form, add:
-	Conducir ‘to lead’ becomes conduj-			-eron
-	Traducir ‘to translate’ becomes traduj-

5.	Ser ‘to be’ and Ir ‘to go’ are conjugated the same in the past tense.

Yo fui				Nosotros fuimos
Tu fuiste			Vosotros fuisteis
El/Ella/Usted fue		Ellos/Ellas/Uds fueron

For example, yo fui can mean either ‘I was’ or ‘I went.’ Tu fuiste can mean either ‘you was’ or ‘you went.’

DAY 10:
Conjugating Verbs to Future Tense

You now know how to conjugate Spanish verbs to their past and present tenses. It’s now time to learn how to conjugate them to the future tense. That’s why let’s take this day to study the easiest and least complicated tense in Spanish verbs to conjugate – the future tense.
	We use the future tense or el tiempo futuro to state actions not yet started, characteristics not yet attained, and/or achievements not yet accomplished, but to be done after some time from the present. In English, the future can be expressed in two ways – by using the words will or shall and by the present progressive be going to. For example, when asked, “What are you going to do tomorrow morning?” your answer can be, “I will go to the market,” or “I am going to the market.” Hence, we will be studying these forms with Spanish verbs.

Regular Forms

Conjugating verbs to future tense is different from conjugating to the past and the present, because you don’t need to omit the infinitive endings of the verbs (-ar, -er, and -ir). You will immediately affix the patterned endings that represent the future tense. These patterned endings are the SAME for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs. Hence, you only have to know and be familiar with one set of endings. Study the table below:
	-AR, -ER, -IR Verbs
Ex.    Hablar (to speak)    Comer (to eat)   Escribir (to write)	
Yo	                      Hablaré                  Comeré             Escribiré
                      [ab-la-re]              [ko-me-re]        [es-kri-bi-re]	
Tu	                      Hablarás                Comerás           Escribirás
                     [ab-la-ras]             [ko-me-ras]      [es-kri-bi-ras]	
El/Ella/Usted	                       Hablará                  Comerá           Escribirá
                      [ab-la-ra]               [ko-me-ra]      [es-kri-bi-ra]	
Nosotros	                     Hablaremos          Comeremos      Escribiremos
                   [ab-la-re-mos]      [ko-me-re-mos] [es-kri-bi-re-mos]	
Vosotros	                      Hablaréis               Comeréis          Escribiréis
                    [ab-la-re-is]           [ko-me-re-is]    [es-kri-bi-re-is]	
Ellos/Ellas/Usetdes	                      Hablarán                Comerán          Escribirán
                     [ab-la-ran]             [ko-me-ran]      [es-kri-bi-ran]	

So, when you want to say ‘she will eat,’ just take the infinitive verb comer then add the suffix for 3rd person (-á). You can use the pronoun ella to know that the one who will perform the action is a girl: Ella comerá. 
Notice that accents are present on all forms except the nosotros.

Irregular Forms

Spanish verbs having this form undergo changes in spelling, before having the patterned endings above attached to them when forming the future tense. These verbs include:
Poner ‘to put, place’ becomes pondr- before adding the endings (pondré, pondrás, pondrá, pondremos, pondréis, pondrán)
	
Tener	‘to have’	becomes tendr-
	Valer	‘to be worth’ 	becomes valdr-
	Poder 	‘to be able to’ 	becomes podr-			Endings for Future Tense
	Saber 	‘to know’ 	becomes sabr-
	Hacer	‘to make’ 	becomes har-				-e	-emos		
	Salir 	‘to come out’ 	becomes saldr-			-as	-eis
	Venir 	‘to come’ 	becomes vendr-			-a	-an
	Caber 	‘to fit’ 		becomes cabr-
	Querer	‘to like’ 	becomes querr-
	Decir 	‘to say’ 	becomes dir-

Be-Going-To Form

As mentioned earlier, another way of expressing el tiempo futuro is by using the ‘be going to’ form in English. Examples include “I am going to sing at the ceremony; they are going to visit their relatives; and aren’t you going to buy these flowers?” Although the statements above use the present progressive form of the verb go, these state actions yet to be done. These actions are those that are expressed in the infinitive forms – to sing, to visit, and to buy.
In the Spanish language, this works the same way. The conjugation of the verb ‘go’ is used in the present tense, plus the infinitive form of the other verb that is to be done later. The subject, again, is optional. The sentence created using this form can still stand correctly even without the subject. Hence, in Spanish, this form can be seen as conjugation of ir + a + infinitive form of another verb, where ir is ‘to go’ and a is the preposition ‘to’ in Spanish.
Ir ‘to go’ is conjugated as follows: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van, where the order is from the 1st person singular to 3rd person plural. Some examples to guide you are listed below:
	Voy a nadar en la playa 	‘I am going to swim in the beach.’
	Vas a leer un libro		‘You are going to read a book.’
	El va a comer una tarta	‘He is going to eat a cake.’
	Vamos a dormir en un hotel.	‘We are going to sleep in a hotel.’
	¿Van a arrestar el chico?	‘Are they going to arrest the boy?’

Keep in mind that when using this form to express the future, what you need to really remember and be knowledgeable about is the correct conjugation of the verb ir in the present tense. You shouldn’t have any problems with the infinitive verb as you won’t do any changes to it.

DAY 11:
Forming Basic Spanish Sentences

After being able to form words from the sounds you have studied in the first few days of the course, you are now ready to arrange these words to create grammatical and sensible Spanish sentences. 
Today, you will learn how to structure the different kinds of basic sentences in Spanish including declarative, interrogative (questions), imperative (requests and commands), and negative sentences.

Declarative Sentences

Declarative sentences are sentences that narrate, tell stories, and provide facts. When using these types of sentences, you don’t ask or give commands, but say something you know for a fact. 
	As you are already familiar with the basic word categories in Spanish – nouns, pronouns verbs, adjectives, and prepositions – all that matters now is just the proper rearrangement of these words to form a comprehensive sentence. Consider the following discussion on forming declarative sentences in Spanish:
1.	Subject is optional in Spanish sentences. It can always be omitted – especially when what is being talked about was already named – since the verb already contains the characteristics of the subjective noun (gender, number, and person).
Ex. 	Maria es una Española. Ella Tiene 24 años. 
	‘Maria is a Spanish. She is 24 years old.’
2.	When a verb is intransitive (doesn’t require a direct object), the sentence can be as short as having a noun and a verb; and yet it is already complete. The subject can even be omitted, so a verb alone can already be a complete sentence.
Ex.	¡(Nosotros) vivimos!
	‘We live!’

	Note: Words or phrases inside a parenthesis are optional and can be omitted.
3.	When the verb to be used is transitive, the sentence follows the form (Subject)-Verb-Object, where the object is a noun.

Ex.	(Juan y Maria) comieron las manzanas en la mesa.
	       Subj                V        Direct Object    Prep
‘Juan and Maria ate the apples in the table.’

		(Yo) amo a ti.
		Subj   V   DO
‘I love you.’

When the direct object becomes an objective pronoun, the order of the sentence becomes (Subject)-Object-Verb.

	(Ellos) los recogieron desde el jardin.
	 Subj  DOP       V	   Preposition
‘They (Juan and Maria) got them (the apples) from the garden’

	(Yo) te amo.
		Subj DOP V
‘I love you’

4.	Nominal direct objects always come before indirect objects. They both occur after the verb: Subject-Verb-DO-IO

Ex.	Juan da las flores a mi.
	Subj  V     DO        IO
	‘Juan gives the flowers to me.’

When both direct and indirect objects become pronouns, they occur between the subject and the verb. In this form, the direct object pronoun now follows the indirect object pronoun: Subject-IO Pronoun-DO Pronoun-Verb.

		Juan me las da.
		Subj IOP DOP V
		‘Juan gave them to me.’

5.	Use prepositional phrases and adjectives to make your sentences clear and precise.

Ex.	Nuestra casa grande está en la provincia.
	‘Our big house is in the province.’

	Ellos van a la playa para nadando.
	‘They are going to the beach to swim.’

	Estoy leyendo un libro sobre la democracia de nuestro pais.
	‘I am reading a book about the democracy of our country.’

		La mujer viejo cruzó el calle sin una compañia.
		‘The old woman crossed the street without a company.’ 

Interrogative Sentences

So far, how did you find this course? Is it too complicated for you? Is it just a piece of cake? Will you let me know if you’re having any trouble?
The questions above are examples of interrogative sentences. These types of sentences aim to ask, inquire, and seek information from other people by the use of questions. ‘Interrogative’ comes from the verb interrogate which means ‘to question somebody thoroughly.’ 
Now how do you form interrogative sentences in Spanish? First, recall that there are two types of questions we deal with everyday – the yes-no and the wh-questions. The former seeks for only a yes or a no response, while the latter expects a little more information. The wh-questions uses the words who, what, when, where, how, and why to form questions. We are lucky that interrogative sentences in Spanish are almost similar to that of English. Hence, with just a few reminders, you’ll be all set to ask questions using the Spanish language.

1.	Spanish’s written language requires both an inverted (¿) and normal question mark (?) at the beginning and ending of each question, respectively.
2.	The easiest way to form yes-no questions is by increasing the intonation of any declarative sentence. 
Ex.	Vas a Madrid.				¿Vas a Madrid?
	‘You are going to Madrid.’		‘Are you going to Madrid?’

3.	The Spanish language doesn't require auxiliary verbs the way that the English language does to form yes-no questions. The same verb forms that are used in declarative statements are the same forms used in questions. The only difference is that the verbs in interrogative sentences precede the nouns.
Ex.	Maria visitara mañana.		¿Visitara Maria mañana?
	‘Maria will visit tomorrow.’		‘Will Maria visit tomorrow?’

Roberto tiene que ir al banco.	¿Tiene que ir Roberto al banco?
‘Roberto has to go to the bank.’	¿Tiene que ir al banco Roberto?
‘Does Roberto have to go to the bank?’ 

4.	Question words in English have counterparts in Spanish, namely qué ‘what,’ por qué ‘why,’ cuándo ‘when,’ dónde ‘where,’ cómo ‘how,’ cuál ‘which,’ quién ‘who,’ cuánto or cuánta ‘how much,’ and cuántos or cuántas ‘how many.’ They usually appear at the beginning of each interrogative sentence.
5.	Generally, a verb follows the question words.

Ex.	¿Quién escribira la carta?
	     WH      V         DO
	‘Who will write the letter?’

	¿Por qué fue a la ciudad?
	      WH    V  Preposition
‘Why did he go to the city?’

¿Dónde está mi coche?
     WH   V      Subj
‘Where is my car?’

Imperative Sentences

Imperative sentences are actually verb moods used to give commands, either affirmative or negative. Examples of imperative statements in English include: say your name, go to bed early, don’t run, turn-off the lights, etc.
Imperatives in Spanish can be used for five different grammatical people: for a familiar listener (tu), a formal listener (usted), a group of people including your self (nosotros), familiar listeners (vosotros), and formal listeners (ustedes). 
Since verbs are those that build imperative statements, they have to undergo conjugation. Here are the rules in forming imperatives:
1.	Forming the affirmative and negative imperative commands for usted, ustedes, and nosotros, and the negative imperative commands for tú and vosotros depends on the type of verbs to be used.
a.	Regular AR Verbs: Take the present tense of the verb and change the -a of the suffix to -e. 
Ex.	Estudiar ‘to study’

	Present Tense			Affirmative 		Negative

Tu estudias						no estudies
			Usted estudia			estudie			no estudie
			Nosotros estudiamos		estudiemos		no estudiemos
			Vosotros estudiais					no estudieis
			Usdtedes estudian		estudien		no estudien

b.	Regular ER Verbs: Change the -e of the suffix to -a. 

Ex.	Beber ‘to drink’

	Present Tense			Affirmative 		Negative

			Tu bebes						no bebas
			Usted bebe			beba			no beba
			Nosotros bebemos		bebamos		no bebamos
			Vosotros bebeis					no bebais
			Ustedes beben			beban			no beban

c.	Regular IR Verbs:
-	For tu, usted, and ustedes, change the -e of the suffix to -a. 
-	For nosotros, change the -i of the suffix to -a. 
-	For vosotros, change the -i of the suffix to -ai. 
Ex.	Abrir ‘to open’

	Present Tense			Affirmative 		Negative

	Tu abres						no abras
	Usted abre			abra			no abra
	Nosotros abrimos		abramos		no abramos
	Vosotros abris						no abrais
	Ustedes abren			abran			no abran

Note: 

-	Notice that the imperative endings for ER and IR verbs are identical.

2.	Affirmative commands with tu and vosotros are conjugated a bit differently but the same for AR, ER, and IR verbs:
a.	To form the affirmative imperative command of tu, take the present tense and drop the final -s.

Tu estudias			estudia		no estudies
			Tu bebes			bebe			no bebas
	Tu abres			abre			no abras

b.	To form the affirmative imperative command of vosotros, take the infinitive and replace the final -r with a -d. Let’s take estudiar as an example.

			Vosotros estudiais		estudiad		no estudieis
Vosotros bebeis		bebed			no bebais
Vosotros abris			abrid			no abrais

DAY 12:
Familiarizing Situational Phrases

Congratulations! You have made it to the last day of our training. You have already learned the fundamentals of basic Spanish – from knowing its alphabet and sounds, to forming words and phrases, to structuring different sentences. 
The fact that you purchased this report and began your daily training means that you are preparing yourself to deal with Spanish-speaking people and their culture at one point in your life. Is that right? 
Hence, below are lists of phrases and sentences you can study further under different circumstances.

Asking for Directions

¡Oiga por favor!		¿Dónde está … ?		¿Está lejos?
[oy-ga por fa-vor]		[don-de es-ta …]		[es-ta le-khos]
‘Excuse me.’			‘Where is … ?	‘		‘Is it far?’

¿Cómo se va a … ?		¿Se va por aquí a … ?		¿Puedo ir andando?
[ko-mo se va a …]		[Se va por a-ki a …]		[pwe-do ir an-dan-do]
‘How to I get to … ?’		‘Is this the right way to … ?’	‘Can I walk there?’

¿Dónde está el/la … más próximo(a)?			Nos hemos perdido
[Don-de es-ta el/la … mas prok-si-mo(a)]			[nos e-mos per-di-do]
‘Where is the nearest … ?’					

¿Puede indicarme en el mapa?				Estamos buscando …		
 [pwe-de in-di-kar-me en el ma-pa]				[es-ta-mos bus-kan-do … ]	
 ‘Can you show me on the map?’				‘We’re looking for …’	

Giving Directions

Siga todo recto		Tiene que dar la vuelta	Siga
[si-ga to-do rek-to]		[tye-ne ke dar la vwel-ta]	[si-ga]
‘Keep going straight ahead’	‘You have to turn round’	‘Keep going straight on’

Tuerza …			A la derecha			a la izquierda
[twer-za]			[a la de-re-cha]		[a la iz-kyer-da]
‘Turn …’			‘Right’				‘Left’

Recto				Siga las señales de …		Coja …
[rek-to]			[si-ga las se-nya-les de … ]	[ko-ha … ]
‘Straight on’			‘Follw the signs for …’	‘Take …’

La primera calle a la derecha			La segunda calle a la izquirda
[la pri-me-ra ka-lye a la de-re-cha]		[la se-gun-da ka-lye a la iz-kyer-da]
‘The first street on the right’			‘The second street on the left’

At the Airport

Al aeropuerto, por favor	¿Como se va al centro?	¿Cuánto es?
[al ay-ro-pwer-to por fa-vor]	[ko-mo se va al then-tro]	[kwan-to es]
‘To the airport please’		‘How do I get into town?’	‘How much is it?’

¿Dónde se factura para … ?	 		 ¿Cuál es la puerta del vuelo para … ?
[don-de se fak-tu-ra pa-ra … ]	  	[kwal es la pwer-ta del vwe-lo pa-ra … ]
‘Where do I check in for … ?’  		‘Which gate is it for the flight to … ?’

¿Dónde se coje el autobus para el centro?
[don-de se ko-he el aw-to-bus pa-ra el then-tro]
‘Where do I get the bus to the town center?

Know These Signs!

Llegadas		[lye-ga-das]			‘Arrivals’
Salidas			[sa-li-das]			‘Departures’
Recogida de Equipaje	[re-ko-hi-da de e-kwi-pa-he]	‘Baggage Reclaim’
Vuelo			[vwe-lo]			‘Flight’
Retraso		[re-tra-so]			‘Delay’	

Checking in at Hotels

¿Tiene una habitacion para esta noche?	¿Cuánto cuesta por noche?’
[tye-ne u-na a-bi-ta-thyon es-ta no-che]	[kwan-to kwes-ta por no-che]
‘Do you have a room for tonight?’		‘How much is it per night?’

Queria ver la habitacion			¿Tiene algo mas barato?
[ke-ri-ya ver la a-bi-ta-thyon]			[tye-ne al-go mas ba-ra-to]
‘I’d like to see the room’			‘Do you have anything cheaper?’

Quiero una habitacion con tres camas	¿Puede darme la llave, por favor?
[kye-ro u-na a-bi-ta-thyon kon tres ka-mas]	[pwe-de dar-me la lya-ve por fa-vor]
‘I want a room with three beds’		‘Can I have my key please?’

¿Hay algun mensaje para mi?			Por favor, vuelva mas tarde
[ay al-gun men-sa-je pa-ra mi]		[por fa-vor vwel-va mas tar-de]
‘Are there any messages for me?		‘Please come back later’

¿Me trae, por favor … ?			¿Puede limpiar … ?
[me tra-e por fa-vor … ]			[pwe-de lim-pyar … ]
‘Please bring me a  …’			‘Could you clean the … ?’

Nos vamos mañana				¿Me hace la factura, por favor?
[nos va-mos ma-nya-na]			[me a-the la fak-tu-ra por fa-vor]
‘We’re leaving tomorrow’			‘Please prepare the bill’

Riding a Bus

¿Dónde esta la estacion de autobus?		¿Hay un autobus que vaya … ?
[don-de es-ta la es-ta-thyon de aw-to-bus]	[ay un aw-to-bus ke va-ya … ]
‘Where is the bus station?’			‘Is there a bus going to … ?’

¿Qué autobus se coge para ir a … ?		¿ Dónde se coge el autobus para … ?
[ke aw-to-bus se co-he  pa-ra ir a … ]	[don-de se co-he el aw-to-bus pa-ra … ]
‘Which bus do I take to go to … ?’		‘Where do I get bus to … ?’

¿Cuándo sale el ultimo autobus?		¿Me dice cuando tengo que bajarme?
[kwan-do sa-le el ul-ti-mo aw-to-bus]	[me di-the kwan-do teng-go ke ba-har-me]
‘When is the last bus?’			‘Can you tell me when to get off?’

Know This Sign!

Parada Bus	 [pa-ra-da bus]		‘Bus Stop’

Riding the Train

¿Dónde esta la estacion?			A la estacion, por favor		
 [don-de es-ta la es-ta-thyon]			[a la es-ta-thyon por fa-vor]
 ‘Where is the station?’			‘To the station, please’

Uno a …			Dos a …			Uno de ida y vuelta a …
[u-no a]			[dos a]				[u-no de i-da ee vwel-ta a]
‘A single to …’		‘2 singles to …’		‘A return to …’ 

De primera klase		Fumador			No fumador
[de pri-me-ra kla-se]		[fu-ma-dor]			[no fu-mador]
‘1st class’			‘Smoking’			‘No smoking’

Quiero reservar …		Un asiento			Una litera
[kye-ro re-ser-var … ]		[un a-si-yen-to]		[u-na li-te-ra]
‘I want to book …’		‘A seat’			‘A couchette’

¿De qué anden sale?		¿Es este el tren para … ?	¿Dónde esta la consigna?
[de ke an-den sa-le]		[es es-te el tren pa-ra … ]	[don-de es-ta la ko-sig-na]
‘Which platform does it	‘Is this the train for … ?’	‘Where is the left luggage?
leave from?

¿El tren para … sale de este anden?				¿Esta ocupado?
[el tren pa-ra … sa-le de es-te an-den]			[es-ta o-ku-pa-do]
‘Does the train to … leave from this platform?		‘Is this seat taken?’

Know These Signs!

Talgo			[tal-go]				‘Intercity Express’
Despacho de billetes	[des-pa-cho de bi-lye-tes]	‘Tickets’
Informacion		[in-for-ma-thyon]		‘Information’
Salidas			[sa-li-das]			‘Departures’
Llegadas		[lye-ga-das]			‘Arrivals’
Anden/Via		[anden] [vi-ya]		‘Platform’
Cercanias		[ther-kan-yas]			‘Local Rail Network’

Hiring a Taxi

¿Dónde se cogen los taxis?	Por favor, me pide un taxi	 A la …, por favor
[don-de se ko-hen los tak-sis]	[por fa-vor me pi-de un tak-si] [a la … por fa-vor]
‘Where can I get a taxi?’	‘Please order me a txi’	 ‘To the …, please’

¿Cuánto peude costar?	Es demasiado			¿Puede darme un recibo?
[kwan-to pwe-de kos-tar]	[es de-ma-sya-do]		[pwe-de dar-me un re-thi-bo]
‘How much will it cost’	‘It’s too much’			‘Can you give me a receipt?

Lleveme a esta direccion, por favor		¿ Cuánto cuesta hasta el centro?
[lye-ve-me a es-ta di-rek-thyon por fa-vor]	[kwan-to kwes-ta as-ta el then-tro]
‘Take me to this address, please’		‘How much is it to the center?’

No tengo cambio				Quedese con la vuelta
[no teng-go cam-byo]				[ke-de-se kon la vwel-ta]
‘I have nothing smaller / I have no change’	‘Keep the change’

Hiring a Boat

Un billete		Dos billetes		De ida			De ida de vuelta
[un bi-lye-te]		[dos bi-lye-tes]	[de i-da]		[de i-da ee vwel-ta]
‘1 ticket’		‘2 tickets’		‘Single’		‘Round trip’

¿Hay algun billete de turista?	   		¿Hay excursiones en barco?
 [ay al-gun bi-lye-te de tu-ris-ta] 		[ay eks-kur-syo-nes en bar-ko]
‘Is there a tourist ticket?’			‘Are there any boat trips?’

¿Cuánto dura el viaje?			¿Cuándo sale el proximo barco?
[kwan-to du-ra el vya-he]			[kwan-do sa-le el prok-si-mo bar-ko]
‘How longs is the trip?’			‘When is the next boat?’

¿Cuándo sale el primer barco?		¿Cuándo sale el ultimo barco?
[kwan-do sa-le el pri-mer bar-ko]		[kwan-do sa-le el ul-ti-mo bar-ko]
‘When is the first boat?’			‘When is the last boat?’

Driving Cars

¿Se puede aparcar aqui?	¿Dónde puedo aparcar?	¿Hay parking?
[se pwe-de a-par-kar a-ki]	[don-de pwe-do a-par-kar]	[ay par-king]
‘Can I park here?’		‘Where can I park?’		‘Is there a car park?’

¿Hace falta tique de aparcamiento?		¿Dónde puedo comprar un tique?
[a-se fal-ta ti-ke de a-par-ka-myen-to] 	[don-de pwe-do kom-prar ti-ke]
‘Do I need a parking disc?’			‘Where can I get a parking disc?’

Vamos a …					¿Cuál es la major ruta?	
[va-mos a … ]					[kwal es la me-hor ru-ta]
‘We’re going to …’				‘What is the best route?’

Know These Signs!

Todas direcciones		[to-das di-rek-thyo-nes]	‘All Routes’
Salida				[sa-li-da]			‘Exit’
Autopista			[aw-to-pis-ta]			‘Motorway’
Peaje				[pe-a-je]			‘Toll’
Prohibido Apacar		[pro-hi-bi-do a-pa-kar]	‘No Parking’
Centro Ciudad			[then-tro thyu-dad]		‘City Center’
Alquiler de Coches		[al-ki-ler de ko-che]		‘Car Hire’

Shopping for Clothes

¿Vende … ?			¿Dónde venden … ?		¿Hay mercado?
[ven-de … ]			[don-de ven-den … ]		[ay mer-ka-do]
‘Do you sell … ?’		‘Where can I buy … ?’	‘Is there a market?’

Estoy buscando un regalo	¿Tiene algo mas barato?	Envuelvamelo por favor
[es-toy bus-kan-do un re-ga-lo] [tye-ne al-go mas ba-ra-to]	[en-vwel-va-me-lo por favor]
‘I’m looking for a present’	‘Is there anything cheaper?’ 	‘Please wrap it up’

¿Puedo probarme esto?	Es demasiado grande		¿Tiene una talla menor?
[pwe-do pro-bar-me es-ro]	[es de-ma-sya-do gran-de]	[tye-ne u-na ta-lya me-nor]
‘Can I try this on?’		‘It’s too big’			‘Do you have a smaller size?’

Es demasiado caro		Solo estoy mirando		Me llevo esto
[es de-ma-sya-do ka-ro]	[so-lo es-toy mi-ran-do]	[me lye-vo es-to]
‘It’s too expensive’		‘I’m just looking’		‘I’ll take this one’

Know These Signs!

Abierto		[a-byer-to]		‘Open’
Cerrado		[ther-ra-do]		‘Closed’
Caja			[ka-ha]			‘Cash Desk’
Rebajas		[re-ba-jas]		‘Sale’

Shopping for Food

¿Vende … ?			¿Dónde puedo comprar … ?	¿Dónde esta el mercado?
[ven-de … ]			[don-de pwe-do kom-prar … ] [don-de es-ta el mer-ka-do]
‘Do you sell … ?’		‘Where can I buy … ?’	‘Where is the market?’

Un litro de …		Una botella de	…	Una lata de …		Una caja de …
[un li-tro de … ]	[u-na bo-te-lya de … ]	[u-na la-ta de … ]	[u-na ca-ha de … ]
‘A liter of …’		‘A bottle of …’	‘A can of …’		‘A carton of …’	

Cien gramos de …	Un cuarto kilo de …	Un kilo de …		Ocho lonchas de …
[thyen gra-mos de …] [un kwar-to ki-lo de …] [Un ki-lo de …]	[o-cho lon-chas de…]
‘100 grams of …’	‘1/4 kilo of …’	‘1 kilo of …’		‘8 slices of …’

Una barra de pan		Tres yogures			Media docena de huevos
[u-na bar-ra de pan]		[tres yo-gu-res]	           [med-ya do-the-na de we-vos]	
‘A loaf of bread’		‘3 yogurts’			‘Half dozen of eggs’

Un paquete de	…		Una lata de …			Un tarro de …
[un pa-ke-te de … ]		[u-na la-ta de … ]		[un tar-ro de … ]
‘A packet of …’		‘A tin of …’			‘A jar of …’

Know These Signs!

Panaderia		[pa-na-de-ri-ya]		‘Bakeshop’
Carniceria		[kar-ni-ce-ri-ya]		‘Meatshop’
Fruteria		[fru-te-ri-ya]			‘Fruit Stand’
Supermercado		[su-per-mer-ka-do]		‘Supermarket’

Dining Out and Ordering Food

Un café solo		Un café con leche	Un te		Una cerveza
[un ka-fe co-lo]	[un ka-fe kon le-che]	[un te]		[u-na ther-ve-za]
‘A black coffee’	‘A coffee with milk’	‘A tea’		‘A lager’

Un chocolate con churros por favor		Una botella de agua mineral
[un cho-ko-la-te kon chur-ros por fa-vor]	[u-na bo-te-lya de a-gwa mi-ne-ral]
‘A hot chocolate with churro, please’		‘A bottle of mineral water’

La carta de vinos, por favor		Un vaso de tinto	Una botella de vino
[la kar-ta de vi-nos por fa-vor] 	[un va-so de tin-to]	[u-na bo-te-lya de vi-no]
‘The wine list, please’			‘A glass of red wine’	‘A bottle of wine’

Otra botella, por favor		¿Quire tomar algo?	¿Que quiere tomar?
[o-tra bo-te-lya por fa-vor]		[kye-re to-mar al-go]	[ke kye-re to-mar]
‘Another bottle, please		‘Do you like a drink?’ ‘What will you have?’

La carta, por favor			Yo voy a tomar eso	¿Que recomienda?
[la kar-ta por fa-vor]			[yo voy a to-mar e-so]	[ke re-ko-myenda]
‘The menu, please’			‘I’ll have this’		‘What do you recommend?’

Mas pan				Mas agua		La cuenta, por favor
[mas pan]				[mas a-gwa]		[la kwen-ta por fa-vor]
‘More bread’				‘More water’		‘The bill, please’

Visiting the Beach

¿Hay alguna playa tranquila?		¿Como se va hasta alli?
[ay al-gu-na pla-ya trang-ki-la]		[ko-mo se va as-ta a-lyi]
‘Is there a quiet beach?			‘How do I get there?

¿Hay piscina?			¿Esta limpia el agua		¿Es muy profundo?
[ay pi-si-na]			[es-ts lim-pya el a-gwa]	[es muy pro-fun-do]
‘Is there a pool?’		‘Is the water clean?’		‘Is it deep?’

¿Esta fria el agua?		¿Es peligroso?		¿Hay corrientes?
[es-ta fri-ya el a-gwa]		[es pe-li-gro-so]		[ay kor-ryen-tes]
‘Is the water cold?		‘Is it dangerous?’		‘Are there currents?’

Doing Sports

¿Dónde se puede … ?		jugar al tennis		jugar al golf		nadar
[don-de se pwe-de … ]	[hu-gar al te-nis]	[hu-gar al golf]	[na-dar]
‘Where can we …?’		‘Play tennis’		‘Play golf’		‘Swim’

¿Cuánto cuesta … ?		Por hora		Por dia		Por semana
[kwan-to kwes-ta … ]		[por o-ra]		[por di-ya]		[por se-ma-na]
‘How much is it … ?’		‘Per hour’		‘Per day’		‘Per week’

¿Cómo se reserva una pista?			¿Puedo alquilar raquetas?	
[ko-mo se re-ser-va u-na pis-ta] 		[pwe-do al-ki-lar ra-ke-tas]	
 ‘How do I book a court?’			‘Can I hire rackets?’		

¿Hay algun partido de futbol?		¿Dónde hay una tienda de deported?
[ay al-gun par-ti-do de futbol]			[don-de ay u-na tyen-da de de-por-tes]
‘Is there a football match?’			‘Where is there a sports shop?’

Problems and Complaints

¿Puede ayudarme, por favor?		No hablo Español		¿Habla Ingles?
[pwe-de a-yu-dar-me por fa-vor]	[no a-blo es-pa-nyol]		[a-bla ing-gles]
‘Can you help me, please?’		‘I don’t speak Spanish’	‘You speak English?

Me he perdido				Llego tarde			Tengo que ir a …
[me e per-di-do]			[lye-go tar-de]			[teng-go ke ie a … ]
‘I’m lost’				‘I’m late’			‘I need to go to …’

No ha llegado mi equipaje			Me he dejado la bolsa en el autocar
[no a lye-ga-do mi e-kwi-pa-he]		[me e de-ha-do en el aw-to-kar]
‘My luggage has not yet arrived’		‘I’ve left my bag on the coach’

¡Dejeme en paz!			¡Vayase!			Hay un error
[de-he-me en paz]			[va-ya-se]			[ay un er-ror]
‘Leave me alone’			‘Go away!’			‘There is a mistake’

Esto no es lo que he perdido		Quiero hacer una reclamacion
[es-to no es lo ke e per-di-do]		[kye-ro a-cer u-na re-kla-ma-thyon]
‘This isn’t what I ordered’		‘I want to make a complaint’

Quiero que me devuelvan el dinero	      	Llevamos mucho tiempo esperando
[kye-ro ke me de-vwel-van el di-ne-ro]    	[lye-va-mos mu-cho tyem-po es-pe-ran-do]
‘I want my money back’			‘We’ve been waiting for a very long time’

Dealing with Emergencies

¡Socorro!		¿Me puede ayudar?			Ha habido un accidente
[so-kor-ro]		[me pwe-de a-yu-dar]			[a a-bi-do un ak-thi-den-te]
‘Help!’			‘Can you help me?’			‘There’s been an accident’

Hay un herido		¿Dónde esta la comidaria?		Me had robado
[ay un e-ri-do]		[don-de es-ta la ko-me-da-ri-ya]	[me an ro-ba-do]
‘Someone is injured’	‘Where’s the police station?’		‘I’ve been robbed’

Me han agredido		Me han violado		Me han robado el coche
[me an a-gre-di-do]		[me an vyo-la-do]		[me an ro-ba-do el ko-che]
‘I’ve been attacked’		‘I’ve been raped’		‘My car has been stolen’

¿Cuánto es la multa?		No tengo suficiente		No tengo dinero
[kwan-to es la mul-ta]		[no teng-go su-fi-thyen-te]	[no teng-go di-ner-do]
‘How much is the fine?’	‘I don’t have enough’		‘I have no money’

Know These Signs!

Policia		[po-li-si-ya]		‘Police’
Bomberos	[bom-be-ros]		‘Fire Brigade’
Urgencias	[ur-hen-syas]		‘Casualty Dept’

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

	The Spanish language is gradually conquering the world. At school, in the office, in the media, and everywhere else, we are beginning to be exposed with the language and its speakers. Hence, learning Spanish is a practical and wise decision, and can never be a waste of time.
In this report, it was shown that the most effective way of learning Spanish is through the use of linguistics – the study of the structure of a language. This is also the reason why it only took us 12 days for the training – it was structured in such a way that you have to learn the basics on the first few days, to be used as the training progressed until we arrived at the most complicated topics.
Sounds are the fundamentals of each language. We found out that the Spanish language has 30 letters in its alphabet that produce more than 30 sounds because of some conditions and environments of certain letters like c, d, v, x, and y. There are also sounds in Spanish that are not common in English. These include ll and ñ. On the other hand, the h sound is not really enunciated in Spanish.
These sounds are what form the words of the language. The basic word categories we have learned here include nouns, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in Spanish have number- and gender- characteristics that classify the words belonging to their categories as either singular or plural, and as either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Spanish prepositions, on the other hand, function the same way as that of English and is used mostly to form phrases.
Spanish verbs are among the most complicated topics in Spanish. Aside from the fact that they are grouped into AR, ER, and IR verbs, they undergo conjugation to form tenses. Conjugation is the inflection of words using sets of patterns to show differences in certain criteria (person, number, tense). Hence, Spanish verbs have different conjugations in forming their past, present, and future tenses.
These words and phrases are then arranged properly to construct grammatical sentences. Sentences that can be formed using enough knowledge on words include declarative, interrogative, and imperative statements. Remember that a sentence is composed of only a subject and a predicate; a subject can be as simple as a noun or pronoun, while a predicate can only be a verb. Hence, a noun and a verb can already form one complete sentence.
Learning a foreign language, particularly Spanish, is not complicated. It will even be for your own benefit because, who knows, you’ll find yourself at the streets of Madrid talking to Spanish people one day. At least, you won’t have a hard time living the Spanish life and adjusting to their culture – because you took 12 days to learn their language.
¡Buena suerte! (Good luck!)