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The following adjectives showing
nationality end in a consonant but
do take an “a” in the feminine:
m 1
alemán — alemana German
española Spanish
francesa French
inglesa English
ilandesa Irish
holandesa Dutch
portugués portugesa Portuguese
To make adjectives plural, you add
"8" fit ends in a vowel and “es” if
itends in a consonant:
los vecinos simpáticos
las corbatas grises
Comparing adjectives
To compare things, you put tan...
como (as... as), más... que (more.
than) and el, la, los or las más (the
most) with an adjective. The
adjective agrees in the usual way:
Fla es tan alta como su hermano.
She is as tall as her brother.
Ella es más delgada que yo. She is
slimmer than Tam.
Soy el más guapo.
looking.
Lam the best
Just as in English, some common
adjectives do not add mas (more) or
‘el más, but change completely:
bueno good
mejor Better
el mejor the best
malo bad
peor worse
el peor the worst
grande big
mayor igger
el mayor the biggest
Pronouns
21%, “you”, “he”, “she” and so on
are called personal pronouns. You
use them in place of a noun. in
Spanish there are several words for
“ou”. Tú and vosotros/as are
informal and are most commonly
Used. Usted and ustedes are formal
and are used when you are talking
to people in authority, strangers or
older people. Usted and ustedes are
often written Vd. and Vds..
yo 1
tú you (informal, s)
a he, it
ella she, it
usted (Vd.) you (formal, s)
nosotros/as we (m/f)
vosotros/as you (m/f informal, pl
ellos they (m)
ellas they (D.
ustedes (Vds.) yo
(formal, pl)
“It” is él for a masculine word and
ella for a feminine word. “They” is
ellos for masculine words and ellas
for feminine words. For masculine
and feminine words together, you
Use ellos.
Verbs
Spanish verbs (action words) change
their endings according to who is
doing the action. The pronoun,
"you" and so on is often left out
because the ending of the verb tells
you who is doing the action,
Most verbs follow regular patterns
of endings. There are three patterns
according to whether the verb's
infinitive (eg. in English: “to buy”;
to sew") ends in “ar”, “er” or “ir”.
These are the endings for the
present tense
comprar to buy
Ep, | by, Lam ying
compras you (informal, s) buy
compra he, she, it buys;
you (formal, s) buy
¡compramos we buy
compräis you (informal, pl) buy
compran they buy; you
(formal, pl) buy
coser tosew subir to climb
subo
subes.
sube
Some of the most common verbs
do not follow these patterns in the
present tense. They are known as
irregular verbs and you need to
learn them separately. One of the
most common of these is haber.
Haber is a special verb used only for
forming the perfect tense (seebelow
righo. Itis not used by itself. This
is the present tense of haber:
haber
‘Two other common irregular verbs
are ser and estar. These both mean
“to be”, but are used in different
ways. You use ser to describe things
that are permanent, or a quality or
profession: e.g. “I am Spanish”;
“He is tall"; “She is a pianist”. Estar
is used to describe things that can
change: e.g. “lam tired”; “It is
cold”. Estar is also used to say
where things are: e.g. “The theatre
is over there”; “I am here”.
Here are the present tenses of ser
and estar:
ser estar
soy estoy
eres estás
es está
somos estamos
sois estáis
son están
You can find other irregular verbs
on page 103,
The future tense is used for things
you are going to do. It is the same
for the three verb types, and it is
made by adding these endings to
the infinitive:
comprar é
comprar ás
comprar à
‘comprar emos
comprar éis
‘comprar in
You use the perfect tense for events
which have already happened, ("I
have danced” or “1 danced’, in
English). In Spanish you make the
perfect tense by putting
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