spanish-all-in-one-for-dummies-cheat-sheet

Spanish All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet

From Spanish All-in-One For Dummies

By Consumer Dummies

Spanish is a language that requires verb conjugation according to the person you’re speaking to and speaking about, so starting with present and past participles and the range of subject pronouns, you can talk about doing things all day long — and all day yesterday as well. In learning any language, the ABCs come in handy as does the proper form for all the questions you’ll be asking.
How to Form Participles of Regular Spanish Verbs

Verbs are what breathe life and action into Spanish and every other language. Forming present and past participles in Spanish lets you talk in active present tense to say, “I’m dancing,” and about what you did last night: “I danced!” The following tables show you how to form present and past participles for regular Spanish verbs ending in –ar, –er, and –ir.
Forming Present Participles in Spanish
Ending Verb Example Meaning Participle Meaning
-ar bailar to dance bailando dancing
-er comer to eat comiendo eating
-ir subir to go up subiendo going up
Forming Past Participles in Spanish
Ending Verb Example Meaning Participle Meaning
-ar bailar to dance bailado danced
-er comer to eat comido eaten
-ir subir to go up subido gone up
How to Conjugate Regular Spanish Verbs

As in almost every language, in Spanish you have to conjugate verbs because you use a different form of the verb depending upon who you’re talking to, who you’re talking about, and when the action took place. Conjugating verbs in Spanish means giving them different endings. The following tables show the endings to change (they’re in boldface) for regular verbs ending in –ar and regular verbs ending in –er and –ir.
-ar Verbs: hablar (to speak)
Person Present Preterit Imperfect Future Conditional Present Subjunctive
yo hablo hablé hablaba hablaré hablaría hable
tú hablas hablaste hablabas hablarás hablarías hables
él, ella, Ud. habla habló hablaba hablará hablaría hable
nosotros hablamos hablamos hablábamos hablaremos hablaríamos hablemos
vosotros habláis hablasteis hablábais hablaréis hablaríais habléis
ellos, ellas, Uds. hablan hablaron hablaban hablarán hablarían hablen
-er and -ir Verbs: beber (to drink) and subir (to go up)
Person Present Preterit Imperfect Future Conditional Present Subjunctive
yo bebo 
subo beb’ 
subí beb’a 
subía beberŽ 
subiré beber’a 
subiría beba 
suba
tú bebes 
subes bebiste 
subiste bebías

sub’as beberás

subir‡s beber’as 
subirías bebas 
subas
él, ella, Ud. bebe 
sube bebió 
subi— bebía 
sub’a beberá

subir‡ bebería

subir’a beba 
suba
nosotros bebemos 
subimos bebimos 
subimos beb’amos 
subíamos beberemos 
subiremos beber’amos

subiríamos bebamos 
subamos
vosotros bebŽis 
subís bebisteis 
subis beb’ais 
subíais beberŽis 
subiréis beber’ais

subiríais beb‡is 
subáis
ellos, ellas, Uds. beben 
suben bebieron 
subieron beb’an 
sub’an beberán

subir‡n beberían

subir’an beban 
suban
How to Ask Questions in Spanish

When you’re trying to master a new language such as Spanish, you have a lot of questions. Plus, you need question words if you just want to ask for general information. The following table lists the questions you’re likely use:

List of questions in Spanish and English.
Spanish Subject Pronouns

When speaking Spanish, the pronoun you use depends upon the person you’re speaking to and the person you’re speaking about. And, just as in English, you change pronouns according to person — I, you, he or she and we, you, they. The following table shows all the Spanish subject pronouns:
Singular Plural
1st Person yo (I) nosotros/as (we [male or mixed
group/female])
2nd Person tœ (you 
[informal]); Ud.
(you [formal]) vosotros/as (you [informal; male or mixed
group/female]); Uds. 
(you
[formal])
3rd Person Žl (he); ella (she) ellos/as (they [male or mixed group/female])
Spanish Alphabet

The alphabet is the building block of any language, Spanish included. The following table goes through the pronunciation of each of the 27 letters of the Spanish alphabet, which is the same as the English ABCs except for the extra ñ:
a (ah) b (bveh) c (seh) d (deh)
e (eh) f (eh-feh) g (Heh) h (ah-cheh)
i (ee) j (Hoh-tah) k (kah) l (eh-leh)
m (eh-meh) n (eh-neh) ñ (eh-nyeh) o (oh)
p (peh) q (koo) r (eh-reh) s (eh-seh)
t (teh) u (oo) v (bveh) w (doh-bvleh bveh/doh-bvleh oo)
x (eh-kees) y (ee gree eh-gah) z (seh-tah)

   LanguagesSpanishConjugating the Spanish Verb Dormir (to Sleep)

Conjugating the Spanish Verb Dormir (to Sleep)

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like dormir, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

In the present tense, dormir (dohr-meer) (to sleep) has an o-to–ue stem change in all but the nosotros and vosotros forms. Other popular irregular Spanish verbs include: leer, venir, querer, ser. Here’s the present tense conjugation:
The Present Tense of Dormir Conjugation Translation
yo duermo I sleep
tú duermes You (informal) sleep
él/ella/ello/uno duerme He/she/one sleeps
usted duerme You (formal) sleep
nosotros dormimos We sleep
vosotros dormís You all (informal) sleep
ellos/ellas duermen They sleep
ustedes duermen You all (formal) sleep

The following examples show you dormir in action:

   ¿Duermes bien, José? (Do you sleep well, José?)

   Sí. Yo duermo bien todas las noches. (Yes. I sleep well every night.)

In the preterit, dormir undergoes an o-to-u stem change in the third-person singular and third-person plural forms only. All the other forms conjugate normally. Take a look.
The Preterit Tense of Dormir Conjugation Translation
yo dormí I slept
tú dormiste You (informal) slept
él/ella/ello/uno durmió He/she/one slept
usted durmió You (formal) slept
nosotros dormimos We slept
vosotros dormisteis You all (informal) slept
ellos/ellas durmieron They slept
ustedes durmieron You all (formal) slept

You use the preterit tense like this:

   La profesora durmió. (The professor slept.)

   Cristina y María durmieron en mi casa. (Cristina and María slept in my house.)

You’re off the hook with the stem change in the imperfect and future forms; dormir conjugates normally in these tenses. Check out the following tables and examples.
The Imperfect Tense of Dormir Conjugation Translation
yo dormía I used to sleep
tú dormías You (informal) used to sleep
él/ella/ello/uno dormía He/she/one used to sleep
usted dormía You (formal) used to sleep
nosotros dormíamos We used to sleep
vosotros dormíais You all (informal) used to sleep
ellos/ellas dormían They used to sleep
ustedes dormían You all (formal) used to sleep

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

   Mi padre dormía y roncaba. (My father used to sleep and snore.)

   ¿Dormíais vosotros en clase? (Did you used to sleep in class?)

The Future Tense of Dormir Conjugation Translation
yo dormiré I will sleep
tú dormirás You (informal) will sleep
él/ella/ello/uno dormirá He/she/one will sleep
usted dormirá You (formal) will sleep
nosotros dormiramos We will sleep
vosotros dormiréis You all (informal) will sleep
ellos/ellas dormirán They will sleep
ustedes dormirán You all (formal) will sleep

The following samples put the future tense to work:

   ¿Dormirán ustedes junto al lago? (Will you sleep near the lake?)

   No. Dormiremos en la cabina. (No. We will sleep in the cabin.)

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