General obligation with hay que
Express general necessity with hay que and an infinitive, and distinguish it from a named person’s obligation.
Read and practiseAdventure journal
Spanish grammar
Explore essential Spanish grammar through clear explanations, contrasting examples and practical exercises.
Adventure journal
Spanish grammar
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Irregular preterite: hacer, querer and venir
Completed events call for irregular preterite stems in three common Spanish verbs, with a special spelling in one form.
Read and practisePersonal obligation with tener que
Say who has to do something in Spanish with tener que, choosing the form of tener and an infinitive.
Read and practisePreterite forms of decir and traer
Irregular stems and endings make it possible to report what someone said or brought at a completed moment in the past.
Read and practiseRecent completion with acabar de
Describe a recently completed action in Spanish with acabar de and an infinitive.
Read and practisePreterite stem changes in Spanish -ir verbs
Third-person past forms such as pidió and durmieron change their stem, while other persons keep the infinitive stem.
Read and practisePersonal a before direct objects
Learn when Spanish uses personal a before a person as a direct object, with examples and contextual practice.
Read and practisePreterite y and accents with vowel stems
A message was read and objects fell: see how vowel stems change in the Spanish preterite and where accents belong.
Read and practiseFeminine nouns with el: el agua
Understand why el appears before feminine nouns with stressed initial a, and keep adjectives and plural forms feminine.
Read and practiseRegular Spanish past participles
Regular endings turn Spanish infinitives into participles for compound tenses, as in a completed action expressed with haber.
Read and practiseAccented í in Spanish participles
A written accent separates the vowels in participles such as leído, oído and traído; compare them with construido.
Read and practiseIndirect object pronouns: me, te, le and les
Use Spanish indirect object pronouns to identify who receives something, with singular and plural examples.
Read and practiseNamed recipients and indirect object pronouns
A named recipient can appear alongside an indirect object pronoun in Spanish; see how singular and plural recipients affect the choice.
Read and practisePor qué and porque: why and because
Distinguish the Spanish question form por qué from the reason connector porque, including indirect questions.
Read and practiseGustar with infinitives
Talking about activities you enjoy calls for gusta before an infinitive, even when you name more than one activity.
Read and practisePor and para: cause and purpose
Distinguish a reason expressed with por from a purpose expressed with para in everyday Spanish sentences.
Read and practisePronouns after Spanish prepositions
After a preposition, Spanish uses stressed pronouns; discover the special forms for me and you and the combined forms with con.
Read and practisePrimer and tercer before masculine nouns
Learn when primero and tercero shorten to primer and tercer before masculine singular nouns in Spanish.
Read and practiseReciprocal actions with plural pronouns
People greet, help and write to one another: Spanish plural pronouns can express actions shared between people.
Read and practiseRelative que for people and things
Link a Spanish noun to a describing clause with relative que, referring to a person or a thing without an accent.
Read and practiseReflexive and nonreflexive actions
Compare washing yourself with washing someone or something else, and see how Spanish pronouns change the meaning.
Read and practiseSpanish present perfect with haber
Build the Spanish present perfect with present-tense haber and a past participle, and notice regional variation in recent events.
Read and practiseNadie, nada and nunca with no
Use Spanish negative words before or after a verb, and learn when no is needed in ordinary negative sentences.
Read and practiseIrregular affirmative informal commands
Give a friend clear instructions with eight common irregular Spanish command forms and distinguish affirmative from negative commands.
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