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English-speakers learning Spanish often assume that Spanish functions more or less exactly like English, except with different words.  Therefore, many beginners will express the thought,

“I am my mother’s daughter”

as,

“Yo soy mi madre’s hija.”

NO!!

There is no apostrophe-s construction in Spanish.

There is no ’s construction in Spanish.

As we have seen and will continue to see, Spanish is a totally different system of expression.  While it has certain similarities and common roots with English, it is important to keep English grammar in your English brain.

So how would one express “I am my mother’s daughter” in Spanish?  Well, if you had to say it in English without using ’s, how would you do it?

“I am the daughter of my mother.”

It sounds awkward in English, but the original meaning of the sentence remains, and no erroneous or non-existent structures have been inserted into the sentence.  Can you translate that sentence word-for-word into Spanish?

“Yo soy la hija de mi madre.”

YES!!

“Hija de mi madre” is the ONLY correct way to express “My mother’s daughter” in Spanish.  Questions 1-5 at the end of this lesson will help you practice this point.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives exist to avoid repetition in speaking of the things that belong to people.  The Spanish and English systems are very similar with regard to possessive adjectives—in fact, unlike most adjectives in Spanish, possessive adjectives come before the noun, just as they do in English!

The possessive adjectives are:

Español English

mi my

tu (notice: no accent mark!) your (familiar)

nuestro our

su his, her, its, their,

your (formal and plural)

Notice that su has multiple applications, whereas the other three possessive adjectives have only one meaning each.  The meaning is usually apparent in the context of the sentence: if the whole paragraph is about someone’s brother, it’s assumed that su means his.  It isn’t always obvious, though, and in order to be more specific, these structures are also used instead of su:

de él                                         his (or its, masculine noun)

de ella                                       her (or its, feminine noun)

de ellos                                     their

de usted                                   your (formal)

de ustedes                                your (plural)

Observe:

¿Dónde está su libro?  (Whose book?)

¿Dónde está el libro de ella?  (Oh, her book.)

Except for coming before the noun, possessive adjectives follow the general rules for noun-adjective agreement:  mi, tu and su have singular and plural forms, and nuestro has singular and plural, masculine and feminine forms.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used both in Spanish and in English to replace the possessive adjective and noun—instead of, “This is her pencil” say, “This is hers.”  The possessive pronouns are:

Español English

el mío** mine

el tuyo                            yours (familiar)

el nuestro ours

el suyo his, hers, its, theirs,

yours (formal and plural)

** Just like Spanish nouns, Spanish pronouns can be singular or plural, masculine or feminine.  For example, mine may be translated as el mío, la mía, los míos, or las mías, depending on whether the noun to which it refers is masculine, feminine, singular or plural.  Observe:

Su novio es menor que ella; el mío es mayor que yo.

Esta computadora no es de la escuela, es mía.

(Definite articles are omitted after ser.)

Tus padres son jóvenes, los míos no.

Sus hermanas son más altas que las mías.

All four possessive pronouns function this way.

Practice

Translate these phrases to Spanish:

1)      David’s brother

2)      the man’s wife

3)      the children’s parents

4)      Susan’s son

5)      the dog’s tail

Fill in the blanks with the possessive adjective or pronoun indicated in parentheses:

6)      (My) ______________ hijos van a jugar fútbol esta noche.

7)      ¿De verás?  ¿Cuantos años tienen (your)______________ hijos?

8)      Tienen nueve y once, igual que (yours) _________________.

9)      Creo que (our) ____________________ niños tienen los mismos maestros.

10)  ¿Verdad?  ¿Cómo se llaman (their) ______________________ maestros?

Answers:

1)      el hermano de David                             6)  Mis

2)      la esposa del hombre                            7)  tus or sus (Ud. form not required)

3)      los padres de los niños                          8)  los tuyos or los suyos

4)      el hijo de Susan                                    9)  nuestros

5)      la cola del perro                                  10)  sus

General Notes

As the name suggests, adjectives of nationality tell what country a person, food, product, etc. comes from.  Like almost all Spanish adjectives, adjectives of nationality follow and complement the noun they modify.  Observe:

las muchachas americanas

the American girls

It would not make sense in English to say “The girls Americans,” because English is a different system–our adjectives come before our nouns, and the adjectives have only one form regardless of gender or whether the noun is masculine or feminine.  In the same way, it would not make sense in Spanish to say “Las americano muchachas.”

Here is a quick list to get you started on adjectives of nationality, followed by rules:

alemán                 German

americano           American

cubano                Cuban

español               Spanish (from Spain), Spaniard

francés                French

inglés                   English

irlandés                Irish

italiano                 Italian

japonés               Japanese

panameño           Panamanian (from Panama)

portugués            Portuguese

puertorriqueño    Puerto Rican

Notice that adjectives of nationality may also be used as nouns:

la cubana             the Cuban girl/woman

el italiano             the Italian boy/man

los panameños   the people of Panama

Notice, too, that Spanish adjectives of nationality are NOT capitalized.  Capitalization rules vary from language to language (in German, for example, all nouns are capitalized!)–and so students must be aware of their own “mother tongue interference,” the tendency to expect their second language to use all the same rules as their native language!

Adjectives of Nationality ending in -o

Many adjectives of nationality end in -o and have the same four forms as other adjectives ending in -o: masculine and feminine forms in the singular and plural.  Observe:

el autor mexicano los costumbres mexicanos

la cultura mexicana las familias mexicanas

Adjectives of Nationality ending in consonants

Other adjectives of nationality end in consonants.  Unlike other adjectives that end in consonants, adjectives of nationality have four forms, not two:

el autor español          los costumbres españoles

la cultura española las familias españolas

Adjectives of nationality that end in -s or -n are spelled with a written accent mark in the masculine singular:

el autor alemán           los costumbres alemanes

la cultura alemana las familias alemanas

Cultural Notes

Americans in particular have a tendency to lump all Spanish speakers as “Spanish people.”  This term is inaccurate (a person from Spain is a Spaniard), and it makes English speakers appear ignorant.  Students must be aware that at least 18 countries on three continents list Spanish (called Castillian or castellano in many countries) as a primary language, and must be able to recognize that there are differences between Dominicans and Venezuelans, between Argentinians and Costa Ricans.  In addition, many Spanish speakers find the term Hispanic offensive–while many prefer the term Latino (referring to Latin America), some are offended by any term other than a specific adjective of nationality.  Many Latin Americans refer to themselves collectively as la raza (literally the race) as an expression of pride and solidiarity; the term is not often used by outsiders!

Practice

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the adjective in parentheses.  For extra credit, translate the exercise.

–Teresita, tú eres __________________ , ¿verdad? (dominicano)

–No, soy una mezcla.  Mi papá es ____________________ y ____________________, y mami es pura ____________________. (puertorriqueño, cubano, hondureño)

–Mis abuelos también son ____________________. (hondureño)

–¿Sí?  ¿Los padres de tu papá?

–Sí, y mi mamá es una mezcla como tú.  Ella es __________________ y ____________________ por el lado de abuelito, y su mamá es ____________________.  Mis abuelos se conocieron de vacaciones en Colombia.  (alemán, argentino, venezolano)

–Qué familias tenemos–¡viva la raza!

Answers (by sentence):

dominicana

puertorriqueño, cubano, hondureña

hondureños

alemana, argentina, venezolana

–Teresita, you’re Dominican, right?

–No, I’m mixed.  My father is Puerto Rican and Cuban, and mom is completely Honduran.

–My grandparents are Honduran, too.

–Oh yeah?  Your dad’s parents?

–Yes, and my mom’s mixed like you.  She is German and Argentinian on Grandpop’s side, and her mother is Venezuelan.  My grandparents met on vacation in Columbia.

–What families we have–viva la raza! *

*I would leave this phrase in Spanish, because it really isn’t used in other languages.  It would translate as, “Long live the race!” but the meaning is closer to, “Hooray for Latinos!” or “Latino power!”

Adjectives are words that describe or modify a person, place, or thing.  Before delving into this lesson, remember one essential fact:  all Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. Knowing the gender of the noun will make adjectives much easier to understand.

Descriptive adjectives generally follow the noun—yes, the exact opposite of English.  Think of a red car as “a car red,” un carro rojo. Remember, Spanish is a different system!  Occasionally, descriptive adjectives will precede nouns for dramatic or poetic effect; for your purposes as a beginner, however, use the standard, un-stylized noun-before-adjective convention.  (Definite articles like a, an or the come before the noun, as in English.)

Descriptive adjectives may end in –o, -e, or a consonant.  Here are the general rules to help you understand and use them accurately:

Adjectives ending in –o

alto	tall	extranjero	foreign
ancho	wide	feo	ugly
barato	cheap	frío	cold
blanco	white	gordo	fat
bonito	pretty	hermoso	beautiful
bueno	good	largo	long
caro	expensive	limpio	clean
cómodo	comfortable	loco	crazy
corto	short	malo	bad
delgado	thin	moderno	modern
delicioso	delicious	sucio	dirty
duro	hard	viejo	old

This list is only a small sample of the most common adjectives ending in –o.  Although classified as “ending in –o,” these adjectives actually have four different endings each:  masculine, feminine, masculine/mixed plural, and feminine plural.  Let’s use limpio as an example.  Watch how the ending changes depending on whether we tell about one or more clean rooms (masculine), one or more clean houses (feminine):

el cuarto limpio              los cuartos limpios

la casa limpia                 las casas limpias

Except for the masculine singular, the endings for the article, noun and adjective all match:

el cuarto limpio los cuartos limpios

la casa limpia las casas limpias

Adjectives ending in –e

elegante	elegant	impresionante	impressive
enorme	enormous	inteligente	intelligent
excelente	excellent	interesante	interesting
fuerte	strong	pobre	poor
grande	big	triste	sad
importante	Important	verde	green

Again, this is only a sample of commonly used adjectives ending in –e.  These adjectives have only two forms:  singular and plural.  Gender has no impact on these adjectives.  Simply add an s to make these adjectives plural:

el elefante enorme           los libros interesantes

la mujer elegante            las universidades importantes

Adjectives ending in consonants

azul	Blue	gris	gray
difícil	Difficult	joven	young
fácil	easy	oficial	official
feliz	happy	popular	popular
final	final	tropical	tropical

As with adjectives ending in –e, most adjectives ending in consonants have only two forms:  singular and plural.  Gender has no impact on these adjectives.  To make these adjectives plural, add –es:

el curso dificil                 los examenes finales

la canción popular                   las tormentas tropicales

Practice

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the adjective in parentheses.  For extra credit, translate the paragraph.

Mi madre es una mujer ___________________ (hermoso). Tiene pelo _______________________ (corto) y siempre lleva ropa ________________________ (elegante). Mi mamá no es ________________________ (viejo), pero sí tiene unos pelos _______________________ (gris). Ella parece _________________________ (joven) y tiene ideas _________________________ (interesante). Mami dice que las mujeres _______________________ (moderno) son _________________________ (loco) por preocuparse tanto por la belleza; es major ser una persona _________________________ (feo) y _____________________________ (feliz) que una muñeca _________________________ (bonito) y  ___________________________ (triste).

Answers (by sentence):

hermosa

corto, elegante,

vieja, grises

joven, interesantes

modernas, locas; fea, feliz, bonita, triste

My mother is a beautiful woman.  She has short hair and always wears elegant clothes.  My mom isn’t old, but she does have a few gray hairs.  She looks young and has interesting ideas.  Mom says that modern women are crazy to worry so much about beauty; it’s better to be an ugly, happy person than a pretty, sad Barbie doll.**

** Muñeca literally means doll, but it is used in many countries to denote a beautiful but empty-headed woman.  Translations will vary.

Spanish grammar is wonderfully logical; even the occasional exception to the rules follows a general pattern.  Case in point:  stem-changing (also known as radical-changing) verbs.

In order to understand this concept, it is first necessary to define “stem.”  The stem of the verb is the root, the part that, unlike the ending, does not change when the verb is conjugated.  It is the part of the infinitive that stays when the –ar, -er or –ir ending is changed.  In the verb hablar (to speak/talk), habl- is the stem:

yo hablo (I speak)                      nostros hablamos (we speak)

tú hablas (you speak)

él habla (he speaks)                   ellos hablan (they speak)

Hablar is a regular –ar verb, and so the stem does not change.  Watch what happens to the stem-changing –ar verb jugar (to play (a game, a sport)):

yo juego (I play)                              nosotros jugamos (we play)

tú juegas (you play)

él juega (he plays)                            ellos juegan (they play)

Here’s another stem-changing –ar verb, cerrar (to close):

yo cierro (I close)                      nosotros cerramos (we close)

tú cierras (you close)

él cierra (he closes)                          ellos cierran (they close)

In the case of jugar, the u in the stem became ue in four of the conjugations (the yo, tú, él and ellos forms).  In the case of cerrar, the e became ie in the same four conjugations.  The third type of stem change is o to ue.  I’ll bet you can predict what happens to the stem-changing verb recordar (to remember/recall, or record):

yo recuerdo (I remember)               nosotros recordamos (we remember)

tú recuerdas (you remember)

él recuerda (he remembers)          ellos recuerdan (they remember)

The tricky part about stem-changing verbs is that there are two parts of the verb to conjugate: the ending and the middle, or stem.  Fortunately, most stem-changing verbs are quite predictable; the –ar, -er and –ir endings remain the same as in any regular verb, and only the stem changes in all but the nosotros and vosotros forms.  (In Latin America, vosotros is not widely used, but you’ll still run into it in written language, including the Bible.)  There are, as we have seen, three main stem changes.  Here are some verbs that follow the patterns we’ve seen so far:

e to ie stem change

cerrar                           to close

comenzar                      to start, begin

despertar                      to awaken

defender                       to defend

entender                       to understand

empezar                       to start, begin

mentir                           to lie

negar                            to deny

pensar                          to think

perder                          to lose

preferir                         to prefer

querer                          to want

**tener                         to have

**venir             to come

**These two have irregular yo forms:  yo tengo, yo vengo.  The other forms follow the rules for the regular e to ie stem change.

o to ue stem change

acordar                         to remember

almorzar                       to have lunch

contar                           to count, to tell

costar                           to cost

devolver                       to return, give back

dormir                          to sleep

encontrar                      to meet, find

envolver                       to wrap, envelop

morir                            to die

mostrar             to show

mover                           to move

poder                           to be able (to do something)

probar                          to prove, to try

recordar                       to remember

volver                           to return, come back

Let’s try it.  Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in parentheses—then, translate the sentences to English.  Answers at the bottom:

1)      Yo ____________________ hambre.  ¿Tú ___________________ comer?  (tener, querer)

2)      Sí.  ¿Qué restaurante _____________________ tú? (preferir)

3)      Mi hermano _________________________ en Pollo Loco muchas veces.  (almorzar)

4)      Ah, sí, yo __________________________ que le gusta allí.  Está bien.  (recordar)

5)      Está bueno, y la comida no ______________________ mucho.   Pero primero vamos a la biblioteca.  (costar)

6)      ¿ ___________________________ (tú) un libro?  (devolver)

7)      Sí, ahora misma.  Después nosotros __________________________ a comer.  (empezar)

8)      ¡Antes que yo _________________________ de hambre!  (morir)

Answers:

1)      tengo, quieres.  I’m hungry.  Do you want to eat?

2)      prefieres.  Yes.  What restaurant do you prefer?

3)      almuerza.  My brother often has lunch at Pollo Loco.

4)      recuerdo.  Oh yes, I remember that he likes it there.  Okay.

5)      cuesta.  It’s good, and the food doesn’t cost much.  But first let’s go to the library.

6)      Devuelves.  Are you returning a book?

7)      empezamos.  Yes, right now.  Then we can start to eat.

8)      muero.  Before I die of hunger!

In this Spanish lesson, we will learn the Pluperfect Tense.  Whether you are learning Spanish online, with CDs, or Learning Spanish software, you will find this lesson helpful in your journey to learn how to speak Spanish.

For the most part, the Pluperfect Tense is used to express a past fact or action that occurred before another past action took place.

In English, this can be expressed in the following manner:

I had thought of you when you called.

Although in English we tend to use the preterite to express two consecutive actions in the past, in Spanish this is rarely the case.  Instead, the Pluperfect Tense is used.

In Spanish, the above sentence is translated to:

Yo había pensado en usted cuando llamó.

Notice how the auxiliary verb haber (to have) is a prominent part of this tense, both in Spanish and in English. The main verb parallels the past participle.

Let us take a closer look at the conjugation for the Pluperfect Tense for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in Spanish.

Trabajar (to work)

yo había trabajado (I had worked) nosotros habíamos trabajado (we had worked)

tú habías trabajado (you had worked)               ellos habían trabajado (they had worked)

él había trabajado (he had worked)                   ellas habían trabajado (they had worked)

ella había trabajado (she had worked)               ustedes habían trabajado (you had worked)

usted había trabajado (you had worked)

Notice how the conjugation for this tense is easily formed by adding -ía to hab–the auxiliary verb haber’s stem.  The past participle for the main verb is then added to complete the conjugation.

This conjugation format is repeated for -er and -ir verbs as well.

Comer (to eat)

yo había comido (I had eaten) nosotros habíamos comido (we had eaten)

tú habías comido (you had eaten)                      ellos habían comido (they had eaten)

él había comido (he had eaten)                          ellas habían comido (they had eaten)

ella había comido (she had eaten)                      ustedes habían comido (you had eaten)

usted había comido (you had eaten)

Salir (to go out)

yo había salido (I had gone out) nosotros habíamos salido (we had gone out)

tú habías salido (you had gone out) ellos habían salido (they had gone out)

él había salido (he had gone out)                        ellas habían salido (they had gone out)

ella había salido (she had gone out)                   ustedes habían salido (you had gone out)

usted había salido (you had gone out)

What follows are a few examples of the PluPerfect Tense in Spanish:

Yo había salido cuando el teléfono sonó.

(I had gone out when the telephone rang.)

Juan y yo ya habíamos cenado cuando Sra. Patricia nos ofreció comida.

(We had already had dinner when Mrs. Patricia offered us food.)

Mauricio había hablado con su papá cuando llegó su mamá.

(Mauricio had spoken to his father when his mother arrived.)

Roberto y Julio habían bebido ron antes de llegar a la fiesta.

(Roberto and Julio had drank rum before they arrived at the party.)

Josefina no había dormido mucho antes de entrarse en el avión.

(Josefina had not slept a lot before she entered the airplane.)

Now let’s try a few exercises.  Translate the following into Spanish.  The answers follow the exercise.

1.         Clara had cleaned the house when her friends arrived.

2.         I had practiced my Spanish before Juan called me.

3.         We had eaten too much, when the dessert arrived.

4.         Paco and Enrique had finished the exam when the bell rang.

5.         You had changed your dollars to pesos before the bank closed.

6.         They had gone to the beach before it rained.

7.         Marisol and I had eaten breakfast before we went to school.

8.         We had learned how to dance salsa before we traveled to Puerto Rico.

9.         I had met Diego before he came here.

10.       Humberto had written to Carmen when he received her letter.

1.         Clara había limpiado la casa cuando llegaron sus amigas.

2.         Yo había practicado mi Español antes de Juan llamarme.

3.         Habíamos comido demasiado cuando llegó el postre.

4.         Paco y Enrique  habían terminado el examen cuando sonó la campana.

5.         Tú habías cambiado tus dólares a pesos antes de cerrar el banco.

6.         Ellos habían ido a la playa antes de llover.

7. Marisol y yo habíamos desayunado antes de ir a la escuela.

8. Habíamos aprendido como bailar la salsa antes de viajar a Puerto Rico.

9. Yo había conocido a Diego antes de venir él aquí.

10. Humberto le había escrito a Carmen cuando recibió su carta.