42. Progressive Tenses

The progressive tense indicates an action that is ongoing.  It is formed by using estar (in any tense) with a present participle.  Present participles are formed by dropping the ending of the verb, and adding the following endings to the stem:

Juan está hablando.  Josh is talking.
Estaban cantando.  They were singing.
Estuve escribiendo una carta.  I was writing a letter.

A few irregular present participles: poder - pudiendo, dormir - durmiendo, sentir - sintiendo, venir - viniendo, pedir - pidiendo, leer - leyendo, ir - yendo, reír - riendo.

43. Haber

44. Present Perfect

The present perfect tense is a compound tense using haber with a past participle.  (Haber is only used as a helping verb; it is never used to show possession.)  This tense can be translated as have or has done something.  Please note that the preterite tense is used more often than this tense when expressing the past.

Past participles are formed by dropping the infinitive ending, and adding these endings:

The following verbs have irregular past participles:  abrir (to open) - abierto (opened); escribir (to write) - escrito (written); morir (to die) - muerto (died); poner (to put) - puesto (put); ver (to see) - visto (seen); volver (to return) - vuelto (returned); decir (to say) - dicho (said); hacer (to do) - hecho (done).

No han vendido la casa.  They have not sold the house.
Dónde ha puesto Ud. la llave?  Where have you put the key?
Hemos gastado mucho dinero.  We have spent a lot of money.
Qué ha dicho Ud.?  What did you say?

45. Places

46. Transportation

47. To Want, to Be Able to, to Have to

48. Past Perfect

The past perfect tense corresponds to the English "had + past participle."  It indicates an event that happened prior to another event in the past.  It consists of the imperfect of haber and a past participle.  Sometimes the preterite of haber is used, but the imperfect is more common.

Carlos había vivido en México.  Carlos had lived in Mexico.
Habíamos aprendido el español.  We had learned Spanish.

49. House & Furniture

50. Comparative and Superlative

Comparisons are expressed as follows:

El gato es menos inteligente que el perro.  The cat is less intelligent than the dog.
Mi prima tiene más discos que nadie.  My cousin has more records than anyone.
No tengo tanto dinero como ustedes.  I don't have as much money as you.

To form comparatives, just add más or menos before the adjective or adverb.  To form the superlative, place the definite article before the comparative.  Note that de is used to express in after a superlative.

más alta  taller
la más alta  the tallest
Rosa es la niña más alta de la clase.  Rosa is the tallest girl in the class.

51. Irregular Forms

Some adjectives and adverbs have irregular comparative and superlative forms.  The most common are:

Note that the bueno and malo change according to gender and number while grande and pequeño change according to gender.  The adverbs (the last four) do not agree with the noun.

52. Clothing

53. To Wear

Note:   You don't use possessive pronouns when referring to parts of the body or clothing, but you do use the definite article.

54. Future Tense

The future of regular verbs is formed by adding the following endings to the infinitive:

Many verbs use irregular stems in the future tense, but they still use the regular endings from above:

55. Adjectives

Adjectives must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun they describe, and they are placed after the noun. In general, masculine adjectives end in -o and feminine adjectives end in -a: blanco and blanca (white). Adjectives that end in -ín, -án, -ón, -dor, -tor and -sor in the masculine will add an -a for the feminine. Adjectives that end in -ete for the masculine will end in -eta for the feminine. Adjectives of nationality add -a to the masculine to form the feminine: francés - francesa (French). Notice that when you add -a, the adjective is no longer written with an accent. To form the plural of adjectives, follow the same rules for forming the plural of nouns.

Most adjectives follow the noun they describe, but the following adjectives drop the final -o if placed before a masculine noun in the singular: bueno - good; malo - bad; alguno - some; ninguno - no, any; uno - one; primero - first; tercero - third

When grande means great, it precedes the noun and drops the -de before a singular noun of either gender.  Santo (saint) drops the -to before all masculine nouns, except those beginning with Do- or To-.

56. More Adjectives

When any form of the definite article is placed before an adjective, then the adjective becomes a noun.

pobre - poor; el pobre - the poor man

If the neuter article lo is placed before a singular masculine adjective, the latter becomes an abstract noun.

bueno - good; lo bueno - the good (everything that is good)

57. Sports

58. Nature

59. To Say and to Go Out

60. Para vs. Por and Pero vs. Sino

Para is used to express: use or destination (for), purpose (in order to); point of future time (for, by) and to be about to (estar para + infinitive.)

La carta es para Concha.  The letter is for Concha.
Estudia para aprender.  He studies in order to learn.
Lo tendré para el martes.  I will have it by Tuesday.
Juan está para salir.  John is about to leave.

Por is used to express:  a place through or along which; expressions of time (in, during, at); exchange, price (for); unit of measure (by, per); way or means (by); because of, on account of, for; to go for, to send for; on behalf of, for the sake of; motive, reason.  It is also used after a passive verb to indicate the agent (by) and estar por + infinitive indicates what remains to be done or to be in favor of.

por el pueblo  through the town
por la mañana  in the morning
Pagó un peso por el libro.  He paid a dollar for the book.
Se vende por libras.  It's sold by the pound.
Voy por tren.  I'm going by train.
Voy por Alicia.  I'm going for Alice.
Voté por Juanita.  I voted for Juanita.
Fue escrito por Cervantes.  It was written by Cervantes.
La carta está por escribir.  The letter is yet to be written.
Estoy por escribirla.  I am in favor of writing it.

Pero (but) usually follows an affirmative expression, but may follow a negative statement if the verb of the first clause is repeated, or if another verb follows.

Bebe leche pero no bebe café.  He drinks milk, but he does not drink coffee.

Sino (but) is only used in negative sentences of contrasting statements when the verb of the first clause is understood but not repeated.

No bebe café sino leche.  He does not drink coffee, but milk.