STUDY GUIDE

Subject Pronouns

Guide Overview:
Who are you talking to?
• How subject We’re all familiar with subject pronouns even if
pronouns cross over we don’t necessarily know what they are. When
from English we say I, you, we, or they in English we are using
subject pronouns. Subject pronouns in Spanish
• Formal and informal
situations are fairly similar to how we use subject pronouns
in English. Take a look at the table below to see
• Masculine and how each word is used.
feminine situations
• Test your knowledge

What’s the difference?

You might notice that tú and
usted are both ways to say “you”.
But why?:

Tú:
Used for informal situations such
as when speaking to a good
friend, or possibly someone
younger than you.

Usted/Ustedes:
Used in formal situations
such as when addressing
someone older than you, a
boss, or a coworker or peer
that you want to address
respectfully. Ustedes is
simply the plural alternative
to usted and should be
used when formally
addressing a group.
Check your understanding:
How would you address:
1) Your best friend directly?
2) Your best friend when speaking to others?
3) You and your best friend together?
4) An older person at the store?
5) All students at a public school while speaking
to your friend?
-Answers below

How would you refer to each of the characters above in Spanish?

Do any have multiple answers?

Masculine/Feminine differences
Él and Ella is the proper way to refer to another person j3rd person) just like we
would say he or she, or even it. Él is used when referring to males and ella for
females. Similarly, Ellos is for a group with one or more males in the group. Ellas
is used only when the group is purely female.

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further, including
the use of vosotros (Spain). Click here!

Answers: 1) Tú 2) Él /ella 3) Nosotros 4) Usted 5) Ellos

 STUDY GUIDE
SER (part I)

Guide Overview:
Are 2 verbs necessary?
•The verb to be (SER) We’re all familiar with the verb to be, is basic to
every language and person who is a human
• Formal and informal
being. In Spanish seems to have two different
situations
verbs for the English to be (ser and estar) Today
• Masculine and we’ll take a look at the verb SER
feminine situations
• Test your knowledge

What’s the difference?

You might notice that ser and estar are the
equivalents for the to be But why?:

Ser:
Used to describe permanent states such as your
nationality, gender, profession, to indicate the
relationship between relatives, ideology, among
others.

How and When to use SER?

To identify people or things To tell the time To identify someone:

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Complete the Questions and Answers with the correct form of ser

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further, including
the use of estar. Click here!

7) son/somos 8)es/es 9)son/somos 10)son/son

Answers: 1) eres/soy 2) son/son 3) son/somos 4) eres/soy 5)es/son 6) es/es

 STUDY GUIDE
ESTAR (part I)

Guide Overview:
Are 2 verbs necessary?
•The verb to be We’re all familiar with the verb to be, is basic
(ESTAR) to every language and person who is a human
• Formal and informal being. In Spanish seems to have two different
situations verbs for the English to be (ser and estar)
Today we’ll take a look at the verb ESTAR
• Masculine and
feminine situations
• Test your knowledge

What’s the difference?

You might notice that ser and estar are the
equivalents for the to be But why?:

Estar:
Used to describe temporary states, physical or
emotional conditions, locations, among others.

How and When to use ESTAR?

To describe emotions To tell our location To describe physical status

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Complete the Questions and Answers with the correct form of ser

¿Cómo están? Write sentences using the verb estar to tell how the members of your
family ore today. Make all agreements as necessary.

MODELO mi primo/contento: Mi primo está contento.

1. yo/bien
2. mi mamá/entusiasmado
3. tú/regular
4. mi cuñada/molesto
5. la tía/enfermo
6. las hijas/resfriado
7. nosotros/nervioso

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further, including
the use of ser. Click here!

7)

Answers: 1) estoy 2) está 3) estás 4) está 5) está 6) están 7) estamos.

 STUDY GUIDE
Ser—Estar (to be)

Guide Overview:
To be or not to be?
• How subject Welcome to our grammar
lesson on how to choose
pronouns cross over
between the
from English verbs ser and estar in
• Formal and informal Spanish. “ser” &
situations “estar” mean “to be”.
But we use them in different
• Masculine and types of sentences.
feminine situations
• Test your knowledge

What’s the difference?

You might notice that ser and estar are
both ways to say “to be”. But why?

Ser: means “to be”, and in general we use

it for permanent things (things that don’t
change). That idea is a good start, but it
doesn’t always work. The student
should learn the most frequent uses of
“ser”, one by one. There is a trick to
remember the uses of “ser” –
Their initials make the word DOCTOR:

Estar: also means “to be”, but in general we

use it for temporary things (things that change),
and also to express location. That idea is a
good start, but it doesn’t always work. The
student should learn the most frequent uses of
“estar”, one by one. The trick for the uses
of “estar” – Their initials make the word PLACE:

Pay attention to the image to understand the categories DOCTOR and PLACE stand for.

Examples.

Complete the text with the correct form of the verbs:

Emily y Esteban ____ (estar) casados hace 4 meses. La hermana de Esteban ____ (ser)
enfermera. Los hermanos de Esmeralda ____ (ser) abogados, y su padre, él ____ (estar)
en Wichita, Kansas, la madre de Esteban _____ cubana y ____ (estar) en La Habana.

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further, including
the use of vosotros. Click here!

Answers: 1) están 2) es 3) son 4) está 5)es/está

 STUDY GUIDE
Indefinite Articles: Un, Una, Unos, Unas.
Un, Una, Unos, Unas! How to Use the
Guide Overview: Spanish Indefinite Articles Correctly in
• How indefinite
Any Context
articles cross over There are two main types of Spanish articles: definite
from English and indefinite. In this post, we are only focusing on the
indefinite articles. Let’s have a look.
• Masculine and
feminine situations
• Test your knowledge

First you will have a quick

overview of the different
Spanish indefinite
articles with their meanings and some
sample sentences for each of them. Then
you will find a section
regarding grammatical
gender and number and how they work
alongside indefinite articles.
Unos (Some/A few)
Get to Know the Spanish Unos is the masculine, plural indefinite
Indefinite Articles article. So, as you can probably guess by
now, it accompanies masculine, plural
nouns.
Un (A/An)
Hay unos niños en ese parque.
Un is the masculine, singular indefinite
article. That means we use it alongside
masculine, singular nouns.
(There are some kids in that park.)

Soy un hombre rico. (I am a rich man.) Unas (Some/A few)

Lastly, we have the article unas to refer to

Una (A/An)
nouns that are feminine and plural. Here you
The exact same thing happens with the have some examples with the Spanish
article una. It is the feminine, indefinite article unas:
singular indefinite article.
He encontrado unas monedas en el
Lys es una amiga. (Lys is a friend.) suelo.

Check your understanding:

1) Laura está con _______ amigas.
Laura is with some friends. (female friends)

2) Ella tiene _____ mensaje para ti.

She has a message for you.

3) Yo tengo _______ caramelos muy ricos.

I have some delicious candies.

4) _____ naranjada, por favor.

An orange juice, please.

5) En la biblioteca hay _______ libros muy interesantes.

In the library there are some very interesting books. Answers below

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further, including
the use of unos, unas los, las Click here!

Answers: 1) unas 2) un 3) unos 4) una 5) unos

 STUDY GUIDE
Definite Articles: El, La, Los, Las

Guide Overview:
How many THEs?
•How definite articles Welcome to our grammar lesson about
Spanish definite articles (“artículos
cross over from
determinados”). Definite articles in Spanish
English are: el – la – los – las. These articles precede
•Singular and Plural nouns in many circumstances. They are
Situations equivalent to the English word “the” We have 4
different forms because the article needs
•Masculine and to match the noun’s gender and number. This
Feminine situations lesson will teach you everything about Spanish
definite articles, with many examples of their use.
• Test your knowledge

What’s the difference? We will now

review the main uses of definite articles,
with example sentences. Before specific
things (equivalent to the English “the”)

el + masculine singular noun: los + masculine plural noun:

el coche, el profesor, el café los amigos, los coches,

the car, the teacher, the coffee the friends, the cars

las + feminine plural noun:

la + feminine singular noun:
las señoras, las manzanas
the ladies, the apples
la casa, la música, la comida,
the house, the music, the food

Check your understanding:

Add the proper article to the paragraph
1) __ Castillo del Rey Momo, esta en ___ calle principal de Madrid. ___
ciudadanos de Madrid visitan ___ Castillo todos ___ dias y a ___ gente le
gusta ir siempre.

2) En ___ Estados Unidos, ___ personas van mucho a ver ___ juego de
Beisbol, ___ equipos mas famosos son ___ Yankees y ____ Red Sox y por
supuesto ____ Rangers de Texas.

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further, including
the use of un, una, unos, unas Click here!

Answers: 1) El, la, los, el, los, la. 2) los, las, el, los, los, los, los
 STUDY GUIDE
Definite Articles: El, La, Los, Las PART II

Guide Overview:
•How definite articles
cross over from
English
•Singular and Plural
Situations
•Masculine and
Feminine situations
• Test your knowledge

“el” and “los” for the days of the week Hoy es lunes.
Today is Monday.
el for singular, los for plural:
Mañana es martes.
El martes tengo clase de español. Tomorrow is Tuesday.
On Tuesday I have Spanish class.
la only before “una”, las before the other
Nosotros bailamos salsa los sábados. hours:
We dance salsa on Saturdays.
Es la una y media.
El fin de semana tengo una cita. It is half past one.
On the weekend I have a date.
Son las cuatro y veinte.
It’s twenty past four.
Yo no trabajo los fines de semana.
I don’t work on weekends.
La fiesta empieza a la una.
The party starts at one.
Exception! In sentences that simply
express what day is today (or tomorrow,
etc), we don’t use the article: ¿Tienes tiempo a las siete?

Check your understanding:

Add the proper article to the paragraph
1) Mi clase de español comienza a ___ ocho. Luego de ___ clase voy a __
cocina y me prepare un sandwich de pavo.
2) ___ tres de la tarde (3:00pm) ___ lunes no trabajo ___ domingos si.
3) Claire trabaja ___ fines de semana porque estudia ___ dias de semana.
4) Debemos entregar estos libros ___ miercoles.
5) ___ jueves salimos a ____ siete.)

Need more information? Here is a great video that breaks it down a little further.

Click here!

Answers: 1) las, la, la. 2) las, el, los 3) los, los 4) el 5) el, las