the supermarket

los alimentos congelados

frozen foods

los productos lácteos

dairy products

el estante

rack

la escala

scale

la canasta de compras

shopping basket

el pasillo

aisle

los productos enlatados

canned goods

las bebidas

beverages

los artículos de hogar

household goods

the spanish colors

amarillo

yellow

anaranjado

orange

azul

blue

blanco

white

gris

gray

marrón

brown

morado

purple

negro

black

Spanish Verbs

For most beginning students of Spanish, one of the hardest things is understanding verbs. That’s because verbs in Spanish act differently from verbs in English. There are many Spanish verbs (like ser and estar) that convey distinctions in meanings that don’t exist in English! You’ll discover tenses (like the subjunctive) that you never knew existed. Strangest of all, you’ll discover that verbs in Spanish not only contain information about when the action took place (the tense), but also who performed the action (the subject).

Spanish verbs are tough, but this section will help you master them. Before you dive in, you need to know a little vocabulary first.

• verb: an action word
• subject: who performs the action (e.g., I, he, she, you, we)
• tense: past, present, future, etc.
• infinitive: the unconjugated form of a verb, such as “ to write,” “ to be,” “ to want,” “ to run.”
• conjugation: the process of changing the form of a verb to reflect the desired tense and subject
• regular verbs: verbs that follow the “rules” of conjugation
• irregular verbs: verbs that break the “rules” of conjugation
  

Here’s a taste of what you will learn about Spanish verbs. In English, you always have to specify the subject before the verb. For example…

• I write. (present tense)
• You wrote. (past tense)
• We will write. (future tense)
  

In Spanish, all that information can be contained in a single word. For example, here are the same sentences as the ones above, except in Spanish.

• Escribo. (present tense)
• Escribiste. (preterite past tense)
• Escribiremos. (future tense)
  

In order to speak Spanish properly, you are going to have to learn how to form those verbs properly, through a process called conjugation.

Spanish tenses

are more diverse then in English, also a finite verb agrees in person and number with its subject (the doer of the action), even when the subject is understood without being expressed by a noun or pronoun. There are three persons which exist in all tenses in Spanish: First person is the speaker, second person is the one spoken to, and third person is the one spoken about.
First person singular: (Yo) soy marinero (I'm a sailor). First person plural: (Nosotros) somos marineros (We are sailors)
Second person familiar, singular: (Tú) eres abogado (you're a lawyer). Second person familiar, plural: (Vosotros) sois Americanas. (You girls are Americans.)
Second person polite, singular: Ud. es muy generoso (You are very generous), Second person polite, plural: Uds. son muy generosos. (You all are very generous.)
Third person singular: (Él) es abogado. (He is a lawyer). Third person plural: (Ellos) son abogados. (They are lawyers.)
Note: The usted/ ustedes (the polite "you") form of address is second person but uses third person verb forms.

Verbs of Feelings

Several verbs in Spanish that express feelings (pleasure, pain, etc.) have different word order than in English. These verbs have the same construction as gustar (#35): Indirect object + verb + subject. Me, te, le, nos, os, les are the indirect object pronouns. The verb is conjugated in third person singular or plural because it agrees with the subject, not the indirect object.

gustar	to like	dar asco	to hate
apetecer	to feel like	dar miedo	to scare
encantar	to adore	dar lástima	to trouble
dar ganas	to feel like	doler	to hurt

Te apetece salir. You feel like going out.
Le duelen los dientes. His teeth hurt.
Les da miedo la película. The film scares them.

You can also add a mí, a ti, a él, a ella, a usted, a nosotros/-as, a vosotros/-as, a ellos, a ellas, or a ustedes before the indirect object for emphasis.

A mí me gusta el fútbol. Me, I like soccer.

Aspects of Action

To express an action that is planned (going to happen): ir a + infinitive. Voy a acostarme. I'm going to go to bed.
To express an action that is just about to happen: estar a punto de + infinitive or estar para + infinitive. El avión está para aterrizar. The plane is about to land.
To express an action that repeats: volver a + infinitive. Vuelve a escribir su nombre. You write your name again.
To express an action that has just happened: acabar de + infinitive. Acabo de llegar. I just arrived.

Colloquial Expressions

la pandilla	group of friends	¡qué pasada!	that's awesome!
el colega / el socio	friend	¡qué rollo!	it's boring!
el profe	teacher	¡chulo! ¡chula!	great!
el cole	middle school	ser un lince	to be very clever
un(a) chaval(a)	guy/girl	llevarse un chasco	to be disappointed
un tío	guy	estar hasta la gorra	to be fed up
un ligue	flirt	ligar	to flirt
un empollón	hard-worker	estar hecho papilla	to be sad
un cabeza de chorlito	scatterbrain	estar hecho polvo	to be tired
un cabeza cuadrada	stubborn	estar mal del coco	to be crazy
un cara de mala leche	mean look/face	estar harto	to be fed up

Exclamations

Exclamatory phrases, which express what a or how, begin with qué, cuánto, and cómo. Qué can be followed by a noun or an adjective. Sometimes tan or más are also used with the adjective to emphasize a defect or a quality. ¡Qué mujer! What a woman! ¡Qué familia tan unida! What a united family!

Cuánto expresses quantity, and agrees in gender and number with the adjective that follows. It can also be followed by a verb, in which case there is no agreement. Furthermore, lo que can replace cuánto when a verb follows. ¡Cuánta comida! How much food! / There's a lot of food! ¡Cuánto comes! How you eat! / You eat a lot!

Cómo expresses the manner in which something is done. It can only be followed by a verb. ¡Cómo baila! How he dances! / He dances well!

Telephone

Hello	Diga	telephone book	la guía telefónica
Hello (reply)	Oiga	yellow pages	las páginas amarillas
This is...	Soy...	to transfer someone	poner con alguien
phone card	una tarjeta telefónica	to call	telefonear
phone booth	una cabina	to pick up	descolgar
call	una llamada	to hang up	colgar
ringtone	el timbre del teléfono	to leave a message	dejar un recado
dialtone	el tono de marcar	to be very talkative	hablar por los codos
wrong number	un número equivocado	to dial a number	marcar un número
busy signal	la señal de ocupado

Durations of Time

Ago : hace + a period of time
Se fue hace quince días. He left fifteen days ago.

Since / For : desde hace + a period of time (careful with verb tenses here: present tense in Spanish, present perfect or present perfect continuous in English)
No vienes a verme desde hace un mes. You haven't come to see me for a month.

In : dentro de + a period of time (time at which something will happen)
Te llamo dentro de media hora. I'll call you in a half hour.

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Other Perfect Tenses

Beside the present and past perfect tenses, there are also the preterite, future and conditional perfect tenses. All are conjugated with a form of haber and a past participle.

The preterite perfect is formed with the preterite of haber + past participle, and it has the same meaning as the past perfect. But this tense is normally only used after conjunctions of time, such as así que, luego que, tan pronto como (as soon as); cuando (when); después (de) que (after); and hasta que (until).

The future perfect is formed with the future of haber + past participle and is also used to express probability, referring to the present.

The conditional perfect is formed with the conditional of haber + past participle and is also used to express probability, referring to the past.

Cosmetics / Toiletries

shampoo	el champú	brush	el cepillo
soap	el jabón	comb	el peine
makeup	el maquillaje	toothpaste	la pasta de dientes
shaving cream	la crema de afeitar	toothbrush	el cepillo de dientes
lotion	la loción	towel	la toalla
nail polish	el esmalte para las uñas	electric razor	la maquinilla de afeitar

Travelling & Vacation

passport	el pasaporte	airport	el aeropuerto
customs	la aduana	parking lot	el aparcamiento
arrival	la llegada	bus stop	la parada
departure	la salida	traffic jam	los atascos
(round-trip) ticket	el pasaje (de ida y vuelta)	map	el mapa
luggage	el equipaje	countryside	el campo
single/double room	la habitación individual/doble	mountain	la montaña
train (bus) station	la estación de tren (de autobuses)	beach	la playa
subway	la estación de metro	paths	los caminos
to take a trip	hacer un viaje	vacation	las vacaciones
to go on vacation	ir de vacaciones	to drive	conducir
to pack	hacer las maletas	to visit	visitar
to travel	viajar	to walk	pasearse
to fly	volar	to get lost	perderse

Parts of a Car & Gas Station

car garage tank gasoline oil air grease tire spare tire wheel steering wheel brake speed slow danger stop go service station

el coche el garage el tanque la gasolina el aceite el aire la grasa la llanta llanta picada la rueda el volante el freno la velocidad despacio peligro alto siga, adelante la estación de servicio

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Office / School Supplies

pencil	el lápiz	dictionary	el diccionario
eraser	la goma	tape (audio)	la cinta
pen	la pluma	map	el mapa
ink	la tinta	newspaper	el periódico
paper	el papel	novel	la novela
letter	la carta	backpack	la mochila
notebook	el cuaderno	stapler	la grapadora
book	el libro	scissors	unas tijeras

Infinitives followed by Prepositions

acostumbrarse aprender atreverse ayudar comenzar convidar decidirse dedicarse empezar enseñar invitar ir negarse persuadir principiar rehusar resignarse resistirse resolverse venir volver	to become used to to learn to to dare to to help to begin to to invite to to decide to to devote oneself to to begin to to teach to to invite to go to to refuse to to persuade to to begin to to refuse to to resign oneself to to resist to resolve to to come to to return to		acabar acordarse alegrarse aprovecharse arrepentirse cansarse cesar dejar encargarse gozar jactarse olvidarse tratar	to have just to remember to be glad to to profit by to repent to tire of to cease to cease to take charge of to take pleasure in to boast of to forget to to try to
Verb + en + another infinitive			Verb + con + another infinitive
consentir consistir divertirse empeñarse esforzarse insistir ocuparse pensar persistir tardar	to consent to to consist to amuse oneself to insist on to endeavor to to insist on to busy oneself to think of to persist in to delay in		contar contentarse soñar	to count on to content oneself with to dream of

Conditional Tense

The conditional tense expresses an idea dependent on a condition that is either expressed or understood. It can also refer to the past when it expresses probability.

To form the present conditional, add these endings to the infinitive for all three types of verbs. Verbs that had irregular stems in the future tense, also use that stem for the conditional tense.

-ía -ías -ía

-íamos -íais -ían

Post Office and Bank

post office	el correo	bank	el banco
envelope	el sobre	(traveler's) check	el cheque (de viajero)
mailbox	el buzón	to cash (a check)	cobrar
mail carrier	el cartero	to save (money)	ahorrar
stamps	las estampillas	to deposit	depositar
package	el paquete	account	la cuenta

. Shopping

department store	el almacén	shop/store	la tienda
shopping mall	el centro comercial	(open-air) market	el mercado (al aire libre)
belt	el cinturón	(fixed) price	el precio (fijo)
glasses	las gafas	sale	la rebaja
gloves	los guantes	to bargain	regatear
sunglasses	los lentes de sol	to spend money	gastar

Uses of the Infinitive

The infinitive is translated as a gerund (the -ing form of the verb) after these words: el, al, a preposition, ver or oír.

El correr es buen ejercicio. Running is good exercise.

Partió sin hablar. He left without speaking.
Oigo cantar a Maria. I hear Maria singing.