Spanish grammar rules and tips

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¿A menos or al menos ?
A mí me gusta el fútbol (I like soccer): a + prepositional pronoun
Adjective agreement
Adjective agreement with more than one noun
Adjective gender
Alphabet: the letters b, v, p, d, t
Alphabet: the letters c, k, q, s, z
Alphabet: the letters f, l, m, r
Alphabet: the letters g, h, j
Alphabet: the letters n and ñ
Alphabet: the letters w, x, y
Alphabet: the vowels
And vos, what do you know about it? The pronoun vos
Andar and poder in the pretérito indefinido (simple past tense)
Asking for and telling the time
Asking questions: sentence structure
Augmentatives and diminutives
Aunque and pese a que followed by the indicative or subjunctive
Bajo, debajo or abajo?
Brevemente: Adverbs ending in -mente
Cambiar, cambiar de or cambiarse de?
Cigüeña (stork), pingüino (penguin) …The sounds güe and güi
Colour agreement
Comparative structures with verbs
Conditional: hacer (to make, to do) and decir (to say)
Conditional tense: haber (to have), poder (to be able to), saber (to know), caber (to fit) and querer (to want).
Conditional tense: poner, salir, tener, valer and venir
Conjugation of impersonal haber
Conjunctions o / u (or)
Conjunctions y /e (and)
Conozcan (know), agradezcan (thank), conduzcan (drive) … some irregular verbs in the imperative
Contraction of the definite article el
Cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, or cuántas?
Definite articles
Demonstrative adjectives: este, ese, aquel
Demonstrative adverbs: aquí, ahí, allí (here, there, over there)
Demonstrative pronouns: este, esta, esto
¿Después or después de?
Direct object pronouns
El gerundio and the -ING form
El hombre, uno, cualquiera… Making generalizations
El presente de subjuntivo de los verbos jugar, colgar y rogar.
Esperar with or without preposition
Estar (to be) and andar (to walk) in the imperfect subjuntive
Estar (to be), tener (to have) and poner (to put) in the simple past
Expressing absence with ningún and ni siquiera
Expressing an opinion: indicative or subjunctive?
Expressing obligation
Expressing time spans: hace, desde and desde hace
Forming irregular gerunds: morir, dormir, poder
Forming the gerundio: decir (to say), reir (to laugh), seguir (to continue)
Forming the gerundio: ir (to go); leer (to read); oír (to hear); caer (to fall); and construir (to build)
Gender: feminine or masculine
¿Gran or grande? Adjectives that change before a noun
Halla, haya or allá?
Hay in the present tense
Hay or tiene?
How lovely! The structure of exclamations
How to express prohibition
“I like you!”: when people like each other
I'm sorry! Expressing regret
Imperative form of the verb irse
Imperative with direct and indirect object pronouns
Imperfect subjunctive: traer (to bring)
Imperfect subjunctive: verbs ending in -tener
Indefinite articles
Indirect object pronouns
Introducir (to introduce), producir (to produce) … The simple past of verbs ending in -ucir
Ir (to go) and ser (to be) in the imperfect subjunctive
Irregular imperative: verbs ending in -gar
Irregular superlatives: adjectives that turn into new words
Irregular superlatives: stem-changing adjectives
Irregular verbs in the imperative
Irregular verbs in the imperative: contar (to count), volver (to return), dormir (to sleep), etc.
Irregular verbs in the imperfect tense
Irregular verbs in the present subjunctive: poder (to be able to), volver (to return), dormir (to sleep), etc.
Irregular verbs in the present tense: e ie
Irregular verbs in the present tense: poder (to be able to), volver (to return), dormir (to sleep), etc.
La gente, el grupo, la familia: plural or singular?
¿Le or lo? Direct object pronouns vs indirect object pronouns
Llegar (to arrive), pagar (to pay)…The simple past tense of verbs ending in -gar
Llevar or llevar a?
Making comparisons
Muy or mucho?
Negation with ni
Negative sentences
Neutral demonstrative pronouns: esto, eso, aquello
Ningún, algún, ninguno and alguno
¡No hables! (Don't speak!) – Formulating prohibitions
Numbers 1 to 10
Numbers 11 to 20
Numbers between 1000 and 1000000
Numbers from 31 to 99.
Obligation in the conditional
Ordinal numbers from 1 to 10
Ordinal numbers from 100 to 1000
Ordinal numbers from 11 to 20
Parecerse vs parecer: to look like and to seem
Past participles: hacer, decir, satisfacer
Pero, sino or sino que?
Personal pronouns
Placement of adjectives
Placement of reflexive pronouns
¡Ponte guapo! (Make yourself smart/handsome!). Irregular imperative of ponerse (to put on/to make oneself/to become)
Por qué, porque, porqué, or por que?
Possessive adjectives
Possessives
Present continuous: estamos hablando (we are talking)
Present subjunctive: ser and ver
Present subjunctive: tener, poner, and venir
Pronouncing n and ñ
Pronouns with prepositions
Pronunciation of h and ch
Pronunciation of ll and y
Qué or cuál?
Que or de que
Qué or que?
¿Qué te parece esto? (What do you think of/about this?)Expressing opinions with the verb parecer
Question words
Reflexive verbs and pronouns
Regular verbs in the imperfect subjunctive
Regular verbs in the imperfect tense
Regular verbs in the present subjunctive tense
Relative adverbs: donde, cuando, cuanto, como
Relative pronouns
Reporting another person's words
Reporting another person's words in the imperative
Reporting another person's words in the past tense
¿Se lo explicas? (Can you explain it to him?) Sentences with two object pronouns.
Se: subjectless sentences
Sentence structures for expressing simultaneous actions
Sentences that use si (if)
Sentences without a subject
Ser and estar: cases when we can use either verb for “to be”.
¿Ser or estar? Some adjectives that change their meaning
Sí as reflexive personal pronoun: solo piensa en sí mismo (he only thinks of himself).
Simple future: irregular verbs
Simple past or present perfect tense?
Simple present and simple past of caber
Simple present: decir (to say) and seguir (to follow)
Simple present of verbs ending in -aer
Simple present or present subjunctive?
Simple present: regular verbs ending in -ar.
Singular or plural after adverbs of quantity
Some invariable adjectives
Some -ir verbs that are irregular in the simple past
Some -ir verbs with an irregular gerundio (“-ing” form equivalent)
Some irregular verbs in the imperative
Some irregular verbs in the present subjunctive: pensar (to think), querer (to want)
Some irregular verbs in the present subjunctive tense
Some irregular verbs in the simple past
Some irregular verbs in the simple past tense
Some irregular verbs in the simple present
Some verbs ending in -ir  that are irregular in simple present (presente de indicativo)
Some verbs that are irregular in the present subjunctive
Superlatives
Talking about the weather
Tan or tanto?
The conditional of decir
The conditional tense
The difference between sentir and sentirse
The different forms of “you”: tú, usted, vosotros/as and ustedes
The future tense of the verbs haber, poder, querer, saber and caber
The future tense: regular verbs
The hundreds from 100 to 1000
The imperative and present subjunctive of vos
The imperative form of the verbs hacer, deshacer and satisfacer
The imperative form of the verbs seguir, conseguir and perseguir
The imperative form of verbs ending in -ger
The imperative mood
The imperative of pronominal verbs
The imperative of the verbs poner (to put) and tener (to have)
The imperative of the verbs reír and freír
The imperative of the verbs ser and ir
The imperative of the verbs venir and salir
The imperative of verbs ending in -zar
The imperfect past tense vs. the simple past tense 
The imperfect subjunctive: decir (to say, to tell), predecir (to predict) and maldecir (to curse)
The imperfect subjunctive: hacer (to do, to make) and venir (to come)
The main uses of uno and un
The narration of past events
The near future tense
The neutral pronoun lo
The numbers from 100 to 199
The numbers from 200 to 999
The numbers from 21 to 30
The ordinals from 21 to 99
The passive voice
The past participle of regular verbs
The past participle: ver (to see), escribir (to write), romper (to break)
The past participles of morir, abrir and cubrir
The past participles of the verbs volver (to return, to go/get back), poner (to put) and resolver (to solve)
The past perfect
The past perfect subjunctive
The perfect infinitive: haber comido
The plural
The plural of compound nouns
The position of direct and indirect object pronouns
The preposition a before a direct object
The preposition en
The present and imperfect subjunctive of caber
The present perfect subjunctive
The present perfect tense
The present subjunctive: hacer, satisfacer and their derivatives
The present subjunctive of the verbs decir (to say, to tell) and seguir (to follow/to continue)
The present subjunctive of verbs ending in -gar.
The present subjunctive: valer and salir
The present tense of regular verbs ending in -er and -ir
The present tense of verbs ending in -ger or -gir
The pretérito indefinido of regular verbs ending in -er and -ir
The pretérito indefinido (simple past tense) of regular verbs ending in -ar
The pronunciation of g
The pronunciation of R and RR
The pronunciation of the letter J
The simple future tense of the verbs tener, poner, salir, venir, and valer
The simple past: querer (to love/want) and hacer (to do/make)
The simple past: saber (to know, to find out) and caber (to fit)
The simple past tense of decir and venir
The simple past tense of the verb dar
The simple present: parecer, crecer, agradecer, ofrecer
The structure of negative sentences
The “tens” from 10 to 100
The thousands: from 1000 to 10000
The use of mientras
The use of the subjunctive after cuando
The uses of para
The uses of por
The uses of the verb tener
The various uses of the verb dejar: deja de comer, deja que te hable, deja la ventana abierta.
The verb estar in the present tense
The verb haber in the present tense
The verb ser in the simple present
The verbs colgar, rogar and jugar in the imperative
The verbs comenzar (to begin, to commence), empezar (to begin, to start) and tropezar (to stumble, to trip) in the imperative
The verbs dar and ir in the present tense
The verbs darse and irse in the simple present
The verbs forzar and almorzar in the present subjunctive
The verbs ir and ser in the simple past tense
The verbs oler, soler and moler in the simple present
The verbs poner, hacer, valer, and salir in the simple present tense
The verbs poner, poder and querer in the imperfect subjunctive
The verbs regir (to govern), elegir (to choose) and corregir (to correct) in the simple present
The verbs tener and venir in the present tense
The verbs traer, caer and oír in the subjunctive
The verbs ver (to see), saber (to know) and caber (to fit into) in the simple present
Todo, toda, todos, todas 
Uncountable nouns: with or without an article?
Uses of cuyo
Uses of the imperfect subjunctive
Using personal pronouns
Using the present subjunctive
Using the verb gustar
Verbs that work like gustar (to like)
Verbs with the -zco ending in the present tense
Vosotros or ustedes? Differences in usage between Spain and Latin America
When to use por and para
When to use ser and when estar for “to be”
When to use ser, estar (both “to be”) and tener (to have)
Word stress
Ya or todavía?
¿Yo or mí? ¿Tú or ti?

Further reading

  • German grammar rules and tips
  • English grammar rules and tips
  • French grammar rules and tips
  • Italian grammar rules and tips

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