Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Note: Tener...queis also used to state that you have something ‘to do’ without the sense of obligation: Tengo mucho que leer‘I h ...

Whereas the imperfect of querermerely states ‘wanted to’, the positive preterite generally suggests ‘tried to’: Siempre queríamo ...

Pudimos atravesar el río We were able to swim across nadando. the river. No pudimos abrir la puerta. We could not open the door. ...

Pudiste haberte desviado del sendero. You could have strayed from the path. The phrase puede ser que‘it is possible that’ is onl ...

Infinitive forms in Spanish consist of a single, invariable word ending in -ar, -eror -ir. In principle they correspond to Engli ...

Necesitamos comprar We need to buy petrol. gasolina. ¿Lograste hacerlo? Did you manage to do it? Verbs with different subjects A ...

Which prepositions follow which verbs has to be learned on a case-by-case basis. It is possible, however, to set out some genera ...

In other contexts an infinitive introduced by derelates to the cause or source of the action indicated by the finite verb: Me al ...

Quedamos en reunirnos a We agreed on meeting at two las dos. o’clock. Persisten en llamarnos. They persist in calling us. But no ...

Preposition independent of a preceding item Some prepositions are used independently, in that they are not specifically associat ...

Finally, de+ infinitive can have the effect of a conditional clause introduced by si: De saberlo no habría pagado.If I had known ...

En aquella universidad At that university teaching was a enseñar era un suplicio. terrible ordeal. No me conviene vivir tan Livi ...

The infinitive as a verbal noun The Spanish infinitive can assume the role of verbal noun, which in English is fulfilled by the ...

Spanish gerunds are invariable and always end in -ndo(for full details of forms, see 10.8). Broadly speaking the Spanish gerund ...

Gerund and main verb with different subjects In the examples above, the subject of the gerund is also the subject of the main ve ...

This use of the gerund is only available in the case of action verbs. With other verbs, a relative clause must be used: un libro ...

Viene quejándose de su mala He’s been complaining about his salud. ill health. Vienen diciendo eso desde They’ve been saying tha ...

After prepositions Except in one or two archaic constructions, the infinitivemust be used. See 17.2. As a verbal noun It is the ...

Commands in Spanish can be expressed by the imperative forms of the verb and by the present subjunctive. In English, commands ge ...

Verb Túform Vosotrosform avanzar avanza avanzad[SP] advance pensar piensa pensad[SP] think enviar envía enviad[SP] send continua ...