Spanish grammar, lesson by lesson
Every grammar point in the course, in the order you meet it.
- 45 common questions
- 90 lessons
- A1 to B2
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Start with a question
The forty-five questions people actually ask about Spanish, each one answered short and then linked to the lessons that build it. If you came here looking for one thing, it is probably in this list.
- Ser vs estar in Spanish8 exercises
- Por vs para in Spanish8 exercises
- Preterite vs imperfect in Spanish8 exercises
- The Spanish subjunctive, explained8 exercises
- The Spanish imperfect subjunctive8 exercises
- Spanish si clauses and the three conditionals8 exercises
- Spanish object pronouns: lo, la, le, se lo8 exercises
- Spanish reflexive verbs and the four uses of se8 exercises
- How gustar works in Spanish8 exercises
- The Spanish future tense8 exercises
- The Spanish conditional8 exercises
- Spanish commands: the imperative8 exercises
- The Spanish present perfect: he hablado8 exercises
- The Spanish pluperfect: había hablado8 exercises
- The Spanish passive, and impersonal se8 exercises
- Este, ese and aquel in Spanish8 exercises
- The Spanish present tense: -ar, -er and -ir verbs8 exercises
- Spanish gender, and el, la, un, una8 exercises
- Spanish relative pronouns: que, quien, donde, lo que8 exercises
- Spanish comparatives and superlatives8 exercises
- Muy vs mucho in Spanish8 exercises
- Hay, está or es: describing a place in Spanish8 exercises
- Reported speech in Spanish8 exercises
- Aunque with the indicative or the subjunctive8 exercises
- Lo que, lo bueno, lo peor8 exercises
- Spanish question words8 exercises
- Spanish negation and the double negative8 exercises
- Spanish possessives: mi, tu, su, nuestro8 exercises
- Spanish adverbs in -mente8 exercises
- Spanish diminutives and suffixes: -ito, -ón, -azo8 exercises
- Spanish numbers from 0 to 1,000,0008 exercises
- Telling the time in Spanish8 exercises
- Days, months and dates in Spanish8 exercises
- Spanish subject pronouns: tú, usted, vosotros8 exercises
- Spanish plurals and adjective agreement8 exercises
- The verb tener: forms and tener expressions8 exercises
- Ir a + infinitive: the near future8 exercises
- Spanish stem-changing verbs: e-ie, o-ue, e-i8 exercises
- Spanish irregular yo verbs: tengo, hago, salgo8 exercises
- Saber vs conocer in Spanish8 exercises
- Estar + gerund: the Spanish present progressive8 exercises
- Spanish prepositions a, en, de, con, por8 exercises
- The personal a in Spanish8 exercises
- También vs tampoco: me too and me neither8 exercises
- Spanish adjective position: before or after the noun8 exercises
A1
The beginning
The first twenty lessons. Nothing is assumed. By the end of them a student can read a page of adapted Cervantes and say what happened in it.
- 1SER + what you are. Gender and numberThe gentleman of La Mancha
- 2UN, UNA, and when you use nothing at allThe gentleman’s house
- 3The present tense of -AR verbsA day in the village
- 4The present tense of -ER and -IR verbsThe books of chivalry
- 5Este, ese, aquel: the three distancesThe great-grandfather's armour
- 6Mi, tu, su, nuestroThe cardboard helmet
- 7The adjective goes after. Muy, poco, mucho, bastanteThe name of the horse
- 8Numbers, ordinals and ageDon Quixote of La Mancha
- 9Reflexive verbs and seDulcinea of El Toboso
- 10Negation and yes-or-no questionsThe first ride out
- 11Question wordsOne July morning
- 12Joining sentences: y, ni, o, peroThe castle with four towers
- 13GUSTAR and the pronouns me / te / leThe night of the armour vigil
- 14The affirmative imperative: tú and ustedThe innkeeper's advice
- 15The preterite: regular verbsThe boy tied to the oak tree
- 16Irregular preterites: the seven you cannot avoidThe merchants from Toledo
- 17The imperfect, and when it is not the preteriteThe most beautiful woman in the world
- 18The present perfect and the participleThe priest and the barber open the library
- 19The relative QUE, and how to stretch a nounA wall where the door used to be
- 20Sentences that join up: porque, para, si, creo queSancho Panza and the windmills
A2
The past and the future
The two past tenses and the habit of choosing between them, then the future and the conditional.
- 21The regular preteriteThe morning of the windmills
- 22Irregular preterite: ser, ir, estar, tener, hacerThe Basque squire
- 23The imperfect: the world as it used to beThe speech on the Golden Age
- 24Preterite and imperfect: background and actionAntonio’s song
- 25Telling a story: preterite and imperfectThe student who died of love
- 26Ya, todavía, aún and acabar deMarcela defends herself
- 27The accidental se: se me cayóThe Yanguesans
- 28Possessives: the weak set and the strong setThe inn by night: Maritornes
- 29Demonstratives: este, ese, aquelThat enchanted castle
- 30The body and the verb dolerThe balm and the blanket
- 31Impersonal se and the reflexive passiveWhat you pay for at an inn
- 32The simple futureThe two armies of sheep
- 33The simple conditionalThe dead body and the Knight of the Sorrowful Face
- 34Relatives: que, donde, quienThe scholar who came from Baeza
- 35Adverbs in -menteThe night of the fulling hammers
- 36Por and paraMambrino’s helmet
- 37The present perfectThe king’s prisoners
- 38Two pronouns togetherGinés de Pasamonte and the stones
- 39Describing a place, and estar plus a participleThe suitcase in Sierra Morena
- 40Reporting what someone else saidCardenio’s story
- 41Writing a letter: tú and usted on paperThe letter to Dulcinea
- 42The whole of A2 on one page: lessons 21 to 41Level reviewSancho leaves and Don Quixote is left alone
B1
The subjunctive
The subjunctive, from the first lesson of the level, and everything that hangs off it.
- 43The present subjunctive: the form, and wantingThe princess Micomicona
- 44Asking, begging, ordering: the subjunctive of influenceThe favour the princess asks
- 45The subjunctive of emotion: me alegro de queA night at the inn
- 46Doubt and denial: no creo queThe giant’s head
- 47Negative orders, and addressing somebody as ustedThe reunion at the inn
- 48The connectors that hold a story togetherThe battle of the wineskins
- 49Discourse markers and the formal registerArms and letters
- 50The pluperfect: what had already happenedThe captive of Algiers
- 51Reported speech in the pastZoraida’s letters
- 52Si with the present: the condition that really can happenThe escape by sea
- 53Agreeing and disagreeingBasin or helmet
- 54Ponerse, volverse, hacerse, quedarseThe brawl at the inn
- 55The passive with ser and a participleThe cage on the ox cart
- 56Periphrases: seguir, dejar de, volver aThe knight back in bed
- 57Talking about books and what gets publishedTheir story is in print
- 58Es raro que and the subjunctiveThe mistakes in the book
- 59Kitchen Spanish and proverbsSancho and Teresa argue
- 60Cuando plus the subjunctiveThe third sally
- 61El que sea: relative clauses in the subjunctiveLooking for Dulcinea’s palace
- 62Lo bueno, lo peor, lo queThree peasant girls on the road
- 63Exclamations with quéThe cart of the players
- 64Comparatives and superlativesThe Knight of the Mirrors
- 65Ser and estar for describing a personThe knight in the green coat
- 66The whole of B1 in one sceneLevel reviewThe adventure of the lions
B2
Everything else
The imperfect subjunctive, unreal conditions, and then register, which is where the course stops adapting Cervantes and starts quoting him.
- 67Para que and a fin de que: the subjunctive of purposeCamacho’s wedding feast
- 68Aunque: one word, two moodsBasilio’s trick
- 69The imperfect subjunctive: how it is builtDown into Montesinos’ Cave
- 70Si tuviera seis reales, se los daríaDulcinea asks for six reales
- 71Reporting what somebody orderedMaster Pedro’s puppet show
- 72Set phrases and ways of exaggeratingPaying for the broken puppets
- 73Guessing: deber de, quizá and tal vezThe enchanted boat on the Ebro
- 74Speaking like a duke, and what that hidesArrival at the duke’s castle
- 75Two registers at one tableThe duchess and Sancho
- 76Old Spanish and how to parody itThe Countess Trifaldi’s beard
- 77Will have happened and would have happenedThe flight of Clavileño
- 78How an official document talksSancho governs Barataria
- 79Chaining reasons togetherThe judgements of Sancho
- 80If he had eaten, he would have been illThe governor goes hungry
- 81Hubiera outside sentences with siSancho gives up the governorship
- 82The subjunctive, all of it at onceRicote, the exiled neighbour
- 83Dar por and darse porDoña Rodríguez and the duel
- 84Hay, está and es for describing a placeArriving in Barcelona
- 85Saying what a word means and what a book is calledThe visit to the printing house
- 86Cause and consequence: how a man ends up where he isRoque Guinart the bandit
- 87Resignation: what you say when nothing can be doneDefeat on the beach
- 88Suffixes: how Spanish manufactures new wordsThe plan to become shepherds
- 89Que plus subjunctive, with nothing in frontThe will of Alonso Quijano
- 90The whole of B2, and the whole course behind itLevel reviewThe end of the story
No topic matches “”.
Try a single word like subjunctive, por or se, or the name of a chapter.