Experience Semana Santa in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to experience Semana Santa in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• talk about Holy Week

• use vocabulary related to Easter celebrations in the Spanish-speaking world

• use the subjunctive to talk about conditional outcomes

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
anual	annual
espiritual	spiritual

examples
Dado que es anual, no te la pierdas. Since it's annual, don't miss it.
Sí, dado que son eventos muy espirituales. Yes, since they're very spiritual events.

Conjunctive Phrase

Spanish	English
dado que	since

examples
Dado que es tradición, todos guardan silencio. Since it's tradition, everyone remains silent.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el anda	platform
el cofrade	member of a brotherhood
la cofradía	brotherhood
la devoción	devotion
la palma	palm leaf, palm
el pañuelo	tissue
el pepián	pepian
la procesión	procession
la reflexión	reflection

examples
Sí, dado que las andas son pesadas. Yes, since the platforms are heavy.
Sí, dado que los cofrades se cansan. Yes, since the members of the brotherhood get tired.
Sí, dado que las cofradías desfilarán. Yes, since the brotherhoods will parade.

Remember that when a feminine singular noun begins with a stressed a or ha-, the masculine article is used instead of the feminine article. This is to avoid having two a sounds together!

This is the case with the noun that you learned in these lessons, el anda, which uses a masculine article in the singular and a feminine article in the plural.

examples

Sí, dado que las andas son pesadas.

Yes, since the platforms are heavy.

Pepián

Pepián is a thick meat stew that is one of the most typical dishes of Guatemalan cuisine. It is made with chicken or beef, depending on the recipe.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
la alfombra de flores	carpet of flowers
la imagen religiosa	religious image

examples
Les pondrán fruta a las alfombras de flores. They'll put fruit on the carpets of flowers.
Crean las imágenes religiosas por devoción. They create the religious images out of devotion.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
desfilar	to parade
evocar	to evoke
impedir	to prevent
llenarse	to fill up
madrugar	to get up early
mojarse	to get wet
reflexionar	to reflect
resguardarse	to take shelter

Impedir

Impedir(to prevent) is an -ir verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	impida	I prevent
tú	impidas	you prevent	informal singular you
vos	impidas	you prevent	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	impida	he, she prevents
usted	impida	you prevent	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	impidamos	we prevent
vosotros, vosotras	impidáis	you prevent	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	impidan	they prevent
ustedes	impidan	you prevent	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Madrugar

Madrugar(to get up early) is an -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	madrugue	I get up early
tú	madrugues	you get up early	informal singular you
vos	madrugues	you get up early	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	madrugue	he, she gets up early
usted	madrugue	you get up early	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	madruguemos	we get up early
vosotros, vosotras	madruguéis	you get up early	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	madruguen	they get up early
ustedes	madruguen	you get up early	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Resguardarse

Resguardarse(to take shelter) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me resguarde	I take shelter
tú	te resguardes	you take shelter	informal singular you
vos	te resguardes	you take shelter	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se resguarde	he, she takes shelter
usted	se resguarde	you take shelter	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos resguardemos	we take shelter
vosotros, vosotras	os resguardéis	you take shelter	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se resguarden	they take shelter
ustedes	se resguarden	you take shelter	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verb Phrase

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrase!

Spanish	English
guardar silencio	to remain silent

The Present Subjunctive

The Spanish present subjunctive (el presente de subjuntivo) is used to talk about situations of doubt, desire, emotion, necessity, or uncertainty. We can also use the subjunctive to talk about conditional outcomes.

Conditional Outcomes

This type of sentence describes what will happen if another action is completed. These actions are conditional upon another action being completed, so the subjunctive is used to convey a sense of uncertainty. Many phrases with conditional circumstances have connecting phrases or conjunctive expressions which introduce time limitations, conditions, concessions, or results. The key action—the one that must be completed for the second action to occur—is in the subjunctive.

examples
Sí, a menos que la lluvia lo impida. Yes, unless the rain prevents it.
Se mojarán a menos que se resguarden. They'll get wet unless they take shelter.

examples

Sí, a menos que la lluvia lo impida.

Yes, unless the rain prevents it.

Se mojarán a menos que se resguarden.

They'll get wet unless they take shelter.

Note that in both of the aforementioned examples, something has to happen—a condition—for the verb in the subjunctive to be true.

The phrase here that signals the subjunctive is a menos que.

Conjugating Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

To conjugate a verb in the present subjunctive, you must first remember what the present indicative yo form of the verb in question is. This is because the stem of present subjunctive verbs comes from the yo form of the present indicative. For many verbs, this will be the same as the infinitive stem, but for many others, such as verbs with spelling changes, stem-changing verbs, and irregular verbs, it will be different.

Present Subjunctive Stem Formula

The formula for finding the present subjunctive stem of a verb is the following:

present subjunctive stem = yo form of present indicative minus o ending

Regular Present Subjunctive Endings

Once you have the stem, you will add the present subjunctive ending that matches your subject. There are only two ending sets for the present subjunctive: one for -ar verbs and one for both -er and -ir verbs.

Subject	-ar Verb Endings	-er and -ir Verb Endings
yo	e	a
tú, vos	es	as
usted, él, ella	e	a
nosotros, nosotras	emos	amos
vosotros, vosotras	éis	áis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	en	an

Irregular Verbs in the Present Subjunctive

There are only six truly irregular verbs in the subjunctive. You'll find the conjugations for each of these verbs in the tables below.

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Dar, Estar, and Ser

Subject	Dar	Estar	Ser
yo	dé	esté	sea
tú, vos	des	estés	seas
usted, él, ella	dé	esté	sea
nosotros, nosotras	demos	estemos	seamos
vosotros, vosotras	deis	estéis	seáis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	den	estén	sean

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Haber, Ir, and Saber

Subject	Haber	Ir	Saber
yo	haya	vaya	sepa
tú, vos	hayas	vayas	sepas
usted, él, ella	haya	vaya	sepa
nosotros, nosotras	hayamos	vayamos	sepamos
vosotros, vosotras	hayáis	vayáis	sepáis
ustedes, ellos, ellas	hayan	vayan	sepan

To remember these six verbs, just think of the mnemonic DISHES:

Dar

Saber

Haber

Estar

Ser

Stem Changes and the Present Subjunctive

While they’re not entirely irregular, the following verbs do have certain changes that we need to keep in mind while conjugating verbs in the subjunctive:

1. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ar and -er Verbs

For verbs in this group, the e in the last syllable of the stem (the yo form of the present indicative) changes to ie, or the o in the last syllable of the stem (the yo form of the present indicative) changes to ue. All subjunctive forms follow the stem change except for nosotros and vosotros, which use the infinitive stem.

2. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ir Verbs

All e> ie and o> ue stem-changing -ir verbs follow the same changes as in the present indicative, except the nosotros and vosotros forms, in which the e changes to i and the o changes to u.

3. e> i Stem Changes with -ir Verbs

All e> i stem-changing -ir verbs in the present indicative maintain the stem change in all forms of the present subjunctive.

Subjunctive Trigger Words

WEIRDO

Many of the verbs and phrases that require the subjunctive fit into the acronym WEIRDO: Wishes, Emotions, Impersonal expressions, Recommendations, Doubt/Denial, and Ojalá.

Culture: Semana Santa in Antigua

While Antigua’s Holy Week shares some similarities with the Holy Week in Spain, there are several customs that are different. One of the most beautiful customs is the practice of creating very detailed alfombras de flores. These carpets are ephemeral. If they’re created in the street, the Holy Week processions pass over them!