Get a Parking Ticket in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to get a parking ticket in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• talk about driving

• use vocabulary related to tickets and fines

• talk about conditional outcomes and concessions using the subjunctive

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
cuidadoso	careful
injusto	unfair
permitido	permitted
prudente	careful

examples
Por muy cuidadoso que seas, te confundirás. No matter how careful you are, you'll make mistakes.
Aunque no lo crea, fue injusto. Believe it or not, it was unfair.
A pesar de que esté permitido, no paro. Even though it's permitted, I don't stop.

Nouns

Spanish	English
la circulación	traffic
la multa	ticket
el peatón	pedestrian
la señal	sign
la velocidad	speed

examples
Sí, aunque cumplan las normas de circulación. Yes, even though they obey the traffic regulations.
Me han puesto muchas multas. I've gotten a lot of tickets.
Siempre mira por si hay peatones. Always look for pedestrians.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
acelerar	to accelerate
cometer	to make
confundirse	to make a mistake
cumplir	to obey
enojarse	to get angry
exceder	to exceed
infringir	to break (laws, rules)
multar	to fine
negar	to deny
protestar	to complain
recurrir	to appeal
sancionar	to penalize

Cumplir

Cumplir(to obey) is an -ir verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	cumpla	I obey
tú	cumplas	you obey	informal singular you
vos	cumplas	you obey	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	cumpla	he, she obeys
usted	cumpla	you obey	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	cumplamos	we obey
vosotros, vosotras	cumpláis	you obey	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	cumplan	they obey
ustedes	cumplan	you obey	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Enojarse

Enojarse(to get angry) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me enoje	I get angry
tú	te enojes	you get angry	informal singular you
vos	te enojes	you get angry	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se enoje	he, she gets angry
usted	se enoje	you get angry	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos enojemos	we get angry
vosotros, vosotras	os enojéis	you get angry	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se enojen	they get angry
ustedes	se enojen	you get angry	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Exceder

Exceder(to exceed) is an -er verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	exceda	I exceed
tú	excedas	you exceed	informal singular you
vos	excedas	you exceed	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	exceda	he, she exceeds
usted	exceda	you exceed	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	excedamos	we exceed
vosotros, vosotras	excedáis	you exceed	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	excedan	they exceed
ustedes	excedan	you exceed	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Infringir

Infringir(to break [rules, laws]) is an -ir verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	infrinja	I break
tú	infrinjas	you break	informal singular you
vos	infrinjas	you break	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	infrinja	he, she breaks
usted	infrinja	you break	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	infrinjamos	we break
vosotros, vosotras	infrinjáis	you break	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	infrinjan	they break
ustedes	infrinjan	you break	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Negar

Negar(to deny) is an -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	niegue	I deny
tú	niegues	you deny	informal singular you
vos	niegues	you deny	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	niegue	he, she denies
usted	niegue	you deny	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	neguemos	we deny
vosotros, vosotras	neguéis	you deny	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	nieguen	they deny
ustedes	nieguen	you deny	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Protestar

Protestar(to complain) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	proteste	I complain
tú	protestes	you complain	informal singular you
vos	protestes	you complain	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	proteste	he, she complains
usted	proteste	you complain	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	protestemos	we complain
vosotros, vosotras	protestéis	you complain	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	protesten	they complain
ustedes	protesten	you complain	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Recurrir

Recurrir(to appeal) is an -ir verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	recurra	I appeal
tú	recurras	you appeal	informal singular you
vos	recurras	you appeal	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	recurra	he, she appeals
usted	recurra	you appeal	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	recurramos	we appeal
vosotros, vosotras	recurráis	you appeal	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	recurran	they appeal
ustedes	recurran	you appeal	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verb Phrase

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrase!

Spanish	English
darse bien	to be good at

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 and concessions.

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.

Concessions

These expressions introduce the idea of a concession, an action occurring despite something else. These expressions often take the subjunctive:

Spanish	English
a pesar de que	in spite of
aun cuando	even if, even when
aunque	although, even if, though
por…que	no matter how…

Aunque and A Pesar de Que

Aunque and a pesar de que do not always take the subjunctive. If the conditional statement is considered hypothetical, you will use the subjunctive and if it is factual, you will use the indicative.

examples
Aunque no haya señales, manejo con precaución. Even if there are no signs, I drive carefully.
A pesar de que esté permitido, no paro. Even though it's permitted, I don't stop.

examples

Aunque no haya señales, manejo con precaución.

Even if there are no signs, I drive carefully.

A pesar de que esté permitido, no paro.

Even though it's permitted, I don't stop.

Por...Que

Por... que is always used with an adjective or an adverb, and sometimes both.

examples

Por muy cuidadoso que seas, te confundirás.

No matter how careful you are, you'll make mistakes.

Sí, por muy prudente que sea.

Yes, no matter how careful you are.

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.