Keep in Touch in Spanish

Quick Answer

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

• speculate about the future

• talk about communication

• use verbs of change to describe changes in people

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
autoritario	strict, authoritarian
egocéntrico	self-centered
indispensable	indispensable
mero	mere
sencillo	down-to-earth, simple
tenso	tense

examples
Aunque se vuelva autoritario, será buen jefe. Even if he becomes strict, he'll be a good boss.
Sí, aunque se vuelva egocéntrica. Yes, even if she becomes self-centered.
Aunque te hagas indispensable, toma descansos. Even if you become indispensable, take breaks.

Conjunction

Spanish	English
aunque	even though, even if, although

examples
Aunque se ponga tensa, lo hará bien. Even if she gets tense, she'll do a good job.
Aunque los niños crezcan, mantendrán el contacto. Even though the kids grow up, they'll stay in touch.

Nouns

Spanish	English
la actuación	acting
el, la donante	donor
el, la especialista	specialist
el millonario, la millonaria	millionaire
la raíz	root
el, la rival	rival

examples
¿Cuándo te hiciste donante de sangre? When did you become a blood donor?
Aunque te vuelvas importante, recuerda tus raíces. Even if you become important, remember your roots.
Aunque lleguemos a ser rivales, seamos amigos. Even if we become rivals, let's be friends.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
el director ejecutivo, la directora ejecutiva	CEO
la experiencia profesional	work experience

examples
Llegará a ser el director ejecutivo. He'll become the CEO.
Sí, aunque no tenga experiencia profesional. Yes, even though she doesn't have work experience.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
convertirse	to become
ponerse	to get, to become
volverse	to become

Ponerse

Ponerse(to get) is a pronominal -er verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

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

Volverse

Volverse(to become) is a pronominal -er verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me vuelva	I become
tú	te vuelvas	you become	informal singular you
vos	te vuelvas	you become	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se vuelva	he, she becomes
usted	se vuelva	you become	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos volvamos	we become
vosotros, vosotras	os volváis	you become	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se vuelvan	they become
ustedes	se vuelvan	you become	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verbs of Change in Spanish

We can use several verbs in Spanish to express change. In this skill, you learned the following verbs of change:

Spanish	English	Notes
convertirse	to become, to turn into	It’s followed by en: convertirse en
hacerse	to become
llegar a ser	to become	Llegar a ser implies a certain degree of effort that these other verbs of change do not.
ponerse	to become, to get, to be, to turn	This verb of change focuses more on temporary states.
volverse	to become, to get

Verb Phrases

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrases!

Spanish	English
faltar a	to miss
llegar a lo más alto	to reach the top
mantener el contacto	to stay in touch
mantener la calma	to keep calm

Llegar a lo Más Alto

Llegar a lo más alto(to reach the top) is an -ar verb phrase that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	llegue a lo más alto	I reach the top
tú	llegues a lo más alto	you reach the top	informal singular you
vos	llegues a lo más alto	you reach the top	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	llegue a lo más alto	he, she reaches the top
usted	llegue a lo más alto	you reach the top	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	lleguemos a lo más alto	we reach the top
vosotros, vosotras	lleguéis a lo más alto	you reach the top	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	lleguen a lo más alto	they reach the top
ustedes	lleguen a lo más alto	you reach the top	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

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
Aunque se ponga enferma, no faltará a la boda. Even if she gets sick, she won't miss the wedding.
Aunque se haga actor, nos visitará mucho. Even if he becomes an actor, he'll visit us a lot.

examples

Aunque se ponga enferma, no faltará a la boda.

Even if she gets sick, she won't miss the wedding.

Aunque se haga actor, nos visitará mucho.

Even if he becomes an actor, he'll visit us a lot.

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.