Learn About a New Culture in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to learn about a new culture in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• give advice about going abroad

• use vocabulary related to culture

• talk about results using the subjunctive

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
auténtico	authentic
genuino	genuine
humilde	humble

examples
Sí, a fin de que vivas experiencias auténticas. Yes, so that you have authentic experiences.
Sí, a fin de que muestres interés genuino. Yes, so that you show genuine interest.
Sé humilde a fin de que crezcas como persona. Be humble so that you grow as a person.

Adverb

Spanish	English
eficazmente	effectively

examples
Sí, a fin de que te comuniques eficazmente. Yes, so that you communicate effectively.

Adverb Phrase

Spanish	English
con soltura	with ease

examples
Sí, a fin de que interactúes con soltura. Yes, so that you interact with ease.

Nouns

Spanish	English
la armonía	harmony
la autenticidad	authenticity
la comunidad	community
la conciencia	awareness
la creencia	belief
el entendimiento	understanding
el estereotipo	stereotype
el gesto	gesture
el juicio	judgement
el malentendido	misunderstanding

examples
Sí, a fin de que haya armonía. Yes, so that there's harmony.
Sí, a fin de que experimentes su autenticidad. Yes, so that you experience their authenticity.
Sí, a fin de que respetes a las comunidades locales. Yes, so that you respect the local communities.

Noun Phrase

Spanish	English
la forma de vida	way of life

examples
Sí, a fin de que observes la forma de vida. Yes, so that you observe the way of life.

Verbal Periphrasis: Querer + Infinitive

Remember that the verb querer(to want) is followed by the infinitive in Spanish.

examples
¿Y quieres aprender sobre la nueva cultura? And do you want to learn about the new culture?
¿Y quieres leer sobre la nueva cultura? And do you want to read about the new culture?

What's Verbal Periphrasis?

In Spanish, a verbal periphrasis is a verbal construction made of two verb forms, a conjugated form and an impersonal form (an infinitive, a present participle, or a past participle). Verbal periphrasis is used in the informal future, the present progressive, and the perfect tenses.

You can learn more about verbal periphrasis in this article

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
empaparse	to get steeped in (knowledge, culture), to get soaked
evitar	to avoid
fomentar	to promote
honrar	to honor
integrarse	to integrate
interactuar	to interact
ofender	to offend

Empaparse

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

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

Evitar

Evitar(to avoid) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	evite	I avoid
tú	evites	you avoid	informal singular you
vos	evites	you avoid	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	evite	he, she avoids
usted	evite	you avoid	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	evitemos	we avoid
vosotros, vosotras	evitéis	you avoid	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	eviten	they avoid
ustedes	eviten	you avoid	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Fomentar

Fomentar(to promote) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	fomente	I promote
tú	fomentes	you promote	informal singular you
vos	fomentes	you promote	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	fomente	he, she promotes
usted	fomente	you promote	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	fomentemos	we promote
vosotros, vosotras	fomentéis	you promote	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	fomenten	they promote
ustedes	fomenten	you promote	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Honrar

Honrar(to honor) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	honre	I honor
tú	honres	you honor	informal singular you
vos	honres	you honor	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	honre	he, she honors
usted	honre	you honor	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	honremos	we honor
vosotros, vosotras	honréis	you honor	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	honren	they honor
ustedes	honren	you honor	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Integrarse

Integrarse(to integrate) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me integre	I integrate
tú	te integres	you integrate	informal singular you
vos	te integres	you integrate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se integre	he, she integrates
usted	se integre	you integrate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos integremos	we integrate
vosotros, vosotras	os integréis	you integrate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se integren	they integrate
ustedes	se integren	you integrate	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Interactuar

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

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	interactúe	I interact
tú	interactúes	you interact	informal singular you
vos	interactúes	you interact	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	interactúe	he, she interacts
usted	interactúe	you interact	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	interactuemos	we interact
vosotros, vosotras	interactuéis	you interact	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	interactúen	they interact
ustedes	interactúen	you interact	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Ofender

Ofender(to offend) is an -er verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	ofenda	I offend
tú	ofendas	you offend	informal singular you
vos	ofendas	you offend	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	ofenda	he, she offends
usted	ofenda	you offend	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	ofendamos	we offend
vosotros, vosotras	ofendáis	you offend	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	ofendan	they offend
ustedes	ofendan	you offend	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 and results.

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.

In these lessons, you learned the following phrase that signals a result. This phrase helps us know that, since it’s discussing a conditional outcome, we need to use the subjunctive:

Spanish	English
a fin de que	so that, in order to

examples
Sé humilde a fin de que crezcas como persona. Be humble so that you grow as a person.
Sí, a fin de que honres sus tradiciones. Yes, so that you honor their traditions.

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

Ir

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.

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Rodrigo:

Voy a mudarme al extranjero. ¿Debo aprender el idioma?

I'm going to move abroad. Should I learn the language?

Laura:

Sí, a fin de que te comuniques eficazmente y fortalezcas tus relaciones.

Yes, so that you communicate effectively and strengthen your relationships.

Rodrigo:

¿Debo prestar atención a los gestos?

Should I pay attention to people's gestures?

Laura:

Sí, es muy importante a fin de que evites malentendidos.

Yes, it’s crucial so that you avoid misunderstandings.

Rodrigo:

¿Debo comer la comida local?

Should I eat the local food?

Laura:

Sí, a fin de que aprecies los nuevos sabores y muestres interés genuino.

Yes, so that you value the new flavors and show genuine interest.

Want to learn more about how to learn about a new culture in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• Guide to Arepas

• Spanish Cuisine: More than Paella!

• How to Make Ceviche