Learn About Coffee in Spanish

Quick Answer

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

• talk about agriculture and coffee growing

• discuss conditional outcomes using the subjunctive

• use vocabulary related to coffee

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
arábigo	arabica, Arabic
constante	constant
duro	tough
impredecible	unpredictable
mecánico	mechanical

examples
Sí, aun cuando les den cuidados constantes. Yes, even if they are given constant care.
A pesar de que sea duro, se hace a mano. Even though it's tough, it's done by hand.
Sí, aunque también usan secadores mecánicos. Yes, even though they also use mechanical dryers.

Adverbs

Spanish	English
cuidadosamente	carefully
mundialmente	worldwide

examples
A pesar de que se seleccionen cuidadosamente. Even though they're carefully selected.
Colombia produce café reconocido mundialmente. Colombia produces world-famous coffee.

Mundialmente

Note that, when combined with reconocido, mundialmente undergoes a slight change in meaning:

reconocido mundialmente: world-famous

Conjunction Phrases

Spanish	English
a pesar de que	even though
aun cuando	even though, even if, even when

examples
A pesar de que se fermenten, conservan su esencia. Even though they ferment, they keep their essence.
Aun cuando llueva, cosecharemos el café. Even if it rains, we'll harvest the coffee.

Nouns

Spanish	English
la esencia	essence
la maquinaria	machinery
la producción	production
la recolección	harvest
el secador	dryer
la semilla	seed
el vivero	nursery

examples
A pesar de que se fermenten, conservan su esencia. Even though they ferment, they keep their essence.
A pesar de que sea caro, compraré maquinaria. Even though it's expensive, I'll buy machinery.
Quiero informarme sobre la producción de café. I want to find out about coffee production.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
el grano de café	coffee bean
la mano de obra	manpower
la planta de café	coffee plant

examples
Después, se extraen los granos de café. After, the coffee beans are extracted.
La mano de obra siempre será esencial. Manpower will always be essential.
¿Cuándo se trasplantan las plantas de café? When are the coffee plants transplanted?

Prepositional Phrase

Spanish	English
junto a	next to

examples
No, aun cuando se cultiven junto a árboles. No, even if they're grown next to trees.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
cosechar	to harvest
exportar	to export
extraer	to extract
fermentar	to ferment
fluctuar	to fluctuate
innovar	to innovate
producir	to produce
promocionar	to promote
secarse	to dry
seleccionar	to choose
sembrarse	to plant
trasplantarse	to transplant

Exportar

Exportar(to export) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	exporte	I export
tú	exportes	you export	informal singular you
vos	exportes	you export	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	exporte	he, she exports
usted	exporte	you export	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	exportemos	we export
vosotros, vosotras	exportéis	you export	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	exporten	they export
ustedes	exporten	you export	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Fermentar

Fermentar(to ferment) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
él, ella, ello	fermente	it ferments
ellos, ellas	fermenten	they ferment

Innovar

Innovar(to innovate) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	innove	I innovate
tú	innoves	you innovate	informal singular you
vos	innoves	you innovate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	innove	he, she innovates
usted	innove	you innovate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	innovemos	we innovate
vosotros, vosotras	innovéis	you innovate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	innoven	they innovate
ustedes	innoven	you innovate	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Promocionar

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

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	promocione	I promote
tú	promociones	you promote	informal singular you
vos	promociones	you promote	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	promocione	he, she promotes
usted	promocione	you promote	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	promocionemos	we promote
vosotros, vosotras	promocionéis	you promote	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	promocionen	they promote
ustedes	promocionen	you promote	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Secarse

Secarse(to dry) is a pronominal -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
él, ella, ello	se seque	it dries
ellos, ellas	se sequen	they dry

Seleccionar

Seleccionar(to choose) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	seleccione	I choose
tú	selecciones	you choose	informal singular you
vos	selecciones	you choose	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	seleccione	he, she chooses
usted	seleccione	you choose	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	seleccionemos	we choose
vosotros, vosotras	seleccionéis	you choose	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	seleccionen	they choose
ustedes	seleccionen	you choose	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Sembrarse

Sembrarse(to be planted) is a pronominal -ar verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
él, ella, ello	se siembre	it is planted
ellos, ellas, ellos	se siembren	they are planted

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

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
A pesar de que sea caro, compraré maquinaria. Even though it's expensive, I'll buy machinery.
Aun cuando llueva, cosecharemos el café. Even if it rains, we'll harvest the coffee.

examples

A pesar de que sea caro, compraré maquinaria.

Even though it's expensive, I'll buy machinery.

Aun cuando llueva, cosecharemos el café.

Even if it rains, we'll harvest the coffee.

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.