Play Soccer in Spanish

Quick Answer

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

• use the subjunctive to express worries and doubts

• talk about soccer

• use vocabulary related to sports

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
dudoso	doubtful
imparcial	impartial
suplente	substitute

examples
Es dudoso que mantengan el liderato. It's doubtful that they'll stay in the lead.
Es dudoso que el árbitro sea imparcial. It's doubtful that the referee will be impartial.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el árbitro	referee
el campeonato	championship
la cancha	field
el delantero	forward
el entrenador	coach
el gol	goal
el jugador	player
el liderato	lead
el penalti	penalty
el portero	goalie
la táctica	tactics

examples
¡Que ganen el campeonato! That they win the championship!
Me preocupa que la cancha esté mojada. I'm worried that the field will be wet.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
el fuera de juego	offside
la Liga de Campeones	Champions League

examples
Es dudoso que marquen en fuera de juego. It's doubtful that they'll score offside.
¿Van a ver la Liga de Campeones? Are you going to watch the Champions League?

Prepositional Phrases

Spanish	English
a diario	daily
en forma	in (good) shape

examples
Más vale que entrenen a diario. They'd better train daily.
Es dudoso que esté en forma. It's doubtful that he'll be in good shape.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Clasificarse

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

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me clasifique	I qualify
tú	te clasifiques	you qualify	informal singular you
vos	te clasifiques	you qualify	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se clasifique	he, she qualifies
usted	se clasifique	you qualify	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos clasifiquemos	we qualify
vosotros, vosotras	os clasifiquéis	you qualify	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se clasifiquen	they qualify
ustedes	se clasifiquen	you qualify	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Defender

Defender(to defend) is an -er verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	defienda	I defend
tú	defiendas	you defend	informal singular you
vos	defiendas	you defend	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	defienda	he, she defends
usted	defienda	you defend	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	defendamos	we defend
vosotros, vosotras	defendáis	you defend	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	defiendan	they defend
ustedes	defiendan	you defend	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Note that there is no stem change in the nosotros or vosotros form of defender.

Entrenar

Entrenar(to train) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	entrene	I train
tú	entrenes	you train	informal singular you
vos	entrenes	you train	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	entrene	he, she trains
usted	entrene	you train	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	entrenemos	we train
vosotros, vosotras	entrenéis	you train	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	entrenen	they train
ustedes	entrenen	you train	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Expulsar

Expulsar(to send off) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	expulse	I send (someone) off
tú	expulses	you send (someone) off	informal singular you
vos	expulses	you send (someone) off	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	expulse	he, she sends (someone) off
usted	expulse	you send (someone) off	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	expulsemos	we send (someone) off
vosotros, vosotras	expulséis	you send (someone) off	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	expulsen	they send (someone) off
ustedes	expulsen	you send (someone) off	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Lesionarse

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

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

Motivar

Motivar(to motivate) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	motive	I motivate
tú	motives	you motivate	informal singular you
vos	motives	you motivate	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	motive	he, she motivates
usted	motive	you motivate	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	motivemos	we motivate
vosotros, vosotras	motivéis	you motivate	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	motiven	they motivate
ustedes	motiven	you motivate	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.

Unlike the present indicative, the present subjunctive is generally subjective.

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.