Reminisce About College in Spanish
Vocabulary
Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!
Adjectives
examples |
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Nouns
Spanish | English |
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el aula | classroom |
el ballet | ballet |
el campus | campus |
el club | club |
la informática | computing, computer science |
el/la laptop | laptop |
examples |
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Gender Tip
El aula? That’s right! In Spanish, the word aula takes a masculine singular article. Why? Singular feminine nouns that start with stressed a or ha sounds use the masculine singular article, el. Why? For the same reason we use an instead of a in English—two as together are very difficult to pronounce! Note that aula takes a feminine article when used in the plural.
Noun Phrase
Pronoun
Relative Pronouns: Que and Quien
Queand quienare two relative pronouns that you'll use a lot. You studied que in the last skill and you know that it can be used to refer to a person, but what about quien?
Let’s take a look at these relative pronouns together:
- Que can refer to a person, place, or thing and means that, which, who, or whom.
- Quien can only refer to a person and means who or whom.
- Quien must match its antecedent (the who it refers to) in number. if the antecedent to which it refers is singular, you use quien; if it is plural, you use quienes.
Note that the relative pronouns que and quien are spelled the same as the interrogative words qué and quién, minus the accent over the e.
In general, relative pronouns are used according to their length and the distance between them and their antecedents. As a general rule, the farther the relative pronoun is from the antecedent, the longer the relative pronoun is (the more letters it has).
Que
As you learned in the previous skill, que is used when the relative pronoun comes immediately after the antecedent. Nothing separates the relative pronoun from the antecedent, not even a comma.
Quien
Quien (and its plural form quienes) is used when the antecedent refers to a person and is separated from the antecedent (usually by a comma or preposition). It's commonly used after prepositions like para and con.
Verbs
In this skill, you learn the following verbs!
Conocer
Conocer(to know) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | conocía | I knew | |
tú | conocías | you knew | informal singular you |
vos | conocías | you knew | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | conocía | he, she knew | |
usted | conocía | you knew | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | conocíamos | we knew | |
vosotros, vosotras | conocíais | you knew | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | conocían | they knew | |
ustedes | conocían | you knew | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Elegir
Elegir(to pick) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | elegía | I picked | |
tú | elegías | you picked | informal singular you |
vos | elegías | you picked | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | elegía | he, she picked | |
usted | elegía | you picked | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | elegíamos | we picked | |
vosotros, vosotras | elegíais | you picked | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | elegían | they picked | |
ustedes | elegían | you picked | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Estudiar
Estudiar(to study) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | estudiaba | I studied | |
tú | estudiabas | you studied | informal singular you |
vos | estudiabas | you studied | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | estudiaba | he, she studied | |
usted | estudiaba | you studied | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | estudiábamos | we studied | |
vosotros, vosotras | estudiabais | you studied | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | estudiaban | they studied | |
ustedes | estudiaban | you studied | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Pertenecer
Pertenecer(to belong to) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | pertenecía | I belonged to | |
tú | pertenecías | you belonged to | informal singular you |
vos | pertenecías | you belonged to | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | pertenecía | he, she belonged to | |
usted | pertenecía | you belonged to | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | pertenecíamos | we belonged to | |
vosotros, vosotras | pertenecíais | you belonged to | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | pertenecían | they belonged to | |
ustedes | pertenecían | you belonged to | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Poder
Poder(can, to be able to) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | podía | I could | |
tú | podías | you could | informal singular you |
vos | podías | you could | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | podía | he, she could | |
usted | podía | you could | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | podíamos | we could | |
vosotros, vosotras | podíais | you could | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | podían | they could | |
ustedes | podían | you could | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Preguntar
Preguntar(to ask) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | preguntaba | I asked | |
tú | preguntabas | you asked | informal singular you |
vos | preguntabas | you asked | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | preguntaba | he, she asked | |
usted | preguntaba | you asked | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | preguntábamos | we asked | |
vosotros, vosotras | preguntabais | you asked | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | preguntaban | they asked | |
ustedes | preguntaban | you asked | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Querer
Querer(to want) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | quería | I wanted | |
tú | querías | you wanted | informal singular you |
vos | querías | you wanted | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | quería | he, she wanted | |
usted | quería | you wanted | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | queríamos | we wanted | |
vosotros, vosotras | queríais | you wanted | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | querían | they wanted | |
ustedes | querían | you wanted | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Saber
Saber(to know) is an -er verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | sabía | I knew | |
tú | sabías | you knew | informal singular you |
vos | sabías | you knew | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | sabía | he, she knew | |
usted | sabía | you knew | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | sabíamos | we knew | |
vosotros, vosotras | sabíais | you knew | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | sabían | they knew | |
ustedes | sabían | you knew | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Tomar
Tomar(to take) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | tomaba | I took | |
tú | tomabas | you took | informal singular you |
vos | tomabas | you took | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | tomaba | he, she took | |
usted | tomaba | you took | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | tomábamos | we took | |
vosotros, vosotras | tomabais | you took | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | tomaban | they took | |
ustedes | tomaban | you took | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Usar
Usar(to use) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.
Pronoun(s) | Conjugation | Translation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
yo | usaba | I used | |
tú | usabas | you used | informal singular you |
vos | usabas | you used | informal singular you (in parts of Latin America) |
él, ella | usaba | he, she used | |
usted | usaba | you used | formal singular you |
nosotros, nosotras | usábamos | we used | |
vosotros, vosotras | usabais | you used | informal plural you (in Spain) |
ellos, ellas | usaban | they used | |
ustedes | usaban | you used | plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain) |
Imperfect Verbs: Introduction
The imperfect tense, or pretérito imperfecto, is one of the two tenses used to talk about the past in Spanish. We use it to talk about descriptions in the past, like past habits, repeated actions and feelings, or to set the scene when talking about an action that was interrupted.
In these lessons, you learned some common expressions that indicate that the imperfect tense should be used. These expressions include:
- cada semestre
- en aquella época
- en la universidad
- nunca
Imperfect Verbs: Regular Verbs
Conjugating verbs in the imperfect tense is simple! Just take the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) off the verb and add one of the following endings. Don’t forget the tildes(accents)!
Subject | -ar Verbs | -er and -ir Verbs |
---|---|---|
yo | -aba | -ía |
tú | -abas | -ías |
vos | -abas | -ías |
él, ella, usted | -aba | -ía |
nosotros | -ábamos | -íamos |
vosotros | -abais | -íais |
ellos, ellas, ustedes | -aban | -ían |
Imperfect Tense: Irregular Verbs
Like any other tense in Spanish, the imperfect tense is, well, imperfect! However, it’s far more user-friendly than other Spanish tenses; there are just three irregular verbs! Here’s how you conjugate all three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense:
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.
Want to learn more about how to reminisce about college in Spanish? Check out the following articles!