Travel to Havana in Spanish

Quick Answer

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

• speculate about the future

• talk about Cuba

• talk about what surprises you

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
africano	African
clásico	classic
colorido	colorful
envidiable	enviable
omnipresente	omnipresent
popular	popular
presente	present
suave	mild
vacío	empty

examples
Que la cultura africana esté muy presente. That African culture is very present.
Me sorprende que haya coches clásicos. It surprises me that there are classic cars.
Me sorprende que sea tan colorida. It surprises me that it's so colorful.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el bicitaxi	bicycle taxi
el boxeo	boxing
el modelo	model
el paladar	family restaurant
el reguetón	reggaeton
el seguidor	enthusiast, follower
la trova	trova

examples
No parece que los bicitaxis sean cómodos. It doesn't seem like the bicycle taxis are comfortable.
Me sorprende que el boxeo sea tan popular. It surprises me that boxing is so popular.
Que su sistema educativo sea un modelo a seguir. That their educational system is worthy of imitation.

Paladar

While paladar may mean palate in most of the Spanish-speaking world, it has a special meaning in Cuba, where it refers to a small, family-run restaurant. In the early 1990s, the Cuban government began to allow self-employment. One of the employment opportunities was to open your own small restaurant—albeit with certain limitations. Paladares are small, family-owned businesses, and their menus tend to vary depending on the availability of ingredients.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
La Habana	Havana
el sistema educativo	educational system
el son cubano	Cuban son

examples
Voy a ir de viaje a La Habana. I'm going to take a trip to Havana.
Que su sistema educativo sea un modelo a seguir. That their educational system is worthy of imitation.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Circular

Circular(to run [a vehicle]) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
él, ella, ello	circule	it runs
ellos, ellas	circulen	they run

Parecer

Parecer(to seem) is an -er verb like gustar with a stem change in the present subjunctive.

A+ Pronoun(s)	Singular Conjugation	Plural Conjugation	Translation	Notes
a mí	me parezca	me parezcan	it seems…to me / they seem…to me
a ti	te parezca	te parezcan	it seems…to you / they seem…to you	informal singular you
a vos	te parezca	te parezcan	it seems…to you / they seem…to you	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
a él, a ella	le parezca	le parezcan	it seems…to him/her / they seem…to him/her
a usted	le parezca	le parezcan	it seems…to you / they seem…to you	formal singular you
a nosotros, a nosotras	nos parezca	nos parezcan	it seems…to us / they seem…to us
a vosotros, a vosotras	os parezca	os parezcan	it seems…to you / they seem…to you	informal plural you (in Spain)
a ellos, a ellas	les parezca	les parezcan	it seems…to you / they seem…to you
a ustedes	les parezca	les parezcan	it seems…to you / they seem…to you	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verb Phrase

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrase!

Llamar la atención que

Llamar la atención que(to be interesting to [someone]) is an -ar verb like gustar with a stem change in the present subjunctive.

A+ Pronoun(s)	Singular Conjugation	Plural Conjugation	Translation	Notes
a mí	me llame la atención	me llamen la atención	it is interesting to me / they are interesting to me
a ti	te llame la atención	te llamen la atención	it is interesting to you / they are interesting to you	informal singular you
a vos	te llame la atención	te llamen la atención	it is interesting to you / they are interesting to you	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
a él, a ella	le llame la atención	le llamen la atención	it is interesting to him/her / they are interesting to him/her
a usted	le llame la atención	le llamen la atención	it is interesting to you / they are interesting to you	formal singular you
a nosotros, a nosotras	nos llame la atención	nos llamen la atención	it is interesting to us / they are interesting to us
a vosotros, a vosotras	os llame la atención	os llamen la atención	it is interesting to you / they are interesting to you	informal plural you (in Spain)
a ellos, a ellas	les llame la atención	les llamen la atención	it is interesting to you / they are interesting to you
a ustedes	les llame la atención	les llamen la atención	it is interesting to you / they are interesting to you	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.

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.

In these lessons, we saw the following subjunctive trigger words and phrases:

Spanish	English
me llama la atención que	it's interesting to me that
me sorprende que	it surprises me that
no estoy seguro de que	I'm not sure
no parece que	it doesn't seem like