Travel to Havana in Spanish
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 |
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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 |
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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
examples |
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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.
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
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.
In these lessons, we saw the following subjunctive trigger words and phrases:
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 travel to Havana in Spanish? Check out the following articles!