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

SpanishEnglish
africanoAfrican
clásicoclassic
coloridocolorful
envidiableenviable
omnipresenteomnipresent
popularpopular
presentepresent
suavemild
vacíoempty
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

SpanishEnglish
el bicitaxibicycle taxi
el boxeoboxing
el modelomodel
el paladarfamily restaurant
el reguetónreggaeton
el seguidorenthusiast, follower
la trovatrova
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

SpanishEnglish
La HabanaHavana
el sistema educativoeducational system
el son cubanoCuban 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)ConjugationTranslationNotes
él, ella, ellocirculeit runs
ellos, ellascirculenthey run

Parecer

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

A+ Pronoun(s)Singular ConjugationPlural ConjugationTranslationNotes
a míme parezcame parezcanit seems…to me / they seem…to me
a tite parezcate parezcanit seems…to you / they seem…to youinformal singular you
a voste parezcate parezcanit seems…to you / they seem…to youinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
a él, a ellale parezcale parezcanit seems…to him/her / they seem…to him/her
a ustedle parezcale parezcanit seems…to you / they seem…to youformal singular you
a nosotros, a nosotrasnos parezcanos parezcanit seems…to us / they seem…to us
a vosotros, a vosotrasos parezcaos parezcanit seems…to you / they seem…to youinformal plural you (in Spain)
a ellos, a ellasles parezcales parezcanit seems…to you / they seem…to you
a ustedesles parezcales parezcanit seems…to you / they seem…to youplural 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 ConjugationPlural ConjugationTranslationNotes
a míme llame la atenciónme llamen la atenciónit is interesting to me / they are interesting to me
a tite llame la atenciónte llamen la atenciónit is interesting to you / they are interesting to youinformal singular you
a voste llame la atenciónte llamen la atenciónit is interesting to you / they are interesting to youinformal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
a él, a ellale llame la atenciónle llamen la atenciónit is interesting to him/her / they are interesting to him/her
a ustedle llame la atenciónle llamen la atenciónit is interesting to you / they are interesting to youformal singular you
a nosotros, a nosotrasnos llame la atenciónnos llamen la atenciónit is interesting to us / they are interesting to us
a vosotros, a vosotrasos llame la atenciónos llamen la atenciónit is interesting to you / they are interesting to youinformal plural you (in Spain)
a ellos, a ellasles llame la atenciónles llamen la atenciónit is interesting to you / they are interesting to you
a ustedesles llame la atenciónles llamen la atenciónit is interesting to you / they are interesting to youplural 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
yoea
, vosesas
usted, él, ellaea
nosotros, nosotrasemosamos
vosotros, vosotraséisáis
ustedes, ellos, ellasenan

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

SubjectDarEstarSer
yoestésea
, vosdesestésseas
usted, él, ellaestésea
nosotros, nosotrasdemosestemosseamos
vosotros, vosotrasdeisestéisseáis
ustedes, ellos, ellasdenesténsean

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Haber, Ir, and Saber

SubjectHaberIrSaber
yohayavayasepa
, voshayasvayassepas
usted, él, ellahayavayasepa
nosotros, nosotrashayamosvayamossepamos
vosotros, vosotrashayáisvayáissepáis
ustedes, ellos, ellashayanvayansepan

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:

SpanishEnglish
me llama la atención queit's interesting to me that
me sorprende queit surprises me that
no estoy seguro de queI'm not sure
no parece queit doesn't seem like

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.

Yanet:
Voy a ir de viaje a La Habana, pero no estoy seguro de que tome un vuelo directo.
I'm going to take a trip to Havana, but I'm not sure I'll take a direct flight.
Roberto:
¡Muy bien! Tienes que probar el café.
Great! You have to try the coffee.
Yanet:
No parece que el café sea suave. Solo puedo tomar café suave.
It doesn't seem like the coffee is mild. I can only drink mild coffee.
Roberto:
¿Sabes algo sobre los coches?
Do you know anything about the cars?
Yanet:
Me sorprende que haya coches clásicos. Me llama la atención que aún circulen.
It surprises me that there are classic cars. It's interesting to me that they're still running.
Roberto:
¡Buen viaje!
Have a good trip!

Want to learn more about how to travel to Havana in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

Caribbean Spanish

Work in Latin America in Spanish

How to Say "What's Up?" in Spanish