Visit the Galapagos Islands in Spanish

Quick Answer

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

• talk about results while using the subjunctive

• use vocabulary related to nature

• learn about the Galapagos Islands

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
amenazado	threatened
geológico	geological
isleño	island

examples
Claro, para que no se sientan amenazados. Of course, so that they don't feel threatened.
Sí, para que sientas la historia geológica. Yes, so that you feel the geological history.
Pruébalo para que disfrutes los sabores isleños. Try it so that you enjoy the island flavors.

Adverb

Spanish	English
pacíficamente	peacefully

examples
Respétalas para que coexistan pacíficamente. Respect them so that they coexist peacefully.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el ave	bird
los binoculares	binoculars
Darwin	Darwin
el esnórquel	snorkel
la geología	geology
la langosta	rock lobster
la marea	tide
la paja	straw (dry stalk of grain)
el pingüino	penguin
el, la pirata	pirate
la reforestación	reforestation

examples
Sí, para que las aves no huyan. Yes, so that the birds don't fly away.
Lleva binoculares para que los observes mejor. Bring binoculars so that you can watch them better.
Sí, para que podamos hacer esnórquel. Yes, so that we can snorkel.

Remember: feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a or ha sound in Spanish use the masculine definite article el in the singular and the feminine definite article in the plural.

examples
Sí, para que las aves no huyan. Yes, so that the birds don't fly away.

Noun Phrase

Spanish	English
las islas Galápagos	the Galapagos Islands
el lobo marino	sea lion

examples
¿Debo leer sobre lobos marinos? Should I read about sea lions?

Verbal Periphrasis: Deber + Infinitive

Remember that the verb deber(should, have to, must, ought to) is followed by the infinitive in Spanish.

examples
¿Debo leer sobre piratas? Should I read about pirates?
¿Debo plantar un árbol? Should I plant a tree?

What's Verbal Periphrasis?

In Spanish, a verbal periphrasis is a verbal construction made of two verb forms, a conjugated form and an impersonal form (an infinitive, a present participle, or a past participle). Verbal periphrasis is used in the informal future, the present progressive, and the perfect tenses. You can learn more about verbal periphrasis in this article

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Spanish	English
coexistir	to coexist
conservar	to protect, to preserve
huir	to fly away (birds), to escape, to run away
imaginar	to imagine
quemarse	to get burned

Coexistir

Coexistir(to coexist) is an -ir verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	coexista	I coexist
tú	coexistas	you coexist	informal singular you
vos	coexistas	you coexist	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	coexista	he, she coexists
usted	coexista	you coexist	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	coexistamos	we coexist
vosotros, vosotras	coexistáis	you coexist	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	coexistan	they coexist
ustedes	coexistan	you coexist	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Conservar

Conservar(to protect) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	conserve	I protect
tú	conserves	you protect	informal singular you
vos	conserves	you protect	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	conserve	he, she protects
usted	conserve	you protect	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	conservemos	we protect
vosotros, vosotras	conservéis	you protect	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	conserven	they protect
ustedes	conserven	you protect	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Huir

Huir(to fly away, to escape) is an -ir verb that has a stem change in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	huya	I fly away
tú	huyas	you fly away	informal singular you
vos	huyas	you fly away	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	huya	he, she flies away
usted	huya	you fly away	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	huyamos	we fly away
vosotros, vosotras	huyáis	you fly away	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	huyan	they fly away
ustedes	huyan	you fly away	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Imaginar

Imaginar(to imagine) is an -ar verb that is regular in the present subjunctive.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	imagine	I imagine
tú	imagines	you imagine	informal singular you
vos	imagines	you imagine	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	imagine	he, she imagines
usted	imagine	you imagine	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	imaginemos	we imagine
vosotros, vosotras	imaginéis	you imagine	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	imaginen	they imagine
ustedes	imaginen	you imagine	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Quemarse

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

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me queme	I get burned
tú	te quemes	you get burned	informal singular you
vos	te quemes	you get burned	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se queme	he, she gets burned
usted	se queme	you get burned	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos quememos	we get burned
vosotros, vosotras	os queméis	you get burned	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se quemen	they get burned
ustedes	se quemen	you get burned	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. We can also use the subjunctive to talk about conditional outcomes and results.

Conditional Outcomes

This type of sentence describes what will happen if another action is completed. These actions are conditional upon another action being completed, so the subjunctive is used to convey a sense of uncertainty. Many phrases with conditional circumstances have connecting phrases or conjunctive expressions which introduce time limitations, conditions, concessions, or results.

In these lessons, you learned the following phrase that signals a result. This phrase helps us know that, since it’s discussing a conditional outcome, we need to use the subjunctive:

Spanish	English
para que	so that

examples
Estudia las especies para que las reconozcas. Study the species so that you recognize them.
Sí, para que imagines aventuras pasadas. Yes, so that you imagine past adventures.

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.

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.

Sonia:

Voy a visitar las islas Galápagos.

I'm going to visit the Galapagos Islands.

Víctor:

Escoge un buen guía para que te informe. Y ten cuidado con los mosquitos. ¡Hay muchos!

Choose a good guide to inform you. And be careful with the mosquitoes. There are loads!

Sonia:

Compraremos repelente para que no nos piquen. ¿Debo leer sobre piratas?

We'll buy insect repellent so that they don't bite us. Should I read about pirates?

Víctor:

Sí, para que imagines aventuras pasadas. Pero eso no es lo más importante.

Yes, so that you imagine past adventures. But that’s not the most important thing.

Sonia:

¿Qué es lo más importante? Si hablas de los animales, mantendremos una distancia prudente de ellos.

What’s the most important thing? If you’re talking about the animals, we'll keep a safe distance from them.

Víctor:

Sí, para que no los molestes.

Yes, so that you don't bother them.

Want to learn more about how to visit the Galapagos Islands in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• How to Sound like a Local in Ecuador

• Travel Guide: Peru

• Travel Guide: Chile