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Spanish/Week 8

The near future, and joining sentences together

Ir a plus a verb gets you the future for almost no effort. Connectors then turn a list of sentences into a story.

Colours live this week

10 of 10 in play
Noun

A thing, a person or a place.

Verb

An action or a state — what is happening.

Adjective

Describes a noun.

Adverb

Modifies a verb or an adjective.

Article

the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.

Pronoun

Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.

Preposition

Links words together — to, in, of, for.

Conjunction

Joins two parts of a sentence.

Question word

Opens a question — where, when, how, why.

Fixed chunk

Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.

Teal conjunctions and gold sequence adverbs do the heavy lifting. Adverbs also carry a dotted underline, so you can pick them out at a glance.

The easiest tense in Spanish

Take ir in the present, add a, then a verb in its dictionary form. Voy a comer. No new endings, no participles. It is the exact equivalent of the French aller plus infinitive, and of the English I'm going to.

Ir a plus an infinitive

SubjectirIn a sentenceEnglish
yovoy aVoy a comer.I'm going to eat.
ustedva a¿Va a visitar el museo?Are you going to visit the museum?
nosotrosvamos aVamos a reservar una mesa.We're going to book a table.
él / ellava aVa a llamar.He's going to call.

Connectors

Teal joins two ideas inside one sentence.

  • yand
    He comido y he bebido.I've eaten and I've drunk.

    Becomes e before a word starting with i- or hi-.

  • perobut
    Es bueno pero caro.It's good but expensive.
  • porquebecause
    …porque estoy jubilado.…because I'm retired.

    One word, no accent. ¿Por qué? with an accent is the question.

  • así queso, and so
  • entoncesthen, in that case

Sequence words

Gold puts your events in order. Four of these turn a heap of sentences into a narrative.

  • primerofirst
    Primero, tomé un café.First, I had a coffee.
  • luegothen
    Luego, fui al parque.Then I went to the park.
  • despuésafterwards
    Después, vi a mi hijo.Afterwards, I saw my son.
  • por finfinally
    Por fin, volví a casa.Finally, I went home.

Sentence frames

  1. 1

    Voy a infinitive.

    I'm going to ___.

  2. 2

    clause, pero / porque / así que, clause

    …, but / because / so, …

    Any two clauses you already know, joined.

  3. 3

    Primero … luego … después … por fin …

    First … then … afterwards … finally …

    The story spine. Hang anything you like on it.

A five-sentence story

Past, future and connectors together. Read it aloud, then rebuild it with your own day.

Primero, tomé un café.

Luego, fui al parque.

Después, vi a mi hijo.

Por fin, volví a casa.

Mañana, voy a reservar una mesa.

Before you read the translation

  • 1How many different tenses are at work here?
  • 2Which four gold words carry the whole shape of the story?

First I had a coffee. Then I went to the park. Afterwards I saw my son. Finally I went home. Tomorrow I'm going to book a table.

The personal a

Vi a mi hijo — I saw my son. Spanish puts a little a in front of a person who is the object of a verb, where English puts nothing at all. It has no translation and it is not optional. Vi el parque, but vi a mi hijo.

Daily mini-tasks

Listening this week

Easy Spanish or Español con Juan — someone recounting a day

YouTube and podcast apps

Listen for the primero … luego … después … por fin skeleton underneath the story.

Milestone

By the end of this week you should be able to:

  • 01Conjugate high-frequency verbs in the present for yo, usted, él/ella and nosotros.
  • 02Choose correctly between ser and estar in ordinary sentences.
  • 03Ask for directions, prices and times using the question words.
  • 04Recount today with the perfect and yesterday with the simple past.
  • 05Talk about near-future plans using ir a plus an infinitive, and join clauses with y, pero, porque and así que.