El Árbol Genealógico

Let’s review some vocabulary associated with ancestry and family trees. 

el padre	father
la madre	mother
el hermano	brother
la hermana	sister
los hermanos	siblings
el suegro	father-in-law
la suegra	mother-in-law
el cuñado	brother-in-law
la cuñada	sister-in-law
el esposo	husband
el marido	husband
la esposa	wife
el abuelo	grandfather
la abuela	grandmother
el bisabuelo	great-grandfather
la bisabuela	great-grandmother
el hijo	son
la hija	daughter
el nieto	grandson
la nieta	granddaughter
el bisnieto	great-grandson
la bisnieta	great-granddaughter
el tío	uncle
la tía	aunt
el primo	cousin
la prima	cousin
el sobrino	nephew
la sobrina	niece
el padrastro	stepfather
la madrastra	stepmother
el hijastro	stepson
la hijastra	stepdaughter
el hermanastro	stepbrother
la hermanastra	stepsister
el medio hermano	half brother
la media hermana	half sister
el consuegro	father-in-law
la consuegra	mother-in-law
el prometido	fiancé
la prometida	fiancée
el novio	boyfriend
la novia	girlfriend
el padrino	godfather
la madrina	godmother
el ahijado	godson
la ahijada	goddaughter

With the exception of el padre/la madre, you can tell the gender of the person on the family tree usually by whether or not the noun ends in –o or –a.    

Let’s practice making some sentences. Can you describe your family tree in Spanish? 

Mi madre es alta.  My mother is tall.

Mi padre es abogado.  My father is a lawyer.

La hermana es bonita.  The sister is pretty. 

Los abuelos vienen.  The grandparents are coming. 

El pardrastro tiene el gripe.  The stepfather has the flu.  

Yo soy el ahijado de Sr. Gómez.  I am Mr. Gómez’s godson.

El Sr. Gómez es mi padrino.  Mr. Gómez is my godfather.

¡Mi consuegra está enojada!  My mother-in-law is angry!

¿Viene a la fiesta tu hermanastro?  Is your stepbrother coming to the party?

Las sobrinas no tienen las mochilas.  The nieces don’t have the backpacks.

Mi prometido hace la cena.  My fiancé makes the dinner.

Los hijos estudian.  The sons/daughters study.

Vowels and Phonetics

The same 5 vowels that are in the English Alphabet are the vocals used in the Spanish alphabet as well.  It is very important to start practicing the pronunciation of Spanish vocals, because they are the root of each syllable in this language.  It will also facilitate comprehension when talking to someone because they will be more likely to understand you!

·         A  a  (pronounced , like the “o” in “mom”)

·         E  e  (pronounced like , with a slight “y” sound at the terminus, like the “a” in “cake”)

·         I  i  (pronounced , like the “ee” in “bee” or “keep”)

·         O  o (pronounced , but without closing your lips.  English equivalent doesn’t really exist.)

·         U  u (pronounced ,  like the “oo” in “kangaroo”) 

Some of the sounds will take some time to master, as they aren’t compatible sound-wise to that of their English counterparts.

Spanish is a far more phonetically accurate language than English.  What that means is that each letter has its own consistent sound.  There are only a handful of exceptions in the Spanish language, whereas English has thousands.  For example, the “gh” in English can either sound like “g” in “ghost”, like “w” in “slough” or “dough”, or like “f” in “laugh”.

Consonants

The consonants in the Spanish alphabet are roughly the same pronunciation as the English alphabet, with only a handful of exceptions.  The “g” is pronounced with a throaty, guttural “h” sound, as if clearing the throat, ONLY if it is found before “e”: 

el gerente ()

la gente ()

The “h” is always silent in Spanish:

la hache ()

el hermano ()

The “j” is pronounced like a throaty “h” sound, as if clearing the throat. 

la caja ()

la pareja ()

“V” is pronounced like the “b” in “bee”, as in the following words:

la voz ()

la cerveza ()

bonita Cuernavaca ()

The “x” is usually pronounced like the “j”.  Hence, “México” is pronounced , and in fact, is even written sometimes as “Méjico”! 

If a word begins with “x” (which is rare), it sounds out like an English “z”:

la ciudad de Xochimilco

“Z” is pronounced like an “s”, as in the following:

el alcatraz ()

el ajedrez ()

A key thing to remember about Spanish consonants is that they need to be pronounced very sharply, and not as slurred out as English consonants tend to do.  Therefore, “r” in English doesn’t sound the same way in Spanish; it is more abrupt in Spanish and, along with “t”, can sound like a “d” to an English speaker! 

The Real Academia de la Lengua Española (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language), which has governing authority over the alphabet as well as the language itself, has eliminated a couple of consonants.  In this way, Spanish differs from English in that the standard for the Spanish language is subject to a governing body in order to preserve it in perpetuity.  For English, our language standard is found in sources like the Webster’s Dictionary or Roget’s Thesaurus, but there really is no centralized regulation on the language and as such, English is subject to far more change and metamorphosis than Spanish.  The following letters have been removed in recent years from the Spanish alphabet.  They are, however, still used in practice when spelling words: 

·         CH  ch (Pronounced: )- Formerly the 4^th letter of the alphabet.  Pronounced like the English equivalent.  (“cheese”, “chess”) 

·         LL  ll (Pronounced: )– Formerly the 14^th letter of the alphabet.  Pronounced with a “y” sound, i.g. “llamo” is pronounced

·         RR  rr (Pronounced: )– Formerly the 22^nd letter of the alphabet.  Pronounced with a trilled lingual-fricative sound.  No English equivalent. 

Diphthongs

A diphthong is the combination of two weak vocals (like “i” and “u”) or a combination of a strong vocal (“a”, “e”, or “o”) with one of the weak vowels. 

A diphthong actually makes up one syllable and is sounded out accordingly.  A major pitfall of English speakers learning Spanish is that we regularly break up vowel sounds in English; however, this would sound odd in Spanish if we do that, and you’d sound like the quintessential “gringo”! 

Here are some common diphthongs and their Spanish pronunciations:  

·         “ie” = pronounced

·         “ua” = pronounced

·         “ia” = pronounced

·         “io” = pronounced

·         “ue” = pronounced

·         “ui” = pronounced

·         “ei” = pronounced

·         “au” = pronounced

Try saying the following words:

1.       el siete

2.       el cuaderno

3.       el juego

4.       la radio

5.       la jaula

6.       el estudiante

7.       la agua

8.       el juicio

9.       el secretario

10.    el seis

Accents and other Special Characters

As you have probably noticed, Spanish implements diacritical marks (accents) from time to time.  The accents ALWAYS fall on a vocal (vowel).  The stress of the pronunciation of the word falls where the accent lies. 

Accents are occasionally located over vowels that are part of a diphthong.  If this occurs, then the diphthong pronunciation is broken up and each vocal is sounded out.  Note the following: 

·         el río (pronounced

·         el baúl (pronounced

Another character that appears regularly in Spanish is the tilde, on the letter ñ.  This letter, pronounced , is found in words such as la mañana (, and el año (). 

You’ll also (very rarely) encounter the umlaut, which is used to sound out the “ü” when it appears after a “q” or “g”.  Without the umlaut, the “u” is silent.  Some words you’ll find with an umlaut are libro bilingüe (pronounced and la sangüesa (pronounced . 

In exclamation sentences, you’ll find the upside down exclamation point at the beginning of the sentence:

¡Hace buen tiempo!  What great weather!

With interrogative sentences, you’ll find the upside down question mark:

¿Qué quieres?  What do you want?

In the Spanish language, quotation marks are symbolized by brackets instead: “«” and “»”.  In practice a quotation in a Spanish sentence would look like this: 

«Tengo una pregunta.» - dijo el alumno.

Here is a chart that shows you the ALT codes so you can create them on your computer:

 

Symbol	ALT Code
Á	0193
É	0201
Í	0205
Ó	0211
Ú	0218
Ñ	0209
Ü	0220
á	0225
é	0233
í	0237
ó	0243
ú	0250
ñ	0241
ü	0252
¿	0191
¡	0161
«	0171
»	0187
€	0128

Non-Accented Words and the Penultimate Syllable

The penultimate syllable or the second-to-last syllable on a non-accented word usually gets the stress of the pronunciation. 

la basura

la computadora

la mochila

el/la estudiante

An exception occurs when the word ends in a hard consonant like d, j, r, t, or z.  In these cases, the stress falls on the last syllable.  Note the following: 

el reloj *The “j” makes a very throaty guttural sound.

el caminar

la actitud

el avestruz

el estado de Nayarit   

The Subjunctive Mood in the Past Tense

Things get a little more difficult when we’re using the subjunctive conjugations in the past tense.  So, let’s try to keep the discussion on this topic as simplistic as possible. 

A word of note: many grammar books and Spanish learning tools might present this topic as the “imperfect” subjunctive, which is unfortunately misleading to many students of the Spanish language.  We will continue to refer to this concept as the “past” subjunctive, since it embodies expressions that are either in the preterit or the imperfect tense. 

The main idea to remember is that these types of conjugations are used in the past tense.  If I express an idea in the present tense and I need to use the subjunctive, I use the present tense of the subjunctive, namely:

Necesito que vayas a la tienda.  I need you to go to the store.

Note that BOTH the indicative clause (Necesito….) and the subjunctive clause (vayas…) are conjugated in their respective present tense forms.  All we have to do to utilize the past tense of the subjunctive is to initialize the sentence with a past tense (preterit or imperfect) indicative trigger clause, like this:

Necesité que compraras unas verduras.  I needed you to buy some vegetables.

or

Necesitaba que compraras unas verduras.  I needed you to buy some vegetables.

In the above examples I outlined the past subjunctive verb compraras so you can get an idea on the ending.  I will explain how to conjugate them in the following section. 

Conjugating Past Subjunctive –Ar Verbs

In order to conjugate verbs for them to be used correctly, it is recommended that you are familiar with the 3^rd person plural form of the preterit tense.  Recall that –ar verbs usually end in –aron, while the –er/-ir verbs end in either –ieron or, less frequently, -yeron. 

To change in to the past subjunctive conjugation, simply drop the –ron from the third person plural preterit conjugation of the verb, and add the following suffixes:

yo: -ra	nosotros: -ramos
tú: -ras	vosotros: -rais
él, ella, Ud.: -ra	ellos, ellas, Uds.: -ran

In the nosotros form, the –a that precedes the conjugative suffix has an accent applied (-á).  Here is the conjugation of the verb mirar (to see, look at) in the past subjunctive (where you will note the nosotros form’s accent):

yo mirara	nosotros miráramos
tú miraras	vosotros mirarais
él, ella, Ud. mirara	ellos, ellas, Uds. miraran

Mi amigo esperaba que yo mirara el partido.  My friend was hoping I watched the game.

Los abuelos dejaban que miráramos la tele.  The grandparents let us watch television.

El maestro prohibió que los estudiantes miraran la película.  The teacher prohibited the students watching the film.

Here is the verb levantar (to lift):

yo levantara	nosotros levantáramos
tú levantaras	vosotros levantarais
él, ella, Ud. levantara	ellos, ellas, Uds. levantaran

El entrenador quería que yo levantara pesos.  The coach wanted me to lift weights.

El niño necesitaba que levantáramos el juguete pesado.  The boy needed us to lift the heavy toy.

Necesitábamos que tú levantaras el sofá.  We needed you to lift the sofa. 

Conjugating Past Subjunctive –Er and –Ir Verbs

Let’s look at some –er/-ir verbs conjugated in the past subjunctive.  Follow the same method of conjugating these as you did for the –ar verbs.  For example, here is the –er verb toser (to cough):

yo tosiera	nosotros tosiéramos
tú tosieras	vosotros tosierais
él, ella, Ud. tosiera	ellos, ellas, Uds. tosieran

El médico esperaba que yo no tosiera.  The doctor hoped that I wasn’t coughing.

Nuestra madre esperaba que no tosiéramos.  Our mother hoped we weren’t coughing.

Here is the verb reír (to laugh):

yo riera	nosotros riéramos
tú rieras	vosotros rierais
él, ella, Ud. riera	ellos, ellas, Uds. rieran

Mis padres eran alegres que riéramos.  My parents were happy that I was laughing.

El maestro estaba contento que los alumnos rieran.  The teacher was content that the students laughed. 

Estaba sorprendido que tú rieras.  I was surprised that you were laughing. 

Irregular Verbs in the Past Subjunctive

Remember the preterit tense verbs that were irregular?  Don’t forget that their 3^rd person plural conjugations were irregular as well and didn’t resemble their infinitive forms at all.  Here are all of the conjugations that you’ll need to know from all of the irregular preterit tense verbs:

tener (to have):  yo tuviera, tú tuvieras, él tuviera, nosotros tuviéramos, vosotros tuvierais, ellos tuvieran

poner (to put, to place):  yo pusiera, tú pusieras, él pusiera, nosotros pusiéramos, vosotros pusierais, ellos pusieran

saber (to know):  yo supiera, tú supieras, él supiera, nosotros supiéramos, vosotros supierais, ellos supieran

poder (to be able to):  yo pudiera, tú pudieras, él pudiera, nosotros pudiéramos, vosotros pudierais, ellos pudieran

dar (to give):  yo diera, tú dieras, él diera, nosotros diéramos, vosotros dierais, ellos dieran

decir (to say, to tell):  yo dijera, tú dijeras, él dijera, nosotros dijéramos, vosotros dijerais, ellos dijeran

hacer (to do, to make):  yo hiciera, tú hicieras, él hiciera, nosotros hiciéramos, vosotros hicierais, ellos hicieran

andar (to walk):  yo anduviera, tú anduvieras, él anduviera, nosotros anduviéramos, vosotros anduvierais, ellos anduvieran

estar (to be): yo estuviera, tú estuvieras, él estuviera, nosotros estuviéramos, vosotros estuvierais, ellos estuvieran

traer (to bring): yo trajera, tú trajeras, él trajera, nosotros trajéramos, vosotros trajerais, ellos trajeran

querer (to want, to love): yo quisiera, tú quisieras, él quisiera, nosotros quisiéramos, vosotros quisierais, ellos quisieran

conducir (to drive): yo condujera, tú condujeras, él condujera, nosotros condujéramos, vosotros condujerais, ellos condujeran

The verbs ser (to be) and ir (to go), as you recall, are the same conjugation in the preterit tense.  Since we are forming the past subjunctive from the 3^rd person plural preterit, then both verbs are conjugated the same in the past subjunctive, as well:

ser (to be) & ir (to go): yo fuera, tú fueras, él fuera, nosotros fuéramos, vosotros fuerais, ellos fueran

Verbs with Spelling Changes in the Past Subjunctive

If you recall, there are some verbs that, when conjugated in the 3^rd person preterit tense, exhibit a change in the spelling of their roots.  The verbs include morir (to die):

yo muriera, tú murieras, él muriera, nosotros muriéramos, vosotros murierais, ellos murieran

and verbs like pedir (to ask for): 

yo pidiera, tú pidieras, él pidiera, nosotros pidiéramos, vosotros pidierais, ellos pidieran