Past Participle / El participio

To form the past participle (participio) of most verbs, change the infinitive ending:
from -ar to -ado: terminar  terminado	from -er, -ir to -ido: comer  comido ; vivir  vivido
-er and -ir verbs whose stems end in a strong vowel (a ,e ,o) add -ído: caer : caído • creer : creído • leer : leído • oír : oído • reír : reído • traer : traído BUT: construir : construido (because the stem ends in a weak vowel, u).
The following irregular forms exist:
abrir : abierto cubrir : cubierto decir : dicho ; predecir : predicho escribir : escrito ; describir: descrito hacer : hecho morir : muerto	poner : puesto ; suponer : supuesto resolver : resuelto romper : roto satisfacer : satisfecho ver : visto volver : vuelto ; devolver : devuelto
together with verbs derived from them: absolver: absuelto, componer: compuesto, descubrir: descubierto, inscribir: inscrito.
- The participle has no feminine or plural in tenses with haber: Las niñas han salido. (§53) - When used as an adjective, though, it needs to agree in number and gender with the noun:La música escrita, el libro escrito, los documentos escritos.

 The past participle (such as English known, defeated, written, lost, etc.) is used:

• with haber to form compound perfect tenses (see §53).

• with ser to form the passive voice (see §41).

• as an adjective: Voy a ver unos programas hechos en España.
Las circunstancias descritas en la película son fascinantes.

• with estar (also as an adjective) to describe a condition or state:

La ventana está rota. Todavía no estamos preparados. Las tiendas están cerradas por la noche. Para 1492, España ya estaba unificada.

The window is broken. We're not ready yet. Stores are closed during the night. By 1492, Spain was already unified.

Más ejercicios y la página original aquí.

El gerundio y el infinitivo

A. THE GERUNDIO is used for actions in progress (present participle in English):

A1. with the appropriate form of estar (or hay) to form the progressive tenses:

Lisa está estudiando.
Estamos aprendiendo.
No hay nadie hablando.Lisa is studying.
We are learning.
There’s no one talking.

  Note that in Spanish this construction cannot be used to express the future, as it frequently is in English (I am leaving next week). The simple present can be used in this sense: “Salgo la próxima semana”.

A2. with the verbs seguir and continuar to mean "go on doing something":

Continuó diciendo.
Siguió cantando.He went on saying.
She continued to sing.

   Note that, unlike English, Spanish does not offer the option of using an infinitive after seguir or continuar:
He went on to say → Siguió diciendo.

A3. to express "by doing" or "while doing" something (no preposition in Spanish):

Vas a mejorar estudiando mucho.
Me duermo leyendo esto.You are going to improve by studying a lot.
I fall asleep (while) reading this.

 Spanish does not use the gerundio as an adjective.Clauses or different expressions have to be used:

the answering machine
a never-ending process
passengers carrying a big case...
an intriguing beginning
a disappointing endingla máquina contestadora (el contestador)
un proceso que nunca termina (interminable)
los pasajeros que llevan una maleta grande...
un comienzo intrigante
un final decepcionante

 B. THE INFINITIVE is the verb form that Spanish uses as a noun:

B1. as the subject of a sentence or the object of a verb*:

Ver es creer.
No me gusta estudiar.
Decidir casi siempre es difícil.Seeing is believing.
I don't like studying.
Deciding is difficult most of the time.

B2. immediately after any preposition:

Voy a salir después de comer.
Es su manera de hablar.
Habla sin usar las manos.I am going to leave after eating.
It's his/her way of speaking.
He speaks without using his hands.

 Note that, unlike English, Spanish does not use thegerundio after prepositions or as the subject of a sentence. The infinitive must be used in such cases:
the problem of leaving → el problema de salirliving is good → vivir es bueno

*  Many verbs require no preposition before the infinitive: Quiero dormir.
Some, however, require different prepositions: Sueño con viajar. Ayudan a mejorar. Tratamos de entender. (See Appendix D).

Más ejercicios aquí.

La historia de Europa en 3 minutos

Continuando con la clase de historia de España, aquí tenéis un video muy ilustrativo de las transformaciones en las fronteras en Europa, que puede ayudar mucho a entender la historia de lo que llegará a ser España en el siglo XX y XXI.

Investigación Cultural

-Cultural research points are given individually, reflecting effort and student level. Points awarded can change depending on student.

-Each student has to achieve 7 cultural research points each half term, without deadlines.

-Students can choose an activity from the proposed pool, or agree a new one with the teacher.
-There will be a prize for the top achiever and the most interesting project every half term.

1 Point tasks:

Watch a chapter of a series in Spanish and write a brief review.

Watch a film related to a Spanish speaking country´s culture or history, write a brief review.

Read an article about a relevant topic in a Spanish newspaper and write a brief summary.

3 points tasks:

Watch a film in Spanish and write a review.

Read a book about a Spanish speaking country´s culture or history, write a brief review.

Go to a restaurant and write a review.
Go to a Spanish art or history exhibition and write a review.

5 points tasks:

Read several articles about a relevant topic in different Spanish newspapers. Write a journalistic article about the topic in Spanish.

Cook a dish, take photos and write a post for the blog with the receipt. Bring a taster to the teacher.

Read a short story in Spanish. Write a review.

Leave your proposals in the comments!

La Excepción

http://grooveshark.com/laexcepcion

I noticed that "La Excepción" was one, if not the most, succesfull song the other day. Here you have a playlist from this Hip Hop band.

Karaoke en español

Imperfect and Preterite Contrasted

A. The preterite is a "perfect" tense because it reports events viewed as completed within a finite time frame. An "imperfect" tense conveys duration, progression, incompleteness:

IMPERFECT (duration)	PERFECT (PRETERITE: completion)
Los indígenas no aceptaban a los europeos. The natives would not accept Europeans (for some time).	Algunos nunca los aceptaron. Some (definitely) never did.
El sábado nevaba y hacía frío. It was snowing on Saturday, and it was cold. (for some time)	El sábado nevó todo el día. It snowed all day on Saturday. (time frame)
El año pasado asistía mucho a conciertos. Last year I used to attend concerts a lot (often).	El año pasado asistí a muchos conciertos. Last year I attended many concerts.

B. For narration, each tense has a distinct function:

IMPERFECT (duration)	PRETERITE (completion)
gives background information, describes what was happening	reports completed actions, tells what happened
It was raining... Llovía (o estaba lloviendo)...	when I woke up, cuando me desperté.
describes a state or condition	reports a change in condition
He was fine before the winter, ... Estaba bien antes del invierno, ...	but in January he got sick because of the cold. pero en enero se enfermó por el frío.

C. As was mentioned in §28, a few verbs have slightly different meanings in the preterite. All of them, however, follow the general idea of duration for the imperfect and of completeness for the preterite:

	Imperfect	Preterite
poder	could, had the ability to	managed to (or failed to if negative)
querer	wanted, had the intention to	tried to (or refused if negative)
conocer	previously knew for some time	met, got to know for the first time
saber	had knowledge for some time	learned, found out at a specific point

See §22 to review the difference between conocer and saber

Los conocía antes de viajar. I knew them before traveling.	Los conocí al viajar. I met them while traveling
¿Qué sabía Bush del ataque? What did Bush know of the attack?	¿Cuándo supo Bush del ataque? When did Bush find out about the attack?
No sabía que eras chilena. I did not know you were Chilean.	Ayer supe que eras de Chile. Yesterday I learned you were from Chile.
De niño podía jugar todo el día. As a child, I could play all day.	También pude hacer muchos amigos. I also had the opportunity to make many friends.
Como no podíamos salir, ... Since we couldn’t go out, ...	no pudimos ver los fuegos artificiales. we were unable to see the fireworks.
Queríamos ir de compras, ... We wanted to go shopping, ...	pero mi madre no quiso darnos dinero. but my mother refused to give us some money.

The original website of this content + some exercises here.

The Imperfect / El imperfecto

 A. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR IMPERFECT FORMS

1. Regular:
ayudar  ayudaba, ayudabas, ayudaba, ayudábamos, ayudabais, ayudaban (used to help)
atender  atendía, atendías, atendía, atendíamos, atendíais, atendían (used to pay attention to)
asistir  asistía, asistías, asistía, asistíamos, asistíais, asistían (used to attend)

2. Only three verbs have irregular forms in the imperfect:

ir:

iba ibas iba íbamos ibais iban

ser:

era eras era éramos erais eran

ver:

veía veías veía veíamos veíais veían

 B. USES OF THE IMPERFECT / USOS DEL IMPERFECTO

1. To describe in the past: the background or setting, situations, conditions, and actions that were in progress (was/were ...ing):

Eran las seis. Tenía doce años. Estaba enfermo y leía en cama. Afuera llovía. De pronto...

It was six. I was twelve. I was sick and was reading in bed. It was raining outside. Suddenly...

2. To describe habitual, customary actions, or things that used to happen in the past without specific reference to a beginning or end (imperfective, incomplete) (used to, would):

Iban al cine todos los viernes. Iba mucho al parque cuando era joven. Estaba informada porque leía mucho.

They used to go to the movies every Friday. I would to go the park a lot when I was young. She was (and stayed) informed because she (habitually) read a lot.

This means that time expressions conveying repetition are often clues for selecting the imperfect: con frecuencia, cada semana, siempre, a veces, etc.

Tip:  Whenever you could say used to or was/were...ing in English, you need the imperfect in Spanish.

The original website of this content + some exercises here.

The Preterite Tense / El tiempo pretérito

 A. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR PRETERITE FORMS see charts by Professor Barbara Kuczun Nelson

1. Regular:
ayudar ayudé, ayudaste, ayudó, ayudamos, ayudasteis, ayudaron (helped)
atender atendí, atendiste, atendió, atendimos, atendisteis, atendieron (took care of, paid attention to)
asistir asistí, asististe, asistió, asistimos, asististeis, asistieron (attended)

2. Most Common Irregular Preterites:

dar : decir: estar: hacer: poder: poner: querer: saber: ser / ir: tener: traer: venir:

di dije estuve hice pude puse quise supe fui tuve traje vine

diste dijiste estuviste hiciste pudiste pusiste quisiste supiste fuiste tuviste trajiste viniste

dio dijo estuvo hizo pudo puso quiso supo fue tuvo trajo vino

dimos dijimos estuvimos hicimos pudimos pusimos quisimos supimos fuimos tuvimos trajimos vinimos

disteis dijisteis estuvisteis hicisteis pudisteis pusisteis quisisteis supisteis fuisteis tuvisteis trajisteis vinisteis

dieron dijeron estuvieron hicieron pudieron pusieron quisieron supieron fueron tuvieron trajeron vinieron

3. Observations:
• The 3rd plural ending of decir and traer is -eron and not -ieron.
• Ver is regular, but its stem is only the letter v: vi, viste, vio, vimos, vieron.
• Verbs derived from irregular verbs are like them in every way. For example, the preterite of obtener is obtuve.
Other common examples: distraer, distraje; intervenir, intervine; predecir, predije; proponer, propuse; satisfacer, satisfice; sostener, sostuve.
• The 3rd person singular and plural of -er and -ir verbs whose stems end in a vowel, will end in -yó and -yeron:
   caer: cayó, cayeron  •  construir: construyó, construyeron  •  creer: creyó, creyeron  •  
   destruir: destruyó, destruyeron  •  influir: influyó, influyeron  •  leer: leyó, leyeron  •  oír: oyó, oyeron.
• The slightly irregular forms of the preterite of reír (and sonreír) are as follows:
reí, reíste, rio, reímos, reísteis, rieron
• All -ir stem-changing verbs change -o to -u or -e to -i in the third person singular and plural of the preterite
(see summary):
dormir: durmió, durmieron  •  repetir: repitió, repitieron  •  divertir: divirtió, divirtieron
• Regular verbs ending in -car, -gar, -guar, and -zar have a spelling change in the first person singular to maintain the pronunciation of the stem according to Spanish consistent system (see §1):
buscar: busqué  •  llegar: llegué  •  averiguar: averigüé  •  empezar: empecé.
• Verbs ending in –ducir (conducir, deducir, inducir):
produje, produjiste, produjo, produjimos, produjisteis, produjeron

B.  USES OF THE PRETERITE / USOS DEL PRETÉRITO

1. to express events completed once or several times in the past ("complete" events):

Entré y me senté. Me ayudó varias veces. ¿Decidiste asistir a la conferencia?

I came in and sat down. He assisted me several times. Did you decide to attend the lecture?

2. to express actions that have clear beginnings or ends (framed within a finite time period, seen as complete):

Vivió allí desde 1958. Julio César vivió 57 años. Bebieron hasta las cuatro de la mañana.

He lived there since 1958. Julius Caesar lived for 57 years. They drank until four am.

The original website of this content + some exercises here.

Crónica de la guerra europea 1914-1918

Spain and the Hispano-American countries were neutral during the Great War, but the first big novel about it was by an Spaniard: Vicente Blasco Ibañez. It was an instant world wide best seller, first published in 1916 and translated into English in 1919. His novel was translated into many languages and had two film adaptations. If you want to know more...

Inmigrantes españoles en Alemania

"La inmigración en Europa es un problema" ¿Estás o no estás de acuerdo con esta afirmación?

Presente de subjuntivo

The Forms of the Present Subjunctive / Las formas del presente del subjuntivo

	present indicative	PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE
ayudar poner seguir	yo ayud-ø   yo pong-ø   yo sig-ø	ayude ayudes ayude ayudemos ayudéis ayuden ponga pongas ponga pongamos pongáis pongan siga sigas siga sigamos sigáis sigan

In order to form the present subjunctive, use the first person singular of the present indicative –the yo form–, remove the -o, and add endings in -e for -ar verbs, and endings in -a for -er and -ir verbs. This change of vowel may involve some spelling changes:
pag-ø  pague busc-ø  busque empiez-ø  empiece

• Stem-changing verbs in -ar and -er change their stems in the same way and in the same cases as in the present indicative:

piense vuelva

pienses vuelvas

piense vuelva

pensemos volvamos

penséis volváis

piensen vuelvan

• Stem-changing verbs in -ir, whatever the change that occurs in the present indicative, change the stem of thenosotros and vosotros forms of the present subjunctive from e to i and from o to u. (see complete rules.)

muera sienta pida

mueras sientas pidas

muera sienta pida

muramos sintamos pidamos

muráis sintáis pidáis

mueran sientan pidan

Only six verbs do not follow the rules above to form the present subjunctive:

ir  →  vaya, vayas, vaya, vayamos, vayáis vayan ser  →  sea seas sea seamos seáis sean estar  →  esté estés esté estemos estéis estén saber  →  sepa sepas sepa sepamos sepáis sepan haber  →  haya hayas haya hayamos hayáis hayan (subjunctive for hay) dar  →  dé des dé demos deis den

Subjunctive?

All the verbs we have studied so far have been in the Indicative Mood because they indicate states or actions that are presented as factual. The Subjunctive Mood is used, mostly in dependent clauses, after verbs that suggest non-factual events, such as indirect commands, doubts, subjective perception, etc. Compare the following two groups of sentences:

Presented as factual (indicative):	Desired, doubted (subjunctive):
I insist that he is here. Insisto en que está aquí.	I insist that he be here. Insisto en que esté aquí.
I believe he did it. Creo que lo hizo.	I demand that he do it. Exijo que lo haga.
I know he is here. Sé que está aquí.	I doubt he'll be here. Dudo que esté aquí.

The original website of this content + some exercises here.

El futuro compuesto

 Future with ir a

• Just like English says, "I am going to...", Spanish uses the verb ir and the preposition a followed by the infinitive:

Voy a cantar mañana. ¿Cuándo vas a entenderme? ¿Qué va a ocurrir?

Vamos a decidir la semana que viene. No vais a ver nada. No van a ir.

• Some useful terms to indicate future occurrences:

después later	mañana tomorrow	pasado mañana the day after tomorrow
más tarde later	esta tarde this afternoon	esta noche tonight
esta semana this week	la próxima semana  next week	el mes, el año próximo next month, year
este mes this month	la próxima vez next time	el año, el mes que viene next year, month

Webjercicios aquí + página 101 ej.3 + pág. 102 ej 4

El Condicional

THE CONDITIONAL is used as it is in English:

¡Felipe no diría eso nunca! No me molestaría darte un beso. Sería maravilloso saber bailar.

Felipe would never say that! I wouldn't mind giving you a kiss. It would be wonderful to know how to dance.

• Spanish also uses the conditional to express conjectures about past situations:

No vino ayer: estaría enferma. ¿Se le olvidaría la cita?

She didn't come. She was probably sick. Maybe he forgot about the appointment.

 English frequently uses the word would to express past habitual actions. Spanish uses the imperfect in such cases:
As a child, I would go to the movies all the time.De niño, iba al cine todo el tiempo

FOR POLITE REQUESTS:

• Quisiera is often used for I would like instead of the conditional (Querría is generally avoided).

¿Quisieras acompañarme? Quisiera ir a Perú algún día. Me gustaría ir a Perú.

Would you like (want) to go with me? I would like to go to Peru some day.

• Would you...?, Could you...? involve either the conditional or the past subjunctive of poder:

¿Me pudiera Ud. dar información? (formal) ¿Me podrías dar información? (just polite)

Could/Would you give me some information?

 Hay is expressed in these tenses with the future or conditional of haber in the 3rd person singular:

No habrá problemas en el país. Si hubiera más educación,    habría menos guerras.

There won’t be any problems in the country. If there were more education,    there would be fewer wars.

Ejercicios: estos webejercicios 

Adverbios

 GENERAL USE

Adverbs provide more information about verbs or adjectives by describing how an action is performed, how often it is done, how intense a quality is, etc.:

Habla bien. No estudiamos demasiado. Es bastante difícil.

She speaks well. We do not study too much. It is quite difficult.

• Adverbs have no feminine or plural forms, and are placed as close to the verb as possible:

Son bastante difíciles. Las peras están demasiado viejas. Me gustan mucho las fiestas.

They’re quite difficult. The pears are too old. I like parties a lot.

 Some adverbs, however, are also adjectives. As all other adjectives, thus, these must agree with the noun in number and gender: Tiene muchos problemas, bastantes preocupaciones y demasiadas deudas.

FORMATION OF ADVERBS FROM ADJECTIVES

• To form an adverb add -mente to the feminine form of an adjective:

lento → lentamente rápido → rápidamente

feliz → felizmente difícil → difícilmente

 When used in a series, only the last adjective will add the suffix -mente:
Trabaja rápida y eficazmente.He works quickly and efficiently.

• The suffix -mente is rarely used with adjectives ending in -nte. Use adverbial phrases instead:

interestingly frequently intelligently elegantly more importantly

de manera interesante con frecuencia con inteligencia, de forma inteligente con elegancia lo que es más importante

• The common adjectives bueno and malo have their own corresponding adverbial forms:

(good) bueno → bien (well)	(bad) malo → mal (badly)
Ella habla bien el italiano, pero canta mal. Ejercicios: página 26 y 27 + estos webejercicios

El futuro

Future (will)
hablaré hablarás hablará hablaremos hablaréis hablarán	viviré vivirás vivirá viviremos viviréis vivirán

• The future and conditional have the same endings for all verbs.

• The stem is generally the infinitive, but some verbs (and their compounds) differ slightly:

decir: diré caber: cabrá haber: habrá hacer: harás

poder: podremos poner: pondrá querer: querrás saber: sabrás

salir: saldrá tener: tendré valer: valdrá venir: vendrá

 A. THE FUTURE is used as it is in English:

Esta mesa no cabrá en el auto. Prepararemos la cena cuando llegues. Habrá mejores oportunidades algún día.

This table won't fit in the car. We'll prepare dinner when you get here. There will be better opportunities some day.

• Spanish also uses the future to express some conjectures (conjeturas):

No contesta el teléfono: estará fuera. ¿Le pasará algo?

He won't answer the phone –perhaps he’s out. Maybe something's happening to him/her.

 Sometimes, English will or won't does not refer to the future but rather implies want, in which case it must be expressed with the appropriate verb (usually querer) in Spanish:
He won't speak with me.No quiere hablar conmigo.

 Remember that the present subjunctive is used to express future, hypothetical events in subordinate clauses (as seen in sections 44-50):

No creemos que tenga ningún problema. Ojalá que no haya examen mañana.

We don't think he'll have any problems. I hope there won't be an exam tomorrow.

For exercises, click here (do only future!)

Future

20. Future with ir a

• Just like English says, "I am going to...", Spanish uses the verb ir and the preposition a followed by the infinitive:

Voy a cantar mañana. ¿Cuándo vas a entenderme? ¿Qué va a ocurrir?

Vamos a decidir la semana que viene. No vais a ver nada. No van a ir.

• Some useful terms to indicate future occurrences:

después later	mañana tomorrow	pasado mañana the day after tomorrow
más tarde later	esta tarde this afternoon	esta noche tonight
esta semana this week	la próxima semana  next week	el mes, el año próximo next month, year
este mes this month	la próxima vez next time	el año, el mes que viene next year, month

For the exercises, click here.

Stem-changing verbs

All Spanish verbs have a stem (la raíz) and an ending (-ar, -er, -ir): pensar, volver, pedir. There is a large group of verbs that change their stem in the present tense when the stem vowel is stressed. There are three types: those that change -e to -ie-, those that change -o- to -ue- and those that change -e- to -i-:

to think:	to come back:	to ask (for):
pensar (ie) pienso piensas piensa pensamos pensáis piensan	volver (ue) vuelvo vuelves vuelve volvemos volvéis vuelven	pedir (i) pido pides pide pedimos pedís piden

Common verbs following these patterns in the present tense:
e > ie: cerrar, comenzar, empezar, entender, pensar, perder, preferir, querer, sentir
e > i: elegir, (im)pedir, seguir, servir, (son)reír
o > ue: contar, dormir, encontrar, morir, mostrar, poder, resolver, volar, volver

Jugar has a different stem change, from u to ue in the same places:
juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan.

Note: All -ir stem-changing verbs change their stems in other tenses (see appendix A).

For exercises, click here. Do also 'Ponte a punto' exercises 1 and 2 in page 88 in the grammar book.

Exámenes de A levels

Aquí tenéis un enlace a la página de Edexcel donde podéis descargar exámenes desde 2008 hasta la actualidad. Me gustaría hacer el examen de 'January 2010' para el lunes que viene, 29 de septiembre.

Verbos reflexivos

There are a considerable number of verbs whose meanings change when used 

reflexively, although many can be used as transitive verbs, too. An interesting case 

is sentir, to feel, which takes a reflexive pronoun with adjectives and adverbs (se 

siente alegre, se siente bien), but not otherwise (siente alegría). Here are some other 

verbs (see also general list):

comunicarse (con) dormirse (ue) enamorarse (de) esforzarse (por) (ue) irse llevarse preocuparse (por) quedarse quejarse (de)

to communicate (with) (comunicar: to communicate something) to go to sleep (dormir: to sleep) to fall in love (with) (enamorar: to seduce) to make an effort to (only used reflexively) to go away, leave (ir: to go somewhere) to carry off something (llevar: to carry somewhere) to be worried (about) (preocupar: to worry someone) to stay (quedar: to remain, to be or have left). to complain (about) (only used reflexively)

If you want to do some exercises or extend the explanation, follow this link to the page were this text was found.

Música en español

Fusión de flamenco y jazz latino. Bebo Valdés y Diego el Cigala, del disco ´Lágrimas Negras´

Heavy Metal. Versión de Rata Blanca de un clásico de Baron Rojo, del album ´Larga vida al... volumen brutal´


Reggae. Manu Chao, disco completo ´Clandestino´


Y aquí tenéis una lista con algunos de las mejores bandas españolas de rap. Espero que os guste.

La tilde

Written accents (tildes) 

Overview - text from SpanishDict - do some online practice here

What are all those little "accents" for? Tildes (written accent marks) let the reader know where to place the intonation when a rule is broken. Without the tilde, we would just have to guess like we do in English:
I love that record vs. He loves to record music.

When to Use an Accent

There are lots of heteronyms like record in English and the rules for pronunciation are a little vague. But not in Spanish! Knowing the four categories of words makes positioning the tilde super easy. There are only 2 rules if you already know your word stress rules.

1. Esdrújulas and sobresdrújulas always have a tilde on the syllable with the most stress.
2. Agudas and graves have a tilde when they violate the intonation rules (see below)

Basic Intonation Rules

1. If the stress is on the last syllable (aguda) and the word ends in vowel, n, or s, it must have a tilde.

• Panamá
• ratón
• cortés

2. If the stress is on the penultimate syllable (grave) and the word ends in a consonant other than n or s, it must have a tilde

• árbol
• azúcar
• ángel

Expanded Intonation Rules

If you do not know what agudas, graves, etc. are, the rules for using tildes, you can read our article on word stress, or continue reading below.

1. Words that end in a vowel, an -n, or an -s will be stressed on the second to last (penultimate) syllable and will not have a tilde.

• ga’-to
• ca’-sa
• za-pa’-tos
• o-ri’-gen

2. Words that end in a consonant other than -n or -s will be stressed on the last syllable and will not have a tilde.

• doc-tor’
• ciu-dad’
• a-zul’
• ha-blar’

If a word violates either of these two rules, it will need a tilde to show the reader where to pronounce the word.

• fácil - This word ends in a consonant (so it would be stressed on the last syllable, but it is stressed on the penultimate syllable, so it needs a tilde.)
• está - This word ends in a vowel (so it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable, but it is stressed on the last vowel, so it needs a tilde.)

Also, if a word is stressed on any syllable other than the last or 2nd to last, it will always require a tilde.

• América - This word ends in a vowel (so it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable, but it is stressed on the 3rd to last (ante-penultimate) syllable, so it needs a tilde.)
• Mándamelo - This word ends in a vowel (so it would be stressed on the penultimate syllable, but it is stressed on the 4th to last (ante-penultimate) syllable, so it needs a tilde.

Exceptions

Now, if you´ve ever taken a language course before, you know there are always (dreaded word) exceptions to the rules. Spanish has fewer exceptions than a lot of languages. These are all here because the tilde differentiates two words that are spelled and pronounced the same way, but mean different things. It´s all obvious in context, but when writing things out, it's nice to have the extra little signal up there.

Possessive adjectives	Personal pronouns
mi (my)	mí (me)
tu (your)	tú (you)

Examples:

• Mi amor me dio la rosa a mí. (My love gave me a rose.)
• Tienes un gato. Es tu gato. (You have a cat. It is your cat.)

Interrogatives/Question Words

All interrogative (question) words have a written accent to signal that someone is asking a question and not just making a statement.

¿Cómo?	How/What?
¿Cuál(es)?	Which (ones)?
¿Cuándo?	When?
¿Cuánto(s)/a(s)?	How much/many?
¿Dónde?	Where?
¿Qué?	What?
¿Quién?	Who/whom?
¿Por qué?	Why?

There are also several other words that "just have" accents to differentiate them other similar words. The tilde makes a big difference when written, but in speech, although they share the same sounds, the one with the tilde is pronounced with more stress.

él (he)	el (the)	Él le gusta el queso. (He likes the cheese.)
té (tea)	te (you - direct object)	Te recomiendo que bebas el té. (I recommend that you drink the tea.)
sí (yes)	si (if)	Sí, quiero ir al cafe si tienen la pizza. (Yes, I want to go to the cafe if they have pizza.)
más (more)	mas (but)	Quiero más chocolate, mas es mala idea. (I want more chocolate, but it´s a bad idea.)
aún (still, yet)	aun (even)	Aun después de una cita buena, aún él no me ha llamado. (Even after a good date, he still has not called me.)
cómo (how/what)	como (like, as)	¿Cómo se llama él? ¿Es alto como Pablo? (What is his name? Is he tall like Pablo?)
sólo (only)	solo (alone)	Iré sólo si tú vas también; no quiero ir solo. (I will go only if you go; I don't want to go alone.)

Escuchando vasco, catalán y gallego

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Crystal Palace es mejor equipo que Manchester United

Una razón por la que el equipo de Manchester United es peor que el equipo del Crystal Palace sería porque el Crystal Palace gana contra los equipos menores y Manchester United no lo hace. Esto ha sido demostrado en las últimas semanas. Por ejemplo, Arsenal es mucho mejor que Swansea City. Ambos equipos perdieron, pero Manchester United perdió contra Swansea City, el peor equipo.  Manchester United empato hasta contra Burnley F.C, posiblemente el equipo más malo en la liga. El Crystal Palace anoto tres goles contra un equipo de la parte más alta de la clasificación en la liga.