English Language Essentials: Vocabulary and Grammar

Essential English Vocabulary

Leisure Activities & General Terms

• Ballet classes: clases de ballet
• Doing sport: fent esport
• Free time: temps lliure
• Go out: sortir
• Good at: bo en
• Graffiti artist: graffiter
• Learning to play: aprenent a tocar
• Play: jugar
• Spending time with my friends: passar temps amb els meus amics
• Spray paint: pintura en aerosol
• Chatting: xatejar
• Cooking: cuinar
• Doing crossword puzzles: fer encreuats
• Doing photography: fer fotos
• Drawing: dibuixar
• Hiking: senderisme
• Painting: pintar
• Playing cards: jugar cartes
• Playing chess: jugar escacs
• Playing ice hockey: jugar a hoquei sobre gel
• Playing table football: jugar a futbolí
• Surfing the Net: navegar per la xarxa
• Match: relacionar
• Point out: assenyalar
• Remove: treure
• Involved: implicats
• Doubt: dubte
• Catch: agafar
• Easy: fàcil
• Strong: fort
• Hard: difícil
• Compare: comparar
• Realize: adonar-se de
• Discover: descobrir
• Destructive: destructiu
• Smart: intel·ligent
• Hard-working: treballador
• Leisure: oci
• Most of them: la majoria d'ells
• Remarks: observacions
• Chat: xerrada (noun) / xatejar (verb)
• Dance: ballar
• Do: fer
• Jog: trotar
• Know: saber
• Sing: cantar
• Stay: quedar-se
• Study: estudiar
• Swing: balancejar
• Watch: mirar

Music Terminology

• Audience: públic
• Band: banda
• Bass: baix
• Break up: separar-se (band)
• Choir: cor de música
• Chorus: tornada
• Classical music: música clàssica
• Conductor: director d'orquestra
• Disco: discoteca
• Download: descarregar
• Drum: tambor
• Flute: flauta travessera
• Format: suport
• Guitar: guitarra
• Guitarist: guitarrista
• Lead singer: solista
• Live: en directe
• Lyrics: lletra
• Music stand: faristol
• Musician: músic
• Orchestra: orquestra
• Record: disc
• Recorder: flauta dolça
• Recording: enregistrament
• Record company: companyia discogràfica
• Singer: cantant
• Solo: solista
• Song: cançó
• Track: pista
• Tune: melodia, afinar

English Noun Pluralization Rules

• Regular Plurals: Adding -S

  • Examples: artists, bicycles, computers, friends, games, walls, puzzles

• Plurals Ending in -ES

  • Examples: brushes, classes, beaches, boxes, faxes

• Plurals Ending in -IES (y to i)

  • Examples: activities, countries, galleries, hobbies, libraries

• Plurals Ending in -VES (f/fe to v)

  • Examples: lives, shelves, wives

• Irregular Plurals

  • Foot - feet
  • Person - people
  • Woman - women
  • Child - children

Gendered Nouns & Common Forms

• Feminine Forms: Adding -ESS

  • Examples: actress, princess, hostess, lioness, stewardess

• Different Forms for Gender

  • Grandfather - grandmother
  • Queen - king
  • Man - woman
  • Son - daughter
  • Nephew - niece

• Same Form for Both Genders

  • Examples: musician, singer

Adverb Formation & Usage

• Bad - badly (dolent / malament)
• Careful - carefully (cuidadós / curosament)
• Easy - easily (fàcil / fàcilment)
• Good - well (bo / bé)
• Happy - happily (feliç / feliçment)
• Hard - hard / hardly (difícil / amb dificultat / gairebé no)
• Quick - quickly (ràpid / ràpidament)
• Romantic - romantically (romàntic / romànticament)
• Safe - safely (segur / amb seguretat)
• Terrible - terribly (terrible / terriblement)
• Fluently (amb fluïdesa)
• Heavily (intensament)
• Quietly (silenciosament)
• Suddenly (de sobte)

English Verb Tenses

Present Simple

• Positive: Subject + Verb (3rd person -S) + Complement
• Negative: Subject + Don't / Doesn't + Verb + Complement
• Question: Do / Does + Subject + Verb + Complement

Present Continuous

• Positive: Subject + To Be (am, is, are) + Verb + -ING + Complement
• Negative: Subject + To Be + Not + Verb + -ING + Complement
• Question: To Be + Subject + Verb + -ING + Complement

Past Simple

• Positive: Subject + Verb + -ED (or Irregular Verb) + Complement
• Negative: Subject + Didn't + Verb + Complement
• Question: Did + Subject + Verb + Complement

Past Continuous

• Positive: Subject + Was / Were + Verb + -ING + Complement
• Negative: Subject + Was / Were + Not + Verb + -ING + Complement
• Question: Was / Were + Subject + Verb + -ING + Complement