English Modal Verbs, Conditionals, Passive Voice, Reported Speech and Irregular Verbs: Spanish Speakers' Grammar Reference
English Grammar and Vocabulary for Spanish Speakers
Modal Verbs: Haver de (Obligation)
Have to expresses obligation. Its forms are:
- Present: affirmative (must) and negative (mustn't / don't have to)
- Past: affirmative (had to) and negative (didn't have to)
- Future: will have to
Modal Verbs: Poder (Permission / Ability)
Can and could express permission and ability:
- Present: can
- Past: could (+ base verb) or was able to (affirmative) + base verb
- Future: will be able to
Modal Verbs: Subject Probability and Advice
Subject:
- Probability: must (90%), may (50%), might (20%), could (20%, podria), may not / might not (0%), can't (0%)
- Advice: should (hauria de), would (-ria)
- Past deduction: must have + past participle (-ed / 3rd column)
Conditional Sentences
- First conditional (real, present): if + present simple, will + infinitive
- Second conditional (unreal, present): if + past simple, would + infinitive (-ria)
- Third conditional (unreal, past): if + past perfect (had + past participle), would have + past participle (hauria)
Passive Voice
- Simple tenses: is / are or was / were + past participle
- Modal and perfect forms: be / been / being + past participle
Relative Clauses
Relative pronouns and adverbs include:
- who (qui)
- which
- where
- when
- whose (cuyo)
Reported Speech
Tense changes when moving from direct to reported speech:
- Present simple (play / do) becomes past simple (played / did)
- Present continuous (is / playing) becomes past continuous (was / playing)
- Past simple (played / did) becomes past perfect (had + played)
- Present perfect (have + played) becomes past perfect (had + played)
- Past perfect (had + played) stays past perfect (had + played)
- Future (will + play) becomes conditional (would + play)
Common changes:
- I → he / she
- today → that day
- tomorrow → the next day
- yesterday → the day before
- here → there
- this morning → that morning
- tonight → that night
- ago → before
- this / that → the
- last week → the week before
Irregular Verbs
Base form / Past simple / Past participle:
- be: was / were / been
- become: became / become
- bet: bet / bet
- break: broke / broken
- buy: bought / bought
- come: came / come
- do: did / done
- drink: drank / drunk
- eat: ate / eaten
- feel: felt / felt
- forget: forgot / forgotten
- get: got / got
- give: gave / given
- go: went / gone
- have: had / had
- keep: kept / kept
- know: knew / known
- leave: left / left
- lie: lay / lain
- make: made / made
- meet: met / met
- pay: paid / paid
- say: said / said
- see: saw / seen
- sit: sat / sat
- speak: spoke / spoken
- steal: stole / stolen
- swim: swam / swum
- take: took / taken
- write: wrote / written
Vocabulary
Crime, Honesty and Trouble
- White lie: mentira piadosa
- Cheater: tramposo (copiar)
- Trust: confiar
- Change my ways: cambiar de manera de ser
- Steal: robar (compra)
- Got caught: ser atrapado / pillado in fraganti
- Liar: mentiroso
- Frank: franco
- Blame: culpa
- Deceived: engañado
- Shoplifting: hurto
- Got into trouble: meterse en problemas
- Thief: ladrón
- Guilty: culpable
- Caught him: atrapó in fraganti
- Rip off: estafar
- Sticky fingers: manos largas / con tendencia a robar
General Vocabulary
- Billboards: vallas publicitarias
- Cruise: crucero
- Sink: hundirse
- Treacherous: traicionero
- Aware: consciente
- Concerned: preocupado
- Belong: pertenecer
- Leak: fuga
- Condition: condición
- Darkness: oscuridad
- Difference: diferencia
- Relationship: relación
- Information: información
- Possibility: posibilidad
- Appointment: cita
- Environmental: medioambiental
- Queue: cola
- Luggage: equipaje
- Hire a car: alquilar un coche
- Book a ticket: reservar un billete
- Astounding: asombroso
- Rough: áspero
- Put up: poner / levantar
- Figure: figura
- Likely: probable
- It's a pity: es una lástima
- Behave: comportarse
- Ensure: asegurar
- Tend to: tender a
- Choose: elegir / elección
Prepositional Expressions
- sorry for
- proud of
- similar to
- good at
- worried about
- pleased with
- late for
- interested in
Rewriting Practice
- The policeman asked me whether I lived in this neighbourhood.
- Anna might have missed the train.
- How many candidates will be accepted by the judges?
- Unless we pay him, he won't want a job.
- (Been) all the information has been collected.
- The little girl announced (that) she had celebrated her birthday the date before.