Spanish Phrases for Presenting and Supporting Arguments

Phrases to Begin

• Para empezar (To begin with)
• En primer lugar (In the first place)
• Como punto de partida (As a point of departure)
• La idea principal de (The main idea of...)
• El propósito principal de (The main purpose of; the goal of)

Phrases to Connect Ideas/Arguments

• Para continuar (To continue)
• Por un lado (On the one hand)
• Por el otro lado; por otra parte; en cambio (On the other hand)
• Mientras tanto (Meanwhile)
• Durante (During)
• Además (In addition; also, moreover)
• También (Also; too)
• Entonces (Then)
• Luego (Then)
• Después de + infinitive (After)
• Mientras (While)
• Y (And)
• Pero (But)
• Sino (But; rather)
• Sino que (But; rather)
• Sin embargo (Nevertheless)
• Aunque (Even though; even if; although)
• A pesar de + infinitive (In spite of)
• En realidad (In fact, in reality, really)
• Hay que tomar en cuenta (You have to take into account)
• Lo importante es (The important thing is)
• Por eso; por tanto; por lo tanto; por consiguiente (Therefore)
• Desafortunadamente; desgraciadamente (Unfortunately)
• Afortunadamente (Fortunately)
• Para ilustrar (To illustrate)
• Por ejemplo (For example)
• A causa de (Because of)
• Como/en consecuencia (Consequently)

Phrases to Support Ideas/Arguments

• Es evidente que; está claro que (It is evident that)
• Es lógico pensar que (It is logical to think that)
• Coincidir con (To agree with)
• Concordar con (To be in agreement with)
• Estar de acuerdo con (To agree with)
• Discrepar de/con (To disagree with)

Phrases to Introduce Quotes

• De acuerdo con; según (According to)
• Como bien afirma X (As X rightly states)
• Como enfatiza X (As X points out; remarks)
• Como sugiere X (As X suggests)
• Coincido con las palabras de X (I agree with X when he/she says)

Phrases to Conclude Ideas/Arguments

• En conclusión (In conclusion)
• En resumen (In summary; to summarize)
• Para concluir (To conclude)
• Para terminar (To conclude)
• Finalmente (Finally)
• En fin; en suma (In short)

Useful Verbs for Argumentation

• Analizar (To analyze)
• Examinar (To study; to analyze)
• Comentar (To discuss)
• Destacar; enfatizar (To emphasize; stress; note)
• Argumentar (To argue)
• Sugerir (To suggest)
• Querer decir; significar (To mean)
• Opinar (To say, to give your opinion)
• Aclarar (To clarify)
• Especificar (To specify)
• Ilustrar (To teach, to show, to enlighten)
• Investigar (To research; to investigate; to study)
• Proponer (To suggest)