Spanish grammar lessons:
tenses, verbs, and structure

One of the most common ways to describe someone or something in Spanish is to compare it against something similar. If you think about it, people compare things against each other on a daily basis. As a result, you should take the time to master Spanish superlatives and comparatives.  Comparisons and superlative adjectives are an ... Read more

El presente perfecto is a basic tense that you need to know if you’re learning past tenses in Spanish. But since our language has more than one past tense, I find that a lot of people want to know what the present perfect tense is in Spanish. Present perfect in Spanish is a past tense ... Read more

When learning Spanish, one of the most overlooked vocabulary topics is adjectives to describe someone. Since this is one of the first lessons that beginners learn, people assume that Spanish adjectives to describe a person are just the means by which to practice conjugations.  And that’s partially true: as a beginner, this is a great ... Read more

In Spanish, the preterite is the tense that allows us to talk about actions that were completed in the past. Since we have other past tenses, it’s difficult for many students to know when to use preterite in Spanish.  In Spanish, the preterite is the equivalent of the English simple past tense. Thus, it is ... Read more

In Spanish, both ningún and ninguno are negative words that are used to deny the existence of something. Since they both look and have very similar purposes, a lot of people assume that these words are synonymous when they’re not. For this reason, some Spanish learners want to know what’s the difference between ‘ningún’ and ... Read more

In Spanish, both creer and creerse are translated as ‘to believe’ or ‘to think’. As a result, a lot of learners are surprised when they find out that these words are not exactly synonyms. For that reason, many people wonder what’s the difference between ‘creer’ and ‘creerse’ in Spanish. Creer is used to talking about ... Read more

Ir and irse share the same root. As a result, it’s easy to confuse them, but soon enough Spanish learners realize that they cannot use them interchangeably because these verbs have different meanings and purposes. For that reason, a lot of people wonder what’s the difference between ir and irse in Spanish.  Both ‘ir’ and ... Read more

When learning Spanish, one of the most basic things you can learn is how to introduce yourself. In order to do this correctly, many Spanish learners wonder what phrases they can use to say ‘my name is’ in Spanish.  Depending on the speaker’s personal preferences, there are three common and standard expressions to say someone’s ... Read more

In Spanish, both mandar and enviar can be translated as ‘to send’. But even though these words share this meaning, it doesn’t mean that they are interchangeable in all contexts. As a result, many learners wonder what’s the difference between ‘enviar’ and ‘mandar’ in Spanish.  Enviar is one of the Spanish translations for ‘to send’ ... Read more

Both pedir and preguntar mean ‘to ask’. But even though these words share the same English translation, in Spanish, they are applied in different contexts. Since they’re not synonymous, many Spanish speakers wonder what’s the difference between pedir and preguntar in Spanish.  In Spanish, ‘preguntar’ is used when inquiring someone for information or when asking ... Read more

Gran is the short version of grande. For that reason, many new and experienced Spanish learners assume that these adjectives are synonymous. But the truth is that they cannot be used interchangeably because they refer to different things. As a result, many people start to wonder what’s the difference between gran and grande in Spanish.  ... Read more

Meter and poner are both Spanish words that can be translated as ‘to put’. As a result, many new Spanish students and learners tend to use these words interchangeably when in reality they’re referring to different things. Since they share the same translation, many people wonder what’s the difference between ‘poner’ and ‘meter’ in Spanish.  ... Read more

Both Hace and hace que are Spanish time expressions that help to express and measure the amount of time that has passed. Even though they may look similar, we use these time expressions with different purposes and intentions.  So, what does ‘hace’ and ‘hace que’ mean in Spanish? When talking about time, hace means ‘ago’ ... Read more

Desde and desde hace are two common Spanish time expressions that allow us to indicate the moment in which an action started. But even though they seem to be referring to the same thing, these time expressions are not interchangeable. That’s why many people wonder what’s the difference between ‘desde’ and ‘desde hace’ in Spanish.  ... Read more

Desde hace is one of the many Spanish time expressions that we use to talk about actions and the time when these actions took place. Since it looks very similar to other time expressions, many new and experienced Spanish learners wonder how to use ‘desde hace’ in Spanish.  In Spanish, desde hace is used to ... Read more

Using malo and mal interchangeably is one of the most common mistakes that people learning Spanish make. Although they may have similar translations, in Spanish, ‘mal’ and ‘malo’ work with different grammatical elements. Since these words are used frequently in conversations, many Spanish learners wonder what’s the difference between ‘mal’ and ‘malo’.  ‘Malo’ is an ... Read more

For many new and experienced Spanish learners, vamos and vámonos may appear to mean the same thing. However, these words come from different forms of the same verb and, as a result, they have different purposes and meanings. Since they can’t be applied in the same contexts, many Spanish learners wonder what’s the difference between ... Read more

In Spanish, any verb can change its purpose and meaning depending on the tense that’s being used. This is the case of ‘me gusta’ and ‘me gustaría’ in Spanish. On top of having different meanings and intentions, both ‘me gusta’ and ‘me gustaría’ work with different elements. As a result, they’re not interchangeable.  So what’s ... Read more

When learning Spanish, you may notice that when a preposition is preceding a word, the meaning of this word can be affected. This is the case of donde vs adonde. Even though these words are very similar, they possess slightly different meanings. Therefore, we cannot use them interchangeably because they won’t express the same intentions.  ... Read more

There are a lot of cases where you’ll have one word (or several similar ones) in English that actually have multiple words that represent it in Spanish, depending on the context and situations. This also applies viceversa. One common instance of this is with the words ‘any’, ‘one’, ‘some’ and ‘few’, which in Spanish will ... Read more

In Spanish, when talking about non-specific or indeterminate things we use unos or algunos as well as their feminine forms. Since both of these words can be translated as ‘some’, many new Spanish speakers assume that ‘unos’ and ‘algunos’ are interchangeable all the time. In some contexts, they are. However, there are many situations where ... Read more

Although we use them in similar situations, there’s a slight difference between un and uno. Since these words follow different grammatical rules, ‘un’ and ‘uno’ are not interchangeable and, on top of this, each of these words has different uses in Spanish that the other one doesn’t have.  So what’s the difference between ‘un’ and ... Read more

Most new Spanish speakers assume that ‘seguir’ can only be used as a synonym of ‘to follow’. Although this is the direct translation of this Spanish verb, the truth is that we can use ‘seguir’ in other contexts and situations.  So how do we use seguir in Spanish? Aside from being used as a synonym ... Read more

If you’re learning Spanish, you may already know that se is a problematic and confusing little word. The thing is that this pronoun changes its meaning based on the context and the elements you use. To make this more challenging, it doesn’t always have an English equivalent.  Despite all of this, ‘se’ in Spanish is ... Read more