Study Guide English I

Verb to be (Present)
Affirmative form:

The verb to be in present is ser/estar in Spanish and is used as follows in affirmative sentences:

Subject + verb to be in present + complement

I am Yo soy / Yo estoy

You are T eres / Tu ests

She is Ella es / Ella est

He is l es / l est

It is Eso es / Eso est (used for objects in singular)

We are Nosotros somos / Nosotros estamos

They are Ellos son / Ellos estn

Examples:

I am tall

My family is big

They are my friends

Negative form:

When we want to use negative sentences, we need to include not after the verb to be, or you
can use the contraction isnt / arent. I am not does not have contraction!

Subject + verb to be in present + not + complement

Examples:

I am not happy

She is not crazy

We are not at university

Interrogative form yes/no questions:

When we want to create close questions using the verb to be in present, we need to inverse the
order subject verb.

Verb to be in present + Subject + Complement?

Examples:

Am I happy?

Is she at work?

Are my friends in the party?

Close questions can be answered in short forms:

Am I happy? Yes, I am / Not, I am not

Is she at work? Yes, she is / No, she is not (isnt)

Are my friends in the party? Yes, they are / No, they are not (arent)

Interrogative form wh-questions:

When we want to create open questions using the verb to be in present, we need to inverse the
order subject verb and include wh-words. Open questions cant be answered yes/no.

Wh-word + To be in present + Subject + Complement?

Examples:

When is the party?

Where is my pencil?

Why are you happy?

All the questions that start with Why have to be answered with Because

Verb to be (Past)
Affirmative form:

When we want to use the verb to be in past, it changes as follows:

I was Yo era / Yo estaba

You were T eras / T estabas

She was Ella era / Ella estaba

He was l era / l estaba

It was Eso era / Eso estaba

We were Nosotros ramos / Nosotros estbamos

They were Ellos eran / Ellos estaban

Negative form:

When we want to use negative sentences, we need to include not after the verb to be, or you
can use the contraction wasnt / werent.

Subject + verb to be in past + not + complement

Examples:

I was not happy

She was not crazy

We were not at university

Interrogative form yes/no questions:

When we want to create close questions using the verb to be in past, we need to inverse the order
subject verb.

Verb to be in past + Subject + Complement?

Examples:

Was I happy?

Was she at work?

Were my friends in the party?

Close questions can be answered in short forms:

Was I happy? Yes, I was / Not, I was not (wasnt)

Was she at work? Yes, she was / No, she was not (wasnt)

Were my friends in the party? Yes, they were / No, they were not (werent)

Interrogative form wh-questions:

When we want to create open questions using the verb to be in past, we need to inverse the order
subject verb and include wh-words. Open questions cant be answered yes/no.
 Wh-word + To be in past + Subject + Complement?

Examples:

When was the party?

Where was my pencil?

Why were you happy?

Present Continuous
It is used to talk about actions that are happening in the moment

Affirmative form:

The structure is the following:

Subject + verb to be present + action verb-ing + Complement

Examples:

He is talking with his girlfriend

We are studying for the English test

Negative form:

If we want to create negative sentences, we need to include not after the verb to be. We can
contract is not (isnt), are not (arent).

Subject + verb to be present +not + action verb-ing + complement

Examples:

They are not studying Algebra

I am not watching TV

Interrogative form yes/no questions:

If we want to create close questions we need to invert the order subject-verb to be as follows:

Verb to be present + Subject +Action verb-ing + Complement?

Examples:

Is he talking to your dad?

Are they singing in the pub?

Close questions can be answered in short forms:

 Is he talking to your dad? Yes, he is / No, he is not (isnt)

Are they singing in the pub? Yes, they are / No, they are not (arent)

Interrogative form wh-questions:

When we want to create open questions using the present continuous, we need to inverse the
order subject verb to be and include wh-words. Open questions cant be answered yes/no.

Why is he talking to your dad?

What are they singing in the pub?

Present Simple
The present simple is used to talk about:

Routines
Habits
States

Affirmative form:

Subject + Verb in present + Complement

Examples:

I wake up every day at 8.00

We blink every second

They study in the morning

Subjects he/she/ it are different

Subject + Verb in present +s + Complement

He wakes up every day at 8.00

She blinks every second

He studies in the morning

En la tercera persona singular (he, she, it) afirmativa, el verbo siempre termina en s.

Cuando el verbo termina en y se cambia por ies (cry-cries/try-tries), excepto en play

(plays) y enjoy (enjoys)
Cuando el verbo termina en sh, -ch, -ss, -x, -o, se le agrega es al verbo (watch-watches /
wash-washes / do-does)
Negative form:

In negative sentences, the structure is as follows:

Subject + Auxiliary (do not/does not) + Verb in present + Complement

Examples:

I do not (dont) wake up at 8.00

They do not (dont) study

She does not (doesnt) sing very well

Para los sujetos he/she/it, el auxiliar de la negacin siempre es does not (doesnt)

Interrogative form yes/no questions:

If we want to create close questions we need include the auxiliary do/does as follows:

Auxiliary (do/does) + Subject + Verb in present + Complement?

Examples:

Do you study every day?

Do they watch TV?

Para los sujetos he/she/it el auxiliar de la pregunta es does

Does she study every day?

Does the dog like his toy?

Does he wake up early?

Close questions can be answered using short forms:

Do you study every day? Yes, I do / No, I do not (dont)

Do they watch TV? Yes, they do / No, they do not (dont)

Does she study every day? Yes, she does / No, she does not (doesnt)

Does he wake up early? Yes, he does / No, he does not (doesnt)

Interrogative form wh-questions:

When we want to create open questions using the present simple, we need to include wh-words.
Open questions cant be answered yes/no.

Why do you study every day?

 When do they watch TV?

What does she study every day?

Why does he wake up early?

Past simple
The past simple is used to talk about an action that started and finished in the past, a completed
action. It is also used to talk about habits in the past

Affirmative form:

Subject + verb in past + complement

Examples:

I studied yesterday

She wrote a letter

We played football last week

They went to the cinema

Los verbos regulares se convierten a pasado agregando d o ed.

Los verbos irregulares cambian completamente en pasado

Negative form:

Subject + Auxiliary did not (didnt) + Verb in present + Complement

Examples:

I didnt study yesterday

She didnt write a letter

We didnt play football

They didnt go to the cinema

In past simple, all the subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) use the same auxiliary: didnt

Interrogative form yes/no:

Auxiliary did + Subject + Verb in present + Complement?

Examples:

Did you study yesterday?

 Did she write a letter?

Did we play football?

Did they go to the cinema?

Close questions can be answered using short forms:

Did you study yesterday? Yes, I did / No, I did not (didnt)

Did she write a letter? Yes, she did / No, she did not (didnt)

Did we play football? Yes, we did / No, we did not (didnt)

Did they go to the cinema? Yes, they did / No, they did not (didnt)

Interrogative form wh-questions:

When we want to create open questions using the past simple, we need to include wh-words.
Open questions cant be answered yes/no.

What did you study yesterday?

Why did she write a letter?

Where did we play football?

When did they go to the cinema?

Possessive Case
The possessive case is used to show belonging

Only people can own things! (Los objetos no pueden tener pertenencias)

To use the possessive case you have to name the person first, and then the object

Examples:

That is Bobs jacket

Those are Marks books

If the name of a person finishes in s, it is not necessary to include another -s

Examples:

That is Nicolas dog

Those are Marcos notebooks

When we talk about a plural noun that does not finish in s, we include s.

Examples:

Those are the childrens toys

That is peoples opinion

When we talk about a plural noun that finishes in s, we only include

Examples:

Those are the kids toys

That is the girls mom

Pronouns
Object pronouns

Objects pronouns are used to talk about people after a verb.

I me

You you

He him

She her

It it

We us

They them

Examples:

He called me today

She will invite us to the party

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are used when we refer to an object that belongs to someone. When you
use possessive adjectives, you always have to name the object
I my

You your

He his

She her

It its

We our

They their

Examples:

That is my book (nombro el objeto/persona despus del possessive adjective)

Our house is beautiful

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used when we refer to an object that belongs to someone. When you use
possessive pronouns, you dont have to name the object/person

I mine

You yours

He his

She hers

It its

We ours

They theirs

Examples:

- Is that yours?
- No, it is not mine. Maybe it is hers
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are used to measure the amount of something. There are specific quantifiers for
countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable Uncountable
Any (negative and questions) Any (negative and questions)
A few A little
Quantifier Some (statements) Some (statements)
Many Much
A lot of A lot of
How many? (cunto?) How much? (cunto?)

Examples:
Do you have any vegetables?

I dont eat any fruit

She ate a lot of chocolate

How much sugar do you want?

Demonstratives
Demonstratives pronouns are used to indicate objects or people

This (Esto/Esta/Este) It is used when we refer to one object/person (singular) and it is near
(cerca)

That (Eso/Esa/Ese) It is used when we refer to one object/person (singular) and it is far (lejos)

These (Estos, Estas) It is used when we refer to more than one object/person (plural) and they
are near (cerca)

Those (Esos/Esas) It is used when we refer to more than one object/person (plural) and they
are far (lejos)

Como this/that son singular, siempre se ocupan seguidos de is

That is my cellphone
This is my book
En el caso de these/those, como son plurales, siempre son seguidos de are
Those are my friends
These are my notebooks
There is There are
It is used to indicate that something exists (hay)

Ambos significan hay

There is singular

There is a book

There are plural

There are books

If I want to create negative sentences using there is/there are, we have to include not

There is not (isnt) good weather

There are not (arent) good books

In the case of questions, we need to invert the order to create close questions

Is there a television in your house?

Are there pets in your apartment?

Close questions can be answered yes/no, and we have to use the same information used in the
question to answer

Is there a television in your house? Yes, there is / No, there is not (isnt)

Are there pets in your apartment? Yes, there are / No, there are not (arent)

Articles
Indefinite articles:

A/An: They are used to talk about one thing (una cosa, no especfica)

I want a chair (Quiero una silla) No una silla especfica, sino cualquier silla

I want an apple (Quiero una manzana) No una manzana especfica, cualquier manzana

The difference between a/an is the sound of the first letter following a/ an.
Si la palabra que siguiente se pronuncia con un sonido vocal, se utiliza an; si se pronuncia
con un sonido consonante, se utiliza a

The: It is used to talk about a specific thing (puede ser una cosa especfica o ms de una plural-)

I want the blue chair (Quiero la silla azul) No cualquier silla, sino una silla azul

I want the red apple (Quiero la manzana roja) No cualquier manzana, la manzana roja
Comparatives
We use comparatives when we want to compare two or more people or things.

Adjective (que termina en consonante) + er + Than

Taller
He is taller than me
Shorter
Bigger
Adjective (que termina en e) + r
Safer
1 syllable adjective Nicer
She is nicer than you
Adjective (que termina en y) +ier
I am happier than you
She is prettier than me
More + Adjective + Than
+2 syllable adjective She is more beautiful than him
He is more intelligent than her

Superlatives
The superlatives are used when we want to talk about a thing or a group of things that is the best
(de entre todos, es lo ms X, lo ms lindo, lo ms caro, etc)

The + adjective (que termina en consonante) + est

He is the tallest
He is the shortest
She is the biggest
The + adjective (que termina en e) + st
Nicest
She is the nicest
1 syllable adjective
The + adjective (que termina en y) +iest
I am the happiest
She is the prettiest

The most + Adjective

+2 syllable adjective She is the most beautiful
He is the most intelligent

Equality
We use quality to compare two or more objects/people based on the similarities

The structure is as follows:

As adjective as
Examples:

He is as tall as me

She is as intelligent as my mom

Can / Cant
Can / cant is used to talk about abilities, permission and capabilities

Affirmative form:

Subject + can + verb in present infinitive + complement

Examples:

I can swim

She can sing very well

They can jump very high

Negative form:

Subject + cannot (cant) + verb in present infinitive + complement

Examples:

She cant sing very well

They cant jump very high

I cant swim

Interrogative form yes/no questions:

Can + Subject + Verb in present infinitive + Complement?

Examples:

Can you sing?

Can they jump high?

Can you swim?

Close questions can be answered using short forms:

Can you sing? Yes, I can / No, I cannot (cant)

Can they jump high? Yes, they can / No, they cannot (cant)
Interrogative form wh-questions:

When we want to create open questions using can/cant, we need to include wh-words. Open
questions cant be answered yes/no.

Examples:

What can you sing?

Where can you jump?