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A2

Grundkenntnisse

Hier kommt die Zeit dazu. Man kann erzählen, was passiert ist, und ankündigen, was man vorhat. Sätze werden länger, weil sie verbunden werden: and, but, because, when.

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Ser, estar and hay

2

A2ser or estar?One adjective, two verbs, two meanings.A2hay or está?What there is takes hay; where something known is takes estar.

The present tense

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A2estar plus gerund: right this momentFor what is going on at this very instant.A2saber or conocer?You know a fact; you are acquainted with a person.A2Verbs that break rank in the I-form onlyOne form steps out of line, five are regular.

Nouns and articles

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A2Which article when — and when noneSpanish uses the article more often than English — and in one place not at all.A2Quantities and measuresA quantity takes de — and mucho almost never does.A2Masculine and feminine for people and jobsFour patterns — and a group that only changes the article.

Adjectives

4

A2Where the adjective goesAfter the noun it distinguishes, in front it judges.A2Shortened forms in front of the nounbueno becomes buen, grande becomes gran — but only in front.A2Comparing and gradingmás … que, and the superlative needs the article.A2Comparing: más que, menos que, tan comoThree patterns — and before a number it is de, not que.

Pronouns

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A2Object pronouns: lo, la, leWhat is done is lo/la — to whom is le.A2Where the pronouns goBefore the conjugated verb — or attached, but never in between.A2Possession: mi, tu, su — and el míoShort before the noun, long with an article on its own.A2Reflexive verbs and seme, te, se — and the same se does three other jobs.A2alguien, nadie, algo, nada — and the restOne pair for people and one for things, and all four build the sentence differently depending on where they stand.A2Pronouns after a prepositionAfter para, de and con there are other forms — and two of them merge.

Questions and negation

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A2Tag questions and short answersYour tag changes with the verb; here there are two words and neither of them moves.A2Questions with a preposition« Who with? » — the preposition never lands at the end here.

The past

4

A2IndefinidoWhat happened, once, and was then over.A2ImperfectoHow things were, what always was, what was going on.A2PerfectoWhat happened inside a stretch of time that is still running.A2The imperfecto for habits and descriptionsWhat always used to be — and how it looked back then.

The future

1

A2Futuro simpleEndings on the whole infinitive — and twelve verbs shorten it.

Requests and commands

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A2The imperative for tú and vosotrosThe third person of the present — and eight outliers.A2The eight irregular command formsEight short words you hear on the first day.

Can, must, want

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A2Must: tener que, hay que, deberMy obligation, everybody's obligation, the moral one.A2Asking politelyThe conditional turns a demand into a request.

Prepositions

4

A2por and parapor looks back at the reason, para forward at the goal.A2The personal aBefore a person as an object there is an a — English has nothing like it.A2Place and time: en, a, de, desde, hastaWhere something is takes en — where it is going takes a.A2Precise positions: encima, debajo, delante, al ladoThey all take de — and without a noun the de drops.

Conditional sentences

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A2The open conditionsi plus present, and the main clause takes present, future or imperative.

Subordinate clauses

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A2Relative clausesque for almost everything — and it can never be left out.