Spanish

All Spanish skills

Foundations

• E1.1 · Ser vs. estar: Use "ser" for identity, profession, origin, clock time and where events take place. Use "estar" for temporary states and for the location of people, things and places.
• E1.2 · Muy vs. mucho: "Muy" goes before adjectives and adverbs (muy bueno, muy tarde). "Mucho" goes with verbs and nouns and agrees with the noun (trabajo mucho, muchas horas). Exception: "mucho" before mejor, peor, mayor, menor, más and menos.

Intermediate

• E2.1 · Preterite: irregular verbs: In the preterite, common verbs change their stem: ir and ser become fui and fue; tener becomes tuve; hacer, hice and hizo; decir, dije; poder, pude; traer, traje. These irregular forms take no accent.

Applied

• E3.1 · False friends at work: Some Spanish words look like words you know but mean something else. At work, watch out for oficina (office), despedir (to fire), contestar (to answer), cena (dinner) and largo (long).