Mastering Spanish
Estar, Ser and Subject Pronouns:
De donde eres tu?
De donde es usted?
eres always goes with tu, while es always goes with usted.
You would NOT say: de donde eres usted?
El apartamento ____ de los estudiantes jovenes
the answer is es, not son. even though young students is plural, the pronoun ser always refers to the subject of the sentence, which in this case is the apartment. Since the apartment is singular, we would use es.
El apartamento ES de los estudiantes jovenes
NOT
el apartamento son de los estudiantes jovenes.
La familia and la gente are both singular, even though it can refer to a group of people.
Therefore, you would say:
Donde esta la familia de Fernando, not donde estan la familia de Fernando
Correct:
Donde estan las familias?
vs.
Donde esta la familia?
Same with la gente - this is singular in Spanish
You would say: La gente es simpatica
not la gente son simpatica.
Descriptions of Objects: Es vs esta
La ciudad es hermosa vs la cuidad esta hermosa
La ciudad es hermosa = the city is beautiful as a general description or inherent quality
La ciudad esta hermosa = the city looks beautiful right now (maybe due to a sunset or nice weather)
es describes inherent qualities (the house is big/small, the food is delicious in general)
while esta describes more temporary qualities (the food is delicious (right now, currently)
Hay, Interrogative Words, Days and Months
Days of the week and months are not capitalized in Spanish
bajo means low/short in height, corto means short in length
emocionante does not mean emotional, it means exciting
Numbers, Dates, and Times
numbers from 1-30 are expressed as one word:
18 - dieciocho
Numbers after 30 end in -a and do not combine:
treinta y cuatro
Numbers after 100 do not use y
110 is NOT ciento y diez, its ciento diez.
When a masculine noun follows uno, its just un:
treinta y un dias (el dia)
When a feminine noun follows uno, its una:
treinta y una muchachas
after 1000, you state the thousands, hundreds then tens:
1973 = mil novecientos setenta y tres
son las siete y diez not siete con diez