Transcription
These seven Spanish words unlock 80% of the conversations that you will actually have in your daily life. Most apps teach you random words like hippopotamus or zowie mama, which just waste your time. Did you know that there are roughly 90,000 words in Spanish, but we only use around a thousand during everyday conversations. And the majority of these conversations use the same 300 words over and over again. So, if you master these seven keywords, all you need to do is pair them with some basic vocabulary, and then you can create most of the sentences you want to say.
Starting with querer. Querer means to want. For example, In this example, we've conjugated the verb querer, meaning to want, into quiero, meaning I want. Conjugating verbs in Spanish simply means taking a verb from its original form, what we call the infinitive form, and putting it into a new form. All verbs in Spanish start in the infinitive form and end with either a r, e r, or i r. So, for example, Imagine you have a potato. That is the infinitive form of the verb. It's the original form. Then, we conjugate it and we turn it into french fries. Okay, so the french fries are the conjugations of our original verb. In order to conjugate the verb querer, meaning to want, into the regular present tense, we will follow this pattern. Yo quiero, tú quieres, él, ella, usted quiere, nosotros queremos, ellos, ellas, ustedes quieren. >> I have not included the vosotros form, which is only used in Spain.
So, now that we know this pattern, how would I say you want to go? Ir means to go, and that's actually the next verb we're going to look at. Before we look at the verb ir, another sentence we could use with querer could be I want to do that. And guess what? Just in these first example sentences, I've actually already used three of the seven keywords that we're going to learn in this video. So, make sure you stick around until the end.
Now, you may have noticed that in these sentences, I have not attached the subject pronouns to our verbs. Subject pronouns are those little words like yo, tu, el. Now, the reason I didn't attach them is because they are optional. When I understand my verb conjugation patterns, I know that when I hear something like quieres, I'm referring to tu. So, I don't need to add tu if I don't want to. This is why it is so important to learn basic verb conjugations.
So, the verb querer is used all the time in Spanish. In fact, I recently shared some photos from a trip I took to Oaxaca, Mexico inside my Fluent Spanish Speaker Academy, and a ton of my students left comments using the verb querer. If you'd like to join our Spanish Academy and become fluent faster, click the link in the video description, or go to spanishpod101.com to join today. We have more than 700 students who are successfully having conversations in the real world. We're currently offering a big discount on our annual plan, so make sure you don't miss out.
The next keyword is ir, which means to go. Our conjugations of ir in the present tense are yo voy, tú vas, él, ella, usted va, nosotros vamos, ellos, ellas, ustedes van. For example, "Yo voy a la escuela." Remember, I don't need to add the word yo if I don't want to. So, I can say "Yo voy" or just "Voy." Both work.
Something important to note here is that many times native speakers will use the regular present tense to talk about something that will happen in the near future. For example, "Voy a comer." In this example, "Voy" can translate to "I am going." So, "Voy" can mean "I go" or "I am going" depending on the context of the sentence. And this little formula we're using here is actually what we call the informal future, and it's quite easy to learn. You simply follow the pattern of ir plus a plus an infinitive verb. Ir means to go, a means to, and an infinitive verb is just a verb that means to blank. So, if I wanted to say, "I am going to speak," how would I say that? "Voy a hablar." All we're doing is following a simple pattern. Other examples could be "Vas a tener" or "Vamos a vivir."
A quick pro tip on the pronunciation of the letter v in Spanish is that the v makes a soft b sound in Spanish. So, with the verb vivir, it won't be vivir. No, it will be vivir.
Now, we have the word hacer, which means to do or to make. Our conjugations of the verb hacer in the present tense are yo hago, tú haces, él ella usted hace, nosotros hacemos, ellos ellas ustedes hacen. Notice that the yo form is irregular. So, it wouldn't be yo hago, it would be yo algo. This is one of the most common irregular yo forms in Spanish, so it's worth memorizing. For example, hago la tarea. Haces la comida. Or a very common thing we say in Spanish is ¿Qué haces? What are you doing?
The next keyword is tener, which means to have. Our conjugations of the verb tener in the present tense are yo tengo, tú tienes, él ella usted tiene, nosotros tenemos, ellos ellas ustedes tienen. For example, tengo un perro. Or tienes tiempo. The verb tener also becomes extremely useful when we add the little word que after it. So, when I say tener que, now I'm saying to have to. This is how we express obligation in Spanish. And a simple formula we can use is tener que plus an infinitive verb. For example, tengo que trabajar. I have to work. or So, notice how all we're doing is taking keywords, things like querer, ir, or tener, and combine them with basic vocabulary. When you do this, you can have most of the conversations that you want to be having in Spanish.
The next keyword is poder, which means to be able to or can. By the way, inside our Fluent Spanish Speaker Academy, we have a list of every single verb conjugation, so you can easily speak in the past, present, and future tenses. Click the link in the video description or go to spanishpod.com to join today. Our conjugations of poder in the present tense are Just like with tener que, you can follow the verb poder with an infinitive verb. So, for example, or Something important to note is that when you're speaking Spanish, your inflection matters a lot. What I mean is that if I say "Puedo hablar español", I am making a statement. I am saying I can speak Spanish. However, if I were to say to you "Now, I'm asking you a question." And I'm saying, "Can you speak Spanish?" Notice how it flips from can you to you can depending on the inflection.
Next, we have the verbs ser and estar, which both mean "to be". However, they're a little bit different. Let's start with their conjugations, and then we'll see how they're different. With the verb ser, our conjugations in the present tense would be yo soy, tú eres, él, ella, usted es, nosotros somos, ellos, ellas, ustedes son. And now for estar, we would have yo estoy, tú estás, él, ella, usted está, nosotros estamos, ellos, ellas, ustedes están.
So, the simple rule is this: ser is used for more permanent or fixed things, things like identity, nationality, or character traits. We'll use estar for more temporary things, things like how you're feeling, or where something is, or what's happening right now. So, for example, yo soy mexicano. I am Mexican. That would be a permanent thing. Es un profesor. He is a teacher. That's a more permanent thing. When we're talking about professions in Spanish, we will always use the verb ser.
Now, for estar, we could say something like estoy cansado. I am tired. But that's temporary. I'm not going to be tired forever. Or, ¿dónde estás? Where are you? Wherever you are, you're not going to be there forever. It's a temporary thing. A fun example I like to give students is the idea of soy aburrido versus estoy aburrido. So, if I said soy aburrido, I am saying, "I am boring." That is a permanent thing about me. I am a boring person. But, if I said, "Estoy aburrido," now I am saying, "I am bored." I'm not going to be bored forever, but I'm just bored right now. It's a temporary state.
Now, knowing when to use ser or estar can be tricky. And my advice to you is that when you're unsure, use estar. You're not always going to be right, but it's the safest choice.
And finally, we have the word hay. Hay is one of the most useful and overlooked words in Spanish. Hay means both there is and there are. And the best part about the word hay is that it never changes. You don't need to conjugate it. Technically, it's already conjugated. So, hay means there is or there are, depending on the context of the sentence. For example, Hay un restau- -rante cerca. In this case, because we're talking about a singular thing, in this case, un restaurante, hay will be translated as there is. But, if I were to say something like Hay muchas personas, now hay would translate as there are. There are a lot of people. So, what would this mean? Hay un baño aquí? Is there a bathroom here? And we'll also use hay in many different phrases, something like No hay problema, for example, just meaning no problem.
So, putting all of this together, here is an example sentence using most of the words we've learned in this video. Quiero ir, pero tengo que hacer mi tarea. No puedo ir porque hay mucho trabajo. Estoy cansado. Muchas gracias. I think you'll like this video. Click here to watch it now.