Spanish Language Blog

There are two kinds of superlative in Spanish: relative and absolute. The relative superlative describes a noun within a context of a larger group. Some examples in English:

Juan is the tallest kid in his classroom.
María is the smartest student in the whole school.
This is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

We form the relative superlative with the following model:

Subject + verb + el/la/los/las + más + adjective.

Here’s how the sentences above are in Spanish:

Juan is the tallest kid in his classroom. = Juan es el niño más alto en su aula.
María is the smartest student in the whole school. = María es la alumna más inteligente en la escuela entera.
This is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. = Ésta es la mujer más bonita que ya he conocido.

The absolute superlative does not show the noun within a context of a larger group. Rather, it emphasizes the quality of the noun. Some examples:

She’s extremely talented.
He’s a very smart boy.
This good is unbelievably good!

In English we form the absolute superlative with an intensifying adverb (extremely, very, awfully, unbelievably) + adjective. In Spanish we put the endings ísimo(s) and ísima(s). In Spanish, prefer to use the ísimo(s) and ísima(s) endings rather than use intensifying adverbs.

She’s extremely talented. = Ella es talentosísima.
He’s a very smart boy. = Es un niño listísimo.
This food is unbelievably good. = Esta comida es riquísima.

And this is not all! In informal Spanish we also have prefixes re-, -que, super-, archi-. Check out some examples:

Mi amigo Juan Antonio es resimpático. = My friend Juan Antonio is extremely friendly. (We could also use retesimpático, requetesimpático, supersimpático, etc.)
Mi abuela era una mujer rebuena. = My grandma was a very good woman.
Lo hiciste requete mal. Tendrás que hacerlo de nuevo. = You did that very poorly. You’ll have to do it again.
Nos trataron rebien cuando fuimos a visitarlos. = They treated us extremely well when we went to visit them.

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Hey, everyone! How’s it going?

We all know that verbs are kind of tricky in Spanish so let’s review 8 very common verbs in the Pretérito Indefinido. The Pretérito Indefinido expresses the idea that something is finished, over. It’s used with time expressions like ayer (yesterday), el mes pasado (last month), dos horas atras (two hours ago), and so on.

So here’s the conjugation of verbs decir (to say), estar (to be), hacer (to do/make), ser (to be), ir (to go), poner (to put), querer (to want) and tener (to have). Notice that ser and ir have the same conjugation in the Pretérito Indefinido.

Decir
dije – dijiste – dijo – dijimos – dijisteis – dijeron

Estar
estuve – estuviste – estuvo – estuvimos – estuvisteis – estuvieron

Hacer
hice – hiciste – hizo – hicimos – hicisteis – hicieron

Ser/Ir
fui – fuiste – fue – fuimos – fuisteis – fueron

Poner
puse – pusiste – puso – pusimos – pusisteis – pusieron

Querer
quise – quisiste – quiso – quisimos – quisisteis – quisieron

Tener
tuve – tuviste – tuvo – tuvimos – tuvisteis – tuvieron

Now here’s a little exercise for you to practice these past tense forms: translate the following sentences into Spanish. The answer will be online soon! (There are some regular verbs in the mix too!)

1. Who did you call yesterday? – I called my mom.
2. What did you do last week? – I studied Spanish.
3. What did you say? – I said I was leaving.
4. Where did you go last summer? – I went to Barcelona.
5. Where did you put the book last night? – I put it on the bookshelf.
6. What did you tell your brother yesterday? – I told him to stay home on Friday.
7. When did you read the Quijote? – I read it when I was in college.
8. Did you have time to study Spanish on the weekend?
9. He didn’t want to tell me what was going on.
10. I was in Paris two years ago.

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Nos vemos prontito.

Gerund verb phrases indicate that it is an ongoing action, an uninterrupted process or an interrumpted action that has been performed repeatedly. Let’s check out some of them!

1. Andar + gerund – Express a persistant and durative activity.

Andan diciendo que se va a acabar el mundo. [People are saying the world is coming to an end.]
Anda escribiendo en las paredes. [He's been writing on the walls.]

2. Acabar + gerund – Expresses the end of a process

Acabé perdiendo toda mi fortuna. [I ended up losing all my fortune.]
Siempre acaba peleándose con todo el mundo. [He always ends up fighting with everybody.]

3. Estar + gerund – It’s used like the Present Continuous tense in English.

Estamos trabajando. [We are working.]
Siempre estás haciendo lo mismo. [You're always doing the same.]

4. Ir + gerund – It shows an action that is happening little by little

Nos vamos haciendo viejos. [We are getting older - each day.]
Voy pagando el pizo a plazos. [I am paying my apartment in installments.]

5. Llevar + gerund – It is used to show how long something has been happening (idea of time)

Llevo viviendo en Barcelona más de dos años. [I have been living in Barcelona for more than two years.]
¿Cuántos meses llevas estudiando en esta Escuela? [How long have you been studying in this school?]

6. Quedarse + gerund – Indicates that an action is permanent and ongoing

Se quedó durmiendo hasta las tres de la tarde. [He kept on sleeping till three in the afternoon.]
Cuando me marché, aún se quedaron viendo la televisión. [When I left they were still watching TV.]

7. Salir + gerund – Indicates the final result of an action. This perífrasis is usually seen with verbs like perder (to lose) and ganar (to win). It also indicates the abrupt beginning of a movement.

Salió ganando en la apuesta. [He was the winner of the bet.]
Salí corriendo an enterarme de su llegada. [I dashed off when I heard he had arrived.]

8. Seguir + gerund – To keep on doing something

Aún sigue emborrachándose. [He still keeps on getting drunk.]
Seguimos pensando lo mismo que antes. [We still think the same as we did before.]

9. Venir + gerund – Indicates insistence and repetition of an action that is being performed at the present time

Viene diciendo que no se había enterado de la reunión. [He's been saying that he didn't know about the meeting.]
La experiencia nos lo viene demostrando. [Experience has been showing it to us.]

Por hoy es todo. Felices Páscuas a todos ustedes.

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