The 8 Most Important Spanish Grammar Rules for Every Learner To Know

Some Spanish grammar rules are trickier than others. Use this expert advice to master the most important Spanish grammar rules.

Learning grammar rules in Spanish can be an exciting goal. Rules get your mind working in the new language and provide structure for the experience of speaking, writing, listening, and reading. As you encounter new words and ways of arranging and pronouncing them in the process of foreign language learning, both sides of your brain come into play. In other words, Spanish grammar rules can help your brain learn Spanish more easily.

1. Nouns must agree with adjectives in gender and number

Spanish is a gendered language, meaning nouns are categorized as either masculine or feminine and Spanish grammatical gender rules should be followed. Except for nouns referring to a person as a man / boy or a woman / girl, gendered language does not have much to do with things that are traditionally related to men or women.

Most masculine nouns in Spanish end in “o,” and most feminine nouns end in “a.” However, there are exceptions. Concordancia, or “agreement,” requires articles and adjectives to match the nouns they modify in gender and number.

el caballo negro = the black horse
la manzana roja = the red apple

You’ll probably notice that the adjectives, in this case the colors describing the horse and apple, come after the nouns and end in the same vowels the nouns do. The articles el and la are the masculine and feminine forms of the word for “the.”

When these nouns are pluralized, all the parts of speech related to them also agree in number and gender:

los caballos negros = the black horses
las manzanas rojas = the red apples

Most nouns are pluralized by adding the “s,” but nouns ending in consonants get the “es.” “Z” must be changed to “c” when pluralizing.

2. Ser and estar both mean “to be” but are used differently

While both of these verbs can be translated as “to be,” broadly speaking, ser is for more permanent situations, and estar is for more temporary ones. The ser vs. estar differences may seem subtle to English speakers, but they’ll start making sense with some practice. We list the basic differences below, but f you need some extra help, consider some a Rosetta Stone Tutoring session to bolster your understanding.

Use *ser* for:	Use *estar* for:
permanent states	temporary states
physical characteristics	marital status (if married)
time, date, and location (of an event)	location
nationality	emotions
professions	auxiliary verb (present progressive tense)

3. Gustar gets conjugated according to object not subject

The verb gustar (to like) works differently than most other verbs in Spanish in the sense that the verb conjugation doesn’t match the person doing the liking. The conjugation must instead match the thing that is liked:

Me gusta la piña. = I like pineapple.
Me gustan los tacos. = I like tacos.

When talking about people, it’s important to note that gustar means “to be attractive to,” and it has some sexual overtones. If you want to say you like a person in a non-sexual way, you can use caerse bien (to like a person, to get along with someone).

Gustar has some associated verbs that work the same way. When used with a pronoun, they have the sense listed below in parentheses:

encantar = to love, to please (I am pleased by…)
interesar = to interest (I am interested in…)
fascinar = to fascinate (I am fascinated by…)
molestar = to bother (I am bothered by…)
preocupar = to worry (I am worried about…)

4. When talking about the past, use preterite for defined actions and imperfect for undefined or repeated ones

Spanish includes several ways to talk about the past, with the two most important ones being the pretérito (preterite tense) and the imperfecto (Spanish imperfect tense). In a nutshell, the preterite is for actions that have a clear beginning and end in the past, and the imperfect is for ones that do not, for instance, habitual actions. The imperfect is often translated as “used to” or “would.”

Caminé seis kilómetros ayer. = I walked six kilometers yesterday.
Cuando vivía en Barcelona, caminaba todas las mañanas. = When I lived in Barcelona, I would walk (used to walk) every morning.

The preterite is also used to talk about an action in the past that interrupts another action in process in the past expressed with the imperfect progressive tense:

Julio estaba preparando un jugo cuando sonó el teléfono. = Julio was making some orange juice when the telephone rang.

Some Spanish-speaking countries favor the present perfect tense to talk about the past:

He caminado seis kilómetros hoy. = I walked six kilometers today.

5. It’s okay to have a sentence without a subject

Spanish verb conjugations are really important. Unlike English, there’s a distinct conjugation for each singular and plural point of view in Spanish: first person (I), second person (you), third persons (he/she/it).

Use this chart to help you with the corresponding Spanish pronouns used for learning the verb conjugations:

Point of view	Spanish singular	English singular	Spanish plural	English plural
first person	yo	I	nosotros / as	we
second person	tú (and sometimes vos)	you	vosotros / as*	you
third person	él/ella/ellousted**	he/she/it(you)	ellosustedes	they(you)

*Vosotros is only used in certain parts of the Spanish-speaking world.
**This is really the second person, so it means “you,” but it’s conjugated like the third person.

One of the reasons the conjugations are so important is that Spanish tends to drop the pronouns because most of the time the pronoun is obvious from the conjugation.

The lack of a subject can cause some confusion for beginners, but Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion method works differently than many other language learning programs because it emphasizes a natural learning process rather than heavy memorization. You won’t feel unmoored without subject pronouns because the learning will flow as it did when you were learning your mother tongue.

We’ve already mentioned the importance of conjugations. Another reason they are so significant in Spanish is because of tú and usted as well as ustedes, which is the plural of both. They all mean “you,” but Spanish grammar rules dictate that they be used in different ways.

You’ll need to use tú or usted depending on the situation, including the country or city you’re in. In general, use tú in the following situations: