Fluera articles
Clear explanations of grammar, words and common mistakes. With examples and a mini-practice after each article.
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Spanish numbers 100 to 1000: hundreds made simple
To form Spanish numbers from 100 to 1000, learn the hundreds and then add the smaller number directly: doscientos treinta (230), cuatrocientos ocho (408), novecientos noventa y nueve (999). Use cien ...
Volver vs devolver in Spanish: go back or give back?
Use volver when the subject returns to a place or previous situation: Vuelvo a casa (I am going back home). Use devolver when the subject gives an object back to someone or takes it back to its ...
Spanish time expressions: hoy, ayer, mañana and beyond
The essential Spanish time expressions are hoy (today), ayer (yesterday), mañana (tomorrow), anoche (last night), ahora (now) and más tarde (later). They usually work without a preposition: Trabajo ...
Spanish contractions al and del: the complete rule
Spanish has two standard article contractions: a + el = al and de + el = del. They are required whenever the preposition a or de comes directly before the masculine singular article el: Voy al mercado ...
Quedar vs quedarse in Spanish: meeting, fitting and staying
Use quedar without a reflexive pronoun for ideas such as arranging to meet ( Quedamos a las ocho ), being left ( Quedan dos entradas ) and fitting or looking on someone ( Te queda bien ). Use quedarse ...
Ir a + infinitive in Spanish: the near future
Build the Spanish near future with a present form of ir + a + an infinitive: Voy a estudiar (I am going to study), Vamos a salir (we are going to leave), Van a llegar (they are going to arrive) ...
Hay vs está in Spanish: existence or location?
Use hay to say that something exists or is available: Hay un banco aquí (there is a bank here). Use está or están to locate something the listener can already identify: El banco está aquí (the bank is ...
Y vs e and o vs u in Spanish: the sound rule for and/or
Spanish “and” is normally y and “or” is normally o. But each one changes to a different letter in one specific situation, purely so two identical vowel sounds do not blur into one. Y becomes e before ...
Spanish relative pronouns: que, quien, el que and lo que
Relative pronouns are the little words that join two ideas into one sentence — the Spanish equivalents of “that”, “which”, “who” and “whose”. The good news is that one word, que, covers the vast ...
Nationalities in Spanish: how to say where you are from
To say where someone is from in Spanish you use a nationality word like español (Spanish), francés (French), inglés (English), alemán (German) or mexicano (Mexican). These are adjectives, so they ...
Spanish diminutives: how -ito and -ita really work
A Spanish diminutive is an ending you add to a word — most often -ito or -ita — to make it mean something small, or, just as often, something dear, cute or gentle. Perro (dog) becomes perrito (little ...
Haber vs tener in Spanish: hay, tengo and the difference
Spanish has two verbs that both touch the English idea of “have”, and mixing them up is one of the most common beginner errors. Use haber — in its special form hay — to say what exists or is there ...
Spanish superlatives: el más, el menos and the -ísimo ending
A Spanish superlative says something is the most or the least of a group — the tallest building, the least expensive option. You build it with a definite article ( el, la, los, las ) plus más (most) ...
Spanish sentence structure: word order rules for beginners
Spanish sentence structure starts from the same basic pattern as English — subject, then verb, then object: María come una manzana (María eats an apple). If you build your first sentences on that ...
Spanish ordinal numbers: primero to décimo and how to use them
Spanish ordinal numbers tell you the position of something in a sequence — first, second, third — and the everyday set runs from primero (1st) to décimo (10th). Unlike English ordinals, which never ...
Jobs and professions in Spanish: common job words with gender
The Spanish word for a job is el trabajo, and to talk about what someone does you name their profession: profesor (teacher), médico (doctor), enfermero (nurse), camarero (waiter), policía (police ...
Gustar and verbs like it in Spanish: how to say what you like
Gustar is the verb you use to say you like something, but it does not work like English “to like”. It really means “to be pleasing”, so the thing you like is the subject of the sentence and you are ...
Spanish stem-changing verbs: e→ie, o→ue and e→i
Stem-changing verbs take the normal present-tense endings, but the vowel in their stem changes in the forms where that vowel is stressed. The change happens in every present form except nosotros and ...
Spanish present tense: how to conjugate -ar, -er and -ir verbs
To put a regular Spanish verb in the present tense, drop the infinitive ending ( -ar, -er or -ir ) to get the stem, then add the ending that matches the subject. Hablar (to speak) becomes hablo (I ...
Spanish present progressive: estar + gerund (-ando / -iendo)
The Spanish present progressive says that something is happening right now. You build it with two pieces: the verb estar conjugated for the subject, plus the gerund of the main verb. To make the ...
Animals in Spanish: common animal names with articles
The Spanish word for animal is el animal, and the most useful everyday animals are el perro (dog), el gato (cat), el pájaro (bird), el caballo (horse) and la vaca (cow). Each animal name comes with a ...
Spanish accent marks: á, é, í, ó, ú, ñ and ü explained
Spanish uses just three written marks, and each has one clear job. The acute accent (´) sits on a vowel — á, é, í, ó, ú — and either shows which syllable is stressed or tells two identical-looking ...
Days of the week in French: lundi to dimanche
The seven days of the week in French are lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi and dimanche. They are all masculine ( le lundi, le dimanche ) and, unlike in English, they are written in ...
Months of the year in Spanish: enero to diciembre
The twelve months in Spanish are enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre and diciembre. Most are close cousins of their English names, so they are ...