Gramática

Spanish often drops the pronoun entirely, since the verb ending already shows who's acting. "Soy de España" already means "I am from Spain."

Used for identity, origin, permanent characteristics, profession, and telling time.

Tener que + infinitivo = "to have to." Also used for age (tengo 20 años) and fixed expressions like tener hambre/sed/sueño/miedo (to be hungry/thirsty/sleepy/afraid).

IR + A + infinitivo is the easiest way to talk about the future: Voy a estudiar (I'm going to study).

Possessives agree with the thing owned, not the owner: mi hermano, mis hermanos. Only nuestro/vuestro also change for gender.

Adjectives ending in -o change to -a for feminine subjects: español → española. Adjectives ending in a consonant or -e (like estadounidense) usually don't change. Nationality words ending in -és also add -a: francés → francesa.

The reflexive pronoun goes before the conjugated verb: me levanto, te duchas, se acuesta. Common reflexive verbs: levantarse, ducharse, despertarse, vestirse, acostarse.

Only one o'clock uses Es. Everything else uses Son, since the hour becomes plural.

The thing liked is the grammatical subject: gusta for one thing, gustan for multiple. Me gusta el fútbol vs. Me gustan los deportes.

The e → ie change happens everywhere except nosotros/vosotros. Quisiera is a softer, more polite version, useful when ordering food.

Used for a completed action with a clear beginning and end. Yo and él/ella forms carry written accents. Don't skip them.

SER and IR share the exact same preterite conjugation. Context tells them apart. These irregular stems use endings without written accents.

Note: yo and él/ella are identical in the imperfect, unlike the preterite.

Good news, the imperfect has only three irregular verbs in the whole language. Learn these and you're done.

Pretérito: completed actions, sequences of events, specific time frames.
Imperfecto: habitual actions, background description, age/time/weather, an action already in progress.

Simplest trick: if it translates as "was/were ___-ing" or "used to," it's imperfect. The imperfect sets the scene; the preterite moves the story forward.

Duele for one body part, duelen for multiple: Me duele la cabeza vs. Me duelen los pies.

Goes before the conjugated verb: ¿Tienes el informe? Sí, lo tengo. Answers the question "what?"

Answers "to/for whom?": the same pronoun family used with GUSTAR and DOLER. Often used redundantly alongside the name for clarity: Le di el informe a Carlos.

With numbers, use más de / menos de instead of que: más de veinte.

Never add más in front of these: más mejor is a common mistake. For physical size (not age), use más grande/pequeño instead of mayor/menor.

El/la más + adj + de: Es el más alto de la clase (the tallest in the class). Note: Spanish uses de where English uses "in."

El superlativo absoluto (-ísimo): add -ísimo/a to mean "extremely," no comparison implied: facilísimo (extremely easy), riquísimo (extremely delicious).

12 irregular stems (endings stay the same): tendré, pondré, saldré, vendré, sabré, podré, querré, habrá (tener/poner/salir/venir/saber/poder/querer/haber: vowel becomes "d" or drops), + haré, diré (hacer/decir: fully irregular stem).

Deber conjugates normally (debo, debes, debe, debemos, debéis, deben) and is followed directly by an infinitive. No extra word needed. Slightly softer than tener que.