Spanish C2 starter notebook

for English speakers · 5 grammar rules · 15 words · 10 example sentences

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Grammar rules

Subjunctive after expressions of doubt, emotion, and influence

C2#subjunctive#syntax

At C2, the subjunctive is largely automatic, but watch these refinements:

No me parece que + subjunctive (doubt), but me parece que + indicative (assertion).
El hecho de que almost always takes the subjunctive even when stating a fact: El hecho de que lo sepas no cambia nada.
After por (más/mucho) que = 'however much', use subjunctive for hypothetical, indicative for known fact.
No es que + subjunctive to deny a presupposition: No es que no quiera, es que no puedo.

Distinguishing sino, sino que, and pero

C2#connectors#contrast

All three contrast, but they are not interchangeable:

Connector	Use
pero	adds a qualification (both clauses can stand)
sino	corrects after a negation, before a word/phrase
sino que	corrects after a negation, before a conjugated clause

Examples:

No es caro, sino barato. (before a noun/adjective)
No vino, sino que llamó. (before a finite verb)
Es pequeño pero cómodo. (qualification, not correction)

Also: no solo... sino también = 'not only... but also'.

The 'lo' neuter and lo + adjective + que

C2#lo#nominalization

Neuter lo has no plural and refers to abstractions, not objects:

lo + adjective nominalises a quality: lo importante = 'the important thing'.
lo + adjective/adverb + que intensifies, with agreement on the adjective: No sabes lo cansados que estaban. ('how tired they were').
lo de = 'the matter of': Lo de ayer fue un malentendido.
a lo que / por lo que introduce clausal references.

Note the adjective agrees with the noun it describes even though lo is invariable.

Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo and the -ra/-se forms

C2#subjunctive#conditional

The pluperfect subjunctive (hubiera/hubiese + participle) is essential for counterfactuals about the past:

Si lo hubiera sabido, no habría venido. (third conditional)
The -ra form can replace the conditional in the result clause: ...no hubiera venido.
The literary -ra can even stand for the pluperfect indicative: El hombre que escribiera estas líneas... = 'who had written'.
-ra and -se are interchangeable as subjunctive, but only -ra has these extra indicative-like uses.

Voseo and register-sensitive address

C2#pronouns#register#dialect

C2 speakers navigate address forms across dialects:

tú (most of Spain/Mexico) vs vos (Río de la Plata, much of Central America) for informal singular.
Vos takes its own present and imperative: vos tenés, vos sos, vení, tené.
vosotros (informal plural) is alive in Spain but absent in Latin America, where ustedes covers both registers.
usted can signal not just respect but emotional distance, anger, or even tenderness with children depending on region.

Vocabulary

Spanish	English	Part of speech
el quebradero de cabezam	headache, source of worry	noun
ningunear	to belittle, to treat as a nobody	verb
el sambenitom	stigma, undeserved bad reputation	noun
a regañadientes	reluctantly, grudgingly	adverb
el ardidm	ruse, scheme, trick	noun
soslayar	to sidestep, to circumvent	verb
el desdénm	disdain, scorn	noun
rehuir	to shun, to evade	verb
el atisbom	glimmer, hint, trace	noun
menudo	what a..., some... (ironic)	adjective
la zozobraf	anxiety, anguish, unease	noun
engatusar	to coax, to sweet-talk, to wheedle	verb
el quidm	the crux, the key point	noun
a la postre	in the end, ultimately	phrase
escamotear	to make disappear, to spirit away, to withhold	verb

Example sentences

Por más que se empeñe en negarlo, el quid del asunto es que nadie confía ya en su palabra.
However much he insists on denying it, the crux of the matter is that nobody trusts his word anymore.
No es que me desagrade la propuesta, sino que me parece que la han presentado a destiempo.
It's not that the proposal displeases me, but rather that I think they've put it forward at the wrong moment.
Si hubiéramos soslayado aquel malentendido a tiempo, nos habríamos ahorrado más de un quebradero de cabeza.
If we had sidestepped that misunderstanding in time, we would have spared ourselves more than one headache.
Aceptó el cargo a regañadientes, sin el menor atisbo de entusiasmo.
He accepted the post reluctantly, without the slightest glimmer of enthusiasm.
Lo de ayer no fue un descuido, sino un ardid cuidadosamente urdido para ningunearla delante de todos.
What happened yesterday was not a slip-up, but a carefully woven ruse to belittle her in front of everyone.
No sabes lo desdeñosos que se mostraron cuando les expusimos nuestras objeciones.
You have no idea how disdainful they were when we laid out our objections to them.
A la postre, por mucho que intentaran engatusar al jurado, la sentencia fue inapelable.
In the end, however hard they tried to sweet-talk the jury, the verdict was final.
Rehuía mi mirada cada vez que salía a relucir el tema de la herencia.
He would avoid my gaze every time the subject of the inheritance came up.
Me consta que le han colgado el sambenito de conflictivo sin que mediara prueba alguna.
I know for a fact that they've pinned the label of troublemaker on him without any evidence whatsoever.
¡Menuda zozobra debió de sentir al descubrir que le habían escamoteado la mitad de los documentos!
What anguish she must have felt on discovering that half the documents had been spirited away from her!

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