The news has been dominated by the death of Queen Elizabeth II. If you are wondering how to say words like "queen" or "kingdom" in Spanish, this lesson will teach you how to say and spell the most important royal terms.
hasta que por fin la reina Isabel le concedió audiencia
until Queen Isabel finally granted him an audience,
Caption 18, Viajando con Fermín Patios de Córdoba - Part 3
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Notice that even when used as part of a proper name like la reina Isabel (Queen Isabel), la reina and its male counterpart el rey (the king) are lowercase in Spanish.
Miren, hablando del rey de Roma.
Look, speak of the devil [literally "the King of Rome"].
Caption 60, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 5 - Part 4
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Keep in mind that the masculine plural form of el rey, los reyes, is used to describe "the King and Queen" (although it could also mean "the kings" in different contexts).
Actualmente es la residencia oficial de los reyes de España,
Currently, it's the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain,
Caption 24, Madrid Un recorrido por la capital de España
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Corona imperial española.
Imperial Spanish Crown.
Caption 18, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 4 - Part 3
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era para el alto clero, la monarquía y la burguesía de Barcelona
was for Barcelona's high clergy, monarchy, and middle class
Caption 58, Víctor en España La Catedral del Mar en Barcelona
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a quienes los monarcas otorgaban las patentes de corso,
to whom the monarchs granted letters of marque,
Caption 58, Viajando con Fermín Pasajes (Pasaia) - Part 3
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Remember that the article el is used to describe a male monarch, and la is used for a female, while los monarcas could be a group of males or a mixed group.
Una noche conocí en un casino al príncipe este, Rainiero.
One night I met at a casino this prince, Rainiero.
Caption 9, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 1 - Part 4
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The above clip is from our popular Colombian series Confidencial: El rey de la estafa. In the following clip, you can hear how that word is pronounced by a speaker from Spain. Notice the difference in pronunciation, especially when it comes to the letter "c":
come como un príncipe,
eat the main meal of the day like a prince,
Caption 36, Raquel Presentaciones
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se casaba con una princesa de España.
he was marrying a princess from Spain.
Caption 26, Leyendas urbanas La Llorona
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Su marido es el príncipe Felipe, duque de Edimburgo.
Her husband is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Captions 25-26, El Aula Azul Adivina personajes famosos - Part 2
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Note that the feminine form of el duque, la duquesa, means "duchess."
Por consejo del cuerpo de seguridad de la familia real,
Under the advisement of the security forces of the royal family,
Caption 29, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 4 - Part 5
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Érase una vez en un lejano reino,
Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom,
Caption 1, Cuentos de hadas Cenicienta - Part 1
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y la subida al trono del nuevo cacique
and the ascension to the throne of the new cacique
Caption 18, Aprendiendo con Carlos América precolombina - El Dorado
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A Su Majestad, la reina, le ha interesado mucho,
It has interested Her Majesty, the Queen, a lot,
Caption 23, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 4 - Part 4
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Su Alteza Real el príncipe se casará con la mujer cuyo pie encaje en este zapato de cristal.
His Royal Highness the Prince will marry the woman whose foot fits into this glass slipper.
Captions 25-26, Cuentos de hadas Cenicienta - Part 2
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That's all for now. We hope you have learned some "royally" useful words in this lesson, and don't forget to send us your suggestions and comments.
Like in English, the Spanish pluperfect tense describes something that happened before something else, for example, something that "had" already happened at a certain point in time or before another past action. Let's find out how to conjugate the Spanish pluperfect tense and hear several examples in action.
The Spanish pluperfect tense, which is sometimes referred to as the past perfect tense, is pretty easy to conjugate! It is very similar to the Spanish present perfect tense (the verb haber in the present tense + the participle) except that haber will be conjugated in the Spanish imperfect tense. So, the formula for the pluperfect tense in Spanish would be:
haber in the imperfect tense + the participle
Let's first take a look at the imperfect conjugation of haber:
| Personal Pronoun: | Conjugation of Haber: |
| yo | había |
| tú | habías |
| él/ella/usted | había |
| nosotros/as | habíamos |
| vosotros/as | habíais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | habían |
Now we need a Spanish participle. These correspond to English participles (which often but not always end in -ed or -en). Examples include regular -ar verbs like hablado (talked/spoken) and mirado (looked), regular -er verbs like comido (eaten) and aprendido (learned), regular -ir verbs like recibido (received) and dormido (slept), and irregular verbs like abierto (opened), visto (seen), and dicho (said). For a list of more irregular Spanish participles as well as a detailed explanation of how to conjugate participles in Spanish, we invite you to consult this lesson on the present perfect tense in Spanish.
Whereas the verb haber in the present tense can be translated as "have" in the context of the present perfect in examples like Yo he comido (I have eaten), Tú has comenzado (You have begun), or Nosotros/as hemos hablado (We have talked/spoken), the translation for the imperfect conjugation of haber within the pluperfect tense is "had." That said, let's look at those same verbs conjugated in the pluperfect, noting their translations:
Yo había comido: I had eaten
Tú habías comenzado: You had begun
Nosotros/as habíamos hablado: We had talked/spoken
Now that we know how to conjugate the Spanish pluperfect and how to translate it, let's view a few examples. You will note from the translations that the Spanish pluperfect is used in very similar situations as the pluperfect in English.
Cuando Cenicienta quiso dar las gracias, el hada ya había desaparecido.
When Cinderella tried to say thank you, the fairy had already disappeared.
Caption 1, Cuentos de hadas Cenicienta - Part 2
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Here, the pluperfect is used to indicate that the fairy "had disappeared" prior to the moment that Cinderella "tried" to say goodbye (as described by the preterite verb quiso). Let's see another one:
Pero es que nunca había visto una anguila.
But the thing is that I had never seen an eel.
Caption 3, Guillermina y Candelario Un pez mágico - Part 2
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In this example, rather than expressing that "he'd" never "seen" an eel before some other past action, the speaker employs the pluperfect to explain that, at the moment in the past that he is describing, he "hadn't seen" an eel ever in his life. Let's look at one more:
decidieron regresar al lugar de donde habían venido.
they decided to return to the place where they had come from.
Caption 44, Aprendiendo con Carlos América precolombina - El mito de Bachué
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In this final example, the preterite verb decidieron lets us know that in that moment in the past, "they decided" to go back to the location where they "had come from" (at some other moment in time prior to deciding to go back, of course!).
That's all for today. We hope that this lesson has helped you to understand how the Spanish pluperfect tense is conjugated and used... and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments.
Do you enjoy giving orders? Let's study the imperative mood in Spanish so you can do it correctly and guarantee obedience from your subjects.
Imperatives are phrases used to tell someone to do something. One easy way to give commands in Spanish is using the verbs mandar and ordenar (to command) with the phrases ordeno que or mando que + a verb in subjunctive (2nd person). For example, ordeno que bailes (I order you to dance), or les mando que vayan a la tienda (I order you guys to go to the store). However, and this is true in English as well, giving commands in such way may be adequate for a king or a general, but not for nice regular folks like us. So how do people normally give commands in Spanish? Usually with a single verb, just like in English. Check out the following quote:
¡Pues vente aquí a la cocina, anda, que no sé lo que estás haciendo!
Come here to the kitchen, come on, I don't know what are you doing!
Caption 31, Club de las ideas - Seguridad en internet
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This example shows two variations of single-word commands in Spanish: the first one, vente (come), includes a suffix pronoun, and the second one, anda (come), doesn't. It’s also correct to say ¡Pues ven aquí a la cocina, andate, que no sé lo que estás haciendo! These suffixes are very common but not always necessary: sometimes they point to the existence of direct and indirect objects, sometimes they indicate you are using a reflexive verb, etc. In many occasions they are simply used to add emphasis, as in the example above. Saying ¡Pues ven aquí a la cocina, anda, que no sé lo que estás haciendo! is perfectly correct.
To learn how to conjugate imperatives is a different story. There are basically three possibilities: Informal tú and vosotros (you singular and plural), formal usted and ustedes (you singular and plural), and nosotros (we) commands. It's also important to make a distinction between regular verbs (like andar, "to go") and irregular verbs (like venir, "to come"). For now, let’s stick to regular verbs. We can revisit the subject in a future lesson to learn the imperative form of some common irregular verbs.
The imperative for the informal tú (singular you) and vosotros (plural you) is the most common and perhaps the more challenging. Let's use the regular verbs amar (to love), temer (to fear), partir (to leave) as models to learn how to build these imperative forms.
For tú (you) we must use the same form of the verb that we use for the third person of the indicative:
(tú) ama, teme, parte - (you) love, fear, leave
To create the imperative for vosotros (plural you) we have to substitute the letter "r" from the infinitive with a "d:"
(vosotros) amad, temed, partid - (you plural) love, fear, leave
in the Americas people use ustedes instead of vosotros, right? Well, to make the imperative for ustedes use the present subjunctive for the same person:
(ustedes) amen, teman, partan - (you plural) love, fear, leave
Let's take a moment to test the rules we mentioned above. Is it true that ama is the imperative of amar for tú and also the third person of the indicative (he, she, it)?
Ama a tu esposa (love your wife) - Imperative tú (you)
Él ama a su esposa (He loves his wife) - Indicative third person (he, she, it)
It's true. Now, that you can transform the infinitive form of amar (to love), temer (to fear), partir (to leave) into the imperative for vosotros by replacing the r for a d is self evident: amad, temed, partid. Here’s an example using the regular verb mirar (to see):
y mirad lo que vamos a hacer ahora.
and look what we are going to do now.
Caption 71, Cómetelo - Crema de brócoli
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Perfect. Now let's see if the imperative for ustedes and the present subjunctive share the same form:
Teman al dios de fuego (Fear the god of fire) - imperative ustedes (you plural).
Yo dudo que ustedes teman al dios de fuego (I doubt that you fear the god of fire) - present subjunctive ustedes (you plural).
It's true as well. Here are more examples of the imperative for tú, vosotros, and ustedes:
Aprende el sentido de las tres erres.
Learn the meaning of the three Rs.
Caption 21, 3R - Campaña de reciclaje
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Escuchad, escuchad, queridos súbditos.
Hear, hear, worthy subjects.
Caption 24, Cuentos de hadas - Cenicienta
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Pregúntenle primero al corazón, hablen primero con Cupido
First ask the heart, speak first with Cupid
Caption 7, Mennores - Enamorarme Quiero
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A final note: it’s also possible to use negative sentences to give orders. For example: Niños, no coman insectos (Kids, don’t eat bugs). As you can see, the negative command for ustedes (you plural) has the same form than the positive command: coman (eat). But the negative commands for tú (you singular) and vosotros (you plural) use different conjugations. The negative commands for tú and vosotros use instead the present subjunctive: no comas pan (don’t eat bread) and no comáis porquerías (don’t eat junk food). Let’s transform the last examples above into negative sentences:
No aprendas el sentido de las tres erres.
Don’t learn the meaning of the three Rs.
No escuchéis, no escuchéis, queridos súbditos.
Don’t listen, don’t listen, worthy subjects.
No le pregunten primero al corazón, no hablen primero con Cupido.
Don’t ask the heart first, don’t speak first with Cupid.
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