Elma Eagles  

Click Here to Go Back to AP Spanish

Grammar Summary

Spanish-3 Unidad 4 Etapa 2

Affirmative and Negative Expressions (Review)

You have learned many words that you can use in negative and affirmative sentences.  Remember that Spanish uses a double negative:   when a negative word follows a verb, use no before the verb.  No estoy haciendo nada ahora.   When you use a negative word before the verb, omit no.  Nunca hago nada.

Affirmative and negative adjectives agree with the nouns the modify.

Alguno and ninguno change to algún and ningún when they come before a masculine singular noun.  Estoy buscando algún trabajo, pero no encuentro ninguno.

Here are affirmative and negative words that you know:

The Past Perfect Subjunctive

You can use the past perfect subjunctive to say that you wish that things had happened differently than they did.  For example, use it after ojalá que to express a wish about something that didn't happen:

Ojalá que hubiera llamado.     I wish I had called (but I didn't).

To form the past perfect subjunctive use:

past subjunctive of haber + past participle of the verb

You also can use the past perfect subjunctive, like the present perfect subjunctive, to say that one action took place before another action.  You use the past perfect subjunctive when the verb of the main clause is in the imperfect or the preterite.

Yo esperaba que te hubieran dado el puesto.   I hoped that had given you the job.

Here are some irregular past participles you should know:

The Conditional Perfect Tense

You use the conditional perfect tense to say that you would have done something.  Yo habría trabajado.  I would have worked.

To form the conditional perfect tense, use:

conditional of haber + past participle of the verb

The conditional perfect is most commonly used with a si-clause to say what might have been if things had been different.  In these sentences you use the past perfect subjunctive and the conditional perfect together.

Si hubieras sabido hablar español, te habrían dado el puesto.  If you had known how to speak Spanish, they would have given you the job.

Contrast the meaning of the three types of sentences with si-clauses that you have learned: