How to form questions - como formar las preguntas

To form questions in English, sometimes we change the order of the subject and verb, but sometimes we use do/does/did.  How can we decide what we have to do?  Para formar las preguntas en inglés, a veces cambiamos el orden del sujeto y del verbo, pero a veces utilizamos do/does/did.  ¿Cómo podemos decidir lo que tenemos que hacer?

Auxiliary verbs – verbos auxiliares

In English, we have helping verbs or auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs typically help another verb, so we can often see two verbs together. The auxiliary verbs in English are be, have and do, together with the modal verbs. En inglés, tenemos verbos auxiliares. Los verbos auxiliares, normalmente auxilian otros verbos, pues a menudo podemos ver dos verbos juntos. Los verbos auxiliares en inglés son be, have y do, junto con los verbos modales.

be, have, do, can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would

For these verbs, we change the order of subject and verb to make a question. Con estos verbos, cambiamos el orden del subjeto y del verbo para formar una pregunta.

They are English. Are they English?

He has got a car. Has he got a car? (NB es un verbo auxiliar, haber)

I can go to Jerez. Can I go to Jerez?

They would prefer to stay home. Would they prefer to stay home?

He will buy the coat. Will he buy the coat?

The rest of the verbs – los demás

When there is no auxiliary verb, we use do/does/did to form the question.

Cuando no hay ningún verbo auxiliar, se utilice do/does/did para formar la pregunta.

NB with do/does/did the verb is always the infinitive. NB Con do/does/did el verbo siempre es el infinitivo.

He paints the house. Does he paint the house?

They cook the meal. Do they cook the meal?

You like fish. Do you like fish?

He went to Jerez yesterday. Did he go to Jerez yesterday.

They live here in Alcalá. Do they live here in Alcalá?

He has a car. Does he have a car? (NB, no es un verbo auxiliar, tener)

Wh- questions

What (qué) where (dónde) who (quién) whose (de quién, cuyo) when (cuándo) why (porqué) which (cuál) how (cómo)

Often we start the sentence with these words. If there is an auxiliary verb, we change the order and for the rest, we use do/does/did. A menudo empezamos la frase con estas palabras. Si hay un verbo auxiliar, cambiamos el orden y por los demás, utilizamos do/does/did.

He has been reading. What has he been reading.

She sings. What does she sing?

I am going. Where are you going?

You are cooking. Why are you cooking?

Take care with who. It always refers to a person. If we are asking about the object, we use do/does/did. If we ask about the subject, the verb stays the same.

¡Ten cuidado con who! Siempre se refiere a una persona. Si preguntamos sobre el objeto, utilizamos do/does/did. Si preguntamos sobre el sujeto, el verbo queda lo mismo.

(subject/sujeto) phoned (object/objeto)

Susan phoned someone. Who did Susan phone? (object, objeto)
Here "someone" is the object of the verb. Aquí "someone" es el objeto del verbo.

Someone phoned Susan. Who phoned Susan? (subject, sujeto)

Here "someone" is the subject of the verb.  Aquí "someone" es el sujeto del verbo.

 A common confusion - una confusión común

In english we have one verb for to have but in Spanish, we have two: haber, tener.   En inglés tenemos sólo uno verbo que significa to have pero en español hay dos: haber, tener. So sometimes to have is an auxiliary verb and sometimes it isn't.  Pues a veces to have es un verbo auxiliar y a veces no lo es.

Example

John has a car.  John tiene un coche.  (not auxiliary, no es auxiliar = tener)

Does John have a car?  (NB Utilizamos do/does/did)

John has got a car. John ha conseguido un coche. (verbo auxiliar = haber)

Has John got a car? (NB El orden ha cambiado)

¡Buena suerte con las preguntas!

Practise your vowel sounds - practica sus fonemas vocálicos

Here are two links that help you practise your vowel sounds.
Aquí tiene dos enlaces que pueden ayudarle practicar los fonemas vocálicos en inglés.

I hope they are useful.
Espero que son útiles.

Vowel sounds - fonemas vocálicos

Diphthong sounds - sonidos diptongos

¡Qué disfrute!

Modal verbs - verbos modales

Modal Verbs

can – could

may – might

shall – should

will – would

must

These verbs have no infinitive, no past participle, and no -ing form. They are called defective verbs. Estos verbos no tienen ningún infinitivo, ni participio pasado, ni la forma -ing. Se llaman verbos defectivos. They come from the present and preterite tenses of Old English verbs and originally from German. Vienen de los tiempos presente y pretérito de inglés antiguo y originalmente de alemán.

The present tense of these verbs (can, may, shall, will) still expresses the present and future tenses, but the preterite forms (could, might, should, would) are now more like the Spanish subjunctive. El tiempo presente de estos verbos (can, may, shall, will) todavía expresa el presente y el futuro, pero la forma pretérita (could, might, should, would) hoy en día se parecen más el subjuntivo español.

The modal verbs express possibility, ability, opportunity, obligation, necessity, intention, probability, etc. Los verbos modales expresan posibilidad, habilidad, oportunidad, obligación, necesidad, intención, probabilidad, etc.

can – could (ability, permission, possibility)

(poder, saber)
I can speak English. (ability)

You can smoke here. (permission)

There can be competition between brothers. (possibility)

may – might (possibility, permission)

(puede que, podía)
It may not be true. Puede que no sea verdad. (possibility)

podría, pudiera ser May I go out? ¿Puedo salir? (permission)

es posible (que) It might be a good idea. Podría ser una buena idea. (possibility)

will – would (will = future) (courtesy, intention, probability, orders, habit, conditional)

(podría, quieres que, etc.)
Will you come this way? ¿Quiere venir por aquí?

Would you do me a favour? ¿Me haría un favor?

If I were you, I would send an email. En tu lugar, enviaría un email.

I would rather die!! ¡¡Yo preferiría morir!!

They would not listen. No escuchaban.

shall – should (shall = will = future) (suggestion, duty, obligation, advice, deduction)

(debería, quieres que, etc)
Shall I call a taxi? ¿Quieres que llame un taxi?

You should always tell the truth. Deberías decir la verdad siempre.

You should eat more vegetables. Deberías comer más verduras.

We also use ought to to express duty, obligation.  It is not as strong as must.

También utilizamos ought to para expresar el deber, la obligación.  No es tan fuerte como must.

must (only in the present tense) (strong duty, obligation, prohibition)

(= have to) 

(tener que) 

I must study more. Tengo que estudiar más. 
You must not go out. Está prohibido salir.

Here is a summary:

To express:	Use:
ability	can – could
permission	may – might can – could
obligation	shall – must – have to
probability, uncertainty, possibility	may – might will – would
advice obligation, duty	shall – should ought to
intention, courtesy, condition	will – would

Why is it so hard to translate "would"?
¿Por qué es tan difícil traducir "would"?

Mira unos ejemplos...

He would go to school every day.   (past tense, repeated action)
Él se iba a la escuela todos los días.

Would you open the window please?   (request, courtesy)
¿Te molestaría abrir la ventana, por favor?

I would do it straight away.   (conditional, supposition)
Yo lo habría ahora mismo.

If it was cheaper, I would buy it.  (conditional)
Si estuviera más barato, yo lo compraría.

You would say that, wouldn't you!  (emphasis, irony)
Tu tendrías que decir eso, ¡como no!

Would that it was so simple!  (subjunctive, supposition, hope)
¡Si fuera tan sencillo!

I wouldn't do that!   (advice, order)
Yo no haría eso.

She told me she would be there.  (reported speech)
Ella me dijo que estaría allí.

I wouldn't know.   (conjecture, uncertainty)
No sé.  Yo no lo sabría.

There would always be some left over. (past tense, repeated action)
Siempre sobraba algo.

I would have her do it.  (subjunctive)
Yo querria que ella lo hiciese.

...


When translating would into Spanish, we have many options to choose from and we need to look carefully at the context. That's why it's difficult. Because there are so many uses of would, translating from the Spanish to English is easier.  Cuando traducimos would al español, necesitamos elegir entre muchas opciones y por eso necesitamos mirar con cuidado el contexto. Por eso, es difícil. Porque hay tantos usos de would, la traducción del español al inglés es más facíl.

Hay una ambigüedad en inglés:

He would know. 
Does this mean that he knows, definitely?  Or that "I think" he knows?  Or he knew something in the past?  Is it ironic?  In Spanish, it is much clearer because we have tenses to express the different meanings.

¿Significa que es cierto que él sabe?  ¿O yo creo que él sabe? O él lo supo en el pasado?  ¿Es irónico?  En español es mucho más claro porque tenemos tiempos de los verbos para expresar los sentidos distintos.

But I would say that, wouldn't I?

The apostrophe - el apóstrofo

In English, we use the apostrophe for two different cases: contractions and to indicate possession.  En inglés utilizamos el apóstrofo en dos casos diferentes: las contracciones y para señalar posesión.

Contractions
Normally the apostrophe is in place of missing letters when two words are combined.  Normalmente el apóstofo es en lugar de las letras perdidas cuando dos palabras se combinan.

I will - I'll
We will - we'll
is not - isn't
do not - don't
could not - couldn't
etc.

Some are irregular:
will not - won't
shall not - shan't

Possession

We can use possessive adjectives and pronouns (my, your, his, her, mine, yours, etc) to show possession but we can also use an apostophe+s and also the word of. In Spanish, we use de to show possession.  Podemos utilizar los adjectivos y los pronombres (my, your, his, her, mine, yours, etc) para señalar posesión pero también podemos utilizar un apóstrofo más 's', y también la palabra of.  En español, utilizamos la palabra de.

La casa de Peter, in English is Peter's house. (NB the order of words is changed)

We have some simple rules about when to use the apostrophe and where to put it.  Tenemos unas reglas sencillas sobre cuando deberíamos utilizar el apóstrofo y donde ponerlo.

(English people make many mistakes with the apostrophe...  Los ingleses cometen muchos errors con el apóstrofo...)

We only need to ask three questions.  Is it a person?  Is it a plural?  Is the plural regular or irregular?  Solo necesitamos hacer tres preguntas.  ¿Es una persona? ¿Es plural? ¿Es regular o no?

Person or non-person?

If the possessor (poseedor) is a person, we use 's but if it is not a person, we use of. (We sometimes break this rule... e.g. The world's end, the car's engine)

John's hat. (El sombrero de John) He is a person so we use 's. Es una persona, entonces utilizamos 's.

The door of the house. (La puerta de la casa). House is not a person so we use of.  La casa no es una persona, entonces utilizamos of.

Plurals – regular and irregular

We make the plurals of regular nouns by adding -s or -es and sometimes there are orthographic changes.  For example book - books, chair - chairs, knife - knives.  Nosotros formamos los plurales de los nombres regulares por la adición de -s o -es y a veces hay cambios ortográficos.

Irregular nouns change their form.  Foot - feet, child - children, etc.

Sustantivos irregulares cambian su forma.

When the owner is a person and is plural and regular (e.g. brothers, sisters formed by adding s), we add only the apostrophe '.

My sisters' bedroom. El dormitorio de mis hermanas.

Sisters is plural and regular so we use the apostrophe without an additional s - sisters'.  Sisters es plural y regular y por eso utilizamos sólo el apóstrofo - sisters'.

When the owner is plural and irregular (e.g. children), we add the 's.

The children's park. El parque de los niños.

Children is plural and irregular so we use 's - children's.

Children es plural e irregular y por eso utilizamos 's - children's.

Other uses

Animals: Use 's for larger animals, and of for smaller animals.

The horse's tail (La cola de caballo) but

The wings of a butterfly (Las alas de una mariposa). (NB el artículo)

Con animales grandes, utilizamos el apóstrofo pero no con animales pequeños.

Collectives: For groups of people we use 's.

The government's decision. (La decisión del gobierno).

The club's rules. (Las normas del club).

Utilizamos el apóstrofo con grupos de personas.

Geographical Names: For places we use 's.

Almería's future. (El futuro de Almería.)

New York's restaurants. (Los restaurantes de Nueva York.)

Utilizamos el apóstrofo con lugares geográficos.

Time expressions: weeks, days, etc, but take care...

We need five days' holiday. (Necesitamos unas vacaciones de cinco días.) (days = plural)

Last week's election. (La elección de la semana pasada.) (week = singular)

También utilizamos el apóstrofo con expresiones de tiempo.

Double names: When there are two names, we use the apostrophe only with the second name.  Cuando hay dos nombres, utilizamos el apóstrofo sólo con el segundo nombre.

John and Peter's office.  (El oficina de John y de Peter)

Names ending in s
When a name ends in s, we add 's.  Cuando un nombre termina con s, añadimos 's.
Chris - Chris's
James - James's

[NB There are exceptions: Keats' poetry, Archimedes' Law
Hay excepciones: Keats' poetry (poesía de Keats), Archimedes' Law (la ley de Arquímides)]

But remember.... these rules are sometimes broken in English.  We sometimes say "the world's end", "the car's engine", "the book's cover", "the ship's crew", etc.  Rules in grammar are not laws.  Pero recuerde... estas reglas a veces se puede romper.  A veces decimos "the world's end", "the car's engine", "the book's cover", "the ship's crew", etc.  Las reglas de la gramática no son leyes.

And that's it!  ¡Y eso es!

How to form questions in English - cómo formar las preguntas en inglés

How do we ask questions in English? It depends on the type of answer we expect. Is it a yes/no question, or something more specific?

¿Cómo hacemos preguntas en inglés? Depende en el tipo de respuesta que esperemos. ¿Es una pregunta de yes/no, o algo más específico?

Yes/No – Si/No

We can form a simple yes/no question by changing the position of the subject and the auxiliary verb such as be, can, have.

Podemos formar una pregunta sencilla por medio de cambiar la posición del sujeto y del verbo auxiliar como be, can, have.

They have finished. Have they finished?

You can sing. Can you sing?

She is running. Is she running?

For the simple present and simple past, there is no auxilliary verb, so we use the word do/does – the following verb is in the infinitive.

Los tiempos presente simple y pasado simple no tienen ningún verbo auxiliar, pues utilizamos la palabra do/does – el verbo siguiente es en la forma del infinitivo.

They live here. Do they live here? (live = infinitive)

She likes travelling. Does she like travelling? (like = infinitive)

He went to Jerez. Did he go to Jerez? (go = infinitivo)

What, where, when, who, whose, why, which, how

Here, we want to know something more specific. Aquí, queremos saber algo más específico.

what? = ¿qué? What is she reading?

where? = ¿dónde? Where does he live?

when? = ¿cuándo? When will they arrive?

who? = ¿quién? Who is in the car?

whose? = ¿de quién? Whose house is that?

why? = ¿por qué? Why did he say that?

which? = ¿cuál? Which one would you like to buy?

how? = ¿cómo? How do you cook rice?

Note that the order of the words is changed following these words. Se nota que el orden de las palabras cambia siguiente de estas palabras.

"She is reading" se pone "What is she reading?"

Negative questions – preguntas negativas

Normally we use contractions of not, n't or 't with the verb. Normalmente, utilizamos las contracciones por not, n't o 't con el verbo.

Aren't you going to Cádiz?

Can't you swim?

Haven't you prepared the meal?

Doesn't he work here?

Didn't you visit your father?

You can practise making questions from sentences and provide your own answers. Puede practicar formar las preguntas de las frases y proveer sus respuestas propias. ¡Buena suerte!

[NB En inglés, la palabra practise, con 's' es el verbo y indica una acción, pero la palabra practice, con 'c' significa el nombre.]

Verbos frasales – Phrasal Verbs, verbal phrases

It is common in English and Spanish to place adverbs and prepositions after certain verbs to produce a particular meaning. There are very many verbal phrases in English and in Spanish and we need to be able to recognise them.

Es muy común en inglés y español colocar adverbios o preposiciones detrás de ciertos verbos con el fin de producir un significado particular. Hay muchos frases verbales en inglés y español y necesitamos poder reconocerlas.

Here is a list of some of the commonly used verbs with examples of their use. Aquí hay una lista de algunos verbos con ejemplos de su uso.

to be back regresar

I'll be back as soon as I can. Volveré tan pronto como pueda.

to be over acabar, terminar

The class is over. Se acabó la clase.

to be up to (somebody) ser la obligación (de alguien)

It's up to you. Es asunto tuyo. Es tu obligación/decisión.

to break down destruir, averiarse, romper negociones, estallar en llanto

They broke down the door. Derribaron la puerta.

The engine broke down yesterday. Ayer se averió el motor.

to bring up criar, educar

You are very badly brought up. Estas muy mal educado.

to cut down on reducir (gastos)

We have to cut down on holidays. Tenemos que reducir gastos en las vacaciones.

to get up levantarse

He got up at seven. Se levantó a las siete

to look after cuidar

I'm looking after my father. Estoy cuidando de mi padre.

to make up one's mind decidirse

He has made up his mind. Se ha decidido.

Make up your mind! ¡Decídete!

to speak up hablar más alto, más fuerte

I can't hear you. Could you speak up please? No le oigo, ¿podría hablar más alto, por favor?

to switch off desenchufarse, desconectar, apagar

I was so bored, I switched off. Yo estaba tan aburrido que desconecté.

to run over atropellar

Your dog has been run over by a car. Su perro ha sido atropellado por un coche.

Linking words

We use many words to indicate contrast, reasons, results, and purpose.  We use them to link different parts of a sentence and they are very common in English and Spanish.

Utilizamos muchas palabras para indicar el contraste, razones, resultados, y el propósito. Las utilizamos para unir partes diferentes de una frase y son muy cotidianas en inglés y castellano.

El contraste - contrast

although aunque  

Although she doesn't like her job, she works hard.

even though aunque, a pesar de que 

Even though she was late, she said nothing!

though aunque 

Though they were invited, they didn't come to the party.

in spite of a pesar de 

In spite of the bad weather, they went to the shop.

despite a pesar de  

Despite the rain, we went to Cádiz.

while mientras 

He is French while his wife is Spanish.

whereas mientras que 

He is quiet whereas his sister is noisy.

Razón/resultado – reason/result

because porque 

He ran to the house because he was late.

because of debido a, a causa de 

We didn't go out because of the rain.

as porque 

I prepared coffee as you don't like tea.

since porque (no después) 

I didn't buy it since I had no money.

so así que, por lo que 

I was late so I ran for the train.

as a result como resultado 

It was raining. As a result, we stayed home.

therefore por lo tanto, por eso 

It was cheap therefore I bought it.

Propósito – purpose

to para 

I went to Paris to learn French.

in order to para 

I went to Paris in order to learn French.

so as to para 

I went to Paris so as to learn French.

for ..-ing para 

I bought some cloth for making clothes.

Normalmente, for + -ing es una construcción que describe el propósito de una cosa.  En este caso, es el propósito de la tela, que es una cosa.  Si el énfasis es en la persona, utilizamos una forma diferente, como in order to.

I bought some cloth in order to make clothes.  En este caso, el propósito pertenece a la persona, no a la cosa.

Podemos utilizar "for" para hablar de un propósito de una persona cuando viene seguido de un nombre pero no de un verbo.

Ejemplo:
We went to the restaurant for lunch.    Lunch es un nombre.
Pero:  We went to the restaurant for to eat lunch - es incorrecta.   We went to the restaurant to eat lunch - esa frase es correcta.

so that para que 

We left early so that we won't arrive late.

just in case por sí acaso  

Take an umbrella just in case it rains.

Pero ¡ten cuidado!

as, while, since pueden referir al tiempo también.  Por ejemplo:

As/while I was reading the book, I saw the bird.

Mientras leía yo el libro, yo veía el pájaro.

Since I was in Jerez, I have been in Cádiz.

Desde estaba en Jerez, he estado en Cádiz.