Doctora Cogburn's Website

 Most frequent 200 words used in Spanish language

Time Vocabulary

1. de la mañana-in the morning/ in the a.m. /use when talking about specific time. Son las 6 de la mañana-It's 6 in the morning
2. por la mañana-in the morning/ in the a.m. /use when talking about a GENERAL time. Voy por la mañana-I'm going in the morning
3. de la noche, por la noche (at night) work the same....
4. el mediodía-noon
5. la medianoche-midnight
6. la tarde-the afternoon
7. y media-half past, dos y media-2:30
8. menus un cuarto-15 till, dos menus un cuarto=1:45, or 15 till 2
9. it is one o'clock-es la una this is a singular concept, use the word ES to say It is 1 o'clock
10. it is two o'clock-son las dos this is a plural concept, use the word SON to say It is all other hours but 1 o'clock
11. it is three/four/five/ten, etc. -son las tres, son las cuatro, son las cinco, son las diez, etc
12. la madrugaba-theearly morning hours of the a.m.
13. if the time is past 30 minutes on the minute hand, the correct way to say what time it is is the next hour MINUS so many minutes: 1:50=las dos menus diez, 9:32=las diez menus veinte ocho, 7:38=las ocho menus veinti dos, 2:43 las tres menus diez y siete, but when the minute hand is BEFORE 30 minutes: 2:10 las dos
14. tarde=late
15. temprano=early
16. en punto=on the dot, sharp

USE of SER in the (imperfect) -- when the action was ongoing over time, or a habitual action

Yo era un estudiante buena I used to  be a good student

Tú eres un vendedor de ropa You used to  be a  clothing salesman

Él era alto He used to be tall

Nosotros éramos en la banda We used to be in the band

Ellos eran los que siempre nos daban dulces gratis. They were the ones that always used to give us free candy

USE of SER in the (past) --when the action is over, and Completed

Fui la cocinera de ese evento- I was the cook at that event

Fuiste la que me hablé primero de ese evento- You were the one that spoke to me first

Fue un ave que vi- Was it a bird I saw?

Fuimos americanos volando a España- We were Americans flying to Spain

Fueron malos, los que nos robaron los regalos de navidad- They were bad ... the ones that stole our Christmas presents.

Imperfect means something that was ongoing over time (La mujer era alta... the woman used to be tall ..... Yo era una cocinera... I was (used to be) a chef).

Past, or preterite, means something that happened was a completed action (Fue Pedro que me llamó anoche...It was Pete that called me last night...... Las cartas fueron de Juan.... The letters were from John)

See this link for some explanation and a few examples of SER.