Maestría Boot Camp (into info)

Maestría: Boot Camp Intro

By Stephenie Sprouse

A. In Spanish, we have several Impersonal Expressions that are super easy to use. In English, they start with "It" and they are followed by an infinitive.

It's important to study alot! ¡Es importante estudiar mucho!
It's ridiculous to hunt ajolotes! ¡Es ridículo cazar los ajalotes!

Remember! We aren't mentioning people with these expressions- just actions!

Es fácil ≠ Es difícil
Es ridículo
Es fantástico
Es bueno ≠ Es malo
Es buena idea / mala idea
Es mejor (better)
Es estúpido

Es urgente
Es necesario Es importante

Open Ended

Write me 3 QUALITY sentences using 3 impersonal expressions!

B. There are a few other expressions in Spanish that are also used without a subject, and are always followed by an infinitive.

These expressions help us add detail to our writing and speaking!

antes de (before)
después de (after)
para (in order to)
sin (without)
al (upon)

​¡Es importante escuchar para aprender!
It's important to listen in order to learn!

¡Es imposible ganar la lotería sin comprar un billete de la lotería!
It's impossible to win the lottery without buying* a lottery ticket!


**even though we say "buying" in English, we still use the infinitive comprar in Spanish!

Open Ended

Write me 3 QUALITY and CREATIVE sentences using 3 of these expressions!

C. Finally, we have many expressions in Spanish that we DO use with a subject (person or thing doing the action) but that also are always followed by an infinitive! You need to memorize these, and be able to use them with different subjects (yo, tú...) and in different time frames (present, imperfect and (rarely) the preterite.

want to (querer) Yo quiero rescatar
need to (necesitar) Yo necesito rescatar
should (deber) Yo debo rescatar
prefer to (preferir) Yo prefiero rescatar
hope to (esperar) rescatar
able to (poder) Yo puedo rescatar
know how to (saber) Yo sé rescatar

C. cont.
Here are a few more!

have to (tener que) Yo tengo que participar
learn to (aprender a) Yo aprendo a participar
start to (empezar a / comenzar a) Yo empiezo a participar
going to (ir a) Yo voy a participar
stop (quit) doing (dejar de) Yo dejo de participar
try to (tratar de) Yo trato de participar
have just (acabar de) Yo acabo de participar

Open Ended

Write me 3 QUALITY and CREATIVE sentences using 3 of these expressions!

Like and Love are a little tricky!

​Me gusta = I like
Te gusta = you like
Le gusta = he/she likes
Nos gusta = we like

Me gusta usar Spotify para escuchar mi música, pero mi mamá prefiere AppleMusic.

Me encanta = I love
Te encanta = you love
Le encanta = he/she loves
Nos encanta = we love

A Mia le encanta practicar su baile sorpresa con sus amigas.