In intermediate level Spanish grammar classes there are four topics that are fundamental for B1 and B2 level students:
Some teachers call these four topics “the four monsters of Spanish” because they are challenging and complex aspects that sometimes seem a little scary to Spanish students 😉
In this article we are going to look at four intermediate level Spanish grammar classes and you will be able to see that if you work on these topics, little by little, and in a structured and guided way with your teacher, they are not so scary.
Specifically, we are going to see:
Let’s start!
We start with the first of four intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes.
There are aspects of Spanish that you simply have to memorise and use in context (reading, writing, listening or speaking) in such a way that the more you practise and the more familiar you are with them, the more natural it becomes for you to use them in Spanish.
This is the case of verb conjugations, and specifically the one at hand, the present subjunctive for irregular verbs.
As we have already seen in other similar articles, to help you better memorise these changes that occur in the conjugations of irregular verbs, both in grammar manuals and in class with your teacher, you will see that we try to make groups with those verbs that share some similarity.
In the case of irregular verbs in the present subjunctive, in intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes, you can find the three groups that I describe in this video:
If you want to learn more about the conjugation of the present subjunctive, I recommend the two-course series of the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme:
In the second of the four intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes, you will learn to use the present subjunctive to express emotions and feelings.
In Spanish, the most common expressions to talk about our feelings and emotions are:
You can use these expressions:
In this video you can see in more detail when and how to use the present subjunctive to express feelings and emotions:
If you want to learn more about the uses of the present subjunctive, I recommend the complete series of present subjunctive courses from the Your Spanish Hub Membership Program:
We continue with the third of the four intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes with one of the uses of the pretérito imperfecto.
In Spanish, there are three past tenses in indicative: the pretérito perfecto, the pretérito indefinido, and the pretérito imperfecto.
We use the pretérito imperfecto to describe the past. In the past, we could describe places, people, animals and things.
We can also describe situations like our routines.
Another situation that we described in the past is interrupted actions. For example:
Interrupted action: Estaba escribiendo un artículo para mi blog, with pretérito imperfecto.
Interrupting action: Llegó mi hermana a casa con unas pizzas, with pretérito indefinido.
(Ay ay ay… Who can resist a hot pizza? I’ll leave you for a moment and then continue with the article 🍕.
Okay, I’m here! Let’s continue 😊)
In this video you can see in more detail the description of this use and examples:
In the last of these four intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes we are going to explore a fundamental aspect of our communication: telling stories in the past.
To tell experiences, situations or stories that we have lived in the past, we constantly use two tenses:
In this video you can see graphically how to combine both tenses to tell stories in the past:
If you want to learn more about conjugation and the uses of past tenses, I recommend the complete series of past tenses courses in the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme:
The objective of intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes is not for you to do a hundred fill-in-the-gap activities, no matter how much you like them 😉
The objective is for you to use this grammar to communicate in Spanish, that is, to speak and write correctly in Spanish.
That is the part that I think is most terrifying for you, not “the four monsters” themselves that I mentioned at the beginning of this article, but to use them, on autopilot, without thinking, to speak fluently with native Spanish speakers.
Intermediate-level Spanish grammar classes with your teacher are the foundation, the pillar on which your Spanish is based. But you need more.
Reading in Spanish (books adapted to your level) is an activity that will help you a lot to integrate language structures, new words and colloquial expressions. In addition to reading, you can practise other entertaining and relaxing activities such as listening to podcasts in Spanish or watching television series and movies. This will continue to help you improve your fluency with the language.
If you liked these four classes, I encourage you to visit the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme, where, in addition to having grammar courses, you can also access vocabulary, pronunciation and conversation courses.
Enjoy the courses!
