Key English Terms and Tenses

English Language Notes

Vocabulary

Communication Terms

  • Post (publicar)
  • Share (compartir)
  • Text messaging (mensajería)
  • Chat (chatear)
  • Get the message across (comunicar)
  • Social media sites (redes sociales)
  • Latest news (últimas noticias)
  • Face to face (cara a cara)
  • Keep in touch (mantener en contacto)
  • Comment (comentar)
  • Interrupt (interrumpir)
  • Inform (informar)
  • Express your feelings (expresar tus sentimientos)
  • View (ver)
  • Upload (subir)
  • Talk it over (hablar sobre ello)
  • Get to the point (ir al grano)
  • Manage (conseguir)
  • Challenge (reto)
  • Worldwide (mundial)
  • Spread (extender)
  • Notice (fijarse en)
  • Developed (desarrollar)
  • Communication (comunicación)
  • Improvement (mejora)
  • Loneliness (soledad)
  • Personality (personalidad)
  • Punctuation (puntuación)
  • Painless (relajado)
  • Useless (inútil)
  • Thrilling (emocionante)
  • Keep in touch (seguir en contacto)
  • In this day and age (hoy en día)

Education Terms

  • Attending (asistir)
  • Curriculum (currículum)
  • Subjects (asignaturas)
  • Pressure (presión)
  • Discipline (disciplina)
  • Assignments (tareas)
  • Compulsory (obligatorio)
  • Stressed (estresado)
  • Shy (tímido)
  • Achieve (lograr)
  • Strict (estricto)
  • Secure (seguro)
  • Pay attention (prestar atención)
  • Encourage (animar)
  • Support (apoyo)
  • Sense of belonging (sentido de pertenencia)
  • Disrupt (interrumpir)
  • Revise (revisar)
  • Step (paso)
  • Struggle (esfuerzo)
  • Accepted (admitir)
  • Allowed (permitir)
  • Encouraged (animar)
  • Dropped out / Left without (dejar)
  • Put off / Do at a later time (aplazar)
  • Catch on / Understand (entender)
  • Go over / Revise (repasar)
  • Get on with / Continue doing (continuar)
  • Make up for / Compensate for (compensar)

Grammar Points

Relative Pronouns

  • Who (people)
  • Which / That (cosas)
  • Whose (cuyo)
  • Where (lugares)
  • When (tiempo)
Defining Relative Clauses

Example: Julia is the woman who / that works in the office.

Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Example: Last week I visited my aunt, who is 90 years old.

Verb Tenses

Present Simple (hago)

Structure: Verb(s) / don’t / doesn’t / do / does

Usage: Habitual actions

Time expressions: always, never, usually, often, hardly ever, etc.

Present Continuous (estoy haciendo)

Structure: am / is / are + verb-ing

Usage: Actions happening at the moment

Time expressions: at the moment, right now, look, listen, etc.

Past Simple (hice)

Structure: -ed / 2nd column / didn’t / did

Usage: Completed past actions

Time expressions: last…, …ago, yesterday, etc.

Past Continuous (estaba haciendo)

Structure: was / were + verb-ing

Present Perfect Simple (he hecho)

Structure: have / has + past participle (p.p.)

Usage: Unfinished past actions (connecting past to present)

Time expressions: just, ever, never, already, yet, how long, for, since, recently, this month, so far, etc.

Present Perfect Continuous (he estado haciendo)

Structure: have / has + been + verb-ing

Usage: Duration of time (actions starting in the past and continuing to the present)

Past Perfect Simple (había hecho)

Structure: had + past participle (p.p.)

Usage: Past action before another past action

Example: When I arrived home, my parents had left.

Future with “Be Going To”

Structure: am / is / are + going to + infinitive

Negative: am not / isn’t / aren’t + going to + infinitive

Usage: Plans and intentions, or predictions based on what we see.

Future Simple with “Will”

Structure: will + infinitive

Negative: won’t + infinitive

Usage: Predictions without evidence, spontaneous decisions, promises, requests, uncertain futures, certain future situations.