Galician Grammar List

An accent on i or u shows that it is stressed and forms its own syllable next to another vowel, as in país (country), lúa (moon) and saía (was going out). This rule applies even when the general accent rules would not need an accent.

Adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number, as in un coche vermello (a red car), unha casa vermella (a red house) and uns zapatos novos (some new shoes).

Descriptive adjectives usually follow the noun, as in unha cidade grande (a big city) and viño branco (white wine), while a few common ones such as bo often go before it, as in un bo amigo (a good friend).

Adjectives ending in -e and many ending in a consonant use the same form for both genders and change only for number, as in un home alegre (a cheerful man), unha muller alegre (a cheerful woman) and dous días felices (two happy days).

Ordinary Galician statements follow subject–verb–object order, and the subject is often left out because the verb ending shows it.

Some short words carry an accent only to tell them apart from a word with a different meaning, as in é (is) and e (and), vén (comes) and ven (come!), nós (we) and nos (us), and máis (more) and mais (but).

The verb ending already shows who the subject is, so subject pronouns are usually left out unless they add contrast, as in Falo galego (I speak Galician), Vivimos en Lugo (we live in Lugo) and Eu traballo, e ti? (I work, and you?).

Many masculine nouns and adjectives form the feminine by changing -o to -a or by adding -a after a consonant, as in neno, nena (boy, girl), galego, galega (Galician) and profesor, profesora (teacher).

Every Galician noun is masculine or feminine. Most nouns in -o are masculine and most in -a are feminine, but for nouns in -e or a consonant, such as o leite, a ponte and a flor, learn the article with the word.

Count from one to ten with un, dous, tres, catro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove and dez. One and two have feminine forms: unha and dúas.

Stressed e and o can be open or closed, which gives Galician seven stressed vowels. The difference is not usually written: terra (land) and porta (door) have open vowels, while mesa (table) and boca (mouth) have closed ones.

Words ending in -r or -z, and words stressed on a final syllable ending in -s, add -es, with z changing to c, as in mar, mares (sea, seas), luz, luces (light, lights) and país, países (country, countries).

Nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel, a diphthong or -n make the plural by adding -s, as in casa, casas (house, houses), can, cans (dog, dogs) and camión, camións (truck, trucks).

Conjugate regular -ar verbs in the present with the endings -o, -as, -a, -amos, -ades, -an.

Conjugate regular -er verbs in the present with the endings -o, -es, -e, -emos, -edes, -en.

Conjugate regular -ir verbs in the present with the endings -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ides, -en.

Learn the present tense of estar: estou, estás, está, estamos, estades, están.

Facer means "to do" or "to make". The eu form is fago, and the ti, el/ela and eles/elas forms are short: fas, fai, fan.

Learn the present tense of ir: vou, vas, vai, imos, ides, van.

Querer means "to want" and poder means "can" or "may". Put an infinitive right after them, with no preposition: Quero ir, Podes vir?

Learn the present tense of ser: son, es, é, somos, sodes, son.

Learn the present tense of ter: teño, tes, ten, temos, tedes or tendes, teñen.

Write ? and ! at the end of a question or exclamation, as in Como te chamas? and Que bonito! You may add ¿ or ¡ where the question or exclamation begins, to help the reader in a long sentence.

H is written for historical reasons and is never pronounced, as in hoxe (today), home (man) and hora (hour). Some words that have h in Spanish have none in Galician: irmán (brother), ovo (egg), óso (bone).

The Galician alphabet has 23 letters: a b c d e f g h i l m n ñ o p q r s t u v x z. J, k, w and y appear only in foreign words and names, and ch, gu, ll, nh, qu and rr each spell a single sound.

Galician writes the sh sound with x, as in xente (people), xa (already) and xoves (Thursday). In some learned words x stands for ks, as in taxi, and in words like exame (exam) most speakers soften it to s.

A marks destination (Vou a Vigo), clock time (ás oito) and the person who receives something (Escribo a Marta).

De marks where someone is from, who owns something and what something is made of or contains, as in Son de Lugo and o coche de Ana.

En marks location (Vivo en Santiago), time such as months and seasons (en xullo) and transport (en tren).

Final n sounds like the ng in sing, as in can (dog), pan (bread) and non (no). Galician writes nh only in unha and the words built on it (unhas, algunha, ningunha, dunha, nunha, cunha), where the same ng sound comes before a vowel.

A written accent marks the stressed syllable when the general rules require it: final-stressed words of two or more syllables ending in a vowel, -n, -s or -ns take one (café, tamén, compás, parabéns) unless they end in a falling diphthong (cantou, papeis); next-to-last-stressed words take one when they end in another consonant or cluster (fácil, bíceps); and words stressed earlier always take one (música). One-syllable words normally take none (pan).

Turn a statement into a yes/no question by changing only the melody of your voice: Falas galego? The usual yes answer repeats the verb.

The preposition a joins the definite article as ao, á, aos and ás, as in Vou ao mercado and ás tres. Ó and ós are also standard.

Say adeus for goodbye, ata logo for see you later and ata mañá for see you tomorrow. Ata means until.

Galician has three words for place: aquí (here), aí (there, near you) and alí (over there). They match este, ese and aquel.

B and v stand for the same sound, so the spelling of each word has to be learned, as in beber (to drink), vivir (to live) and vaca (cow). The spelling follows Latin, and it sometimes differs from Spanish: móbil, avogado, marabilla.

Z before a, o or u, and c before e or i, spell the th sound of thin in most of Galicia, or s in seseo areas: zume, cinco. C before a, o or u, and qu before e or i, spell k: casa, queixo.

Use cal to ask which one and cales to ask which ones. They do not change for gender and take no accent.

Choose the form of canto that matches the noun: cantos anos, cantas persoas. On its own, canto asks how much something costs.

Ch sounds like the ch in church, as in chave (key); ll is an l made with the middle of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, as in ollo (eye); and ñ sounds like the ny in canyon, as in mañá (tomorrow) and viño (wine).

Say your name with Chámome and ask with Como te chamas? In a plain statement the pronoun joins the end of the verb.

The preposition con joins the definite article to form co, coa, cos and coas, as in Vou co meu irmán.

Con means with and sen means without, as in café con leite, Vou con Xoán and auga sen gas.

The preposition de joins the definite article to form do, da, dos and das, as in a casa da avoa.

Say sorry or get someone's attention with desculpa or perdoa, and switch to desculpe or perdoe when you use vostede.

Join words and ideas with e (and), ou (or) and pero (but). Unlike in Spanish, e and ou stay the same before any sound.

The preposition en joins the definite article to form no, na, nos and nas, as in no parque and na casa.

Demonstratives point at a noun and show how far away it is. They change for gender and number, as in este libro, esa casa and aquelas montañas.

The subject pronouns are eu (I), ti (you), el (he), ela (she), nós (we), vós (you, plural), eles and elas (they). Nós and vós carry an accent.

Say what the weather is like with facer + a noun, as in Fai sol and Fai frío, or with weather verbs like chover and nevar: Chove, Neva.

G before a, o or u, and gu before e or i, both give a hard g, as in galego (Galician), gato (cat) and guerra (war). A diaeresis (ü) shows that the u is pronounced, as in lingüística (linguistics).

Say por favor for please, grazas or moitas grazas for thank you, and de nada for you are welcome.

In Galician the thing you like is the subject of gustar, and the person is a pronoun such as me, che or lle: Gústame o café, Gústanme os libros.

Hai, from haber, says that something exists or is present, as in Hai un bar aquí and Non hai pan. It never changes for number.

Isto, iso and aquilo point to a thing without naming it, or to a whole idea or situation. They have only one form each.

Use moi (very) before adjectives and adverbs, and moito (a lot, much, many) after verbs, before nouns and before comparatives like máis and mellor.

Put non before the verb to say "not": Non falo inglés. On its own, non also answers "no".

The definite article means "the" and agrees with the noun: o neno (the boy), a nena (the girl), os nenos (the boys), as nenas (the girls).

Meu (my) and teu (your, for ti) change to match the thing owned, and they usually come after the article: o meu libro, a túa casa.

Noso (our) and voso (your, to several people you call vós) have four forms each and agree with the thing owned, as in o noso piso, a nosa cidade and os vosos fillos.

Seu and súa mean his, her, its or their, and also your when you speak to someone as vostede or vostedes. They agree with the thing owned.

Say ola at any time, bos días in the morning, boas tardes in the afternoon and boas noites at night. Bos goes with días and boas with tardes and noites.

The preposition por joins the definite article as polo, pola, polos and polas, as in Paseo polo parque and Grazas polo café.

Ask why with por que, written as two words, and answer with porque, written as one word.

The basic question words are que, quen, onde, cando and como. Put them at the start of the question, and write them without an accent.

Ask the time with Que hora é?. Answer with É a unha for one o'clock and Son as + number for every other hour.

Ask how someone is with Que tal?, Como estás? or Como está?, and answer with ben, moi ben or regular.

Use ser for what something is and estar for where it is and how it is right now.

Say how old you are with ter: Teño trinta anos (I am thirty years old).

Say you are hungry, thirsty, cold or sleepy with ter + a noun: Teño fame (I am hungry).

Choose ti for friends, family and children, and vostede for polite address, which uses the same verb form as el or ela.

Use un and unha for "a" or "an" and uns and unhas for "some", as in un amigo (a friend), unha amiga (a female friend) and unhas mazás (some apples).

Talk to a group of friends with vós and verbs like falades; address a group formally with vostedes and verbs like falan.

Give friendly commands with fala, come, abre (to ti) and falade, comede, abride (to vós).

Instead of only saying si, Galician often answers a yes/no question by repeating its verb, changed to the speaker's person.

Give polite commands with forms such as pase, agarde, siga and their plurals pasen, agarden, sigan.

Name the days and months, give dates such as o 17 de maio, and say on Monday or on Mondays with the article.

Combine non with nada, nunca, ninguén and ningún after the verb, and drop non when the negative word comes first.

Learn how words ending in -án and -ón make their feminine: irmán, irmá and león, leoa, but folgazán, folgazana and preguntón, preguntona.

Form the gerund with -ando, -endo or -indo; it is regular for every verb and never changes for person or number.

Learn the common nouns whose gender is different in Galician and Spanish, including the feminine nouns in -axe.

The copretérito (imperfect) of -ar verbs uses -aba, -abas, -aba, -abamos, -abades, -aban, with no written accent on the nós and vós forms.

The copretérito (imperfect) of -er and -ir verbs uses -ía, -ías, -ía, -iamos, -iades, -ían; the nós and vós forms have no written accent.

Learn the four verbs with irregular imperfect forms: ser (era), ter (tiña), vir (viña) and pór (puña).

Learn the short ti commands di, fai, ven, pon, vai and sé; the vós commands are dicide, facede, vinde, ponde or poñede, ide and sede.

Use o for "it" or "so" when it stands for a whole idea: Xa o sei, Non o creo, Síntoo moito.

Count from 11 to 100 in Galician: once, doce, dezaseis, vinte, trinta e dous, corenta, cen, with un and dous agreeing in gender.

Use primeiro, segundo, terceiro, cuarto, quinto and the other ordinals to put things in order; they agree like adjectives.

Many Galician place names begin with an article that is written with a capital letter. After a, de, en, con or por it contracts like any article and is written in lowercase.

Words of more than one syllable that end in a stressed -l replace -l with -is in the plural; one-syllable words and words stressed earlier add -es.

Dicir, traer, saír and oír have irregular present forms, mostly in the eu form: digo, traio, saio, oio. Dicir also shortens to dis, di and din.

Saber has an irregular eu form, sei. Haber goes hei, has, ha, habemos, habedes, han. Ler and crer never double the e: le, cre.

Four everyday verbs have irregular present forms: vir (veño, vés, vén), ver (vexo, ves, ve), pór (poño, pos, pon) and dar (dou, dás, dá).

Regular -ar verbs form the simple past with the endings -ei, -aches, -ou, -amos, -astes, -aron.

Regular -er and -ir verbs share the eu and ti preterite forms (-ín, -iches) and differ in the other persons.

Dar has dei, deches, deu; pór (also poñer) has puxen, puxeches, puxo; traer has trouxen, trouxeches, trouxo.

Estar and ter form the preterite on irregular stems (estiv-, tiv-) with the endings -en, -eches, -o, -emos, -estes, -eron.

The preterite of facer (to do, to make) and dicir (to say) uses the stems fix- and dix- with the endings -en, -eches, -o, -emos, -estes, -eron.

The preterites puiden (poder), quixen (querer) and souben (saber) take the irregular -en, -eches, -o endings and describe a single past event.

The verbs ser (to be) and ir (to go) have identical preterite forms; the rest of the sentence shows which verb is meant.

The preterites of vir (vin, viñeches, veu) and ver (vin, viches, viu) share only the eu form vin.

Choose between the preterite for completed events and the imperfect for background, habits and ongoing actions in the past.

Put me, te, che, o, lle and the others after the verb in ordinary statements: Chámome Iria, Véxote mañá.

Negative words pull the pronoun in front of the verb: Non me chamo Ana, Non o sei, Nunca te vin.

Put the pronoun first after a question word, as in Como te chamas?, but after the verb in a yes/no question: Chámaste Ana?

Say what you do to yourself with levantarse, lavarse and vestirse: Levántome, Lavámonos, Vístese.

Form the participle with -ado or -ido and use it like an adjective: pechada, lavados, rematado.

Form the simple future by adding one set of endings to the infinitive of any verb.

Galician has no compound present perfect, so the simple preterite covers both I did and I have done.

A min, a ti, a ela and the other forms repeat an object pronoun to add emphasis, contrast or clarity.

Acabar de + infinitive says that something happened a moment ago. In the present it means have just done, and in the copretérito it means had just done.

Use algo for something and nada for nothing, including non + verb + nada for not anything.

Use algún and ningún (some, any, no) with nouns and alguén and ninguén for someone and no one.

These prepositions mark end points, starting points, positions and direction: ata, desde (or dende), entre, sobre and cara a, together with contra, baixo and tras.

Cando links a time clause to the main sentence. For habits and past events the verb after cando is in the indicative.

Con joins some pronouns into a single word: comigo (with me), contigo (with you), connosco (with us), convosco (with you all) and consigo (with oneself).

De and en contract with the third-person pronouns (del, dela, deles, delas, nel, nela, neles, nelas) and with the neuter demonstratives (disto, diso, daquilo, nisto, niso, naquilo).

The prepositions de and en contract with the demonstratives: deste, desa, daquel, neste, nesa, naquel and their feminine and plural forms.

Galician locates things with a place word followed by de, such as diante de (in front of), detrás de (behind), preto de (near), lonxe de (far from) and debaixo de (under).

The prepositions de, en and con contract with the indefinite article: dun, dunha, duns, dunhas; nun, nunha, nuns, nunhas; cun, cunha, cuns, cunhas.

Doer, encantar, apetecer and importar work like gustar: the person is an indirect object pronoun, and the verb agrees with the thing that hurts, delights or tempts.

Describe actions in progress with estar + gerund, as in Estou comendo.

Describe actions in progress with estar a + infinitive, as in Estou a ler.

Say that something is needed with fai falta, which agrees with a following plural noun: fan falta.

Learn the two verbs with a shortened future stem: facer (farei) and dicir (direi).

Use hei de, has de, ha de + infinitive for firm intentions, forward-looking obligations and the future.

Hai or fai + a length of time means ago. With que and the present, it says how long something has been the case.

Express a general obligation with hai que + infinitive, as in Hai que ter paciencia.

Talk about plans and the near future with ir + infinitive, without the preposition a.

Attached to a verb that ends in -r or -s, the pronouns o, a, os, as become lo, la, los, las, and the verb loses its final consonant.

Say "to me", "to you" and "to him or her" with me, che, lle, nos, vos, lles: Dime, Deiche, Mandeille.

Replace a direct object with me, te, o, a, nos, vos, os or as: Vinte onte, Coñézoa ben, Chámoos logo.

Mellor, peor, maior and menor are special comparatives; do not add máis before them.

After most prepositions use min for me and ti for you; the other persons look the same as the subject pronouns.

Compare with máis or menos before the adjective and ca or que before the second item.

The superlative uses the article with máis or menos, and de introduces the group.

Galician time words place an event in time: onte (yesterday), hoxe (today), mañá (tomorrow), agora (now), logo (later), antes (before), despois (afterwards), cedo (early) and tarde (late).

Use para for purpose, recipient, destination and deadline: Estudo para aprender, É para ti, o tren para Lugo, para o luns.

Por gives the reason for something, the place you pass through, the way a message travels and what you pay or swap. With the article it always becomes polo, pola, polos or polas.

Say how much or how many with moito, pouco, demasiado, bastante and varios, which agree with nouns but not with verbs.

Exclamations use que before an adjective, adverb or noun, and canto, canta, cantos, cantas before a noun to stress quantity.

Use saber for facts and skills (Sei nadar) and coñecer for people and places (Coñezo Vigo).

Se + present sets a real or likely condition. The result can be in the present, the future or a command.

Frequency words say how often something happens, from sempre (always) through a miúdo (often) and ás veces (sometimes) to nunca (never).

Use tamén to agree with something positive and tampouco to agree with something negative.

Equal comparisons use tan + adjective or adverb + coma or como.

Use te when you are the one seen, called or loved, and che when you receive or are told something.

Express personal obligation with ter que + infinitive, as in Teño que traballar.

Use todo, toda, todos, todas + article for all, the whole and every: toda a familia, todos os días.

Xa marks something that has happened or is happening now, and aínda marks something that continues. With non they mean not yet (aínda non) and no longer (xa non).

Add -iño or -iña to make something small or dear, as in casiña, cafeciño and pouquiño.

Feminine adjective + -mente makes an adverb, as in rapidamente, facilmente and claramente.

Add -ísimo to say extremely, as in carísimo, moitísimo and tardísimo.

Talk about mishaps as things that happened to you: Esquecéuseme o paraugas, Acabáronselle os cartos.

Write o luns, en xaneiro, o galego and os ingleses in lowercase. Capitalise names such as Rosalía de Castro, Lugo, a Real Academia Galega and o Nadal, but only the first word of a book title.

Attach pronouns to positive commands (Levántate, Dime, Lavádevos as mans) and put them before negative ones (Non te levantes).

Direct objects, including people, normally have no a in Galician (Vin o teu irmán); a appears with stressed pronouns (Vinte a ti) and to avoid ambiguity.

Use a plural verb with no subject when the doer is unknown or unimportant: Din que vai nevar, Chamaron á porta.

Existential haber never becomes plural: Había tres persoas, Houbo moitos problemas.

Use se + a singular verb for general statements with no specific subject, and place se by the normal pronoun rules.

Put a question inside another sentence with its question word, as in Non sei onde vive, or with se for a yes/no question, as in Non sei se vén.

Learn the irregular participles feito, dito, visto, posto, escrito, aberto, cuberto and morto, and make them agree like adjectives.

To tell someone not to do something, use non + present subjunctive: Non fales, Non comades iso, Non se preocupe.

Os anteollos están rotos: some nouns are plural in form even for a single item.

o lapis, os lapis; o martes, os martes; o paraugas, os paraugas.

Use se + a verb that agrees with its noun for a passive without an agent: Véndese piso, Alúganse cuartos, Aquí fálase galego.

The stress decides the plural: civil becomes civís, but útil becomes útiles.

Use the conditional of poder, gustar, importar, ter and deber to make requests and suggestions sound polite.

The present subjunctive is built from the eu form of the present: -ar verbs switch to e endings (fale) and -er and -ir verbs to a endings (coma, viva). It is used for wishes, doubts, requests and future time after cando.

Decateime tarde, but Morreu en 1990 and Caeu da bici: learn the pronoun with each verb.

Xa o sei, Tamén me gusta, Sempre o fai: these adverbs pull the pronoun in front of the verb.

Linking words pull the pronoun in front: Creo que te coñezo, Se o ves, avísame.

Quérense moito, Vímonos onte: plural pronouns can mean "each other".

Use onde for places, as in a casa onde vivo and a cidade onde nacín.

Que links a noun to more information about it, as in o libro que lin and a moza que vive aquí.

Use quen for people after a preposition, as in a persoa con quen falei, or with no noun before it, as in Quen avisa non é traidor.

The sound stays the same and only the letter changes: c and qu, g and gu, z and c. Watch the eu preterite of -car, -gar and -zar verbs and the eu present of -cer and -cir verbs.

Three patterns: u and o (subo, sobes), i only in the eu form (sinto, sentes), and i in every stressed form (pido, pides, piden). The nós and vós forms keep the vowel of the infinitive.

Say Dóeme a cabeza and Lavei as mans, with the article, not a possessive.

Form the conditional with the infinitive + -ía, -ías, -ía, -iamos, -iades, -ían; only facer and dicir are irregular.

Add -es, -mos, -des or -en to the infinitive to show who does the action; the eu and el forms have no ending. Irregular verbs keep their infinitive: facermos, seres, irdes.

Form the antepretérito from the preterite eles form: fixeron → fixera. Galician uses it where Spanish uses había + participle.

Use a casa dela or o coche deles when seu or súa could leave the owner unclear.

Use the subjunctive after feelings about what someone else does or what happens: Alégrome de que estea ben.

Antes de and despois de + infinitive put two actions in order: antes de saír (before going out), despois de comer (after eating).

Use cando + present subjunctive for future events; use the indicative for habits, past events and questions.

Hundreds agree with the noun (douscentos euros, duascentas persoas), mil never changes (dous mil), and millón takes de (un millón de habitantes).

Comezar a and empezar a + infinitive mean to begin doing something, and poñerse a + infinitive often marks a sudden or deliberate start.

Cómpre + infinitive or que + subjunctive means "it is necessary", as in Cómpre estudar and Cómpre que veñas.

Daquela means at that time (Daquela vivía en Vigo) or, in conversation, then or so (Daquela, vés ou non?).

Deber + infinitive expresses obligation or advice (Debes descansar) and also probability (Debe de ser tarde); deber de is accepted in both senses.

Deixar de + infinitive means to stop doing something, as in Deixei de fumar (I stopped smoking) and Deixou de chover (It stopped raining).

Report what someone says with dicir que, as in Di que vén mañá, and a yes/no question with preguntar se, as in Preguntoume se tiña fame.

Use estar + an agreeing participle to say how things are after an action: A tenda está pechada, Os deberes están feitos.

Estar a piques de + infinitive says that something is about to happen, as in Está a piques de chover (It is about to rain).

Estar de + noun describes a temporary situation, mood or role, as in Estamos de vacacións (We are on holiday) and Está de camareiro este verán (He is working as a waiter this summer).

Eu mesmo means "I myself", o mesmo means "the same", and mesmo before a phrase means "even".

Everyday interjections such as home! (well, of course), ai! (ouch, oh no), ollo! (watch out) and vaia! (wow) carry feelings in a single word.

Use lembrar with a direct object, or lembrarse and acordarse with a pronoun and de. Without a pronoun, acordar usually means to wake up or to agree on something.

Levar + a time expression, often followed by a gerund, says how long something has lasted, as in Levo unha hora esperando (I have been waiting for an hour).

Mentres means while: it joins two actions that happen at the same time and is followed by a conjugated verb.

Combine "to me, to you, to him" with "it" or "them" in one word: Xa cho dixen, Déixamo ver, Deillo onte.

Before a clause, comparisons with máis and menos use do que, as in É máis difícil do que pensaba.

Use nin ... nin for neither ... nor: Non quero nin té nin café. When the pair comes before the verb, leave out non: Nin el nin ela o saben.

Use no canto de or en vez de + noun or infinitive to say instead of. De contracts with a following article, and the infinitive can take person endings when it has its own subject.

Comprou + o = comprouno; colleu + a = colleuna; dei + o = deino.

When you deny or doubt something (non creo que, non penso que, dubido que, non é verdade que), the next verb goes in the subjunctive. When you state a belief (creo que, penso que), it stays in the indicative.

Tag questions such as non?, verdade? and certo? turn a statement into a request for confirmation, as in Es de Ourense, non?

O + adjective means "the ... thing", as in o importante; o que means "what" or "the thing that".

Oxalá means "I hope" or "if only" and is followed by the subjunctive, as in Oxalá faga bo tempo (I hope the weather is good).

Use para que + subjunctive for "so that" with a different subject, and para + infinitive when the subject is the same.

Many Galician verbs join their complement with a fixed preposition: Penso en ti, Casou cun italiano, Decateime do erro. Learn the preposition together with the verb, and contract it with any article that follows.

Por iso (that is why), así que (so) and polo tanto (therefore) introduce the result of what was just said.

Porque, xa que and como at the start of a sentence all introduce a cause, as in Como chovía, quedamos na casa.

When you want, prefer or ask someone else to do something, use querer que, preferir que or pedir que with the present subjunctive. When the subject is the same, use the infinitive.

Se cadra (maybe, perhaps) presents something as possible and always takes the indicative, never the subjunctive.

Seguir + gerund says an action is still going on, as in Segue chovendo (It is still raining) and Seguimos traballando (We are still working).

After a negative, use senón, not pero, to replace what was denied: Non é azul senón verde. Before a conjugated verb use senón que. Do not confuse it with se non, if not.

Many common verbs build the subjunctive from an irregular eu form (teña, faga, diga, veña, vexa), and a few have their own stems: sexa, estea, vaia, dea, saiba, haxa, poida, queira.

Tan ... que (so ... that) and tanto ... que (so much ... that) introduce a result, as in Estaba tan cansa que durmiu dez horas.

Compare amounts with tanto/tanta/tantos/tantas + noun + coma (as much, as many as) and máis/menos + noun + ca (more, fewer than).

Put the possessive after the noun for "a friend of mine", or use o meu, a túa for "mine" and "yours".

Velaquí (here is) and velaí (there is, there goes) point out something in view, as in Velaquí o libro and Velaí vén o autobús.

Volver + infinitive, also volver a + infinitive, means to do something again, as in Volveu chamar (He called again).

Impersonal judgements such as é importante que, é mellor que, é necesario que and é normal que take the subjunctive when they refer to a particular person. For people in general, use the infinitive.

Suffixes build related words: panadeiro (baker), pereira (pear tree), liberdade (freedom), pensamento (thought), creación (creation).

Some very common words are often said the Spanish way; standard Galician uses grazas, entón, ademais, despois, ata and pois.

Galician often joins a verb and a noun to name a tool or object, as in abrelatas, gardarroupa and paraugas.

Move the guess one step back in time: the future guesses about now (Serán as dez), and the conditional guesses about then (Serían as dez). The nós and vós forms have no written accent: estariamos.

Use the future to guess about now, not only about later: Quen será? means Who can that be? For a guess about the past, switch to the conditional: Serían as tres.

Galician place names are official only in their Galician form, such as A Coruña and Ourense, never La Coruña or Orense.

Many que + subjunctive clauses have a personal-infinitive twin: para que o saibas = para o saberes (so that you know).

Saying quería instead of quero makes a request gentler, even though you mean right now. It is common in shops, offices and on the phone, with verbs like querer, chamar and buscar.

A preposition goes before the relative, often with a contracted article: a cidade na que vivo, o tema do que falamos.

Indefinite subjects like alguén, todos and ambos pull the pronoun before the verb: Alguén mo dixo.

In verb phrases the pronoun can go after the infinitive or with the first verb: Teño que facelo or Téñoo que facer.

Match the subjunctive to the main verb: present → present subjunctive (Quero que veñas); past or conditional → imperfect subjunctive (Quería que viñeses).

Use the subjunctive in a relative clause when the thing described may not exist: Busco un piso que teña terraza.

Everyday Galician often says o Xan or a Carme; formal writing and calling someone by name use the name alone.

Build the imperfect subjunctive from the preterite stem plus -se: falase, comese, fose, tivese. The nós and vós forms carry an accent: falásemos, falásedes.

Use a verb with se to say that something changed by itself: A porta abriuse, O xeado derreteuse.

Give the infinitive a person ending when it has its own subject: É mellor saírmos cedo. Keep it plain in verb phrases: Queremos ir.

A non ser que, agás que and salvo que + subjunctive mean unless.

A xente takes a singular verb (a xente di), and un can mean anyone, including the speaker: Un non sabe que facer.

Abondo means enough or plenty and usually follows the word it refers to, as in Xa comín abondo (I have eaten enough).

Ademais (besides), en cambio (on the other hand), pola contra (on the contrary) and de feito (in fact) link one idea to the next.

Andar + gerund means to be going around doing something over a period of time: Anda buscando traballo (she is looking for work).

Ao + infinitive means when or as something happens: Ao chegar á casa, chamoume.

Ata que, desde que and unha vez que link a time clause to the main sentence; use the subjunctive when the moment is still in the future.

Aínda que + indicative means although; aínda que + subjunctive means even if.

Ben before an adjective or adverb means really or quite, as in Está ben bo (it is really good).

Botar a + infinitive means to suddenly start doing something, like breaking into a run or bursting out laughing.

Botar appears in many idioms, such as Bótote de menos (I miss you) and Bótasme unha man? (Can you give me a hand?).

Ca + article can be written joined with an accent (máis alto có pai) or separately (máis alto ca o pai).

Cadanseu means each their own and agrees with the thing: Levaron cadanseu libro; Colleron cadansúa bicicleta.

Learn each adjective with its preposition: capaz de, contento con, afeccionado a, orgulloso de.

Chegar a + infinitive means to go as far as doing something, or, with non, never actually getting to do it.

Como se + imperfect subjunctive means as if: Fala como se o soubese todo (he talks as if he knew everything).

De meu, de seu and similar forms mean of one's own or by nature: Ten casa de seu; É calado de seu.

Des-, re- and in- build new words from ones you already know: desfacer (to undo), reler (to read again), imposible (impossible).

Write doutro, noutra, dalgún and nalgún: Son doutra cidade; Deixei as chaves nalgún sitio.

E mais is an emphatic and for joining people and things, as in ti e mais eu; before the article it becomes mailo, maila, mailos or mailas.

En canto + subjunctive means as soon as for the future; with the indicative it describes something that already happened.

Determiners can combine before a noun, as in este meu amigo (this friend of mine) and os meus dous fillos (my two sons).

Open a formal letter with Estimado señor or Estimada señora, and close it with Atentamente or Un cordial saúdo.

Facer + infinitive means to make someone do something, and deixar + infinitive means to let them do it.

Fóra, pór, té and présa carry an accent that tells them apart from fora, por, te and presa.

Soft wishes about someone else use the conditional + que + imperfect subjunctive: Gustaríame que viñeses (I would like you to come).

Ir + gerund describes gradual progress: Vai mellorando (he is getting better bit by bit). Do not confuse it with ir + infinitive, which is about the future.

Besides soon and later, logo can mean so or therefore: Penso, logo existo.

Mais without an accent means but, a slightly more careful partner of pero; máis with an accent means more.

Malia and a pesar de mean despite: use them with a noun or infinitive, and add que before a full clause.

Nin sequera means not even: put it before the verb without non, or after the verb with non.

Nos, vos and lles + o make nolo, volo and llelo: Díxonolo onte, Xa llelo expliquei.

Use nós for we in general; use nosoutros or vosoutros when you set one group against another.

O cal, a cal, os cales and as cales are formal relatives, used mostly after prepositions: a razón pola cal marchou.

Use o de or iso de to point to a known matter: O de onte foi un erro (what happened yesterday was a mistake).

O que, a que, os que and as que mean the one or the ones who or that: Os que chegaron tarde non entraron.

Os dous and ambos both mean both; with a noun, ambos keeps the article, as in ambas as irmás.

Poida que + subjunctive means maybe or it may be that.

Pois can mean because, then or well, depending on where it goes in the sentence.

Polo visto means apparently, for information the speaker has picked up from others or from signs.

Choose the verb by the kind of change: púxose vermello, fíxose rico, volveuse desconfiado, quedou cego.

Quizais and talvez mean perhaps and can take either the subjunctive or the indicative, depending on how likely the speaker thinks it is.

For unreal or unlikely conditions, use se + imperfect subjunctive and the conditional: Se eu fose ti, non o faría.

Sempre que and con tal de que + subjunctive set a condition: as long as, provided that.

Sen que + subjunctive means without someone else doing something; the verb after sen que is always subjunctive.

The passive uses ser + an agreeing participle, with por for the agent: O poema foi escrito por Rosalía. It is mostly found in formal writing and the news.

Put si que before the verb to say that something really is so: Agora si que chove (now it is really raining).

Ter + participle means an action has happened repeatedly or accumulated: Teño ido moitas veces a Lugo. A single event uses the preterite: Fun a Lugo onte.

Some adjectives mean one thing after the noun and another before it, as in unha amiga vella (an elderly friend) and unha vella amiga (a long-standing friend).

Unha chea de (loads of), un feixe de (a bunch of) and unha morea de (a heap of) express a large amount in everyday speech.

Uns vinte (about twenty), arredor de cen (around a hundred) and preto de mil (nearly a thousand) give approximate numbers.

After ver, oír and sentir, an infinitive describes the action you perceive: Vin chegar o tren.

A participle plus its own noun can open a sentence to say that one event was over before the next began.

Move words around to show what is new or important: the new information goes at the end, and a known topic can go first.

De + infinitive sets a condition, as in De chover, quedamos na casa (if it rains, we will stay at home).

Galician can add che or vos to a sentence to involve the listener emotionally, as in Isto éche así (that is just how it is).

Commas change the meaning: with commas the clause adds information, without commas it limits the group.

In blessings and wishes like Deus llo pague and Deus te garde, the pronoun comes before the verb.

An extra pronoun such as me can show that the action matters to someone, as in O neno non me come nada (my child will not eat a thing, and it worries me).

A relative clause can stand alone with no noun before it: Quen queira, que veña (whoever wants to can come).

A clause built on a gerund can say how, when, why or on what condition the main action happens.

Some nouns change meaning with their gender, so the article o or a tells you which word it is.

After a preposition, an unstressed pronoun can go before or after the infinitive: para o facer or para facelo.

Gheada and seseo are regional ways of pronouncing g and z/c. They are respected features of many speakers, but they are never written.

Some sentence patterns copied from Spanish are not standard Galician. Learn the four most common ones and their Galician replacements.

Reporting past speech moves the tenses one step back, so Vou mañá becomes Dixo que ía ao día seguinte.

Galician can tell past events in the present tense in history, biographies, headlines and lively stories.

The article's second form (lo, la) is always written in polo and u-lo, is optional in a few other places, and the full form is preferred in ordinary writing.

A fronted direct object is echoed by a pronoun, as in O libro, xa o lin (the book, I have already read it).

A fin de que + subjunctive and co fin de + infinitive are formal ways to say so that and in order to.

Some feminine nouns use a special ending or a completely different word, and must be learned one by one.

Así mesmo adds a point, and é dicir, ou sexa and noutras palabras say the same thing again more clearly.

Calquera means any or anyone, and onde queira que + subjunctive means wherever: onde queira que vaias (wherever you go).

Use -se for the imperfect subjunctive and -ra for the antepretérito; -ra also appears in fixed phrases like Quixera un café.

Canto a and en canto a introduce a topic, as in Canto ao prezo, falamos mañá (as for the price, we will talk tomorrow).

Canto máis ... máis means the more ... the more: Canto máis estudo, máis aprendo.

In a list of -mente adverbs, add -mente only to the last one: clara e rapidamente.

Cuxo means whose and agrees with the thing possessed: o escritor cuxa obra estudamos (the writer whose work we are studying).

Dado que, posto que and visto que give a known cause in formal style, as in Dado que non hai quórum, adiamos a votación.

Keep the verb's own preposition before que (Decateime de que...), and do not add de where the verb has none (Penso que...).

Disque passes on second-hand information, as in Disque o alcalde dimitiu (they say the mayor has resigned).

En primeiro lugar, a continuación, por último and en resumo guide the listener or reader through the parts of a text.

Levar + participle tells how much you have done so far, with the participle usually agreeing with the object.

Mentres non + subjunctive means until or as long as not, as in Mentres non cheguen os convidados, non comezamos.

Mesmo que + subjunctive means even if: Mesmo que mo pidas, non o farei (even if you ask me, I will not do it).

Xamais and endexamais are stronger, more literary words for nunca (never), used with the same word-order rules.

An infinitive with o in front can act as a masculine noun, and some, like o xantar, have become everyday nouns.

Use o que or o cal after a comma to comment on a whole idea: Non chamou, o que me preocupa (he did not call, which worries me).

Por moito que + subjunctive means however much: Por moito que corras, non chegas a tempo.

Por mor de means because of: Non saímos por mor da chuvia (we did not go out because of the rain).

Formal Galician marks contrast with porén, non obstante and con todo; the standard does not accept nembargantes or sen embargo.

Segundo and conforme mean according to or as: segundo o xornal (according to the newspaper), Faino conforme che dixen (do it as I told you).

Seica presents a statement as hearsay or likely inference, as in Seica vai chover (apparently it is going to rain).

Ter de + infinitive is a traditional, mostly written way of saying have to, with the same meaning as ter que.

Xa que logo, por conseguinte and de aí que introduce a conclusion; do not confuse xa que logo (so) with xa que (since).

Cleft sentences use ser + the highlighted element + quen, onde, cando or como to put one part of the sentence in focus.

Some words have two correct standard forms; pick one and use it consistently in a text.

Collective nouns such as xente, familia and grupo take a singular verb. After a maioría de or unha parte de + plural, both singular and plural agreement are used.

Careful Galician does not use a gerund for an action that comes after the main one; it uses e plus a conjugated verb.

Galician is spoken in western, central and eastern varieties; the standard writes one form, but you will hear regional ones.

Formal Galician uses full forms and formal connectors, while everyday speech uses che, echo answers and reduced forms like pra.

Academic and formal texts keep the writer in the background by using cómpre, impersonal and passive se, and set phrases like como xa se dixo.

Formal Galician can shorten "he said that he was tired" to Dixo estar canso. It works only when the subject of both verbs is the same.

The ending of a word can change how its stressed vowel sounds, as in novo and nova, but the spelling stays the same.

Nominal style turns actions into nouns, as in a construción da ponte. It is typical of formal and administrative writing, but too much of it makes a text hard to read.

Interpolation puts a word, usually non, between a pronoun and its verb. It is traditional and literary, and the modern order is also correct.

In right dislocation a noun phrase comes after the clause, separated by a comma, and a matching pronoun inside the clause refers to it.

The future can concede a point before pero, as in Será moi listo, pero non estuda.

A rare, formal tense built on the preterite stem, used in legal texts and set phrases such as sexa como for.

With titles of works and publications, the contraction of de or en with the title's article can be written with an apostrophe: d'O lapis do carpinteiro. Ordinary contractions and place names do not use it.

Dar en + infinitive means that someone starts doing something, often insistently, or takes up a new habit.

Eis presents something, like velaquí, but belongs to formal and literary style. An attached pronoun turns eis into eilo or eila.

Gustar de uses the person who likes as the subject, as in Gusto de ler; it is traditional and literary.

The -ra form usually means "had done", but in literary and traditional Galician it can also replace the conditional, as in Quen o dixera!

Se comes before any other unstressed pronoun, as in díxoselle and non se lle pode dicir.

The traditional question word u asks where someone or something is. It never takes a verb and joins the article with a hyphen: U-la chave?