Common Spanish Structures

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Last Updated: Friday, 28 November 2025 00:21
Published: Wednesday, 26 November 2025 23:03
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Few common Spanish structures with verbs are presented here separately. We use special connecting words as "de", a, etc.

Common structures:

The below link talks about 6 such verbs. All 5 verbs are conjugated based on our regular 2x3 table.

Link => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RdVV_mHx_s

  • terminar de => to finish doing something. terminar is conjugated and the verb following it retains subjunctive form. 
    • present tense: she finishes studying at eight => Ella termina de estudiar a las ocho
    • past tense: I finished reading the book => yo terminé de leer el libro (If we had "I didn't finish ..", then it's > yo no terminé de leer ..)
    • Terminar remains in subjunctive form if it follows a verb. ex: When are you going to finish cleaning? => ¿Cuándo vas a terminar de limpiar?
  • empezar a => to start doing something (instead of "de", we use "a" to indicate "start to do ...". With "finish", we don't have "finish to do something ..."). 
    • NOTE: Empezar is an irregular verb with stem empie- in boot entries (see irregular verb section)=> empiezo, empieza, empiezas, empezamos (not a boot entry), empiezan 
    • present tense: she starts working at nine => Ella empieza a trabajar a las nueve
    • past tense: I started to run (or started running) this morning => yo empecé a correr esta mañana
    • Empezar remains in subjunctive form if it follows a verb (similar to terminar). ex: We are going to start studying? => Vamos a empezar a estudiar. 
  • dejar de => to stop or quit doing something (different than terminar as that's for finish doing something). There are other meanings also. It's explained under "imperative mood" section.
    • present tense: she never stops talking => Ella nunca deja de hablar
    • past tense: ex: I stopped smoking last year => yo dejé de fumar el año pasado
    • subjunctive form: ex: When are you going to stop crying? => ¿Cuándo vas a dejar de llorar?
  • acabar de => to have just done something. Acabar is always used in present form, even though sentence usually indicates past tense.
    • present tense: No past tense form
      • ex: she just left => ella acaba de salir. Here "just" is present tense, evn though "left" is past tense.
      • ex: Did you just hear that? => ¿Acabas de escuchar eso?
  • asistir a => to attend (to) a event, etc (NOT to assist) 
    • present tense: she attends university => Ella asiste a la universidad
    • past tense: ex: I attended the conference yesterday  => yo asistí a la conferencia ayer
    • subjunctive form: ex: We are going to attend the wedding => vamos a asistir a la boda
  • confiar en => to trust in/on.
    • present tense: she trusts (in) her friends => Ella confia en sus amigos
    • Imperative: Do not trust that person => No Confies en esa persona. Here "confiar" conjugates to "confies" for 2nd person negative cmd.