Introduce yourself with ser

Yo means I; tú means familiar singular you; él means he and ella means she. Nosotros or nosotras means we, and ellos or ellas means they. The feminine plural forms refer to all-female groups; the masculine plural can refer to men or a mixed group.

Soy Elvira means I am Elvira. Spanish normally leaves out a subject pronoun when the verb already makes the person clear. Soy Elvira and Yo soy Elvira are both correct; the second can emphasise I. Me llamo… is the useful phrase My name is…. Names have no article.

Tú addresses one person familiarly. Usted is polite singular and uses es. In standard Spain Spanish, vosotros or vosotras addresses several people familiarly and uses sois. Ustedes uses son. These are ordinary verb forms, not an extra polite conjugation.

• Soy Elvira.I am Elvira.

• Michi es el gato.Michi is the cat.

• Somos vecinos.We are neighbours.

• ¿Sois vecinos?Are you neighbours? (familiar plural)

Learn the article with the noun

El is the masculine article and la the feminine article. Learn the whole pair, such as el gato, la llave and la casa. Grammatical gender is a property of the noun. It is not the learner’s gender, and a final vowel alone does not always predict it.

A person can be el nuevo vecino or la nueva vecina: the adjective (describing word) agrees with the noun. Elvira says encantada. A man says encantado. For now recognise mi casa and su llave as whole expressions; scene 5 explains these ownership words.

More than one person or thing

For these nouns ending in a vowel, add -s: vecino becomes vecinos, and vecina becomes vecinas. Their plural articles are los and las: los vecinos, las vecinas. The same pattern gives amigos and llaves. More plural patterns come in module 2.

A Spanish greeting after dark

Buenas noches can greet someone when you arrive after dark and can also wish them good night when you leave. Earlier in the afternoon/evening use buenas tardes. Neither greeting needs a verb. Sí (yes) has a written accent; si has a different job later.