🎯 Why This Matters
Grammar foundation.
Absence of jarring errors.
🇪🇸 The Challenge
Agreement errors (He have → He has). Collective nouns (The police ARE vs The team IS). Singular/plural confusion.
🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 Forgetting the third person -S
Problem: Spanish conjugates ALL persons. English only marks third person.
Watch out: Saying 'He work' instead of 'He works'
✅ Fix: He/She/It ALWAYS takes -S in present simple: works, plays, goes, does
🧠 Mental Note: The -S is the ONLY conjugation mark in English present tense!
🇪🇸 Same -S challenge
Problem: Castilian Spanish also conjugates all persons
Watch out: Forgetting that English ONLY changes third person singular
✅ Fix: Focus on He/She/It. These ALWAYS need -S (or -ES: goes, does, watches)
🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)
The Matching Game
He/She/It = adds S to verb. They/We/You/I = no S. Match the REAL subject!
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:
Third person -s pronunciation
Spanish Habit: Always pronouncing -s as /s/
English Reality: The -s ending has three sounds: /s/, /z/, /ɪz/
Examples:
- works /wɜːks/ (after voiceless)
- runs /rʌnz/ (after voiced)
- watches /wɒtʃɪz/ (after s/sh/ch)
Practice: After voiced sounds, -s = /z/. After s/sh/ch/x, add /ɪz/ syllable.
📖 How It Works
Teacher Recommendation: Teacher strongly recommended
Time Investment: 3 hours
🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)
These words/phrases appear with this structure:
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| he/she/it + -s | él/ella + verbo | He works, She plays, It runs |
| there is/are | hay | There is a cat / There are cats |
| everyone/everybody | todos (pero singular) | Everyone IS here (singular in English!) |
| the police | la policía | The police ARE coming (plural in English!) |
| news/mathematics | noticias/matemáticas | The news IS good (singular in English!) |
💬 Real Examples
Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:
Example 1: Third person singular
✅ CORRECT: "She works in a bank."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Ella trabaja en un banco."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "She work in a bank."
Why wrong? Third person singular (he/she/it) requires -S on the verb
Example 2: There is/are
✅ CORRECT: "There are many people here."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Hay muchas personas aquí."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "There is many people here."
Why wrong? PEOPLE is plural, so use ARE, not IS
Example 3: Subject-verb separation
✅ CORRECT: "The price of these items is high."
🇪🇸 Translation: "El precio de estos artículos es alto."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "The price of these items are high."
Why wrong? Subject is PRICE (singular), not items. Don't be fooled by nearby plurals!
✏️ Practice Exercises
Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!