Describing family traditions and celebrations in Spanish

• Use the preterite (past) tense to talk about previous family celebrations and events.

• This guide contains reading practice.

Remember

In Spanish the word for ‘birthday’ is a singular word, although it ends in s. It literally means cumple (achieves) and años (years).

To say ‘Happy birthday’ use Feliz Cumpleaños.

Useful verbs include:

Useful adjectives include:

The preterite tense in Spanish is used to describe completed actions in the past.

For example:

Fui al cine para celebrar mi cumpleaños. - I went to the cinema to celebrate my birthday.

Celebramos en un restaurante. - We celebrated in a restaurant.

The preterite tense is used if the past action had a definite beginning and definite end and is often used with phrases that give a specific time frame.

For example:

ayer - yesterday

anoche - last night

el año pasado - last year

la semana pasada - last week

Most verbs are regular in the preterite tense. This means that they follow a pattern.

For regular verbs, the preterite is formed by removing the ar, er, or ir, from the infinitive to form the stem and adding the following preterite endings:

For example:

Invité a mis mejores amigos. - I invited my best friends.

Recibió muchos regalos. - He/she received lots of presents.

Comimos un pastel de chocolate. - We ate a chocolate cake.

Some of the most common verbs in Spanish are irregular. This means that they don’t follow the usual pattern in the preterite tense.

Some of the most useful irregular verbs in the preterite are:

• ser - to be

• ir - to go

• hacer - to make, to do

• tener - to have

Note that ser and ir are the same in the preterite tense.

To find out more about using and forming the preterite tense have a look at the Regular verbs in the preterite tense and Irregular verbs in the preterite tense in Spanish guides.

Useful verbs to talk about marriage and partnership include:

Useful nouns to talk about relationships include:

For example:

En el futuro quisiera casarme y tener una familia muy grande. - In the future, I would like to get married and have a very big family.

Mi hermano mayor no está casado, pero creo que va a comprometerse con su novia el año que viene. - My older brother isn't married, but I think he is going to get engaged to his girlfriend next year.

Mi tía se casó el verano pasado y la boda costó mucho dinero. - My aunt got married last summer and the wedding cost a lot of money.

All Foundation Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Did you know?

In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, it's uncommon for people to change their name when they marry. Instead, they usually keep their mother and father's surnames.

Four Spanish teenagers are talking about a recent wedding. Read through each statement and answer the questions below.

Jorge

Lo pasé muy bien porque comí muchísimo. Bailé durante toda la noche y fue una fiesta estupenda.

David

Todo el mundo se puso muy guapo para asistir a la boda y se vistió muy elegante.

Elena

La boda de mis amigos fue un día emocionante y lloré muchísimo. Me encantó verlos tan felices.

Amira

La boda me dio la oportunidad de conocer a mucha gente. Además, el pastel de boda fue delicioso.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when talking about family traditions and celebrations.

Useful vocabulary includes:

For example:

Mis abuelos están separados y no viven juntos. - My grandparents are separated and don't live together.

All vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when talking about family traditions and celebrations.

Now you have learned the key vocabulary and grammar for describing family celebrations, have a look at the Talking about family and friends in Spanish guide.