It is very useful to learn and memorise useful phrases for writing Spanish essays - this is probably the easiest way to improve your essays and hence your marks as a Spanish beginner.

This article is a collection of Spanish phrases to firstly help you start and conclude a Spanish essay; secondly how to present themes and argue points, and finally contains a range of connectives to make a Spanish essay flow more naturally.

The first sentence...
Voy a discutir acerca del tema de...
Voy a hablar sobre...
Voy a discutir

Introducing your opening argument...
Para empezar - to begin with
Al principio - at the start
En primer lugar - to begin with

Introducing new themes and arguments...
Para continuar - to continue
Para ilustrar... - to illustrate...

Concluding the essay...
Por fin - in short
Finalmente - finally
Para concluir - to conclude
En conclusión - in conclusion
Para terminar - to finish
En resumen - in summary

Presenting an argument...
Por un lado - on the one hand
Por otro lado - on the other hand
En cambio - in contrast
Por otra parte - on the other hand
Hay que tomar en cuenta - you have to take into account

Indicating time...
Durante - during
Mientras - while
Mientras tanto - meanwhile
Despues de infinitive - after
Antes de infinitive - before
Luego - then
Entonces - then

Because / as a result of...
A causa de - because
Como consecuencia de - as a consequence of
Debido a - due to
Porque - because
Como resultado - as a result

Spanish connectives and conjunctions...
Además - in addition, moreover
También - also
Sin embargo - however
A pesar de - in spite of
Así (que) - so
Aunque - although
Sino que - but
Pero - but
Por ejemplo - for example

Common subjunctive triggers...
Es probable que
Es necesario que
No creo que
Dudo que
Aconsejo que
Espero que
Quiero que

Presenting opinions (no subjunctive)
Creo que - I believe/ think
Pienso que - I think
Opino que - In my opinion
En mi opinión - in my opinion
Afotunadamente - fortunately
Desafortunadamente - unfortunately
Me parece que - it seems to me

Therefore
Por eso - therefore
Por lo tanto - therefore
Por consiguiente - therefore
Asi - so

Other useful Spanish words / phrases
Todavía - still
Ya - already / now
Apenas - scarcely (casi no)
En realidad - in reality
Actualmente - currently
Ahora mismo - right now
En seguida - immediately
Hoy en día - nowadays

The most... is that

Lo mejor es que
Lo malo es que
Lo importante es que

Common uses of the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish
Si tuviera... - if I had... (notes: this should be followed by a verb in the conditional tense)
Si fuera... - if I was... (as above)

I hope this collection of Spanish phrases is useful for you Spanish writing - please visit http://topspanishtips.weebly.com for more useful Spanish resources like this one.

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