Spanish Language Learning Card Game: Las Siete Familias

(“The Seven Families”) is a classic French card game that’s similar to “Go Fish.” In this version, the “families” are Spanish verbs, and each card in a family represents a specific conjugation form of that verb.

What Does Each Card Represent?

• Each family corresponds to one Spanish verb (e.g., hablar, comer, vivir, ser, ir, etc.).
• Each family has six cards:
  • Infinitive
  • Yo (I)
  • Tú (you, informal)
  • Él/Ella/Usted (he/she/you formal)
  • Nosotros/Nosotras (we)
  • Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes (they/you all formal)

Example:
If the family verb is hablar (to speak), the six cards would be:

• Hablar
• Yo hablo
• Tú hablas
• Él/Ella/Usted habla
• Nosotros hablamos
• Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes hablan

How Do You Play?

1. Shuffle and Deal:
   Shuffle the deck and deal out cards equally among players (usually 3–6 players) OR start with 3-4 cards per person, leaving the rest in a deck.
2. Goal of the Game:
   Collect all six conjugation cards of the same verb (one “family”) by asking other players for specific cards.
3. Taking Turns:
   • Player 1 asks any player:
     “Tienes ‘Nosotros hablamos’?” (for example).
   • If the other player has it, they must hand it over, and Player 1 asks again.
   • If the other player doesn’t have it, they say, “No, no lo tengo. Toma una carta!” and Player 1 picks a card from the pile, ending their turn.
4. Winning the Game:
   When you collect all six cards of a verb, announce:
   ¡Familia completa!” (Family complete!).
   The player who collects the most complete verb families wins!

Note that in my version, some games are named differently (i.e. Las Diez Familias) because there are more conjugations to practice.

There are 19 games to practice present tense regular and irregular verbs, preterite, present progressive, imperfect, conditional and present subjunctive.

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