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Sample Lesson: Verb Review
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Introduction
Welcome to Intermediate Spanish. In this course you will review basic material
of Spanish, as well as progress in your use of the language. The main review topics will focus
on verbal grammar and vocabulary. The intermediate course is designed to develop your skill in communicating
with more elegant sentences. Therefore it covers compound verb tenses, joining of sentences
using relative pronouns, a thorough practice of adjective forms, and an introduction
to subordinate clauses using subjunctive verbs. Each Lesson also has corresponding Exercises
with Answers, to help you practice the material. This Introduction contains
the following review topics:
Verb tenses
Command verb forms
Let us now turn to a review of verb tenses.
Verb Tenses
We begin with a summary of the basics of the Spanish verbal system. Recall that verbs are
words of action (run - correr) or state (be - ser). In Spanish, verbs
belong to 3 groups called conjugations. The conjugation a verb belongs to
is recognized by the ending on the verb. There are 3 conjugations: -ar, -er, -ir.
It is important to know the conjugation of a verb because the verbal system of Spanish
is dependent on endings that are attached to a stem. For most cases, the ending is attached
to a verb after removing the -ar, -er, -ir. These endings will produce a tense
for the verb. Tense expresses who does the action, and when it is happening.
For example: hablar - to speak; drop -ar; add -o to produce hablo - I am speaking, I speak.
Notice that the simple ending of -o has expressed that I is the doer of the action,
as well as the fact that the action is taking place in the present time (i.e. right now). Therefore this ending
is the first person (I - yo) Present Tense ending.
With regards to the concept of person: there are 6 persons as indicated below, each corresponds
to a subject pronoun.
Singular persons
I - yo
you - tú (familiar); usted (formal)
he / she / it - él / ella / none
Plural persons
we - nosotros, nosotras
you - ustedes, vosotros (Spain only)
they - ellos, ellas
These persons are important to know because the endings are charted according to the person.
Table a below gives a summary of the endings of the tenses you should have studied
to this point, with the subject pronouns: Present, Imperfect, Preterite and Future Tense.
Keep in mind that él, ella, usted use the same ending;
nosotros, nosotras share, as do ellos, ellas, ustedes.
Review the Table to re-acquaint yourself with the tense endings.
Command Forms
Command (or Imperative) forms are a different type of verbal form. These are endings that the language uses
to express direct orders or instructions (e.g. speak! - ¡habla!).
Commands are always directed to a you person, singular (e.g. Thomas, come! - ¡Ven!), or
plural (e.g. Students, come! - ¡Vengan!). However, recall that in Spanish we have 2 types of you singular
persons: familiar tú, and formal usted. In the Americas we have only 1 plural you - ustedes; however,
in Spain there are 2: you formal - ustedes, and familiar vosotros.
Therefore, in total there are 4 Command forms you must learn; as affirmatives (e.g. speak!)
and negatives (e.g. don't speak!). For usted, the affirmative and negative
use the same form (i.e. hable, no hable); likewise for ustedes (i.e. hablen, no hablen).
The endings are used according to the following rules:
Tú Affirmative
same as 3rd singular él verb form of the Present Tense
habla - come - vive
Usted, ustedes, negative tú, negative vosotros
take 1st person (yo) form, Present Tense, drop -o
to -ar verbs add: -e (usted), -en (ustedes), -es (neg tú), -éis (neg vosotros)
hable usted - hablen ustedes - no hables tú - no habléis vosotros
to -er, -ir verbs add: -a (usted), -an (ustedes), -as (neg tú), -áis (neg vosotros)
coma usted - coman ustedes - no comas tú - no comáis vosotros
escriba usted - escriban ustedes - no escribas tú - no escribáis vosotros
Vosotros Affirmative
take infinitive, drop -ar, -er, -ir
to -ar verbs add: -ad - hablad
to -er add: -ed - comed
to -ir add: -id - vivid
Review Table b to relearn these endings. Table c includes a list of
common verbs you should know from your Elementary Spanish work.
After reviewing the tense endings you may want to check your knowledge
by completing the exercise below.
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Verb Tenses | Conjugation of -ar (hablar) | Conjugation of -er (comer) | Conjugation of -ir (vivir) |
Presente (Present) - I speak |
yo hablo
tú hablas
él habla
nosotros hablamos
vosotros habláis
ellos hablan
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como
comes
come
comemos
coméis
comen
|
vivo
vives
vive
vivimos
vivís
viven
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Imperfecto (Imperfect) - I was speaking |
yo hablaba
tú hablabas
él hablaba
nosotros hablábamos
vosotros hablabais
ellos hablaban
|
comía
comías
comía
comíamos
comíais
comían
|
vivía
vivías
vivía
vivíamos
vivíais
vivían
|
Pretérito (Preterite) - I spoke | yo hablé
tú hablaste
él habló
nosotros hablamos
vosotros hablasteis
ellos hablaron
|
comí
comiste
comió
comimos
comisteis
comieron
|
viví
viviste
vivió
vivimos
vivisteis
vivieron
|
Futuro (Future) - I will speak |
yo hablaré
tú hablarás
él hablará
nosotros hablaremos
vosotros hablaréis
ellos hablarán
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comeré
comerás
comerá
comeremos
comeréis
comerán |
viviré
vivirás
vivirá
viviremos
viviréis
vivirán
|
...top
Type of Command | Conjugation of -ar (hablar) | Conjugation of -er (comer) | Conjugation of -ir (vivir) |
Affirmative/Negative for Usted | (no) hable | (no) coma | (no) viva |
Affirmative/Negative for Ustedes | (no) hablen | (no) coman | (no) vivan |
Affirmative for Tú | habla | come | vive |
Negative for Tú | no hables | no comas | no vivas |
Affirmative for Vosotros | hablad | comed | vivid |
Negative for Vosotros | no habléis | no comáis | no viváis |
...top
English
| Spanish
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- be (description)
be (location - condition)
- buy
call
- chat - converse
clean
- close
comb - brush
- come
cook
- do - make
dress
- drink
drive
- eat
find
- give
go
- have
look at
- look for
lose
- need
open
- pay
put
- read
return item
- return - go back
run
- see
take off
- take (item - person to place)
take - keep
- talk - speak
walk
- want
wash
- work
write
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- ser
- estar
- comprar
- llamar
- charlar - conversar
- limpiar
- cerrar
- peinar - cepillar
- venir
- cocinar
- hacer
- vestir(se)
- beber - tomar
- conducir - manejar
- comer
- encontrar
- dar
- ir
- tener
- mirar - ver
- buscar
- perder
- necesitar
- abrir
- pagar
- poner
- leer
- devolver
- volver - regresar
- correr
- ver
- quitar(se)
- llevar
- tomar
- hablar
- caminar - andar
- querer - desear
- lavar
- trabajar
- escribir
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