WST - Intermediate Spanish




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Sample Lesson: Verb Review

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.

Table 0a - Verb Tenses for the Indicative

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	como comes come comemos coméis comen	vivo vives vive vivimos vivís viven
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	comeré comerás comerá comeremos comeréis comerán	viviré vivirás vivirá viviremos viviréis vivirán

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Table 0b - Commands

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

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Table 0c - Basic Verbs

English	Spanish
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	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

Sample Exercise
(Click on green symbol to listen)

Instructions

Study the Tables above before completing the following exercise. Match the letter of the Spanish phrase on the right which matches the English on the left.

English	Spanish
_______I will run _______she was looking for _______they are chatting _______are you working? _______he lost _______we are paying _______I was writing _______she gave _______they will have _______will you return? _______I drove _______they were coming _______will you go _______I paid _______we walked	conduje trabajas caminamos correré puse escribía irás tendrán buscaba salieron pagué dio cocinamos perdió regresaré pagamos charlan quisiste volverás venían