survival spanish: basic verbs in the present, past and ... · hablan como comes come comemos...
TRANSCRIPT
SURVIVAL SPANISH1
Survival Spanish
Spanish grammar has a reputation for being hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Once you start hearing and speaking Spanish, you’ll easily notice that we only use half a dozen in daily life. And to make yourself understood, you’ll need even less. In this ebook, we explain how to conjugate the three most used verb tenses in Spanish - and teach you how to construct a fourth one using them!
FOREWORD ABOUT MOODS:
Verbs in Spanish can have several moods. All the tenses in this book belong to the Indica-tive Mood - the most used one - which is used for factual statements, asking questions and expressing opinions.
SURVIVAL SPANISH2
a. Yo (odiar) cuando ella (hablar) de sus vecinos.
b. Ahora, (tú) (deber) tener más cuidado. (tú) (comer) muchas grasas.
c. Él (amar) la música, (él) (vivir) para ello.
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella, Usted
Nosotros/Nosotras
Vosotras/Vosotras
Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes
- are.g. Hablar (to speak)
- ere.g. Comer (to eat)
- ire.g. Vivir (to live)
hablo
hablas
habla
hablamos
habláis
hablan
como
comes
come
comemos
coméis
comen
vivo
vives
vive
vivimos
vivís
viven
Now, use these six verbs to complete the following sentences:Try to conjugate the verbs:
amar (to love)
deber (must)
odiar (to hate).
The Simple Present (el Presente del Indicativo) is conjugated differently according to the end-ing: -ar, -er or -ir. First, you need to remove the ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add these termi-nations to the stem. All regular verbs obey to these rules.
REGULAR VERBS
The Simple Present
SURVIVAL SPANISH3
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella
Nosotros(as)
Vosotros(as)
Ellos/Ellas
Ser (to be)
soy
eres
es
somos
estoy
estás
tengo
Estar (to be)
Tener (to have)
Haber (to have)
Ir (to go)
sois
son
está
estamos
estáis
están
tienes
tiene
tenemos
tenéis
tienen
he
has
ha, hay
hemos
habéis
han
voy
vas
va
vamos
vais
van
Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy! A lot of Spanish verbs are irregular in the Present tense, including some of the most used ones. Here are some that you should keep in mind:
IRREGULAR VERBS
The Simple Present
a. Yo (ser) de España, pero (estar) viviendo en Dubai.
b. Tú (tener) que ir con nosotros a Madrid, dónde lo (nosotros) (haber) pasado muy bien.
c. Ustedes a Barcelona mañana, hoy que aprovechar la playa.
Use these verbs to complete the following sentences:
SURVIVAL SPANISH4
You’ve learned how to talk about the Pres-ent, but we’re sure you’d like to tell peo-ple a bit more about yourself. Where you grew up, where you worked, places you have traveled... And you can do it all by using the Past Simple. Like the Present, this conjugation depends on the ending of the verb (-ar, -er, -ir). You need to remove the ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add the following endings to the stem :
The Simple Past
REGULAR VERBS
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella, Usted
Nosotros/Nosotras
Vosotras/Vosotras
Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes
- are.g. Hablar (to speak)
- ere.g. Comer (to eat)
- ire.g. Vivir (to live)
hablé
hablaste
habló
hablamos
hablasteis
hablaron
comí
comeste
comió
comimos
comisteis
comieron
viví
viviste
vivió
vivimos
vivisteis
vivieron
a. Nosotros (vivir) en Barcelona dos años. Entonces, (nosotros) (aprender) Catalán.
b. En Galicia, (ellos) (comer) pulpo a la gallega, pero yo ni lo (probar).
c. Ayer, (tú) (hablar) en Euskara con tu madre.
Complete the following sentences using the Past Simple:4Did you notice anything about these endings?
If you look closely, you’ll notice that the endings for verbs ending in -er and -ir are the same. So the Past is easier than the Present Simple!
SURVIVAL SPANISH5
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella
Nosotros(as)
Vosotros(as)
Ellos/Ellas
Ser (to be)
fui estuve tuve hube hice dije
fuiste
fue
fuimos
fuisteis
fueron
estuviste
estuvo
estuvimos
estuvisteis
estuvieron
tuviste
tuvo
tuvimos
tuvisteis
tuvieron
hubiste
hubo
hubimos
hubisteis
hubieron
hiciste
hizo
hicimos
hicisteis
hicieron
dijistes
dijo
dijimos
dijisteis
dijeron
Estar (to be)
Tener (to have)
Haber (to have)
Hacer(to do)
Decir(to say)
Some Spanish verbs are irregular in the Past Simple. This includes some of our most impor-tant verbs ser (to be) and tener (to have).
Here they are:
IRREGULAR VERBS
The Simple Past
a. Yo (estar) en Madrid hace dos meses. (tener) la oportunidad de conocer la alcaldesa.
b. Tú (ser) mi mayor apoyo cuando (haber) el huracán.
c. Tú (ser) mi mayor apoyo cuando Silvia me (decir) todo aquello tan terrible.
d. [Ellos] (hacer) un Erasmus en Barcelona.
Complete the following sentences using these verbs in the Past (without looking at the table!):5
SURVIVAL SPANISH6
Imperfect Past (Pasado Imperfecto)
But there are thousands of ways to talk about the past! Besides the Simple Past, you’ll notice Spanish-speakers also use the Imperfect Past a lot. This verbal tense is quite easy, but we’ll make a small stop to explain the differences between the Simple and the Imperfect Past.
What is the difference between the Past Simple and the Imperfect Past?
Generally speaking, the past simple is used for actions that are complete , whereas the imperfect refers to an action that doesn’t have a concrete ending . Below there are two lists of words and situations that will help you.
USE THE SIMPLE PAST:
√ To talk about a completed action (an action that had a definite beginning and an end);
√ With words like “ayer” (yesterday), “anteayer” (the day before yesterday), “ayer por la mañana/ por la tarde/ por la noche”, “anoche” (last night) or “anteanoche” (the night before the last);
√ When specifically talking about the past, with expressions like “la semana pasada” (the past week), “el mes pasado” (the last month), “el año pasado” (the last year) “el siglo pasado” (the last century);
√ With expressions beginning with “hace” like “hace dos días” (it has been two days/ two days ago), “hace un mes”, “hace poco”, “hace mucho”;
√ Expressions that refer to a particular place in time that is clearly in the past, such as “en ese momento” (in that particular moment), “desde el primer momento” (since the very first moment), “durante un siglo” (for a century).
SURVIVAL SPANISH7
√ Actions without a definite end;
√ Such as actions that were repeated often (hab-its/routines/traditions) in the past. Remember which words indicate frequency in Spanish: “a menudo” (often), “frecuentemente/ confrecuen-cia” (frequently), “a veces” (sometimes), “rara vez” (rarely), siempre (“always”), “algunas/varias veces” (sometimes/ at times), “tantas/muchas veces” (a lot of times), “nunca” (never), “todos los días/meses/años” (every day, month, year);
√ Or to set the mood for a story in the past, describe a person’s age, mental or physical state in the past.
USE THE IMPERFECT:
“Cuando vivíamos en España, íbamos muchas veces a Francia.” vs. “Cuando vivimos en España fuimos a Francia muchas veces”
The first sentence should be translated as “when we lived to Spain, we used to go to France a lot of times.” The verb “vivir” (to live) in the imperfect sets the story in another time and it’s not made clear when the subject (nosotros/we) stopped living in Spain. The second verb, “íbamos” sug-gests that going to France happened frequently, hence “used to go”.
The second sentence sounds much more factu-al, “when we lived in Spain we went to France several times.” It’s referring to the past, and it sounds like the subject (nosotros/we) had the opportunity to, or even had to, go to France.
But without further ado, here’s how to form the Imperfect Past in Spanish :
EXAMPLE:
SURVIVAL SPANISH8
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella, Usted
Nosotros/Nosotras
Vosotras/Vosotras
Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes
- are.g. Hablar (to speak)
- ere.g. Comer (to eat)
hablaba
hablabas
hablaba
hablábamos
hablabais
Hablaban
comía
comías
comía
comíamos
comíais
comían
Like in the simple past, -ar verbs are con-jugated one way; -er and -ir have a simi-lar conjugation.
REGULAR VERBS
Imperfect Past
a. Cuando yo (ser) niña, no (hablar) Castellano.
b. Nosotros (ir) al instituto y yo (comer) en la cantina.
c. Ellos (ver) la película con mucha atención y siempre (hablar) de todo al final.
Complete the following sentences with the verbs in the imperfect past:6
SURVIVAL SPANISH9
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella
Nosotros(as)
Vosotros(as)
Ellos/Ellas
Ser (to be)
era
eras
era
éramos
iba
ibas
veía
Ir(to go)
Ver (to see)
erais
eran
iba
íbamos
ibais
iban
veías
veías
veíamos
veíais
veían
Good news! There are only 3 irregular verbs in the Imperfect. Here they are:
IRREGULAR VERBS
Imperfect Past
1vi, enamoré2estaba, supe3era, dejó4 fuimos, íbamos5comíamos, vivíamos6gustaba
a. Cuando (ver) mi pareja por primera vez, me (enamorar) de ella1.
b. (estar) en Barcelona cuando (saber) que mi madre estaba enferma2.
c. (ser) un artista muy bueno, sin embargo se (dejar) llevar por el dinero3.
d. La semana pasada (ir) a Madrid y me acordé de cuando vivíamos allá y (ir) hasta el Retiro todos los domingos4. e. Rara vez (comer) tortilla cuando (vivir) en Galicia5.
f. Me (gustar) mucho ir a la playa a menudo, comer tapas todos los días, beber cerveza y escuchar la guitarra Española por la noche6.
Complete the following sentences with the verbs in the imperfect and perfect past:7
SURVIVAL SPANISH10
We know that, after learning the Present and the Past, you must have some curiosi-ty about the future in Spanish. But because we don’t want to overwhelm you with too much Spanish grammar, we’ll leave the Sim-ple future for another occasion. However, we’ll give you a sneak peak of the Spanish “near future” (futuro próximo).
The Future
What’s the near future?
The near future is similar to the English structure “going to + verb”. In Spanish, it is formed with the verb “ir” in the Simple Present and the infinitive of the verb. This means you won’t have to memorize any-thing else - you can form this verbal tense with what you already know.
Yo voy a comer una tortilla (I am going to eat a tortilla).
Él va a vivir en Moscú el año que viene (He is going to live in Moscow next year).
Nosotros vamos a viajar por España (We are going to travel through Spain).
EXAMPLE:
Yo
Tú
Él/Ella, Usted
Nosotros/Nosotras
Vosotras/Vosotras
Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes
Verb “ir” (to go) in the SimplePresent
the action
voy
vas
va
vamos
vais
van
Person
+infinitive