Conjugación del indicativo (Conjugation of the present indicative)

Conjugation of verbs in Spanish generally follow a basic pattern, the exceptions are the irregular and stem-changing verbs, which basically everyone hates but these follow another pattern and once you learn that pattern, which I will cover later, then they aren't so bad either.

The most important thing to do when learning the patterns of conjugations is to divide them into verb ending.
"-ar" verb will always end in -ar in the infinitive. Two examples: hablar, trabajar.
In the present indicative these verbs follow this pattern:
yo-------------------> -o
tú--------------------> -as
usted, él, ella---------> -a
nosotros-------------> -amos
ustedes, ellos, ellas---> -an

Here is an example of an -ar verb being conjugated:

To talk: hablar
I talk: hablo
you talk: hablas
you (formal), he, she talks: habla
we talk: hablamos
they, you (all) talk: hablan

NOTE: When conjugating verbs in Spanish and using them in a sentence pronouns, such as yo (I), tú (you), usted (you, formal), etc. are not needed and are often considered redundant when used. Unless you are using them to emphasize who is doing the action you should avoid using them when learning Spanish.

Notice that the word has a root to it that is in all of the conjugations: habl-. When you are conjugating the word you use the root as your base to work off of.

Now lets look at the next group of verbs -er/-ir verbs.

You'll notice first that this is a double group, it contains all the verbs that end in both -er and -ir. This is because the verb endings for these conjugations are the same. Let's take a look.

-er: comer, correr
-ir: vivir, escribir

Yo-------------------> -o
tú---------------------> -es
usted-----------------> -e
Nosotros-------------> -emos (-er); -imos (-ir)
Ustedes--------------> -en

To eat: comer
I eat: como
you eat: comes
you (formal), he, she eats: come
we eat: comemos
they, you (all) eat: comen

To run: correr
I run: corro
you run: corres
you (formal), he, she runs: corre
we run: corremos
they, you (all) run: corren

To live: vivir
I live: vivo
you live: vives
you (formal), he, she lives: vive
we live: vivimos
they, you (all) live: viven

To write: escribir

I write: escribo
you write: escribes
you (formal), he, she writes: escribe
we write: escribimos
they, you (all) write: escriben

Irregular/Stem-changing verbs

Stem-changing and irregular verbs can be tricky even for those that know them. Each irregular and stem changing verb follows a specific pattern. In the case of stem-changing verbs the patter is literally a change in the stem of the verb (the stem is more commonly known as the root of the word). For some people it helps to know the patterns, and certainly if you do this it will be easier to spot your mistakes when you make them, but most people simply memorize these verbs in each conjugation and tense. The majority of these verbs appear in the -er or -ir form. Here are a few examples:

To be: estar (irregular)
I am: estoy
you are: estás

you (formal), he, she is: está
we are: estamos
they, you (all) are: están

Please note that if this were a regular verb it would look something like this
"I am" would be: esto
"you are" would be: estas
etc.
"esto" and "estas" are still words in Spanish, but they do not mean "I am" or "you are"

To return: volver (stem-changing)

I return: vuelvo
you return: vuelves
you (formal), he, she returns: vuelve
we return: volvemos
they, you (all) return: vuelven

There are two things you should notice about the two conjugations above. The first is that in the "nosotros" (or we) form, the verb is not irregular (for estar) and the stem does not change ("volv-" in this case). The second observation should be that irregular verbs carry a different verb ending whereas stem-changing verbs are different in the middle of the word.

*An easy way to remember the common irregular verbs is the acronym DISHES
D: Dar
I: Ir
S: Ser
H: Haber
E: Estar
S: Saber

The pattern for the stem-changing verbs is as follows:
o---> ue
e---> ie
e---> i

What this means is that if you are conjugating a stem-changing verb (it must be a stem-changing verb) the "o" will change to "ue" and the "e" will change to either "ie" or "i".

Recall the verb used before, volver. When conjugated to "I return" it changes so that instead of volvo (which is not a word) you have vuelvo. Another example is entender, to understand.

I understand: entiendo

you understand: entiendes
you (formal), he, she understands: entiende
we understand: entendemos
they, you (all) understand: entienden

...and to ask, pedir
I ask: pido
you ask: pides
you (formal), he, she asks: pide
we ask: pedimos
they, you (all) ask: piden

Now that you know how to conjugate in the present tense try the problems below. You may need to look the answers up, but to encourage learning please do not simply look at the answers below.The answers to the problems are at the bottom of the page.


Conjugate the following verbs to the present tense. Some verbs are irregular or stem-change and the rest are regular verbs

1. I am (estar):
2. They walk (caminar):
3. He says (decir):
4. She wants (querer):
5. You (formal) work (trabajar):


Regular only:
6. They talk (hablar):
7. She drinks (beber):
8. We hate (odiar):
9. I should (deber):
10. You decide (decidir):


Irregular only:
11. I know (saber):
12. He is (ser):
13. I fall (caer):
14. We go (ir):
15. I give (dar):


Stem-Changing only:
16. I think (pensar):
17. We want (querer):
18. They have (tener):
19. He serves (servir):
20. You get/obtain (obtener):




Answers:

1.estoy
2.caminan
3.dice
4.quiere
5.trabaja

6.hablan
7.bebe
8.odiamos
9.debo
10.decides



11.sé
12.es
13.cayo
14.vamos
15.doy

16.pienso
17.queremos
18.tienen
19.sirve
20.obtienes

Final Review

This review has everything on it except relative pronouns, infinitive/gerund, and "La escritura".

Los mandatos

The best way to explain the patterns for commands without getting confused is to first go over the conjugations for usted and ustedes and explain positive and negative commands fully and then go into tú. This is exactly what I am going to do.

Usted, affirmative

·         Step 1: Identify the type of verb and whether or not it is irregular.

            For this example we are going to use both an –ar and –ir verb, “hablar” and “vivir”            respectively. Both of these verbs are regular.

·         Step 2: Conjugate according to audience and according to intentions.

            The audience has already been identified as being formal, or usted. We want to tell them   to do something, so the intentions are affirmative.

            You will notice that the imperative (mandatos) conjugations are the same as the present     tense subjunctive. If you are having trouble remembering them you can use this fact as a         memory aid. This will also assist you in remembering how to conjugate the irregular forms.

            Regular –ar verbs

            1. Hablar (identify the infinitive form of the verb)

            2. Hablo (conjugate in the first person indicative)

            3. Hablo (drop the “-o”)

            4. Habl-…. Hable (once you have identified the root, add the last letter of the verb            according to the opposite type of letter ending. For example, all –ar verbs end with an “e”    and all –ir and –er verbs end with an “a”)

            Regular –ir and –er verbs, again, conjugate the verb according to the steps above but         finish the conjugation with an “a” in place of a “i” or “e”.

            1. Vivir

            2. Vivo

            3. Vivo

            4. Viv-…. Viva

             

Ustedes, affirmative

            In order to conjugate into the affirmative of ustedes, simply follow the rules above and     then add an “n” to the end of the word:

            -ar

            1. Hablar

            2. Hablo

            3. Hablo

            4. Habl-…. Hable

            5. Hablen

            -ir and –er

            1. Vivir

            2. Vivo

            3. Vivio

            4. Viv-…. Viva

            5. Vivan

Irregulars

Some Spanish learners try to use the “trick” of simply dropping the “r” at the end of the word and then changing the last letter. While this can work for most verbs the problems start when you get to the irregular verbs.

For example, the work “hacer”, when the “r” is dropped and the “e” is swapped makes “haca”. Not only is this incorrect, it just sounds weird.

Some of the most common irregulars are: dar, decir, estar, hacer, ir, poner, salir, and venir.

These verbs are also very irregular in the tú form.

Usted/ustedes negative

This conjugation is straight forward. When a verb is being used in a negative imperative for usted or ustedes you must simply put “no” in front of the verb.

Ex.

No venga aquí

No compren los boletos, ya tengo tres.

Tú Affirmative

To conjugate the affirmative in the tú form for regular verbs you should conjugate the verb into the third person indicative.

Speak

Hablar

Habla

So this conjugation is fairly simple.

Irregulars

Irregular verbs in the tú form can be very tricky and it may be best to simply memorize them. The common irregulars from above in the tú form are as follows:

Dar- da

Decir- di

Estar- está

Hacer- haz

Ir- ve

Poner- pon

Salir- sal

Venir- ven

Tú negative

This is where the imperative gets a bit confusing. Here the imperative conjugation goes back to being the same as the subjunctive.

Hablar- no hables

Vivir- no vivas

The common irrgulars are still irregular, but only as they would be in the subjunctive.

Ser vs. Estar

The main things to remember when using ser or estar are that ser conveys an idea of permanence whereas estar is used to express locations and conditions.

Ser

As a rule of thumb ser is used when speaking of a description, origin, or time.

Descriptions- when you are describing something you are stating a characteristic of that person or object that is generally unchanging:

Soy Scott- I am Scott

Son abogados- They are lawyers

Norma es mi amiga- Norma is my friend

Angela es simpática- Angela is kind

Origin- When speaking of the origin of an object or person ser is used because the item’s origin will never change.

Alberto es de Argentina- Alberto is from Argentina

Pinocho es de madera- Pinocchio is made of Wood

Time-

Time is always described using ser.

Era las 9 en la noche cuando…- It was 9 at night when…

Son las 2- It’s 2 o’clock

Hoy es lunes- Today is Monday

Estar

Estar is used to convey ideas of location and condition; these things are considered changing.

Location-

Estoy en el parque- I’m in the park

La esponja está abajo del fregadero- The sponge is under the sink

Condition-

Juan está feliz- Juan is happy

Nosotros estamos confundidos- We are confused

Subjunctive

The subjunctive is used to express doubt or uncertainty. In this section we will cover clauses that are expressed with “si”, nominal (or noun) clauses and adverbial clauses.

“Si” Clauses-

I general way to tell if the clause will be the imperfect subjunctive in a clause with “si” is to say the relative English sentence in your head. Are you saying “If I had…” or “If I were…”? If the answer is a yes then it is a “si” clause that utilizes the imperfect subjunctive.

Si fuera el rey…- If I were king…

Si tuviera más dinero, compraría un carro- If I had more money I would buy a car.

 Nominal Clauses-

This type of subjunctive utilizes the second clause as a noun.

Mi mamá no quiere que yo salga sin limpiar la casa- My mom doesn’t want me to leave without cleaning the house

Ojalá que te diviertas a la universidad- I hope that you have fun at the university

Adverbial Clauses-

This is the one that our professor showed us where the difference is between searching for a house and the house. The examples she gave were:

“Paolo buscaba a una persona que le ayudara con su tarea”

(versus)

“Paolo buscaba a la persona que le ayudó con su tarea ayer”

Preterite vs. Imperfect

The most basic use of the preterite is used simply to speak of something that occurred once in the past (has a beginning and ending) whereas the imperfect is used to express a reoccurring event.

Preterite-

Fueron a San Diego ayer- They went to San Diego yesterday.

Terminé mi tarea la semana pasada- I finished my homework last week.

Imperfect-

Caminaba al supermercado cuando me di cuenta que olvidé mi cartera- I was walking to the supermarket when I realized that I forgot my wallet

Caminaba a mi trabajo todos los días.- I used to walk to work every day.

If you have any questions or you notice a mistake please let me know. 

Final Practice Problems

These were written by me or compiled by Stephanie. Enjoy!

1.
Juan no cree que _________________ doce miles por hora.
a. él puede correr
b. él pueda correr
c. mi hermana puede correr
d. yo pueda correr

2.
Quiero que Juan _______.
a. salir
b. salga
c. salió
d. salgo

3.
Necesito encontrar una computadora que _________ mucha memoria.
a. tenga
b. tengo
c.tiene
d.tenge

4.
Busco a la casa que _______ azul.
a. era
b. es
c. sea
d. seamos

5.
Si ________ el rey, cambiaría el mundo.
a. fue
b. seré
c. fuera
d. sería

6.
Si ________ más espacio en tu casa, ¿me invitaría a la fiesta?
a. tendría
b. tendrás
c. tenía
d. tuviera





Respuestas 1-6

1. d 2. b 3. a 4. b 5. c 6. d

Inifinitivo vs. Gerundio

(respuestas posibles abajo)

1. Voy a ______________ la cena a las 5.
2. Él está ________________ para el examen.
3. ¿Cuáles libros vas a _______________ durante el verano?
4. ______________ ejercicios es bueno para la salud.
5. La mujer estaba ___________________ cuando sonó la alarma.
6. Pinocchio continuó _______________ aunque su nariz crece cuando no dice la verdad.
7. Me gusta _________________ a otros paises.
8. Si está _____________ , no te olvides de _______________ un impermeable (raincoat).
9. Ellos andan ________________ el Internet.
10. Es ilegal  __________________ el plagio.

Respuestas

Cometer   estudiar   viajar   mentir   dormer   llover   navegar   leer   preparer   hacer

Los Pronombres Relativos

1.     El hombre, ________ corbata es verde,  es mi jefe.

2.     Eso es _________ dije.

3.     ¿Tomaste un curso de biología? No, ________ tomé era de física.

4.     Ellos van a comprar la casa ________ tiene ventanas redondas y flores rojos.

5.     La mujer, __________ es puertorriqueña, es nuestra nueva profesora.

6.     Pilar sacó una A, _________ enorgulleció a sus padres.

7.     Esos libros, ____________ me trajo, son cómicos. 

(http://roble.pntic.mec.es/acid0002/index_archivos/Gramatica/pronombres_relativos.htm)

Pretérito vs. imperfecto

1.

Yo _________ con Armando y Marta cuando mi hermano me _________ que él __________ jugar los videojuegos.

2.

¿Dónde ________ tú? Yo ________ a tu casa y tu mamá no _________ dónde tú _________ tampoco.

Respuestas 1 y 2

1. a. hablaba b. dijo c. quería

2. a. fuiste b. fui b. sabía

Ser/Estar

Me llamo Alice y _______ abogada. Mi oficina _______ en Long Beach donde __________ practicando las leyes de inmigración. Mi asistente _________ muy inteligente. Mis clientes __________ muy amables. Mucho gusto.

Respuestas

a. soy b. está c. estoy d. es e. son 

Mandatos

Conjugate each verb into each form (positive and negative of tú, usted, and ustedes).

Venir

Comer

Decir

Hablar

Ir

Respuestas

Venir- tú: ven, no vengas. usted: venga, no venga. ustedes: vengan, no vengan

Comer- tú: Come, no comas. usted: coma, no coma. ustedes: coman, no coman

Decir- tú: di, no digas. usted: diga, no diga. ustedes: digan, no digan

Hablar- tú: habla, no hables. usted: hable, no hable. ustedes: hablen, no hablen

Ir- tú: ve, no vayas. usted: vaya, no vaya. ustedes: vayan, no vayan

Práctica: el subjuntivo, "para que," si+imperfecto de subjuntivo, y futuro+subjuntivo

This is practice in preparation for our test tomorrow. I formatted this to resemble what we will be doing. The questions give quite a bit of freedom so I apologize that I was unable to provide the answers. I recommend that you send your answers to another classmate so that you can get your answers checked.

I did not group these or arrange these questions in any order, in fact, I mixed them up for more of a challenge. 

 I hope this helps! ¡Bien suerte!

1. Necesito ganar más dinero para que mis niños _________________.

2. ¿Es cierto que ustedes ____________ a la escuela todos los días?

3. Iré al cine cuando ____________ mi tarea.

4. Cuando me licencie, mis padres ________________ una fiesta.

5. Yo podría haber sido el rey si no (yo) _________________ la palabras. ("Army of Darkness" reference)

6. Ella iría a Disneyland si __________________ el día antes del vuelo.  

7. Cuando yo sea mejor, yo no ____________ dormir hasta las 3 en la mañana.

8. Cuando nos conocimos por la primera vez, tuve que usted __________________.

9. No supe que él _______________ hasta dos años después de reunirnos.   

10.Yo trabajo para que _________________.

11. Era una buena idea que tú ____________ clases de español.

12. Si mi mamá _______________ el español, nosotros ____________________ a España.

13. La computadora _________________ si no la tirara por la ventana. 

14. Yo será una buena persona cuando ______________ jefe.

15. Nosotros escribimos esta legislación para que todo de los Estados Unidos ______________.

16. Para que ____________________, necesitan recibir buenas notas en su especialidad. 

¡Cuidado! Esta pregunta es difícil. (It's a trick question)

17. Por favor, puedo usar tu celular para que _________________.

18. Podríamos haber llegado a tiempo si tú no _________________ al/el baño como mucho.

19. ¿No aprobaste el examen? Yo quería que ___________ más. 

20. Mi mamá deseaba que yo _______________.

21. Si _______________ mejor calificaciones ____________ una escuela de abogados.

22. Cuando llegaran a la oficina, (ellos) _____________ todo del papel que necesitamos.

Intermediate Vocabulary 1: Health

1. saludable- healthy
2. hacer ejercicio- to exercise
3. trotar- (litterally) to trot, to jog
4. estrés- stress
5. beber- to drink
6. la dieta- diet
7. dormir- to sleep
8. el/la doctor- doctor
9. la balanza- scale
10. regularmente- regularly

Vamos a ver si puedo usar todos en una oración.

No me sentí bien así que fui al doctor y me pesó en su balanza y luego me dijo que necesitaba hacer ejercicio, beber agua y dormir regularmente tal como empezar una dieta nueva, reducir el estrés y trotar más estar más saludable.

No es comida saludable

Los acentos: Lección y práctica

Accent marks are pretty simple, but sometimes it takes some practice to get it right. In order to understand when to (and when not to!) use them you need to know the rules for them. 

1. Knowing Where Syllables "Land"

First things first. We need to learn how to know where syllables are. In Spanish we find the syllables differently than we do in English. Take the word "africano", for example.

In English, africano looks something like this:

af-ri-ca-no

However, in Spanish the consonant goes with the following vowel group:

a-fri-ca-no

2. Counting Syllables

Spanish always counts syllables from the back. Let's take another look at the word africano, only this time we are going to number the syllables.

a(4)-fri(3)-ca(2)-no(1)

You can see here that the first letter is actually the fourth syllable and the last is the first syllable. We'll look at another word to make sure that we understand.

Bailar

Bai-lar

Bai(2)-lar(1)

3. The Rules

Now that we know how to identify and number the syllables we can look at the rules for what words need accent marks. The rules each have their own names (which are relatively unimportant unless you are going to teach Spanish). 

Rule 1: Agudas

If the last syllable is stressed and word ends in n, s, or are stressed on the last syllable (syllable 1) then the word needs an accent mark on that last syllable. 

Canción (song)  quizás  (perhaps)  empezó 

Rule 2: Llanas o graves

If the second to last syllable is stressed and the word end in a consonant other than n or s then the word needs an accent mark on the second to last syllable.

Fútbol (soccer)  árbol (tree)  lápiz  (pencil)

Rule 3: esdrújulas y sobreesdrújulas

This rule is the easiest. If the word has a stressed vowel on any syllable higher than 2, then that syllable gets an accent mark.

rápido (fast)  dímelo (tell me [it]/ say it to me)  mándaselo  (send it to him/her)

Keep in mind that these rules only apply if the vowel is stressed. If a word follows these rules but it is stressed normally there is no accent mark!

Some words have accent marks just so that they can be distinguished from others. Here are some examples.
se (vs) sé    himself/herself/itself/yourself (vs) I know
si (vs) sí      if (vs) yes
mi (vs) mí   my (vs) me/myself
tu (vs) tú    your (vs) you

To learn how to make accent marks on your computer click here.

Now for the practice!

Encontra las palabras que están faltando los acentos y escribe la palabra correctamente. Hay 32 errores. Cuidado, mira para la tilde arriba de la "n" (ñ). 

Cuando yo tenia diez anos, fui a Nevada con mi mama. En Nevada nosotros vimos el Grande Canon, fuimos a Las Vegas, y conoci Bill Nye the Science Guy. Mientras estabamos al Grande Canon yo queria preguntar a mi mama una cuestion, me dijo “Dimelo, hijo.”

Le pregunte, “¿Como se formaba el Grande Canon?”

“No se, hijo.”

“Perdon,” escuchamos una voz desde detras de nos, “Puedo ayudarse.”

Vi a un hombre y ¡me di cuenta que fue Bill Nye the Science Guy!

“El Grande Canon formaba por unos rios, atras muchas siglas.”

Bill Nye ofrecio hacer un recorrido turistico atras el canon.

Despues volvemos al hotel en Las Vegas, yo se llame todos de mis amigos, ¡conoci Bill Nye!





Las respuestas:

Cuando yo tenía diez años, fui a Nevada con mi mamá. En Nevada nosotros vimos el Grande Cañón, fuimos a Las Vegas, y conocí Bill Nye the Science Guy. Mientras estábamos al Grande Cañón yo quería preguntar a mi mamá una cuestión, me dijo “Dímelo, hijo.”

Le pregunté, “¿Cómo se formaba el Grande Cañón?”

“No sé, hijo.”

“Perdón,” escuchamos una voz desde detrás de nos, “Puedo ayudarse.”

Vi a un hombre y ¡me di cuenta que fue Bill Nye the Science Guy!

“El Grande Cañón formaba por unos ríos, atrás muchas siglas.”

Bill Nye ofreció hacer un recorrido turístico atrás el cañón.

Después volvemos al hotel en Las Vegas, yo se llamé todos de mis amigos, ¡conocí Bill Nye!

Basic Vocabulary 1- Around the House

In lieu of doing a "word of the day," I am going to periodically post 10 words that you should know to help your vocabulary along.


Basic Vocab 1: Around the House

1. la casa- house
2. la mesa- table
3. la ventana- window
4. el cuarto- bedroom 
5. la cama- bed
6. la pared- wall
7. el reloj- clock
8. el plato- plate; dish
9. la silla- chair
10. la cena- dinner

La cena desde Cafe Colibri en Cuarnava, México

Dinner from the Cafe Colibri (Hummingbird Cafe) in Cuernavaca, Mexico

*In Spanish the article "the" can take four forms depending on the "gender" and the number of the word being used. For example: La casa is the house; las casas is the homes. "El" is generally used for words that end in -o and "la" for words that end in -a.