SPANISH I GRAMMAR TOPICS Indefinite articles
Masculine Feminine
Singular un- a una- a
Plural unos- some unas- some
Singular el- the la- the
Plural los- the las- the
Definite articles
Masculine Feminine
How do you know if a noun is masculine or feminine? MOST nouns that end in O are masculine MOST nouns that end in A are feminine The definite and indefinite articles also help you determine whether a noun is masculine singular (MS), feminine singular (FS), masculine plural (MP) or feminine plural (FP).
What is noun adjective agreement? In Spanish, the noun always has to agree with, not only the article, but the adjective as well. Es un (ms) libro (ms) blanco (ms). Son unos (mp) libros (mp) blancos (mp). Remember that in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun.
The subject pronouns Yo- I Tú- You (informal) Él- He Ella- She Usted (Ud.)- You (formal)
Nosotros/Nosotras- We Ellos- They (mp) Ellas- They (fp) Ustedes (Uds.)- All of you
What is an infinitive? An infinitive in Spanish ends in an –ar (hablar), –er (comer), or –ir (vivir)
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How do you conjugate REGULAR –ar, –er, and –ir verbs in the PRESENT TENSE? 1. Drop the –ar, –er, or –ir from the INFINITIVE 2. Add the appropriate present tense endings.
-AR
-o
PRESENT TENSE ENDINGS Tú Él/Ella/Ud. Nosotros Singular -as -a -amos
-ER
-o
-es
-e
-emos
-en
-IR
-o
-es
-e
-imos
-en
Yo
Ellos/Ellas/Uds. Plural -an
3. When you have two verbs next to each other, depending on what you are trying to say, the 2 nd may be left in the infinitive form Examples: Yo necesito estudiar= I need to study. Cuando yo estudio, yo saco buenas notas= When I study, I get good grades
How do you conjugate some IRREGULAR verbs in the PRESENT TENSE? Review the following conjugations DECIR- to say or to tell digo
SER- to be soy
dices
IR- to go voy
DAR- to give doy
ESTAR- to be estoy
TENER- to have tengo
VER- to see/ to watch veo
eres
vas
das
estás
tienes
ves
dice
es
va
da
está
tiene
ve
decimos
somos
vamos
damos
estamos
tenemos
vemos
dicen
son
van
dan
están
tienen
ven
Tener que + infinitive= to have to … Yo tengo que- I have to Tú tienes que- You have to Él tiene que- He has to Ella tiene que- She has to Usted (Ud.) tiene que- You (formal) have to
Nosotros tenemos que- We have to Ellos/Ellas tienen que- They have to Ustedes (Uds.) tienen que- All of you have to
Ir a + infinitive= to be going to … Yo voy a- I’m going to Tú vas a- You’re going to Él va a- He is going to Ella va a- She is going to Usted (Ud.) va a- You (formal) are going to
Nosotros vamos a- We are going to Ellos/Ellas van a- They are going to Ustedes van a- All of you are going to 2
The possessive adjectives mi, mis= my tu, tus= your su, sus= his, her, their, your (formal), all of your Mi libro- My book Mis libros- My books
nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras= our (ms) (fs) (mp) (fp)
Nuestra madre- Our mother Nuestro padre- Our father
The contractions “al” and “del” 1. Whenever you have the words “a” (to) and “el” (the) next to each other, they combine to form “al.” Example: Yo voy a el mercado. becomes Yo voy al mercado. 2. Whenever you have the words “de” (of, from, about) and “el” (the) next to each other, they combine to form “del.” Example: Es el libro de el muchacho. becomes Es el libro del muchacho. The “personal a” The preposition “a” is used before a direct object that refers to a specific person or persons. It has no equivalent in English. A direct object receives the action in a sentence. Examples: Yo miro la television= I watch the televisión (televisión is the direct object and is not a person, that is why you do not need an “a”) Yo miro a la profesora= I watch the teacher (teacher is the direct object and IS a person, that is why you DO NEED the “personal a”)
How do you conjugate stem-changing verbs in the present tense? 1. Drop the –ar, –er, or –ir 2. Do the appropriate stem-change (see below) everywhere EXCEPT the “Nosotros” form. 3. Add the appropriate present tense endings (see page 2) e > ie verbs
o > ue verbs
empezar/comenzar- to begin querer- to want perder- to lose preferir- to prefer
volver- to return from somewhere devolver- to return someone or something poder- to be able to dormir- to sleep
u > ue verbs jugar- to play
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The verbs GUSTAR (to be pleasing to), INTERESAR (to interest) and ABURRIR (to bore) Review the following information: me gusta/ me gustan= pleases me (I like) me interesa/ me interesan= Interests me me aburre/ me aburren= Bores me
te gusta/ te gustan= pleases you (You like) te interesa/ te interesan= Interests you te aburre/ te aburren= Bores you
Notice that there are only 2 forms for each verb, a singular form and a plural form. Example: Me gusta la escuela. (We use the singular form because the word “escuela” is singular) Me gustan las clases. (We use the plural form because the word “clases” is plural)
When do you use SER as opposed to ESTAR?
HOW YOU FEEL AND WHERE YOU ARE ALWAYS TAKE THE VERBS ESTAR!
Yo
soy- I am
SER- to be
ESTAR- to be estoy- I am
Tú
eres- You are
estás-You are
Él/Ella/Ud.
es- He is, She is, You formal are
está- He is, She is, You formal are
Nosotros
somos- We are
estamos- We are
Ellos/Ellas/Uds.
son- They are, All of you are
están- They are, All of you are
Singular
Plural
Irregular YO forms in the PRESENT TENSE
Hago, I do Pongo, I put Traigo, I bring Salgo, I leave Vengo*, I come Conozco, I know and Yo sé, that means I know *Venir is conjugated just like Tener, so it is completely irregular
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How to form the Present Progressive
The present progressive is easy indeed, There are only 2 things you really need. A conjugation of ESTAR & just one more thing, Remember that -ANDO & -IENDO both mean -ING
1. Choose the appropriate conjugation/form of ESTAR (TO BE) Yo
estoy- I am
Tú
estás- You (informal) are
Él/Ella
está- He/She is You (formal) are
Usted (Ud.)
está- You (formal) are
Nosotros
estamos- We are
Ellos/Ellas
están- They are
Ustedes (Uds.)
están- All of you are
2. Form the present participle form (the –ing form) of the verb. For –AR verbs, drop the –AR and add –ando For –ER and –IR verbs, drop the –ER or –IR and add –iendo Note the following: LEER…leyendo & TRAER…trayendo Examples: HABLAR- to speak I am speaking
Estoy hablando
You (informal) are speaking
Estás hablando
Rules for conjugating reflexive (-arse, -ersi, -irse) verbs in the PRESENT TENSE To describe what you do to yourself there's something else you need It is called a reflexive pronoun and this is what I mean, Yo gets me, Tú gets te, Nosotros uses nos, All the rest must use se, that's all you need at most:)
Examples: Yo (levantarse)= me levanto Tú (afeitarse)= te afeitas Nosotros (acostarse)= nos acostamos 5
Los complementos directos (The direct object pronouns) The direct object is the word in the sentence that receives the action of the verb. The direct object can either be a noun (She invited Juan) or a pronoun (She invited him). In Spanish, the direct object pronouns are: me- me te- you nos- us
Masculine Feminine
Singular lo- it, him la- it, her
Plural los- them las- them
Remember that in Spanish the direct object pronouns always go BEFORE THE VERB. When you are asked to replace a direct object with the appropriate direct object pronoun, you must first decide whether the word you are replacing is masculine or feminine and whether it is singular or plural. Example: Rewrite the following sentence using the appropriate direct object pronoun. Yo compré los anteojos de sol. (I bought the sunglasses) The direct object of this sentence is the sunglasses because it directly receives the action of the verb. In order to rewrite this sentence with a direct object pronoun, you must first determine whether the word is masculine or feminine and whether it is singular or plural. Since it has the article los in front of it, we can determine that this word is masculine plural. According to the chart above, we have to replace it with the direct object pronoun los. The correct answer for this sentence would be Yo los compré. (I bought them). Past Tense (PRETERITE) endings for regular –AR verbs Drop the –AR and add the following endings: Yo -é Tú -aste Él/Ella/Usted -ó Nosotros -amos Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes -aron Remember that in the YO form verbs that end in –CAR, -GAR or –ZAR have a spelling change! -CAR…use -qué in the YO form -GAR…use –gué in the YO form -ZAR…use –cé in the YO form
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Past tense (PRETERITE) of IR (to go) & SER (to be) Yo Tú Él/Ella/Usted Nosotros Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
fui fuiste fue fuimos fueron
Los complementos indirectos (The indirect object pronouns)
The indirect object is the word in the sentence that is affected by the action of the verb. The indirect object can either be a noun (She gave the invitation to Juan) or a pronoun (She gave the invitation to him). In Spanish, the indirect object pronouns are: me, a mí-to me te, a ti- to you le, a él- to him le, a ella- to her le, a Ud.- to you (formal)
nos, a nosotros- to us les, a ellos/a ellas- to them les, a Uds.- to all of you
Remember that in Spanish the indirect object pronouns always go BEFORE THE VERB. Examples: Yo ___di la tarea a la profesora. Yo LE di la tarea. We use LE because of “a la profesora” A mí ___ dieron un regalo. A mí ME dieron un regalo. We use ME because of “a mí” Past tense (PRETERITE) endings for Regular –ER & -IR verbs Yo………. í Tú………. iste Él/Ella/Ud/Singular. ……….ió Nosotros……….imos Ellos/Ellas/Uds/Plural ……….ieron
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Past tense (PRETERITE) of irregular verbs
HACER: to do, to make
QUERER: to want
VENIR: to come
Yo
hice
quise
vine
Tú
hiciste
quisiste
viniste
Él/Ella/Ud.
hizo
quiso
vino
Nosotros
hicimos
quisimos
vinimos
Ellos/Ellas/Uds.
hicieron
quisieron
vinieron
ESTAR: to be
ANDAR: to go around
Yo
estuve
anduve
Tú
estuviste
anduviste
Él/Ella/Ud.
estuvo
anduvo
Nosotros
estuvimos
anduvimos
Ellos/Ellas/Uds.
estuvieron
anduvieron
PODER: to be able to
PONER: to put, to
SABER: to know
place Yo
pude
puse
supe
Tú
pudiste
pusiste
supiste
Él/Ella/Ud.
pudo
puso
supo
Nosotros
pudimos
pusimos
supimos
Ellos/Ellas/Uds.
pudieron
pusieron
supieron
TENER: to have
DECIR: to say, to tell
Yo
tuve
dije
Tú
tuviste
dijiste
Él/Ella/Ud.
tuvo
dijo
Nosotros
tuvimos
dijimos
Ellos/Ellas/Uds.
tuvieron
dijeron
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