Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish All-in-One

By Gilda Nissenberg

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More than a million students have turned to the Practice Makes Perfect series for a trusted guide to help build their language-learning skills. And, now this bestselling brand offers you all of the tools you need to learn Spanish in one value-packed workbook. Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish All-in-One covers all facets of a language to give you a solid foundation of verbs, vocabulary, grammar, and conversational structures. This one-stop resource features thorough explanations that are reinforced by hundreds of hands-on practice exercises that give you real confidence in your new language skills.

• Language: English
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Release date: Jun 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9780071831345

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Portions of this book were previously published under the titles of Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar, Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate Spanish Grammar, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Conversation, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Problem Solver, and Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Sentence Builder.

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Contents

Preface

1   Spelling, pronunciation, and punctuation

2   Subject pronouns and the present tense

3   Present tense irregular verbs

4   The near future, nouns, and articles

5   Gustar, ser, and estar and expressing opinions

6   Adjectives, adverbs, and comparisons

7   The preterit tense

8   The progressive tenses

9   Questions, answers, and exclamations

10   The imperfect tense

11   Reflexive verbs and reflexive pronouns

12   Direct and indirect object pronouns, commands, and double object pronouns

13   Demonstrative and possessive adjectives and pronouns

14   The future tense

15   Prepositions, phrases, and conjunctions

16   The conditional tense

17   The present perfect and past perfect tenses

18   The passive voice

19   The present subjunctive

20   Indefinite and negative words and expressions

21   The imperfect subjunctive

22   Relative pronouns

23   Numbers

24   More writing

25   More conversations

26   Problem solver

Verb tables

Spanish-English glossary

English-Spanish glossary

Answer key

Preface

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish All-in-One, aimed especially at self-taught learners, is designed to provide a user-friendly way to study at different levels. All language needs are covered, including vocabulary, conversation, pronunciation, and information about grammar, syntax, and spelling.

This book contains numerous ideas from the following five Practice Makes Perfect titles:

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Problem Solver tackles many challenges for Spanish learners, including when to use confusing verbs pairs such as ser and estar, how to use double object pronouns, and how to spell words and enunciate properly in Spanish.

Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate Spanish Grammar provides clear explanations of verbs and tenses, such as how to conjugate present tense irregular verbs and how to use gustar. Numerous examples and exercises help users continue building competency to communicate in Spanish.

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Conversation includes vocabulary for informal conversation and example dialogues with questions and responses. Expressions that do not always translate literally, such as bueno (well) and Parece mentira (It doesn’t seem possible), are reviewed.

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar may not include every grammatical rule but does provide a general overview of Spanish grammar, including many examples and practice exercises.

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Sentence Builder covers the Spanish syntax needed to build sentence structure, along with spelling, punctuation, and many exercises.

Readers will gain more knowledge through informal Spanish conversation, vocabulary, and writing practice to communicate clearly with Spanish speakers.

•1•

Spelling, pronunciation, and punctuation

This chapter will show you how to reconcile written and spoken Spanish words so you can understand and read them aloud with accuracy. Students are sometimes confused about the rules and mechanics of writing in Spanish, which makes their written work difficult to follow. Since pre-college education includes less and less attention to grammatical issues, most students are adrift in misty confusion because they don’t know how to name what they are confused about. This chapter, therefore, also contains some observations about the parts of speech and a bit of basic grammar terminology.

Correct punctuation and spelling are needed to communicate written messages effectively. Punctuation is an established system of standardized marks that separate structural units (sentences, quotes, paragraphs, etc.) and clarify the meaning of written language:

system of standardized marks → punctuation

Spanish and English conventions regarding punctuation are similar, but they vary in detail. In writing, we must adhere to the punctuation rules specific to a given language.

Sentences are based on their structures, word order, and punctuation. In this unit we will review and expand details regarding punctuation, building sentences, and building paragraphs.

one or more sentences dealing with one topic → paragraph

Accent marks and pronunciation

Spanish slowly emerged as a written language, consciously and clearly distinct from Latin, during the late Middle Ages. There were no rules, no one to guide its development. Most people were illiterate. English was in a similar condition when it emerged from the amalgam of languages that contributed to its development.

In 1728, more than one hundred years after the death of Cervantes, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language was founded, and still exists today, to watch over the language and safeguard its transmission to future generations. (English has no such body, and this explains in part why there are so many differences in spelling throughout the English-speaking world.)

Some of the important features of Spanish spelling, known more formally as orthography, are that the Academy eventually dropped double consonants, such as ss and tt and simplified ph to f and th to t. Words with a cc in the middle are not considered a consonant pair because the first c ends the previous syllable and the second c begins the next, such as in diccionario. The famous double or trilled rr, as in perro (dog) as opposed to pero (but), actually represents a different sound and can be considered as if it were one letter. The good news here is that many English words are cognates with Spanish and only require you to understand a handful of rules in order to spell—and thus pronounce—them correctly. One example is sufficient to make this point. The English word commission is comisión in Spanish.

The only other small detail in this example has to do with the use of written accent marks. Over time, the Academy established more and more conservative rules about accent marks. There are four rules, and they can actually help you learn to pronounce words even if you’ve never seen or heard them before. Here’s how the system works:

Observing that a vast number of the words in Spanish end in a vowel, an -n, or an -s, and that these words are almost always pronounced by stressing the next-to-the-last syllable, the Royal Academy economically ruled that such words would not bear a written accent. What this means to you, as a learner of Spanish, is that when you see a word of more than one syllable, with no written accent and that ends in a vowel, an -n, or an -s, you should immediately know to pronounce it with the stress on the next-to-the-last syllable. It really is that simple. Open any dictionary, or diccionario.

The Academy also noticed that the second largest number of words in Spanish end in a consonant other than -n or -s and that they are pronounced with the stress on the last syllable. They decided that these words also would not bear a written accent. All infinitives are examples of such words, as are all those ending in -dad or -tud (which are also, by the way, all feminine in gender). Other common examples include animal, stressed on the final -a, and reloj, stressed on the final -o.

The next observation of the Royal Academy results in the third rule and is very important: all exceptions to the first two rules will be marked by a written accent. Remember, the exceptions are determined by how words are pronounced, speech being prior to any written system. Thus, we have many, many words ending in -ión (almost all feminine), such as comisión and nación, as well as others such as fármaco, malévolo, and cónsul. The point is, if you know these three rules and see a word in print, you should be able to correctly put the stress on the proper syllable of a Spanish word, even if you’ve never seen or heard the word before.

The fourth and last rule about the use of written accents applies only to a means of distinguishing between two otherwise identical one-syllable words. These are known as monosyllabic homonyms, one-syllable words that sound alike but have different meanings. Examples of contrastive pairs include tú (you) and tu (your), él (he) and el (the, masculine singular) té (tea) and te (object pronoun corresponding to tú) sé (I know) and se (the third-person object pronoun).

Finally, there is only one group of words that stand outside these rules and cause difficulty. In English these words end in -cy and in Spanish they end in -ia or -ía. There is simply no way to predict whether they will be stressed on the final i or on the next-to-the-last syllable. The best strategy is to look them up—and pay attention as you read. Examples include farmacia, malicia, farmacología, and alevosía. You’re in luck, of course, if you first encounter such words in print, since the presence or lack of a written accent will tell you where to place the stress when pronouncing them.

Pronunciation

A couple of general remarks may help you improve your Spanish pronunciation and make it closer to that of native speakers. First, vowels are pure. That means, for instance, that the (American) English vowel sounds as heard in cat, set, sit, on, and up are not found in Spanish—ever! Instead, the Spanish pronunciation of these vowels is more like those heard in the following (American) English words:

a father

e weigh

i seen

o woe

u moon

It only takes a slight adjustment to these to get them right: The sound of the e should not glide up into the i sound in weigh or the y sound in they. Likewise, the pronunciation of u in Spanish, represented approximately by the oo in moon, should not glide into an ee sound at the end or glide from it at the beginning, as is sometimes heard in some dialects of U.S. English. I’ve heard this phenomenon most often in Western states, particularly in Southern California. Even Ronald Reagan’s pronunciation had a touch of this!

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Regarding consonants, the best advice I can give you here is to soften them. English speakers everywhere tend to explode the pronunciation of initial occlusive consonants in particular, such as are heard in Carl, Tom, and Peter. One way to practice this is to hold the back of your hand about an inch away from the your lips and practice saying these names in a normal volume and pitch, but without so much force, so that you no longer feel your breath on the back of your hand.

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The next and last bit of guidance I offer about pronunciation is to listen and read much. But to whom should you listen and what should you read? The choice is yours, of course, but my advice is to remember that you will be judged by how you speak—in socio-economic and class terms. True, your Spanish-speaking listeners will realize that you are not a native speaker, but they will judge you anyway, because the way you speak will suggest to them the sort of company you keep. As the Spanish proverb goes: Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. (Literally, Tell me with who you hang out with and I’ll tell you who you are.) For speech models, I often suggest that learners judiciously follow a character from a telenovela (soap opera) who is about their age and gender and who represents a respectable character. I’ve known more than one native speaker of Spanish who vastly improved his or her English by doing the same thing with American soaps.

The one remaining question I often hear from forward-looking learners who may have specific career goals that could lead them in specific geographical directions is which dialect of Spanish they should emulate. Depending on how you define them, in simple, practical terms there are six or seven major dialectical regions in the Spanish-speaking world. Each, of course, can be further subdivided, but for my readers, as learners of Spanish, the contours I shall present will enable you to make some informed decisions about the dialect you select as your model.

In Spain, there are those who pronounce the letter z and the consonant-vowel combinations ce-/ci- as the th sound of the English word thin (often called theta, after the name of the Greek letter). There are others who do not follow this pattern and who pronounce these sounds approximately as an s. The dividing line is roughly north-south, the north being the zone of the theta pronunciation. The ancestors of most of the people of the New World were from the south of Spain, which largely explains why the pronunciation of Castile is not found in the Americas.

In the Americas, the major dialect groups are: Mexican, Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and coastal areas of Central America, Colombia and Venezuela), Central American (except Caribbean coastal areas), Andean (interior of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, most of Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay), and finally the area known as the Cono del Sur or Southern Cone (Argentina, southern Chile, and Uruguay).

Spanish in the United States itself is evolving. In South Florida, New York, and New Jersey, you will find mostly Caribbean dialects. In Chicago, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and other Midwestern cities, as well as in most of the Western states, the Mexican dialect predominates. Interestingly, in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C., the Salvadoran dialect predominates, due to the presence of more than a hundred thousand immigrants who fled El Salvador in the 1980s.

No one dialect is superior to another. The Royal Academy has corresponding members in every corner of the world where Spanish is or ever has been a language of government. There are educated and non-educated speakers in each dialect, so if you have professional reasons for spending much time in any particular region, you should seek out people of your profession who are from there so you can fit in as easily as possible. This book, therefore, takes a neutral approach in its choice of vocabulary, a sort of airport dialect, if you wish.

The brief set of exercises that follow give practice in the use of the dictionary—to check spellings, accent marks, and proper classification according to part of speech. It is assumed that learners will also be pronouncing the words they find.

EJERCICIO

1•1

Indicate whether the following words correctly use accent marks or do not require one according to the following key: correctly used; incorrectly placed (but needed on a different syllable); correct, with no accent mark; superfluous (placed on syllable that would be stressed anyway); or missing.

1. organizacion

2. consul

3. lealtad

4. animál

5. camión

6. tecnologia

7. háblas

8. teorico

9. temeraria

10. primorosa

11. caracter

12. avíon

13. caracteres

14. vendio

15. ventána

16. vecino

17. frijoles

18. proyector

19. cortinas

20. teoría

Punctuation marks

The following punctuation marks are used in both Spanish and English sentences:

The period

Use a period (.) to indicate the end of a declarative sentence (a sentence that makes a statement), an indirect question, or a command (imperative) sentence:

A period separates sentences in a paragraph structure. The first letter of the word that follows a period is capitalized:

Note that in typing or keying in text, you should leave a single space between a period and a new sentence. When you write paragraphs that are part of a longer piece, indent the first sentence or line of each paragraph:

Abbreviations

Periods are also used in abbreviations and some acronyms (siglas). Not all abbreviations have equivalents in both English and Spanish. Some abbreviations have been used for a very long time, while others have or may become obsolete, falling out of favor for various reasons. Here are some frequently used abbreviations in Spanish:

In Spanish, note the repetition of the initial letters of each component of abbreviations that consist of plural nouns such as EE.UU. Also, note that FUNDÉU has an accent mark to indicate the stressed syllable.

EJERCICIO

1•2

En español. Add the appropriate Spanish punctuation for the sentences below.

1. Mr. Jiménez travels to the U.S.

2. He found artifacts (artefactos) from 200 B.C.

3. Dr. Melissa Marcos is an expert in old civilizations.

4. Miss Marcos, her daughter, helps her mother.

5. They will give a lecture in the EU.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Acronyms

Acronyms are words created with the initial letter or letters of each of the components of names of institutions, organizations, etc. Some are international. Periods are not usually used with acronyms:

Note the Spanish spelling of the plural of OVNI, with no final s, in the example above.

Comma

A comma (,) indicates a brief pause in a sentence. In Spanish, use a comma to separate the elements of a series, except for the element immediately preceded by the conjunctions y and o. In English, and and or in such a series are often preceded by a comma.

The series may consist of a series of nouns, adjectives that are part of a subject, or direct and indirect objects:

Remember, the spelling of y (and) changes to e when preceded by a word that starts with i- or hi-:

Use the spelling u instead of o (or) when the word that follows the conjunction starts with o- or ho-:

EJERCICIO

1•3

Las oraciones. Reword the sentences with the appropriate spelling and punctuation.

1. Alicia Luisa y Irene son disciplinadas trabajadoras pacientes y eficientes

2. Hacen ejercicios montan en bicicleta levantan pesas y corren siete ó ocho millas

3. Estas chicas también hacen yoga trabajos comunitarios sirven a la comunidad

4. Hacen campañas en EEUU para recoger (raise) fondos para niños y indigentes

5. Han recibido premios certificados y innumerables homenajes de varias organizaciones

6. Ellas demuestran que la rutina es esencial para ser disciplinado cumplir metas y triunfar

Comma after vocatives, phrases, and transition words

A vocative is the person addressed in a message. A comma follows the vocative in English and Spanish:

A comma must be used to separate elements that introduce a sentence, such as infinitive phrases or phrases that express contrasts or similarities:

Commas are also used after transition words or phrases. Most transition words are adverbs. They add a point or idea, illustrate examples, arrive at a conclusion, etc.

A comma separates parenthetical phrases such as relative clauses or adverbial clauses that include added information that may not be essential to the sentence:

Commas separate geographical names in Spanish, as they do in English:

EJERCICIO

1•4

Oraciones en español. Create sentences with the appropriate word order, spelling, and punctuation.

1. a / las ocho / regresa / esta / Carmen / noche

2. los / decidimos / al / escuchar / llegar / a casa / mensajes

3. de hecho / paciencia / mucho / no tienes / enojas / porque / mucho / te

4. una / recibieron / carta / San Antonio / de / Texas

5. tu / necesitaba / ayuda / amistad / tu / y / compañía / tu

6. dice / documento / eres / Lima / este / que / de / Perú

Colons and semicolons

Colons (:) indicate a pause to call attention to what follows in a sentence. The colon may also introduce a list of elements:

In Spanish, colons may bring a conclusion to an enumeration, which seems to reverse the order suggested in the previous examples:

Another function of a colon is to introduce textual quotes. Remember to include quotation marks. A capital letter usually starts the quote:

Colons are used after a salutation in both formal and informal letters in Spanish:

A semicolon (;) indicates a pause longer than one that uses a comma, but not as long as one indicated by a period. Usually, a semicolon separates elements of complex enumerations. Elements separated by semicolons sometimes have their own internal punctuation; each may have a subject-verb combination of its own.

Parentheses and quotation marks

Parentheses and quotation marks have similar uses in both English and Spanish. Parentheses enclose incidental information or a clarification. Remember that elements inside parentheses are independent from the sentence; always follow appropriate spelling rules.

At times, quotations get complicated. For sentences at this level, let’s consider the most common uses of quotation marks. Quotation marks are used to show spoken language, to quote from a written or spoken source, and sometimes to refer to titles of poems, newspaper articles, etc.:

Note the use of the periods in the following Spanish examples. After quotation marks, a period ends the sentence; a complete sentence within parentheses ends with a period inside the end parenthesis:

Words or phrases used ironically, as well as words and phrases from another language, are usually set in quotations:

EJERCICIO

1•5

¿Coma (,)? ¿Punto y coma (;)? ¿Dos puntos (:)? Add the appropriate punctuation.

1. Vamos a mudarnos a una casa más grande no tenemos suficiente espacio.

2. Los muebles de la sala los cuadros los platos de la cocina todo está listo.

3. Compramos cuatro aparatos nuevos una computadora un televisor HD un teléfono móvil y una aspiradora.

4. Cómoda amplia fresca y acogedora así es la casa nueva.

5. Una cocina debe ser lo mejor de una casa espaciosa bien equipada y llena de luz.

6. Ahora podemos quitar el letrero que dice Se vende casa.

Exclamation points and question marks

Question marks (¿?) and exclamation points (¡!) are needed both before and after questions and exclamatory sentences. Remember that with the appropriate punctuation, you can use declarative sentences, negative sentences, and questions to express an emphatic idea or extreme emotion. Don’t forget that emphatic commands need exclamation points.

EJERCICIO

1•6

Correcciones. Add parentheses, colons, semicolons, or quotation marks as needed.

1. El primer día del verano 21 de junio en el hemisferio norte nos trae alegría.

2. Mi madre mujer muy sabia siempre me hablaba de sus experiencias cuando era niña.

3. Uno de sus consejos era El tiempo es oro.

4. Pensaba que mi madre era invencible ¡qué ilusión! cuando yo era niño.

5. Todas las mañanas cantábamos una canción La cucaracha.

6. ¡Qué risa me da ahora han pasado tantos años porque mi madre era divertida!

7. Y le gustaba en especial un poema La rosa blanca.

8. Raras veces era dura, pero su amenaza siempre era ¡A la cama!

9. Cuando no estaba de buen humor, yo sabía que estaba ocupada.

10. Y puedo repetir las palabras que decía mi padre para recordarla Corazón de oro.

Some considerations about spelling

Spelling, the sequence of letters that compose a word, is a system of written conventions of a specific language. For example, the English spelling rule "i before e except … " does not apply to correct spelling in Spanish. In this unit, we will review some of the uses of capital letters in Spanish and their role in building sentences.

Capital letters (las mayúsculas) are needed in the following situations: the first letter of a sentence, the first letter of a proper noun, the first letter after a period or other end punctuation, and all letters of an acronym:

Proper nouns

A proper noun designates a specific person, place, institution, or thing and is usually capitalized in both Spanish and English. Common nouns are not capitalized.

Note above that in the plural, Spanish surnames referring to a family or a couple are preceded by the definite article los; do not add an -s or -es ending to the name itself.

EJERCICIO

1•7

La ortografía apropiada. Indicate the words that need capital letters.

en la universidad de sevilla, un grupo de estudiantes norteamericanos estudian un curso avanzado de literatura hispanoamericana contemporánea. en la lista de lecturas, hay dos novelas de mario vargas llosa, cuentos de isabel allende y obras de autoras mexicanas. al final del semestre y después del examen, los estudiantes van a celebrar el fin de curso en casa belisa, un restaurante popular cerca del río.

Proper names of geographical places

Nouns that refer to mountains, rivers, deserts, oceans, seas, and other geographical proper names are preceded by a definite article (el/la/los/las) which indicates the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of that noun:

A few proper names of regions, cities, and countries have permanent definite articles. In this case, the articles begin with a capital letter because they are part of the proper name:

For some countries, use of the definite article varies according to speech and local preferences; however, generally speaking, it is not often used:

However, the definite article is always used when a phrase refers to a particular period of time in a country, continent, or region:

Keep in mind that nouns and adjectives that refer to the inhabitants of a country are not capitalized in Spanish:

EJERCICIO

1•8

Ortografía. For every word, review the first letter. If needed, indicate the appropriate capital or lowercase letter.

A mi amiga marcia le gusta escribir cuentos. Por eso, todos los Lunes escribe durante tres horas. Está escribiendo ahora dos cuentos sobre la california de principios del siglo XX. Ella es la mujer con más imaginación que conozco. Viajó por áfrica y otros lugares exóticos pero para Ella, el lugar más interesante es el Suroeste de los estados unidos.

Days of the week and months of the year

In Spanish, unlike English, names of the days of the week and months of the year are common nouns. Thus, they are not capitalized. In the examples below, note the articles and adjectives that precede those nouns:

The names of the months are not preceded by articles unless they are accompanied by modifiers, and they are not capitalized:

Constellations, stars, and planets

Names of constellations, stars, and planets are capitalized in Spanish:

Astrological signs

Astrological signs are capitalized in Spanish, but individuals who fall under the sign are not:

Cardinal points

Use capital letters only when you refer to the cardinal points themselves. Otherwise, use lowercase letters.

EJERCICIO

1•9

Te toca a ti. Answer the questions in complete sentences.

1. ¿Qué día de la semana prefieres?

2. ¿Cuándo vas de vacaciones? ¿En qué mes?

3. ¿Qué día de la semana descansas?

4. ¿En qué idioma escribes mejor?

5. ¿Qué países te gustaría visitar?

6. ¿Cuándo vas al cine?

7. ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños, en marzo?

8. Por último, ¿cuál es tu signo zodiacal?

•2•

Subject pronouns and the present tense

In English and Spanish there are three grammatical persons—first, second, and third—in both singular and plural. Pronouns are used to replace the name of a person or object.

Subject pronouns

The chart shows that, except the first person singular and the formal you, subject pronouns have both feminine and masculine forms. When a plural includes both masculine and feminine, the masculine form is used.

The familiar plurals vosotros and vosotras are used in most regions of Spain; ustedes is the familiar plural used in most of the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. Ud. and Uds. are abbreviations of the formal subject pronouns. The context will clarify whether to use the familiar or the formal pronoun.

By addressing a man as Señor, you are showing this is a formal context. The word chicos, on the other hand, implies familiarity.

Subject pronouns are usually omitted in Spanish because the verb endings clarify both person and number. However, the subject pronoun is used if the subject is not clear, or if there is a need for emphasis.

Subject pronouns are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases that have already been named or understood in context in order to avoid unnecessary repetition.

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When used as the subject in an indefinite sentence, it has no equivalent subject pronoun in Spanish.

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Now, practice what you have studied and learned about subject pronouns in Spanish.

EJERCICIO

2•1

Repaso. Complete the sentence with the appropriate subject pronoun to replace the underlined words.

1. Mi hermana no vive aquí. vive en California.

2. Las chicas no son mexicanas, son panameñas.

3. Aquí está ya el Sr. López. llega temprano, como siempre.

4. ¿Quién, Carlos o Marta? bajan la escalera.

5. Marisa y yo leemos siempre en la sala. nos llevamos bien.

6. ¡Ana, Pedro! ¡Hola! ¡ pueden subir ya!

7. María y Luis son mis amigos. Por eso me ayudan tanto.

8. Usted y el Sr. López pasan ahora al frente de la oficina. deben esperar allí.

The present tense

There are three conjugations of verbs in Spanish with infinitives that end in -ar, -er, or -ir. To form the present tense, replace the infinitive ending with the appropriate personal ending:

The following are examples of regular verbs of each conjugation in the present tense. Irregular verbs, and verbs with changes in spelling and in the stem, are reviewed later.

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In the first person singular (the yo form), the ending is the same in all three conjugations. In -er and -ir verbs the endings are the same in the third person forms.

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EJERCICIO

2•2

En casa. Complete the sentence with the appropriate form of the present tense of the verb in parentheses.

1. Yo . (cantar)

2. Él . (escuchar)

3. Ustedes . (bailar)

4. Ellas . (descansar)

5. Nosotras la cena. (preparar)

6. Tú los platos. (lavar)

7. Tú no tus secretos. (compartir)

8. Yo en ti. (confiar)

9. Ellas . (decidir)

10. Ustedes . (responder)

11. Mi esposo . (entrar)

12. Nuestra hija un regalo. (recibir)

EJERCICIO

2•3

Traducción. Use the present tense to translate each sentence. Include the subject pronoun if needed.

1. You (sing., fam.) need to rest.

2. He talks, I listen.

3. She studies Chinese and Spanish, too.

4. We (masc.) spend too much money.

5. You (pl., form.) buy expensive shirts.

6. I work five days a week.

7. They (fem.) dance every Saturday.

8. My sister plays the piano, but I play the guitar.

Conjugating verbs

To conjugate a verb in the present tense or in any other tense, you will need the root of a verb and the particular ending that expresses information about the action you wish to communicate. You will find the root (or radical) of the verb in its infinitive form. It is easy to spot an infinitive in English because it is preceded by the word to: to shop, to learn, to receive, etc. Infinitives in Spanish are not preceded by a particular word but can be recognized by one of three endings: -ar, -er, or -ir. The infinitive endings are attached to the root of the verb: habl + ar, beb + er, decid + ir.

The three groups of infinitives are called the first, second, and third conjugation, respectively. To conjugate a verb in Spanish, drop the -ar, -er, or -ir and replace it with the corresponding ending that agrees with the subject doing the action.

Because conjugation endings tell who the subject is, subject pronouns in Spanish are usually omitted. The -o of the form vendo reveals the subject is yo (I). But conjugated verb endings tell more than just who does the action. Usually, these endings tell the tense (or time) actions take place: the present, past, or future.

Sales (you leave) is like vendo (I sell); each indicates an action in the present. The -es ending can only refer to the person tú in the present tense of the indicative mood. However, endings convey additional information. With vendo and sales, the speaker indicates that these actions are perceived as a fact or reality: I sell; you leave. This is called the indicative mood (modo indicativo) of the verb. The mood expresses the attitude of the speaker. The examples vendo and sales are in the indicative mood because these verbs communicate actions perceived as factual or real. Later on, you will study other moods, such as subjunctive, conditional, and imperative.

Thus, the endings attached to the stem of a verb hold a lot of information: who does the action, when it takes place, and the attitude or perception of the speaker.

Regular verbs in the present tense

To form the present tense, drop the -ar, -er, or -ir from the root (or radical) of the infinitive, and add the ending that corresponds to the subject. The following verbs can be used as models for all regular verbs in the present tense.

In the following conjugations, note the subject pronouns, as well as the English equivalents:

Study the conjugations above and remember that:

the first-person singular yo has the same ending in all three conjugations.

in the -er and -ir verb categories all three third-person singular forms have the same endings.

the subject pronouns are usually omitted in Spanish. Verb endings give information about the subject.

Some commonly used regular verbs appear in the following lists.

EJERCICIO

2•4

La familia Gómez. Complete each sentence with the appropriate present tense form of the verb in parentheses.

1. Pedro Gómez (vivir) con su familia en mi edificio de apartamentos.

2. Lucía, la esposa de Pedro, no (trabajar) todos los días.

3. La hija, Mercedes, (estudiar) en la universidad.

4. Lucía y su esposo (planear) una visita a Mercedes esta semana.

5. Pedrito, el hijo, ahora (subir) a su apartamento.

6. Pedrito (sacar) a su perro a caminar todos los días.

7. Y tú, ¿ (conversar) con los Gómez?

8. Pedro (necesitar) una persona para cuidar su apartamento esta semana.

EJERCICIO

2•5

Práctica. Translate the sentences into Spanish.

1. I prepare dinner.

2. The children climb the stairs.

3. My cats drink milk.

4. The customer adds up the bill (la cuenta).

5. Carli’s mother talks to the reporter (el/la reportero [a])

6. The actress fears the critics.

7. Your friends eat fajitas.

When is the present tense used in Spanish?

The present tense is used in Spanish:

to describe an action happening now. Often, it is translated with the -ing form in English.

to express actions that take place regularly, in a habitual way, although the actions may not be occurring in the present. Expressions of time and other adverbs are often used to indicate that these actions take place routinely in the present.

to describe events that will take place in the near future. A reference to the future may appear in the context or sentence.

to ask questions, especially questions requesting permission or someone’s opinion or preference.

Keep in mind the auxiliary verb do in English is not translated. In Spanish, an auxiliary verb is not needed to ask a question.

Often the context or words surrounding a verb help pin down information about the time the action takes place. The following are some expressions of time used frequently to refer to actions that take place customarily in the present:

EJERCICIO

2•6

Y en tu caso... ¿Es verdadero (V) o falso (F)?

1. Desayuno a las ocho todos los días. __________________

2. Miro los programas de noticias por el cable por la tarde. __________________

3. Trabajo ocho horas. __________________

4. Escribo mensajes electrónicos todos los días. __________________

5. Preparo la cena de lunes a viernes. __________________

6. Como muchas frutas y vegetales frescos. __________________

EJERCICIO

2•7

En español. Give the present tense for each answer.

1. Today Martha and Linus are celebrating their anniversary.

2. Their relatives (los parientes) arrive on time.

3. Some friends are talking in the living room.

4. In the backyard, the children listen to Latin music.

5. The smell (el olor) of enchiladas circulates through the house.

6. The children drink lemonade.

EJERCICIO

2•8

Preguntas personales. Give the present tense form for each answer.

1. ¿Vives en el campo o en una ciudad?

2. ¿Lees novelas de misterio o de ciencia-ficción?

3. ¿Hablas de política o de deportes con tus amigos?

4. ¿Bebes té o café?

5. ¿Trabajas de día o de noche?

6. ¿Compartes tu tiempo libre con tu perro o con tu gato?

Other uses of the present tense

The present is also used:

to tell facts considered unquestionable or universal truths.

to describe a past event, making it more vivid. This is called the historical present.

to express hypothetical actions introduced by si.

to refer to possible consequences from an action that took place in the past with casi... (almost) and por poco... (nearly).

One more use of the present tense

The present tense is used:

to express actions that began in the past and continue in the present with the construction hace + expression of time + que + verb in the present tense.

This construction has two other variations that carry the same meaning:

verb in the present tense + hace + expression of time

verb in the present tense + desde hace + expression of time

Note the following questions using each of these constructions. They all have the same meaning:

EJERCICIO

2•9

Preguntas personales. Give the appropriate present tense form for each answer.

1. ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estudias español?

2. ¿Desde hace cuánto tiempo usas la computadora?

3. ¿Cuántos años hace que los Estados Unidos son una nación independiente?

4. ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que usamos la Internet?

5. ¿Desde cuándo escuchas música clásica?

EJERCICIO

2•10

Tu experiencia. Complete each sentence with the present tense form yo.

1. Hace una semana que .

2. Desde hace un año .

3. Hace diez días .

4. Desde hace un año, no .

5. Hace tres meses .

EJERCICIO

2•11

The new technology. ¿Verdadero (V) o falso (F)?

______ 1. Usamos la Internet desde el siglo (century) pasado.

______ 2. Enviamos mensajes de texto (text messages) desde hace cincuenta años.

______ 3. Desde hace dos décadas usamos el teléfono.

______ 4. Hace más de dos siglos que existe el telescopio Hubble.

______ 5. Viajamos en avión de los Estados Unidos a otros continentes desde hace casi un siglo.

Irregular verbs in the present tense

Many Spanish verbs do not follow the patterns of the regular verbs you have just studied. Instead, they change the root (or radical) of the verb, the conjugation endings, or both. Because they follow different patterns, they are considered irregular verbs. Since irregular verbs are so commonly used, a good strategy to identify and learn them is to focus on similarities, grouping them into patterns. Study the following groups of irregular verbs in the present:

Verbs with irregular first-person singular only; all other forms in the present are regular.

EJERCICIO

2•12

Práctica. En español.

1. I give.

2. They put.

3. You (Uds.) see.

4. We fit in.

5. I bring.

6. I fall.

7. You (tú) do.

8. I go out.