Download Spanish I—I-3 Infinitives

Spanish I—PE-2 Nouns
1. Nouns refer to people, animals, places, things, and ideas.
2. In Spanish, nouns have gender; that is, they are either masculine or feminine.
3. Most nouns that end in –o are masculine.
4. Most nouns that end in-a are feminine.
5. The definite articles el and la also point out if a word is masculine or feminine. They both mean
“the.”
6. el –masculine
la+ feminine
7. Nouns that end in a letter other than –a or –o must be learned individually.
Spanish I—IA-3 Infinitives
1. Words that describe action are called verbs.
2. Verbs have different forms depending on who is doing the action of the verb.
3. The most basic form of a verb is called the infinitive. The English infinitive is preceded by “to.”
Example: to read, to swim, to talk
4. Infinitives in Spanish don’t have a separate word like “to” in front of them.
5. Spanish infinitives are only one word and always end in –ar, -er, or –ir:
nadar, leer, escribir
6. Cognates—words that look alike and have similar meanings in English and Spanish
Spanish I—1A-4 Negatives
To make a Spanish sentence negative, you usually put “no” in front of the verb.
No me gusta esquiar.
2. To answer questions in Spanish, you often use “no” twice: first, the introductory “no,” then the
“no” that says, “I do not.”
No, no me gusta estudiar.
3. You may also use other negatives after the “no.”
¿Te gusta bailar? Do you like to dance?
No, no me gusta nada. No, I don’t like it at all.
4. To express “either. . .or” or “neither. . . nor,” that is, to say you do not like either of two choices,
use “ni. . .ni.”
No me gusta ni bailar ni cantar.
I don’t like either dancing or singing.
I like neither dancing nor singing.
5. “Either” or “neither” used alone is “tampoco.”
1.
Spanish I—1A-5 Expressing Agreement or Disagreement
1.
2.
To express agreement with what a person likes, use “a mí también.” It’s like saying, “me, too” in
English.
To agree with what a person dislikes, you say “a mí tampoco,” which is like saying “me neither”
in English.
Spanish I—1B-3 Nouns and Adjectives
1.
2.
3.
3.
5.
Nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine.
--Masculine nouns usually end in –o.
--Feminine nouns usually end in –a.
Adjectives answer which? how many? and what kind of? and describe nouns and pronouns.
Adjectives modify nouns according to gender.
Masculine adjectives must modify masculine nouns (usually –o).
chico estudioso
Feminine adjectives must modify feminine nouns (usually –a).
chica estudiosa
6. Adjectives that end in –e describe both masculine and feminine nouns.
Anita es inteligente.
Pedro es inteligente.
7. Adjectives whose masculine form ends in –dor have a feminine form that ends in -dora.
Juan es trabajador.
Luz es trabajadora.
8. Some adjectives that end in –a, such as deportista, describe both masculine and feminine nouns.
You will need to memorize which nouns follow this pattern.
chico deportista chica deportista
Spanish I—1B-4 Definite and Indefinite Articles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
In English, we have 3 articles: “a,” “an,” and “the.”
“A” and “an” are indefinite articles because they refer to any of the noun type: Bring a book to
class. (Bring any book—I don’t care which one.)
The Spanish indefinite articles are “un” (masculine) and “una” (feminine).
un libro
una carpeta
“The” is the English definite article because it refers to a specific or definite noun.
Bring the book to class. (This refers to a specific book that I have in mind for you to bring to
class.)
The Spanish definite articles are “el” (masc.) and “la” (fem.).
el libro
la carpeta
When studying a new list of vocabulary, be sure to learn the article that goes with each noun to
make agreement easier.
Spanish I—1B-5 Word Order with Adjectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In English sentences, the adjectives usually come before the words they modify:
Martha is an artistic girl.
In Spanish, the adjective usually comes after the noun it describes:
Marta es una chica artística.
A typical Spanish sentence pattern:
Subject
Verb
Indef Article Adjective
and Noun
Pablo
es
un estudiante inteligente.
La Sra. Ortiz es
una profesora muy buena.
To make a sentence negative, simply put “no” right before the verb:
Pablo no es un estudiante inteligente.
If you want to add “según mis amigos,” “según mi familia,” or “a veces” to a sentence, you
usually put the entire phrase at the beginning of the sentence.
Spanish I—2A-3 Subject Pronouns
The subject of a sentence tells who is doing the action. The subject is often a person’s name.
Ana canta y baila.
2. Subject pronouns are also used to tell who is doing the action. The subject pronouns replace
people’s names and common nouns that refer to people. English pronouns are I, you, he , she, we, and
they.
3. Spanish subject pronouns:
1.
Singular
1st person
yo (I)
Plural
nosotros, -as (we)
2nd person
3rd person
tú (you familiar
singular)
usted (Ud.) (you
formal sing.)
él (he)
ella (she)
vosotros, -as (you familiar
plural)
ustedes (Uds.)
(you formal pl.)
ellos (they masc.)
ellas (they fem.)
Tú, usted, ustedes, and vosotros (-as) all mean “you.”
a. Use tú with family, friends, people your own age or younger, and anyone you call by his/her first name.
b. Use “usted” with adults you address with a title, such as señor,señora, profesora, etc. It’s usually
abbreviated as “Ud.”
c. In Spain, vosotros (-as) is used as the plural form of tú and Uds. Is used as the plural form of Ud.
*d. In Latin America, Uds. Is used as the plural of both tú and Ud.
5. If a group is made up of only males or of a mix of males and females, use the masculine pronoun
forms (nosotros, vosotros, ellos).
6. Use the feminine plural forms only if the group consists of only females.
7. A subject pronoun and a name can be combined to form one subject pronoun:
Alejandro y yo = nosotros
Carlos y ella = ellos
Pepe y tú = ustedes (Uds.)
Lola y ella = ellas
4.
Spanish I—2A-4 Present tense of –ar verbs
1. There are three main groups of verbs in Spanish. -ar verbs make up one group.
2. They are called –ar verbs because their infinitive form ends in –ar.
3. The infinitive form is the “to + verb” form. This is the basic form of the verb that you will find in the
dictionary.
Ejemplo: hablar = to speak
4. Regular verbs follow
the same pattern and have
Person
Singular
Plural
the same endings to agree
with corresponding
subjects.
1st person
yo
-o nosotros -amos
5. The stem of a verb
includes everything but its
2nd person
tú
-as vosotros -áis
–ar ending.
Ejemplo: hablar
= habl
3rd person
él, ella, -a
Ellos, ellas, -an
6. To form the present
tense forms of a verb, add
Ud.
Uds.
the appropriate ending to
the stem.
Ejemplo: hablar
stem = habl
Yo habl + o = Yo hablo. (I speak.)
Subject Pronouns and -ar verb endings
7. Especially when the subject is yo, tú, or nosotros, the subject is often omitted because it can be
determined by the conjugated verb.
8. A conjugated verb is one that has been changed to agree with a subject.
9. To make a sentence negative, put “no” in front of the verb.
Ejemplo: Él no habla.
10. To change a statement to a question, put the verb in front of the subject.
Ejemplo: Él habla español. ¿Habla él español?
11. A sentence can be translated in several ways:
Él habla can mean. . .
He speaks.
He does speak.
He is speaking.
Spanish I—2B-3 The verb estar
1.
The verbs you have used so far are called regular verbs because to conjugate them you follow a
regular pattern.
2. Verbs that do not follow a regular pattern are called irregular verbs.
3. “Estar” is irregular because the “yo” form doesn’t follow the regular pattern and because four
forms require accent marks.
4. Use “estar” to tell how someone feels or where someone or something is located.
5. Estar conjugation chart:
Singular subj
pronoun
Singular verb
form
Plural subj pron Plural verb form
yo
tú
estoy
estás
nosotros
(vosotros)
él, ella, Ud.
está
ellos, ellas, Uds. están
estamos
(estáis)
Spanish I—2B-4 Plurals of Nouns and Articles
If a noun ends in a vowel, you usually add –s to make it plural.
libro→libros
2. If a noun ends in a consonant, you usually add –es to make it plural.
papel→papeles
3. Singular nouns that end in –z change the –z to –c before adding –es.
lápiz→lápices
4. Written accent marks on the last syllable are dropped in the plural form.
ratón→ratones
5. Spanish articles also have plural forms:
Definite articles (the):
(masc.) el
los
(fem.)
la
las
Indefinite articles (Sing.=a, an) (Plural=some, a few):
(masc.) un
unos
(fem.) una
unas
1.
Spanish I—3A-3 -er and –ir verbs
1.
You have already learned how to conjugate –ar verbs.
-ar verb endings: -o
-amos
-as -áis)
-a
-amos
2. The other two types of verbs are –er and –ir. Usually they are conjugated the same way, or at least
almost the same.
3. To form the present tense of –er and –ir verbs, drop the –er or –ir and add the ending that
corresponds to the subject:
-er and –ir endings: -o
-emos/-imos
-es (-éis/-ís)
-e
-en
4. You know these regular –er and –ir verbs:
beber
correr compartir
comer
leer
escribir
comprender
5.You also know ver. Ver is regular except in the yo form, which is spelled veo.
Spanish I—3A-4 Me gusta, me encanta
1.
Use me gusta and me encanta to talk about a singular noun.
Me gusta el té pero me encanta el té helado.
2. You have already learned to use me gusta in front of the infinitive form of a verb: Me gusta escuchar
música.
You can use me encanta in the same way: Me encanta escuchar música.
3. Use me gustan and me encantan to talk about plural nouns:
Me encantan las fresas pero no me gustan mucho los plátanos.
4. When you use me gusta(n) or me encanta(n) right before a noun, include the noun’s definite article:
Me encanta el jugo de naranja.
Spanish I—3B-3 Plurals of Adjectives
1.
Remember that adjectives agree with the nouns they modify according to gender (masculine or
feminine).
2. Adjectives also agree according to whether the noun is singular or plural.
3. The plural form of adjectives is made like the plural form of nouns:
--If the adjective (or noun) ends in a vowel, just add –s after the vowel.
--If the adjective (or noun) ends in a consonant, add -es after the consonant.
La hamburguesa es sabrosa.
Las hamburguesas son sabrosas.
4. When an adjective describes a group including both masculine and feminine nouns, use the
masculine plural form:
La lechuga, las zanahorias y los tomates son buenos para la salud.
5. The singular forms mucho, -a mean “much” or “a lot of,” but the plural forms muchos, -as mean “many.”
Spanish I—3B-4 The verb ser
1.
2.
3.
The verb “to be” is an irregular verb in English: I am
we are
you are
he, she is they, you are
Ser, which means “to be,” is used to describe what a person or thing is like.
Ser is also irregular in the present tense in Spanish:
(yo) soy
(nosotros,-as) somos
(tú)
eres
(vosotros,-as) sois
(Ud., es
(Uds., ellos,
son
él, ella)
ellas)
Spanish I—4A-3 The verb ir
The verb ir means “to go.”
Ir is almost always followed by “a.”
To ask where someone is going, use ¿Adónde? for “Where are you going (to)?
Present tense irregular forms:
voy
vamos
vas
(vais)
va
van
5. You might hear someone say ¡Vamos! It means, “Let’s go!”
1.
2.
3.
4.
Spanish I—4A-4 Interrogative words
1.
We use interrogative words to ask questions:
¿Qué? What?
¿Adónde? (to) where?
¿Cómo? How?
¿De dónde? From where?
¿Quién? Who?
¿Cuál?
Which? What?
¿Con quién? With whom?
¿Dónde? Where?
¿Por qué? Why?
¿Cuántos, -as?
¿Cuándo? When?
How many?
Spanish I—4B-3 Substitute Future

Just as you use “going” and an infinitive to say what you are going to do in English, in Spanish
you use equivalent words to express the same thing: ir a + infinitivo.
 Voy a jugar al tenis hoy.

(I’m going to play tennis today.)
 ¿Tu vas a jugar al golf esta tarde?
(Are you going to play golf this afternoon?)

Mis amigos van a ir de camping.
(My friends are going to go camping.)
Spanish I—4B-4 The Verb Jugar
The verb jugar means “to play a game or sport. Jugar is an –ar verb.
Jugar is also a stem-changing verb. When conjugating jugar in the present tense, change the “u”
to “ue” in all forms but the nosotros and the vosotros.
Present tense forms:
juego
jugamos
juegas (jugáis)
juega
juegan
Usually jugar is followed by “a” when the name of a game or sport follows it.
Spanish I—5A-3 Tener
1.
The verb tener is used to show relationship or possession. It means “to have.”
 Tengo un hermano mayor. (I have an older brother.)
 Tenemos un regalo para Luisa. (We have a gift for Luisa.)
2.
3.
4.
You have been using some of the forms of tener for several chapters.
 ¿Tienes una bicicleta?
 Tengo que hacer ejercicio.
Some expressions in Spanish use tener where English uses “to be.”
 Mi primo tiene diez y seis años. (My cousin is 16 years old.)
 Tengo hambre y sed. (I am hungry and thirsty.)
The present tense forms of tener:
tengo
tenemos
tienes
(tenéis)
tiene
tienen
Spanish I—5A-4 Possessive Adjectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Possessive adjectives show possession or ownership.
In order to show possession in Spanish, you must either use a possessive adjective or use a “de”
expression:
Es su regalo.
O
Es el regalo de Anita.
NOT: Es Anita’s regalo.
These are the Spanish possessive adjectives:
my
mi(s)
our
nuestro(s), nuestra(s)
your fam. tu(s)
[your fam.pl] vuestro(s), vuestra(s)
his, her, su(s)
their, your pl su(s)
your, its
Possessive adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in gender and number, just like other
adjectives do.
Only nuestro and vuestro have different gender forms. (masculine, feminine)
Since su and sus can mean so many different things, they are sometimes replaced by de + noun or
pronoun.
sus flores= las flores de ella
sus regalos =los regalos de Javier y Ana
Examples of agreement of possessive adjectives
mi disco
nuestro apartamento
mis cintas
nuestros libros
tu
libro
nuestra casa
tus pelotas
nuestras revistas
su casa
sus coches
Spanish I—5B-3 Venir
1.
Use venir to say someone is coming to a place or to an event.
¿A qué hora vienes al cine?
When are you coming to the movies?
Vengo a las cuatro.
I’m coming at 4:00.
2. Present tense forms of venir:
Yo vengo
nosotros venimos
tú
vienes
(vosotros venís)
él,ella,viene
ellos, ellas, vienen
Ud.
Uds.
Spanish I—5B-4
1.
2.
Ser and Estar
Both ser and estar mean “to be.” Their uses, however, are different.
Ser:
yo
soy
nosotros
somos
tú
eres (vosotros sois)
él, ella es
ellos, ellas son
Ud.
Uds.
Use ser to describe characteristics that do not change at all or do not change easily:
a. Who a person is
b. What a person is like
c. What something is
d. What something is like
e. Where a person or thing is from
Examples:
Teresa es mi prima. Es muy graciosa.
Los tacos son mi comida favorita. Son riquísimos.
Mis tíos son de México.
3. Estar:
yo
estoy
nosotros
estamos
tú
estás
(vosotros estáis)
él, ella está
ellos, ellas, están
Ud.
Uds.
Use estar when talking about
a. health—Estoy enfermo.
b. location—Estoy en casa.
c. temporary condition—El café está frío.
Spanish I—6A-3 The comparative
1. In English, we usually add –er to an adjective or put “more” in front of the adjective to make the
comparative form of that adjective.
2. In Spanish, the only way to create the comparative form is to put “más” in front of the adjective.
3. If you need to say “more adj. than,” use “que” for “than.”
Juan es más alto que David.
4. The adjective still needs to agree with the noun it modifies:
Estas chicas son más bonitas que esas
chicas.
5. You can also use “menos adj. que” to mean “less adj. than.”
6. Four adjectives and two adverbs have irregular comparative forms. You do not use “más” or “menos”
with these words!
Adjective
Adverb Comparative
bueno, -a
bien mejor (better)
malo, -a
mal
peor (worse)
viejo, -a
mayor (older)
joven
menor (younger)
6.
These irregular comparatives are made plural by adding –es to the form above.
Spanish I—6A-4 The superlative
1.
In English, we usually add –est to an adjective or put “most” in front of the adjective to make the
superlative form of that adjective.
2.
In Spanish, the superlative is created by this pattern:
definite article + noun + más/menos + adjective
(él, la, los, las)
Example: la chica más bonita=the prettiest girl
3. Use “de” for “in” to indicate the group:
Ella es la chica más bonita de la clase.
4. The adjectives that are irregular in the comparative are also irregular in the superlative. To create
the superlative, use the appropriate definite article and the irregular comparative:
Él es el hijo mayor. (He is the oldest son.)
5. Forms of bueno and malo, including mejor and peor, can be placed either before or after the noun
they modify:
Él es el mejor alumno. o
Él es el alumno mejor.
The position before the noun is preferred with these adjectives.
Spanish I—6A-5 o to ue stem-changing verbs
1.
2.
Poder (to be able, can) and dormir (to sleep) are called o to ue stem-changing verbs.
When conjugating o to ue verbs (o→ue), the o in the stem changes to ue in all forms but nosotros
and vosotros.
Poder
Dormir
puedo podemos
duermo dormimos
puedes (podéis)
duermes (dormís)
puede pueden
duerme
duermen
3. Anytime you see (o→ue) after a verb in a vocabulary list or in a dictionary, follow this same conjugation
pattern.
Spanish I—6B-3 Affirmative tú commands




When you tell friends, family members, or young people to do something, you use an affirmative
tú command.
To give an affirmative tú command, use the same present-tense forms that you use for Ud., él, and
ella.
Infinitive Ud., él, ella Aff. tú command
hablar
habla
¡Habla!
leer
lee
¡Lee!
escribir escribe
¡Escribe!
Certain verbs have irregular command forms:
poner=pon
hacer=haz
Spanish I—6B-4 Present progressive
 You use the present progressive tense when you want to emphasize that an action is happening
right now.
Paco está lavando los platos. (Paco is washing dishes.)
Estoy haciendo la cama.
(I am making the bed.)
 To form the present progressive, use the present tense form of estar plus the present participle.
 The present participle is formed by dropping the ending of the infinitive and adding –ando for –ar
verbs and –iendo for –er and –ir verbs.
 Yo estoy lavando
comiendo
escribiendo
 Tú estás lavando
comiendo




escribiendo
Ud., él, ella está lavando, etc.
Nosotros estamos lavando, etc.
(Vosotros estáis lavando, etc.)
Uds., ellos, ellas están lavando, etc.
 Leer has an irregular spelling for the present participle—leyendo.
Spanish I—7A-3 e to ie stem-changing verbs
 Verbs like pensar (to think or plan), querer (to want), and preferir (to prefer) are called e to ie
stem-changing verbs.
 When these verbs are conjugated the e of the stem changes to ie in all forms except nosotros and
vosotros.
 e→ie stem-changing verb forms:
Yo pienso
Nosotros pensamos
quiero
queremos
prefiero
preferimos
Tú piensas
(Vosotros pensáis)
quieres
queréis
prefieres
preferís
Ud. piensa
Uds.
piensan
él quiere
ellos
quieren
ella prefiere
ellas
prefieren
Often another verb will immediately follow one of these verbs. When that happens, the first verb is
conjugated, but the second verb stays in its infinitive form.
Spanish I—7A-4 Demonstrative adjectives
 You use demonstrative adjectives to point out nouns: this cap, these socks, that shirt, those shoes.
 Note that this and these refer to things that are close to you as the speaker, and that and those refer
to things that are at some distance from you.
 Like other adjectives, demonstrative adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns that
follow them.
this, these
that, those
Singular
este suéter
esta falda
ese vestido
esa chaqueta
Plural
estos suéteres
estas faldas
esos vestidos
esas chaquetas