Category: Expat Lifestyle

OK, verbs.

I’m sure you were expecting me to mention them soon, right?

Every sentence in about every language needs a verb, or a word describing the “action”.

Verbs can also help us tell whether the action takes place in the present, past or future.

Today, we’ll learn how to talk in both the present and future in Spanish.

Expressing the Present (El Presente)

To express the present tense in Spanish all you have to do is conjugate the verbs you use in the present form. There are three types of verbs in Spanish (ones that end in –ar, -er, and –ir), each of which are conjugated slightly differently depending on the subject of the sentence.

But knowing how to conjugate one, you know how to conjugate almost all of them. (There are a few irregular verbs.)

Here are the possible subjects.
Yo = I
tú/usted = you
él/ella =  he/she
nosotros = we
ellos/ellas = they

Examples: Notice how the verbs change ending according to the subject.

-ar: Verbs ending in –ar change like the one below in the present tense.

To work: trabajar

I work = (yo) trabajo
You work = (tú) trabajas
He/she works = (él, ella) trabaja
They work = (ellos, ellas) trabajan
We work = (nosotros) trabajamos

-ir: Here is an –ir verb in the present tense.

To live: vivir

I live = (yo) vivo
You live = (tú) vives
He/she lives = (él, ella) vive
They live = (ellos, ellas) viven
We live = (nosotros) vivimos

-er: Here is an –er verb in the present tense.

To eat: comer

I eat = (yo) como
You eat = (tú) comes
He/she eats = (él, ella) come
They eat = (ellos, ellas) comen
We eat = (nosotros) comemos

Note: But remember you don’t have to include the subjects (yo, tú, él, ella, etc.) when talking unless you want to emphasize “who” is doing the action: because in Spanish the conjugated verb tells the receiver of the message both the “who” and the “what”.

But if it is easier to talk with them for now, do it, everyone will still understand you.

Exercise 1.1: Now you try a couple. Change the verb according to the subject given.

Example: (comprar, yo) compro (I buy)

1. (andar, tú) _______ (you walk)
2. (perfeccionar, él) ________ (he perfects)
3. (tomar, nosotros) _________ (we take)
4. (cambiar, ellos) ____________ (they change)
5. (poner, tú) ___________ (you put)
6. (buscar, yo) ___________ (I look for)
7. (subir, ella) ___________ (She goes up)
8. (hablar, nosotros) ___________ (You and me (we) talk)
9. (bajar, ellos) _________ (they go down)
10. (salir, él) __________ (he goes out)
11. (esperar, yo) _________ (I wait)

Now you can talk in the present! Keep going to learn how you can talk about the past and future.

Expressing the Future (El Futuro)

Expressing something that will happen in the future is easy in Spanish, because like English, you just put the “to go” verb conjugated in the present tense in front of the verb expressing whatever it is you are going to do.

I WILL run.  OR  I am going to run.  = Voy a correr.

Ir (to go) + a + verb (not conjugated )

Example: Voy a beber (to drink). = I am going to drink.

Ir (to go) in present

Yo voy
Tù vas
Èl/ella va
Nosotros vamos
Ellos/ellas van

Exercise 3.1: Now say you (or the subject stated) are going to do the following things in the future.

Example: (yo) __voy_ a querer. (I will want)

1. (él) ________ perfeccionar la táctica. (He is going to perfect the tactic).
2. (nosotros) _________ tomar la cerveza. (We are going to drink the beer.)
3. (ellos) ____________ cambiar el mundo. (They will change the world.)
4. (yo) ___________ buscar en Google. (I will search in Google.)
5. (ella) ___________ subir las escaleras. (She will go up the stairs.)
6. (Nosotros) ___________ hablar más tarde. (We will talk later.)
7. (él) __________ salir de la casa. (He will go out of the house.)
8. (yo) _________ esperar para ti. (I will wait for you.)
9. (tú) _______ rendir muy bien. (You will perform well.)
10. (nosotros) ________ pasar la prueba. (We will pass the test.)

Now you can talk in both the present and the future.

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After yesterday, you should have a good grip on both the alphabet and numbers in Spanish.

That’s the base.

So if you don’t got it, go back and review before continuing with today’s lesson.

Today we’re going to cover all those pesky “little” words that we see in practically ALL sentences in Spanish.

And taking a few moments to memorize them can really help us understand sentences.

The good news is that it is actually quite similar to English.

Noun cases (or the word for “the”): 

English is easier in this regard, because the words have no gender, whereas in Spanish all subjects (whether they are a person or a thing) are either masculine or feminine.

For example:

El – masculine, singular
La – feminine, singular
Los – masculine, plural
Las – feminine, plural

The notebook – El cuaderno
The ball – La pelota

Now notice how the noun cases change in the plural form, or when theres more than one…

Plural form:
The balls – las pelotas
The notebooks – los cuadernos

Words that end in “a” tend to be feminine, and words that end in “o” masculine. However there are a few exceptions, most notably, the word for “water” (el agua).  For now, just understand how it works, you’ll learn as you go.

When you when to say “a” or “an” in Spanish, whether the word preceeds a vowel or not doesn’t matter. The word you use changes according to the gender and plurality.

un – masculine, singular (a/an)
una – feminine, singular (a/an)
unos – masculine, plural (some)
unas – feminine, plural (some)

More Examples:
A ball – Una pelota
A notebook – un cuaderno
Some balls – unas pelotas
Some notebooks – unos cuadernos

Possessives (How to say something is owned by someone):

When you want to express that something is yours, just replace the article, or word we just learned that means “the”, (el, la, los, las) with the possessives.

Singular
mi- my
tu-your
su-his/her/their and also your (formal)
nuestro- our

Plural
mis- my
tus-your
sus-his/her/their and also your (formal)
nuestros- our

Examples :
el cuaderno > mi cuaderno (my notebook)
los cuadernos > sus cuadernos (their notebooks)

Tengo mis zapatos.  = I have my shoes.
Tengo tus zapatos. = I have your shoes.

So that’s our lesson for today, you don’t have to memorize the noun case of a bazillion words, for today, just understand how it works, how to use “the”, “a, some” and how to use the possessives.

I recommend re-reading and to be sure you really got it!

Hasta Mañana,

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Today in lesson 2 we’ll learn the pronunciations of the alphabet in Spanish.

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I love Spanish.

Actually, i love speaking another language, and Spanish is one of the most useful second languages you can learn, it’s true when people say it’s almost like having a “super power”.

Over these next few days, on this site we’re going to study a few of the key aspects of Spanish for beginners …

…so you can acquire the super power.  And learn to speak and defend yourself in Spanish.

Study it, practice it, for about 30 minutes a day.

You’ll be glad you did.

At the end of the 15 days you will know enough to get around and carry light conversations in your new language.

Heck, maybe you could even property hunt in Spanish…

So here we go!

We got to start at the beginning…  numbers…

Numbers… you just got to know this stuff before you come!

Literally, you’ll need to know your numbers in order to catch a taxi out front of the airport!  That’s how quick you’ll need it (in case you were wondering)…

So follow these next two links to listen to and practice both the numbers in Spanish…

Numbers

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Learn Spanish by Email…FREE!

Learn to speak Spanish, get around, property hunt and more in just 10 days.  1 email a day, 30 minutes of study, speak Spanish…

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