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    A fun, comprehensive way to get up to speed on Spanish With over 325 million speakers, Spanish is in a virtual dead heat with English as the second most popular spoken language. This easy-to-follow guide shows readers how to successfully conjugate verbs, providing easy, entertaining exercises and answer keys to reinforce different grammatical rules. More than just a dictionary-style list of verbs, Spanish Verbs For Dummies covers regular verbs in the present tense and six other simple tenses, interrogatives and imperatives, irregular verbs in all seven tenses, and Spanish verb nuances. Mary Kraynak, MA (Indianapolis, IN), teaches Spanish to junior high and high school students and has served as a technical consultant to several Spanish learning guides. An easy-to-follow guide to successfully conjugating Spanish verbs provides simple and entertaining exercises and keys to reinforce different grammatical rules and covers regular verbs in the present tense and six other simple tenses to help readers learn Spanish, the second most popular spoken language today. Original.
Spanish Verbs For DummiesBy Mary Kraynak John Wiley & SonsCopyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, LtdAll right reserved. ISBN: 0-471-76872-3 Chapter OneSpringing into Action with Spanish Verbs
In This Chapter * Dissecting and classifying Spanish verbs * Getting subject pronouns involved in the action * Identifying the four main verb types
Before you immerse yourself in any heavy-duty verb conjugations, take some time to brush up on the basics so you can effectively communicate using the various verb types. You need to understand
This chapter eases you into the subject of Spanish verbs by defining verbs and showing you how to classify them. You discover how to identify the parts of a verb, the subject pronouns that identify the person or thing performing the action, and the four different types of verbs you may meet on the street. The exercises in this chapter give you a solid framework on which to build your newfound skills.
Recognizing the Four Main Verb Types Spanish verbs hang out in their own cliques, and each group has its own way of doing things. If you're going to have any success dealing with Spanish verbs, you'd better be able to identify which of the four following groups a verb belongs to:
Getting the Lowdown on Regular Spanish Verbs Verbs are action words. They're the movers and the shakers of the world. They describe the action that is taking place, has taken place, or will take place. They command, they question, they conjecture, and they describe states of being. No sentence is complete without one. A raw verb is expressed as an infinitive. In English, that means the to form - "to eat," for example. Nobody's doing the eating, and the eating is not being done at any specific time or in any specific way, and nobody's really eating anything. An infinitive is an action, pure and simple. In Spanish, you have no to to rely on. Spanish expresses the infinitive form of its verbs through verb endings: -ar, -er, and -ir. For example, hablar (to speak),comer (to eat), and vivir (to live). All Spanish verbs use one of these three endings. When you chop off the -ar, -er, or -ir endings, the remaining letters make up the verb stem.
PRACTICE Below are some regular Spanish verbs. Determine each verb's stem and classify it as an -ar, -er, or -ir verb, as I show you in the following example: hablar = habl, - ar 1. vivir = _______________, - _____ 2. comer = _______________ , - _____ 3. abrir = _______________ , - _____ 4. presentar = _______________ , - _____ 5. mirar = _______________ , - _____ 6. astar = _______________ , - _____ 7. escribir = _______________ , - _____ 8. leer = _______________ , - _____ 9. romper = _______________ , - _____ 10. suprimir = _______________ , - _____
Meeting Subject Pronouns Face to Face I, we, you, he, she, it, and they are the English subject pronouns. They tell the verb who or what is performing the action, and they dictate the form of the verb you must use. In English, he shops, but they shop.
REMEMBER Spanish uses nine subject pronouns: (yo, tú, usted, él, ella, nosotros or nosotras, vosotros or vosotras, ustedes, and ellos or ellas). The subject pronoun determines the conjugated form of the verb. Just like in English, the Spanish infinitive form of the verb means that no one is doing the action, but the conjugated form signifies that some individual or group is performing the action. Whenever you conjugate a verb, you set up a chart, like the one that follows, and fill in each subject pronoun's accompanying verb form.
TIP Although usted is usually abbreviated to Ud. when written, you still pronounce it usted. Likewise, although ustedes is usually abbreviated to Uds. when written, you still pronounce it ustedes. The vosotros form (you plural, familiar) is used almost exclusively in Spain. In its place, other countries use the Uds. form of the verb. Also, keep in mind that in English, only one you is used for all four of the Spanish you's (although sometimes for the plural you, you may say "you guys" if you're from the North or "y'all" if you're from the South - so in that way English-speakers sort of create a plural you).
PRACTICE Select the correct Spanish subject pronoun to replace the following names or nouns. (Unless specified, the familiar you is the singular form.) Here's an example: Jim = él 11. my friends (mixed or male group) = _______________ 12. the students (mixed or male group) = _______________ 13. she = _______________ 14. you (familiar) = _______________ 15. my parents = _______________ 16. my best friend (male) = _______________ 17. Bob and Tom = _______________ 18. her dad = _______________ 19. Susan = _______________ 20. George and I = _______________
Answer Key Below are some regular Spanish verbs. Determine each verb's stem and classify it as an -ar, -er, or -ir verb. 1. vivir = viv, - ir 2. comer = com, - er 3. abrir = abr, - ir 4. presentar = present, - ar 5. mirar = mir, - ar 6. gastar = gast, - ar 7. escribir = escrib, - ir 8. leer = le, - er 9. romper = romp, - er 10. suprimir = suprim, - ir Select the correct Spanish subject pronoun to replace the following names or nouns. (Unless specified, the familiar you is the singular form.) 11. my friends (mixed or male group) = ellos 12. the students (mixed or male group) = ellos 13. she = ella 14. you (familiar) = tú 15. my parents = ellos 16. my best friend (male) = él 17. Bob and Tom = ellos 18. her dad = él 19. Susan = ella 20. George and I = nosotros (Continues...)
While some people get revved up at car races and others ride the wild waves of the stock market, Mary Kraynak (Indianapolis, IN) enjoys traveling to Spanish-speaking countries, chatting it up with complete strangers, and haggling with the local merchants. Mary earned her Bachelor's degree in Spanish and secondary education at Purdue University, and continued on at Purdue to get her Master's degree in Spanish literature. Twenty-five years later, she continues to teach Spanish to junior high and high school students, and has served as a technical consultant on several Spanish learning guides, including Teach Yourself Spanish in 24 Hours and Spanish for Healthcare Professionals. |
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