Dear Spanish students, please review definitions of verbs listed on page 83. Pay very close attention to the sentences beside each word. They have words which will give you clues as to the meaning of the words and will also be repeated in the quiz. If you study these well, then when you have to figure out which word correctly fills up the blanks in the quiz you should do great.
Review:
to walk = ________________________
to speak = _______________________
to enter = _______________________
to buy = _______________________
to study = _______________________
to win, to gain = ____________________
to sing = ___________________________
to arrive = __________________________
to practice = ________________________
to drink, take = _________________________
to work = ________________________________
to listen = _______________________________
to desire = ______________________________
Next: somehow you did your homework fine, we corrected in class, and did other work together, but you are still not getting it. So, here it goes again!
In English, we are taught to form or conjugate verbs according to the subject, for example:
I walk we walk I am walking
you walk you (plural) walk you are walking
he walks they walk he is walking
Did you notice how the verb "to walk" was conjugated or formed according to the subject? Did you notice how the verb "to be" changed according to the subject?
Well, that is exactly what we do in Spanish. Here is the list of pronouns you already know:
I = yo
you = tu (with accent)
he = el (with accent)
she = ella
you (formal) = usted
we = nosotros, nosotras
you (familiar plural) = vosotros, vosotras
they = ellos (all masculine group or mixed gender)
they = ellas (all female group)
you = ustedes (formal plural)
Now, for each of these subject pronouns the verbs have a different ending. In English we may add just an "s" or an "ing", but in Spanish we have other endings:
Let's take the verb "practicar" -
PRACTICAR = TO PRACTICE
Now take the verb and drop the -AR ending before adding the new ending. You should be left with the word stem:
PRACTIC
YO PRACTICO NOSOTROS PRACTICAMOS
TU PRACTICAS VOSOTROS PRACTICAIS (CON ACENTO)
*EL PRACTICA * ELLOS PRACTICAN
*ELLA PRACTICA * ELLAS PRACTICAN
*USTED PRACTICA *USTEDES PRACTICAN
Notice, that you are learning six different endings for 10 different subject pronouns, because EL, ELLA, and USTED have the same ending, and their plural versions ELLOS, ELLAS, and USTEDES are also the same.
Let's do another verb: CAMINAR
Again, drop the -AR, and then look at the subject and decide which ending you need to add.
I walk to school because I do not have a car. Yo camino a la escuela porque no tengo un coche.
REMEMBER, ALWAYS DROP THE -AR ENDING BEFORE ADDING THE NEW ENDING.
ALSO, IF EVER YOU READ "PEDRO Y YO" OR ANY OTHER COMBINATION OF NAMES AND THE PRONOUN "YO", THIS WOULD BE REPLACED BY THE PRONOUN "WE" OR "NOSOTROS".
Look at all these verbs without the -ar ending:
habl lleg dese
entr practic
estudi tom
gan trabaj
cant camin
compr escuch
Remember, that you have already been doing this with the first three verbs you have already learned: TENER, ESTAR, and SER. Except these verbs are irregular, and they are irregular because they do not follow the same patterns as the regular verbs, just like the "to be" verb in English.
Ok, now I expect perfection, muchachos. Estudien bien!
Call me if you do not understand this, or were not able to access the blog page. Adios! (sorry, but this lap top computer does not have accents)