A ver cuánto sabes... Let s see how much you know... -ar verbs: PRESENT. -o -amos. -a -an. -er verbs: PRESENT. -o -emos. -e -en. -ir verbs: PRESENT

Transcripción

1 In this edition: testing what you ve learned in unit 6 Lesson 60 Notes CoffeeBreakSpanish.com A ver cuánto sabes... Let s see how much you know... Programme Notes Coffee Break Spanish notes guide you through the content of each lesson. In this lesson we put to the test everything you ve learned since lesson 51. We begin the lesson guide with a quick summary of each grammar topic covered. Present tense review We now know all three conjugations of the present tense. Some of this content was covered prior to unit 6. The endings are as follows: -ar verbs: PRESENT -o -amos -as -áis -a -an -er verbs: PRESENT -o -emos -es -éis -e -en -ir verbs: PRESENT -o -imos -es -ís -e -en We also covered a number of irregular verbs in the present tense in earlier lessons, and discussed radical changing verbs (e > ie, o > ue, e > i) and reflexive verbs. Some examples of radical changing verbs and a reflexive verb are given below. Note that in the conjugations of radical changing verbs, the forms which exhibit the radical change are given in italics, and that the example of the reflexive verb given, acostarse, is also a radical-changing verb. Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 60 page 1

2 pensar (to think): PRESENT pienso piensas piensa pensamos pensáis piensan jugar (to play): PRESENT juego juegas juega jugamos jugáis juegan pedir (to ask for): PRESENT pido pides pide pedimos pedís piden acostarse (to go to bed): PRESENT me acuesto te acuestas se acuesta nos acostamos os acostáis se acuestan Immediate future: ir a + infinitive Within the context of New Year s Resolutions, we covered the construction ir a + infinitive which can convey an immediate future. Look at the example below: ir a + infinitive examples voy a viajar a México vamos a hablar más español van a comer menos I am going to travel to Mexico we are going to speak more Spanish they are going to eat less This construction is very straightforward. Now that we ve learned the imperfect tense, note that the construction can also be used in the imperfect. The above examples are given below in the imperfect, along with appropriate translations. ir a + infinitive examples (using imperfect) iba a viajar a México íbamos a hablar más español iban a comer menos I was going to travel to Mexico we were going to speak more Spanish they were going to eat less Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 60 page 2

3 Preterite tense review We learned to deal with the preterite tense, the tense that is used to talk about single completed actions in the past. Note that there is another tense used in similar situations which we will cover in unit 7, but there are regional differences in the use of this tense, so for the purposes of unit 6 we will concentrate on the preterite tense. The conjugations of regular verbs in the preterite tense are as follows: -ar verbs: PRETERITE -é -amos -aste -asteis -ó -aron -er vebrs: PRETERITE -í -imos -iste -ió -isteis -ieron -ir verbs: PRETERITE -í -imos -iste -ió -isteis -ieron Note that -er and -ir verbs have the same endings in the preterite. We also covered a number of irregular verbs in the preterite. Four common ones are given below: hacer (to do/make): PRETERITE hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron ir (to go): PRETERITE fui fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron ver (to see): PRETERITE vi viste vimos visteis Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 60 page 3

4 vio vieron dar (to give): PRETERITE di diste dio dimos disteis dieron Two other verbs, commonly found in the preterite are nacer (to be born) and morir (to die). The forms you particularly need to remember of these verbs are nací (I was born) nació (he/she/it was born), nacieron (they were born), murió (he/she/it died) and murieron (they died). Imperfect tense review Most recently we have been working on the imperfect tense. This is used to talk about ongoing actions or actions of indeterminate duration in the past. We learned three common situations where keywords trigger the imperfect. They were: Imperfect tense was/were doing something used to do something would do something (in the past) We also learned that very often descriptions in the past use the imperfect tense, primarily because when you are describing something, eg. weather, clothes, appearance, feelings, etc., you tend to be talking about an ongoing situation, or a situation of indeterminate duration. The conjugations of regular verbs in the imperfect tense are as follows: -ar verbs: IMPERFECT -aba -abas -aba -ábamos -abais -aban -er vebrs: IMPERFECT s mos is n -ir verbs: IMPERFECT s mos is n Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 60 page 4

5 Note again that -er and -ir verbs follow the same conjugation. There are only three verbs in Spanish which are irregular in the imperfect tense: ir, ver and ser. Their conjugations are as follows: ir (to go): IMPERFECT iba ibas iba íbamos ibais iban ver (to see): IMPERFECT veía veías veía veíamos veíais veían ser (to be): IMPERFECT era eras era éramos erais eran Note that verbs can be irregular in one tense and regular in others. We considered examples such as tener (to have), which is irregular in the present but regular in the imperfect. Equally, practicar (to practise) is slightly irregular in the preterite, but is regular in the present and imperfect. Testing what youʼve learned In the bonus podcast for this lesson, you will be given a test to check your understanding of the various grammatical points we ve covered in lessons The translations of each question are given below. Each example is worked through on the bonus podcast. Spanish English 1 voy a bailar toda la noche I am going to dance all night 2 van a leer el libro mañana they are going to read the book tomorrow 3 vivimos en Zaragoza pero vamos a ir a Córdoba durante las vacaciones we live in Zaragoza but we are going to go to Córdoba during the holidays 4 venden la casa en el invierno they are selling the house in (the) winter 5 hablé español con Miguel I spoke Spanish to/with Miguel 6 el año pasado fuimos a Venezuela y vimos muchas cosas last year we went to Venezuela and we saw lots (of things) 7 dimos una vuelta en coche we went for a run/drive in the car 8 los dos niños nacieron en 1998 the two children were born in cuando era joven tocaba la guitarra when I was young I played/used to play the guitar Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 60 page 5

6 10 antes te levantabas temprano, pero ahora te levantas tarde before you used to get up early, but now you get up late 11 hacía mis deberes cuando llegó mi amigo I was doing my homework when my friend arrived 12 cuando éramos niños hablábamos francés con nuestra abuela, pero murió en 1984 y después era más difícil when we were children we spoke/used to speak French with our grandmother, but she died in 1984 and afterwards it was more difficult Coming up in unit 7: por and para (yes, the time has finally come!); the perfect tense; more about pronouns, and lots more situations where you can use the Spanish you now know. All materials Copyright Radio Lingua Ltd 2008 Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 60 page 6