Hoy vamos a estudiar Estructura 2.1:

The present tense of regular –ar verbs

Verbs express actions, events or states:

•I work everyday.•The class is in Building P.•I am tired.

In English and Spanish, the infinitive is the base form of the verb.

It is also the form you find listed in dictionaries.

In English, the infinitive is usually preceded by to:

to study

In Spanish, the infinitive is a one-word form that ends in one of these endings:

-ar / -er / -irestudiarcomerescribir

When we talk, however, we normally don’t just use the infinitive:

* I to work a lot yesterday.* She to study Spanish.

Rather, we conjugate these verbs:

•I worked a lot yesterday.•She studies Spanish.

In Spanish we do this (conjugating a verb) by providing an ending that expresses:

• subject (I, you ...)• tense (present, future …)

Estudio español.

Subject: yoTense: present

To conjugate a verb in the present indicative tense follow these 3 steps:

1. Take the infinitive form of the verb:

estudiar2. Drop the –ar (infinitive)

ending to get the stem:

estudi-3. Add present endings to the

stem for the desired form

Present endings for –ar verbsyo -otú -asusted/él/ella -anosotros/-as -amos

vosotros/-as -áisustedes/ellos/ellas -an

-Yo estudio español. Y tú,¿estudias español?-No, no estudio español. Estudio inglés y biología.

(Subject pronouns in Spanish are normally used only for emphasis, clarification or contrast)

Now, go to page 41 of Panorama and read “Compare and contrast.”

Necesito estudiar para el examen de biología.

2 verbs together with no change of subject 2nd verb normally in the infinitive

V1 + V2 V2 inf.