Survival Spanish:Basic Verbsin the Present,Past & Near Future

SURVIVAL SPANISH1

Survival Spanish

Spanish grammar has a reputation for being hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Once you start hearing and speaking Spanish, you’ll easily notice that we only use half a dozen in daily life. And to make yourself understood, you’ll need even less. In this ebook, we explain how to conjugate the three most used verb tenses in Spanish - and teach you how to construct a fourth one using them!

FOREWORD ABOUT MOODS:

Verbs in Spanish can have several moods. All the tenses in this book belong to the Indica-tive Mood - the most used one - which is used for factual statements, asking questions and expressing opinions.

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a. Yo (odiar) cuando ella (hablar) de sus vecinos.

b. Ahora, (tú) (deber) tener más cuidado. (tú) (comer) muchas grasas.

c. Él (amar) la música, (él) (vivir) para ello.

Yo

Tú

Él/Ella, Usted

Nosotros/Nosotras

Vosotras/Vosotras

Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes

- are.g. Hablar (to speak)

- ere.g. Comer (to eat)

- ire.g. Vivir (to live)

hablo

hablas

habla

hablamos

habláis

hablan

como

comes

come

comemos

coméis

comen

vivo

vives

vive

vivimos

vivís

viven

Now, use these six verbs to complete the following sentences:Try to conjugate the verbs:

amar (to love)

deber (must)

odiar (to hate).

The Simple Present (el Presente del Indicativo) is conjugated differently according to the end-ing: -ar, -er or -ir. First, you need to remove the ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add these termi-nations to the stem. All regular verbs obey to these rules.

REGULAR VERBS

The Simple Present

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Yo

Tú

Él/Ella

Nosotros(as)

Vosotros(as)

Ellos/Ellas

Ser (to be)

soy

eres

es

somos

estoy

estás

tengo

Estar (to be)

Tener (to have)

Haber (to have)

Ir (to go)

sois

son

está

estamos

estáis

están

tienes

tiene

tenemos

tenéis

tienen

he

has

ha, hay

hemos

habéis

han

voy

vas

va

vamos

vais

van

Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy! A lot of Spanish verbs are irregular in the Present tense, including some of the most used ones. Here are some that you should keep in mind:

IRREGULAR VERBS

The Simple Present

a. Yo (ser) de España, pero (estar) viviendo en Dubai.

b. Tú (tener) que ir con nosotros a Madrid, dónde lo (nosotros) (haber) pasado muy bien.

c. Ustedes a Barcelona mañana, hoy que aprovechar la playa.

Use these verbs to complete the following sentences:

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You’ve learned how to talk about the Pres-ent, but we’re sure you’d like to tell peo-ple a bit more about yourself. Where you grew up, where you worked, places you have traveled... And you can do it all by using the Past Simple. Like the Present, this conjugation depends on the ending of the verb (-ar, -er, -ir). You need to remove the ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add the following endings to the stem :

The Simple Past

REGULAR VERBS

Yo

Tú

Él/Ella, Usted

Nosotros/Nosotras

Vosotras/Vosotras

Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes

- are.g. Hablar (to speak)

- ere.g. Comer (to eat)

- ire.g. Vivir (to live)

hablé

hablaste

habló

hablamos

hablasteis

hablaron

comí

comeste

comió

comimos

comisteis

comieron

viví

viviste

vivió

vivimos

vivisteis

vivieron

a. Nosotros (vivir) en Barcelona dos años. Entonces, (nosotros) (aprender) Catalán.

b. En Galicia, (ellos) (comer) pulpo a la gallega, pero yo ni lo (probar).

c. Ayer, (tú) (hablar) en Euskara con tu madre.

Complete the following sentences using the Past Simple:4Did you notice anything about these endings?

If you look closely, you’ll notice that the endings for verbs ending in -er and -ir are the same. So the Past is easier than the Present Simple!

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Yo

Tú

Él/Ella

Nosotros(as)

Vosotros(as)

Ellos/Ellas

Ser (to be)

fui estuve tuve hube hice dije

fuiste

fue

fuimos

fuisteis

fueron

estuviste

estuvo

estuvimos

estuvisteis

estuvieron

tuviste

tuvo

tuvimos

tuvisteis

tuvieron

hubiste

hubo

hubimos

hubisteis

hubieron

hiciste

hizo

hicimos

hicisteis

hicieron

dijistes

dijo

dijimos

dijisteis

dijeron

Estar (to be)

Tener (to have)

Haber (to have)

Hacer(to do)

Decir(to say)

Some Spanish verbs are irregular in the Past Simple. This includes some of our most impor-tant verbs ser (to be) and tener (to have).

Here they are:

IRREGULAR VERBS

The Simple Past

a. Yo (estar) en Madrid hace dos meses. (tener) la oportunidad de conocer la alcaldesa.

b. Tú (ser) mi mayor apoyo cuando (haber) el huracán.

c. Tú (ser) mi mayor apoyo cuando Silvia me (decir) todo aquello tan terrible.

d. [Ellos] (hacer) un Erasmus en Barcelona.

Complete the following sentences using these verbs in the Past (without looking at the table!):5

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Imperfect Past (Pasado Imperfecto)

But there are thousands of ways to talk about the past! Besides the Simple Past, you’ll notice Spanish-speakers also use the Imperfect Past a lot. This verbal tense is quite easy, but we’ll make a small stop to explain the differences between the Simple and the Imperfect Past.

What is the difference between the Past Simple and the Imperfect Past?

Generally speaking, the past simple is used for actions that are complete , whereas the imperfect refers to an action that doesn’t have a concrete ending . Below there are two lists of words and situations that will help you.

USE THE SIMPLE PAST:

√ To talk about a completed action (an action that had a definite beginning and an end);

√ With words like “ayer” (yesterday), “anteayer” (the day before yesterday), “ayer por la mañana/ por la tarde/ por la noche”, “anoche” (last night) or “anteanoche” (the night before the last);

√ When specifically talking about the past, with expressions like “la semana pasada” (the past week), “el mes pasado” (the last month), “el año pasado” (the last year) “el siglo pasado” (the last century);

√ With expressions beginning with “hace” like “hace dos días” (it has been two days/ two days ago), “hace un mes”, “hace poco”, “hace mucho”;

√ Expressions that refer to a particular place in time that is clearly in the past, such as “en ese momento” (in that particular moment), “desde el primer momento” (since the very first moment), “durante un siglo” (for a century).

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√ Actions without a definite end;

√ Such as actions that were repeated often (hab-its/routines/traditions) in the past. Remember which words indicate frequency in Spanish: “a menudo” (often), “frecuentemente/ confrecuen-cia” (frequently), “a veces” (sometimes), “rara vez” (rarely), siempre (“always”), “algunas/varias veces” (sometimes/ at times), “tantas/muchas veces” (a lot of times), “nunca” (never), “todos los días/meses/años” (every day, month, year);

√ Or to set the mood for a story in the past, describe a person’s age, mental or physical state in the past.

USE THE IMPERFECT:

“Cuando vivíamos en España, íbamos muchas veces a Francia.” vs. “Cuando vivimos en España fuimos a Francia muchas veces”

The first sentence should be translated as “when we lived to Spain, we used to go to France a lot of times.” The verb “vivir” (to live) in the imperfect sets the story in another time and it’s not made clear when the subject (nosotros/we) stopped living in Spain. The second verb, “íbamos” sug-gests that going to France happened frequently, hence “used to go”.

The second sentence sounds much more factu-al, “when we lived in Spain we went to France several times.” It’s referring to the past, and it sounds like the subject (nosotros/we) had the opportunity to, or even had to, go to France.

But without further ado, here’s how to form the Imperfect Past in Spanish :

EXAMPLE:

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Yo

Tú

Él/Ella, Usted

Nosotros/Nosotras

Vosotras/Vosotras

Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes

- are.g. Hablar (to speak)

- ere.g. Comer (to eat)

hablaba

hablabas

hablaba

hablábamos

hablabais

Hablaban

comía

comías

comía

comíamos

comíais

comían

Like in the simple past, -ar verbs are con-jugated one way; -er and -ir have a simi-lar conjugation.

REGULAR VERBS

Imperfect Past

a. Cuando yo (ser) niña, no (hablar) Castellano.

b. Nosotros (ir) al instituto y yo (comer) en la cantina.

c. Ellos (ver) la película con mucha atención y siempre (hablar) de todo al final.

Complete the following sentences with the verbs in the imperfect past:6

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Yo

Tú

Él/Ella

Nosotros(as)

Vosotros(as)

Ellos/Ellas

Ser (to be)

era

eras

era

éramos

iba

ibas

veía

Ir(to go)

Ver (to see)

erais

eran

iba

íbamos

ibais

iban

veías

veías

veíamos

veíais

veían

Good news! There are only 3 irregular verbs in the Imperfect. Here they are:

IRREGULAR VERBS

Imperfect Past

1vi, enamoré2estaba, supe3era, dejó4 fuimos, íbamos5comíamos, vivíamos6gustaba

a. Cuando (ver) mi pareja por primera vez, me (enamorar) de ella1.

b. (estar) en Barcelona cuando (saber) que mi madre estaba enferma2.

c. (ser) un artista muy bueno, sin embargo se (dejar) llevar por el dinero3.

d. La semana pasada (ir) a Madrid y me acordé de cuando vivíamos allá y (ir) hasta el Retiro todos los domingos4. e. Rara vez (comer) tortilla cuando (vivir) en Galicia5.

f. Me (gustar) mucho ir a la playa a menudo, comer tapas todos los días, beber cerveza y escuchar la guitarra Española por la noche6.

Complete the following sentences with the verbs in the imperfect and perfect past:7

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We know that, after learning the Present and the Past, you must have some curiosi-ty about the future in Spanish. But because we don’t want to overwhelm you with too much Spanish grammar, we’ll leave the Sim-ple future for another occasion. However, we’ll give you a sneak peak of the Spanish “near future” (futuro próximo).

The Future

What’s the near future?

The near future is similar to the English structure “going to + verb”. In Spanish, it is formed with the verb “ir” in the Simple Present and the infinitive of the verb. This means you won’t have to memorize any-thing else - you can form this verbal tense with what you already know.

Yo voy a comer una tortilla (I am going to eat a tortilla).

Él va a vivir en Moscú el año que viene (He is going to live in Moscow next year).

Nosotros vamos a viajar por España (We are going to travel through Spain).

EXAMPLE:

Yo

Tú

Él/Ella, Usted

Nosotros/Nosotras

Vosotras/Vosotras

Ellos/Ellas, Ustedes

Verb “ir” (to go) in the SimplePresent

the action

voy

vas

va

vamos

vais

van

Person

+infinitive

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