Advanced Conversational Spanish

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Advanced Conversational Spanish Mood and Tense

Grammatical mood reflects a speaker's attitude toward a statement. Spanish has three moods: the subjunctive, the indicative, and the imperative.

• The subjunctive mood is used to talk about desires, doubts, wishes, conjectures, and possibilities.

• The indicative mood is used to talk about facts and other statements that are believed to be true and concrete.

• The imperative mood is used to give commands.

Grammatical tense refers to when an action takes place. Spanish has three tenses: the past, the present, and the future.

In this course, we will learn to use the past and future tenses as well as the imperative mood and the subjunctive mood.

Advanced Conversational Spanish Course Outline

Week 1 –

• Preterite (past tense)

• Imperfect (past tense)

Week 2 –

• Future Tense

• Conditional (combines future and past nuances)

Week 3 – Commands (imperative mood)

Week 4 – Present subjunctive (subjunctive mood)

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Week 1: El Pretérito

Past Tense (Preterite)

Take a look at the past tense in Spanish. You can start by learning the more commonly used form.

Read the following examples and make the changes in your verbs. You won’t be perfect at first,

but Spanish speakers will know what you’re trying to say.

-ar Verbs (To Speak) hablar (ah-‘blahr) -er/ir Verbs (To Leave)

salir (sah-‘leer)

I spoke with the child. Hablé con el niño. I left at eight. Salí a las ocho. You (informal) spoke slowly. Hablaste lentamente. You (informal) left quickly. Saliste rápidamente. You (formal), he, she spoke a lot. Habló mucho. You (formal), he, she left late. Salió tarde. You (pl.), they spoke English. Hablaron inglés. You (pl.), they left Salieron We spoke a little. Hablamos un poco. We left in a car. Salimos en el carro.

As usual, some common verbs have irregular past tenses, so be on the lookout for new patterns.

To Go: ir (eer)

I went. Fui (fwee) Fui a la casa.

You (informal) went. Fuiste (‘fwee-steh) You (formal), he, she went. Fue (fweh)

You (pl.), they went. Fueron (‘fweh-rohn)

We went. Fuimos (‘fwee-mohs)

To Have: tener (teh-‘nehr)

I had. Tuve (‘too-veh) Tuve la fiesta.

You (informal) had. Tuviste (too-‘vee-steh) You (formal), he, she had. Tuvo (‘too-‘voh)

You (pl.), they had. Tuvieron (too-vee-‘eh-rohn)

We had. Tuvimos (too-‘vee-mohs)

To Say: decir (deh-‘seer)

I said. Dije (‘dee-heh) Dije la verdad.

You (informal) said. Dijiste (dee-‘hee-steh) You (formal), he, she said. Dijo (‘dee-hoh)

You (pl.), they said. Dijeron (dee-‘heh-rohn)

We said. Dijimos (dee-‘hee-mohs)

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Week 1: El Tiempo Imperfecto

Past Tense (Imperfect)

In general, the imperfect is used to talk about past actions, conditions, or events that occurred habitually or repeatedly or that were in progress at a point in the past. It is also used to tell time, talk about dates, give a person's age, and describe characteristics, conditions, and feelings in the past. Read on for more about these uses of the imperfect.

Habitual or Repeated Actions: Habitual or repeated actions are those that were done over and over in the past. These are often things a person used to or would do.

• Almorzábamos cada día. (We used to eat lunch together every day.)

• Todos los sábados las mujeres iban de compras. (Every Saturday the ladies would go shopping.)

Actions that Were in Progress in the Past: It's quite common to see the imperfect used to talk about something that was happening when something else occurred. It's also used for actions that continued in the past for an unspecified period of time. When talking about a past action in progress that was interrupted, the action in progress is in the imperfect, while the interrupting action is in the preterite.

• Iba a clase cuando sonó el teléfono. (I was going to class when the telephone rang.)

• Mi papá cocinaba cuando entré a casa. (My dad was cooking when I came in the house.)

• A veces le dolían las manos y las piernas. (Sometimes her hands and feet ached.)

• A veces le dolían las manos y las piernas. (Sometimes her hands and feet ached.)

Times and Dates: The imperfect is used to talk about times and dates in the past.

• Eran las tres de la tarde. (It was three o'clock in the afternoon.)

• Era el 9 de mayo. (It was May 9th.)

Age: The imperfect is commonly used to talk about age in the past.

• La niña tenía 4 años. (The little girl was 4 years old.)

• Los perros tenían dos años cuando los adopté. (The dogs were two years old when I adopted them.)

Descriptions of Characteristics, Conditions, and Feelings: The imperfect is used to give descriptions in the past, especially those that set the scene in terms of the senses.

• Mi profesor era alto y tenía el pelo ondulado. (My professor was tall and had wavy hair.)

• El campo era bello. (The countryside was beautiful.)

• Hacía calor esa noche. (It was hot that night.)

• Me sentía feliz con mi trabajo nuevo. (I was happy with my new job.)

• Quería mudarme a otro país. (I wanted to move to another country.)

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To conjugate a regular verb in the imperfect tense in Spanish, simply remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) and add the imperfect ending that matches the subject. Check out the table of regular imperfect endings below.

Regular Imperfect Verb Endings

Subject -ar Verbs -er and -ir Verbs

yo -aba -ía

tú -abas -ías

él, ella, usted -aba -ía

nosotros -ábamos -íamos

vosotros -abais -íais

ellos, ellas, ustedes -aban -ían

Irregular Imperfect Forms: There are only three verbs with irregular conjugations in the imperfect: ir, ser, and ver. Here they are!

Irregular Imperfect Conjugations

Subject Ir (to go) Ser (to be) Ver (to see)

yo iba

era

veía

tú ibas

eras

veías

él, ella, usted iba

era

veía

nosotros íbamos

éramos

veíamos

vosotros ibais

erais

veíais

ellos, ellas, ustedes iban

eran

veían

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C u ent o 2 from SeniorJordan.com:

Ver bo s:

• hubo – there was

• había –there was; there used to be

• se llamó – she called herself

• se llamaba –she called herself; she was calling herself; she used to call herself

• tuvo – she had

• tenía – she had; she was having; she used to have

• estuvo – she was

• estaba – she was; she used to be

• padeció – she suffered

• padecía –she suffered; she was suffering; she used to suffer

• se acordó – she remembered

• se acordaba – she remembered; she was remembering; she used to remember

• sacó – she took out Respuestas:

• sacaba – she took out; she was taking out; she used to take out

• marcó – she dialed

• marcaba – she dials; she was dialing; she used to dial

• habló – she talked

• hablaba – she talked; she was talking; she used to talk

• le dijo – she said [to the person]

• decía – she said [to the person]; she was saying; she used to say

• fueron – they went

• iban – they went; they were going; they used to go

• llegaron – they arrived

• llegaban – they arrived; they were arriving; they used to arrive

• rescataron – they rescued

• rescataban – they rescued; they were rescuing; they used to rescue

• se sintió – she felt

• se sintió – she felt; she was feeling; she used to feel

1(Hubo / Había) una muchacha. La muchacha 2(se llamó / se llamaba)Gloria. Gloria 3(tuvo / tenía) un problema. 4(Estuvo / Estaba) atrapada enun ascensor. 5(Estuvo / Estaba) muy nerviosa. 6(Padeció / Padecía) declaustrofobia.

Pero Gloria 7(se acordó / se acordaba) que 8(tuvo / tenía) su teléfonocelular. 9(Sacó / Sacaba) su teléfono. 10(Marcó / Marcaba) 9-1-1 en elteléfono. 11(Habló / Hablaba) con una persona amable y le 12(dijo / decía)que 13(estuvo /estaba) atrapada en un ascensor. La persona le 14(dijo /decía) que los bomberos 15(fueron / iban) a llegar a ayudarla. Losbomberos 16(llegaron / llegaban) y 17(rescataron / rescataban) a Gloria. 18(Sesintió / Se sentía) aliviada.

Vocab:

una muchacha – a girl

un problema – a problem

atrapada – trapped un ascensor – elevator

claustrofobia – claustrophobia

su teléfono celular – her cell phone

una persona – a person

amable – kind

los bomberos – firefighters

llegar a ayudarla – arrive to help her

aliviada – relieved

había se llamaba

tenía

estaba

estaba

padecía

se acordó

tenía

sacó

marcó habló

dijo

estaba

dijo

iban

llegaron

se sintió

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Week 2: El Tiempo Futuro

Future Tense

The Spanish simple future is used to talk about what will or shall happen. It is also used to express the possibility of what someone might or may be doing in the present.

There are two ways to form the future tense in Spanish: the informal future (ir + a + infinitive…voy a dormir) and the simple future. The simple future, unlike the informal future, is expressed in a single word. To form the simple future tense, simply add the correct ending to the infinitive of the verb. All verb conjugations (-ar, -er, and -ir) have the same endings in the simple future tense.

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Week 2: El Condicional

Conditional Tense

The conditional tense in Spanish is used to talk about hypothetical situations and probabilities and to

make polite requests. It is used in a similar way to how we would express conditional ideas in English. Every time you think you could use a word like ‘would’, ‘could’ or ‘should’ in English, it is likely there is a Spanish equivalent. One of the most common uses of the Spanish conditional tense is for expressing desires for the future. In English, you would use the phrase ‘I would like’ to express a preference for what you would want to happen in the future. In Spanish, you can use the conditional form of ‘gustar’, ‘desear’ or ‘querer’ to express a similar idea. Another common use of the Spanish conditional tense is for giving advice. (e.g., Problem: You are feeling sick. Advice: If I were you, I would spend all day in bed. Consejo: Yo que tú, pasaría todo el día en la cama.)

The Spanish conditional tense is one of the easier Spanish verb tenses to conjugate because the conjugations for the regular ‘ar’, ‘er’ and ‘ir’ verbs are all exactly the same. The Spanish conditional tense is formed in exactly the same way as the Spanish future simple tense. To form the conditional tense with regular verbs, simply add the conditional endings to the end of the infinitive. Another bonus, there are only a small number irregular verbs.

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Week 3: ¡Órdenes!

Commands and Requests (Imperative Mood)

Let’s spend some time reviewing the following important command or request words. They are unique forms of

verbs that can be used all by themselves. Try using them in work-related situations – and always say por favor.

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A simple approach to forming a formal command in Spanish requires knowledge of the three different

action word (verb) endings. As you know, the endings are:

-ar as in hablar (ah-‘blahr) to speak

-er as in comer (koh-‘mehr) to eat -ir as in escribir (eh-skree-‘beer) to write

To make a formal command word, drop the last letter of the first person singular (yo) form and replace

it as follows:

-ar = -e

hablo = ¡Hable! (‘ah-bleh) Speak!

-er = -a

como = ¡Coma! (‘koh-mah) Eat!

-ir = -a

escribo = ¡Escriba! Write!

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Infinitive (verb) First Person Singular (yo) Form Command/request

venir (to come) vengo come = venga (‘vehn-gah) seguir (to follow) sigo follow = siga (‘see-gah) ir (to go) voy go = vaya (‘vah-yah) escuchar (to listen) escucho listen = escuche (‘eh-‘skoo-cheh) esperar (to wait) espero wait = espere (eh-‘speh-reh) llamar (to call) llamo call = llame (‘yah-meh) cerrar (to close) cierro close = cierre (see-‘eh-reh) salir (to leave) salgo leave = salga (‘sahl-gah) regresar (to return) regreso return = regrese (re-‘greh-seh) firmar (to sign) firmo sign = firme (‘feer-meh) tomar (to take) tomo take = tome (‘toh-meh) escribir (to write) escribo write = escriba (eh-‘skree-bah) traer (to bring) traigo bring = traiga (‘trah·ee-gah)

bring it = tráigala (‘trah·ee-gah-lah)

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Week 4: El Presente de Subjuntivo

Present Subjunctive Mood

The Spanish present subjunctive is used to talk about situations of doubt, desire, emotion, necessity, or uncertainty.

To conjugate a verb in the present subjunctive, you must first remember what the present indicative yo form of the verb in question is. This is because the stem of present subjunctive verbs comes from the yo form of the present indicative. For many verbs, this will be the same as the infinitive stem, but for many others, such as verbs with spelling changes, stem-changing verbs, and irregular verbs, it will be different. The formula for finding the present subjunctive stem of a verb is the following:

Present subjunctive stem = yo form of present indicative minus o ending

Once you have the stem, you will add the present subjunctive ending that matches your subject. There are only two ending sets for the present subjunctive: one for -ar verbs and one for both -er and -ir verbs.

Irregular Present Subjunctive Verbs There are only six truly irregular verbs in the subjunctive. You'll find the conjugations for each of these verbs in the tables below.

Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Dar, Estar, and Ser

Subject Dar Estar Ser

yo dé esté sea

tú des estés seas

usted, él, ella

dé esté sea

nosotros demos estemos seamos

vosotros deis estéis seáis

ustedes, ellos, ellas

den estén sean

-AR yo -e tú -es

-e -emos -éis -en

-ER/-IR yo -a tú -as

-a -amos -áis -an

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Present Subjunctive Conjugations of Haber, Ir, and Saber

Subject Haber Ir Saber

yo haya vaya sepa

tú hayas vayas sepas

usted, él, ella haya vaya sepa

nosotros hayamos vayamos sepamos

vosotros hayáis vayáis sepáis

ustedes, ellos, ellas hayan vayan sepan

Stem Changes in the Present Subjunctive

1. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ar and -er Verbs

For verbs in this group, the e in the last syllable of the stem changes to ie, or the o in the last syllable of the stem changes to ue. All subjunctive forms follow the stem change except for nosotros and vosotros, which use the infinitive stem.

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Querer

quiera queramos

quieras queráis

quiera quieran

2. e> ie and o> ue Stem Changes with -ir Verbs

All e> ie and o> ue stem-changing -ir verbs follow the same changes as in the present indicative, except the nosotros and vosotros, forms, in which the e changes to i and the o changes to u.

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Sentir

sienta sintamos

sientas sintáis

sienta sientan

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Dormir

duerma durmamos

duermas durmáis

duerma duerman

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3. e> i Stem Changes with -ir Verbs All e> i stem-changing -ir verbs in the present indicative maintain the stem change in all forms of the present subjunctive.

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Pedir

pida pidamos

pidas pidáis

pida pidan

Spelling Changes

Some verbs in the present subjunctive undergo spelling changes. This often occurs for reasons of pronunciation, and these changes often match those of verbs with spelling changes in the preterite. Let's take a look at some of these verbs.

1. -ger and -gir Verbs: Verbs ending in -ger and -gir have a j instead of a g in the subjunctive. The base form for these verbs is the first person form of the present tense, which undergoes a spelling change.

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Escoger

escoja escojamos

escojas escojáis

escoja escojan

2. -car, -gar, and -zar Verbs: Verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar undergo a change in the final consonant before -ar. These consonants change to qu, gu, and c, respectively. Some of these verbs, such as empezar, also under go stem changes.

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Sacar

saque saquemos

saques saquéis

saque saquen

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Llegar

llegue lleguemos

llegues lleguéis

llegue lleguen

Present Subjunctive Conjugation Table for Empezar

empiece empecemos

empieces empecéis

empiece

empiecen

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