LESSON NOTES

Verb Conjugation #1
The Essential Tools: Part 1

CONTENTS

Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Grammar
Cultural insight

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VOCABULARY

Spanish English Class Gender

verbo verb noun masculine

segundo second adjective, adverb, pronoun

primero (a) first adjective, adverb, pronoun

persona person noun feminine

plural plural adjective, noun masculine

singular singular adjective, noun masculine

número number noun masculine

imperativo imperative adjective, noun masculine

subjuntivo subjunctive adjective, noun masculine

indicativo indicative adjective, noun masculine

modo mood noun masculine

tercero third adjective

SAMPLE SENTENCES

El verbo siempre expresa una acción. El verbo 'dices' está en la segunda persona.

"The verb always expresses an action." "The verb dices is in the second person."

Ve tú primero. En español, hay tres personas.

"You go first." "In Spanish, there are three persons."

El verbo 'aman' está en plural. El verbo 'habla' está en singular.

"The verb 'aman' is in the plural." "The verb 'habla' is in the singular."

El número del verbo puede ser singular o plural. El imperativo es el modo de mandato.

"The number of the verb can be singular or "The imperative is the mood of command."
plural."

Con el modo subjuntivo, expresamos la acción El modo indicativo expresa la acción verbal como
verbal como posible. real.

"With the subjunctive mood, we express the "The indicative mood expresses verbal action as
verbal action as possible." real."

Es importante aprender a usar bien los modos El verbo 'llama' está en la tercera persona.
verbales.
"The verb llama is in the third person."
"It's important to learn how to use the verbal
moods well."

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GRAMMAR
A verb expresses an act, an occurrence or a way of being. It's made up of two main parts: the stem and
the ending. With the verb "amar", the stem is "am-" and the ending, "-ar".

In Spanish, one way to categorize verbs is into "modos" (moods). In general, the mood of a verb tells us
someone about how the speaker feels in relation to the action that's expressed:

1) The Indicative Mood: expresses action as real (i.e. "me llamó a las ocho", he called me at eight
o'clock).
2) The Subjunctive Mood: expresses action as possible (i.e. "espero que me llame", I hope that he calls
me).
3) The Imperative Mood: expresses the action as a command (i.e. "¡llámame!", call me!).

Another way to look systematically at verbs is to identify their "person" (first, second or third) and
"number" (singular or plural). While the endings of verbs in Spanish always indicate to which person
they belong, it is also helpful to relate each verb to a personal pronoun, as it required in English. Here is
a table showing these:

Person Singular Plural

First yo nosotros
(I) (we)

Second tú vosotros
(you, informal) (you all, informal)

Third él ellos
(he) (they, masculine)

Third ella ellas

(she) (they, feminine)

Third usted ustedes

(you, formal) (you all, formal)

CULTURAL INSIGHT
When we talk about the "usage" of a verb, we're talking about the particular "meaning" it takes on in a
given context. This, of course, is not particular to Spanish. Let's see what this means in English. For
example, if we say "I'm at the store right now", we can say that the verb "to be" is in the Present Tense of
the Indicative Mood, but that this usage is the "Actual Present". That is, the time expressed by the verb is
simultaneous to the time of speech. Now, to see another usage of the same tense, we can say "So,
yesterday, I'm at the store and this guy steals my wallet!"  Here, the verb "to be" is conjugated to the
Present Tense of the Indicative Mood, but it's usage is no longer the "Actual Present"; now it's the
"Historical Present". This kind of usage the Present Tense takes the place the Preterit Tense, since we
could also express the same idea with the following expression: "Yesterday, I was at the store and this
guy stole my wallet!". As we go through this Series, we'll explore the different usages of verbs in
different tenses.

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