LESSON TRANSCRIPT

Verb Conjugation #3
The Present Tense and Timeless
Truths

CONTENTS
2 INTRODUCTION
2 LESSON FOCUS
15 OUTRO

# 3
COPYRIGHT © 2015 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
 INTRODUCTION

Beatriz: Bienvenidos a SpanishPod101.com.

Beatriz: Buenos días, me llamo Beatriz.

Joseph: Joseph here. Verb Conjugation Series, Lesson 3 - The Present Tense and
Timeless Truth. Buen día, how is everything going? My name is Joseph and once
again I’m graced with the presence of Beatriz.

Beatriz: Hola Joseph, ¿cómo te va?

Joseph: Todo tranquilo, gracias. It’s really great to be back here today for our third
edition of the Verb Conjugation Series.

Beatriz: Igualmente, Joseph. I’m really looking forward to starting these conjugations.

Joseph: Yeah ,me too. Since for our first two Lessons we basically introduced
ourselves to the study of verbs. Today we are going to have our first crack of trying out
some of these conjugations.

Beatriz: This is so exciting.

Joseph: It really is. This is going to be a big step for many of our students and an
important one at that.

Beatriz: That’s right. It actually starts here.

Joseph: Well, we have a lot to cover today. So hold on tight.

Beatriz: And join us for this Lesson of SpanishPod101.com.

LESSON FOCUS

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Joseph: So Beatriz, what are we going to look at today?

Beatriz: We’ll start off by learning how to form verbs in the present tense of the
indicative mode.

Joseph: Right. And is there only one usage for this tense or there a number of different
usages?

Beatriz: There are many usages.

Joseph: Okay, so which usage are we going to focus on?

Beatriz: Nos enfocaremos en el tiempo presente cuando expresa una verdad

atemporal.

Joseph: So we’ll focus on the present tense when it expresses timeless truth. Sounds
very interesting. First, we’ll look at how verbs in the present tense can be used to
express a truth that is not bound by time. And then we’ll look at how to form verbs in
the present tense for the first, second and third conjugation.

Beatriz: Oye, ¿y el extra audio, Joseph? ¡Díles!

Joseph: Ahh. Right, right. Also, don’t forget to check out the premium audio for this
Lesson where you get a review track to remember the vocabs and phrases, a paradigm
track where we walk you through the paradigms and a quiz track where you can test
yourself to see how much you’ve retained. Alright, should we start here, Bea?

Beatriz: Okay. ¡Empecemos!

Joseph: Now Beatriz, we’ve said that to we are going to be looking at the present tense
of the indicative mode.

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Beatriz: That’s right.

Joseph: So let me ask you, if I say “un triángulo tiene tres lados”, “a triangle has three
sides.” What’s the tense of the verb here?

Beatriz: It’s in the present tense.

Joseph: Right and if I say “estudio la geometría”, “I study geometry.” What’s the tense
of the verb now?

Beatriz: It’s still in the present tense.

Joseph: Okay. But there seems to be something different about these two examples.
Are they both in the indicative mode or is one in the subjunctive mode?

Beatriz: No, they are both in the indicative mode.

Joseph: So if they are both in the indicative mode and they are both in the present
tense it’s got to be something else. In the first example “un triángulo tiene tres lados”,
“a triangle has three sides”, could this be true today and false tomorrow?

Beatriz: No, no, no. Para nada.

Joseph: Okay. And what about the second example “estudio la geometría”, “I study
geometry”? Could this one be true today and false tomorrow?

Beatriz: Sure. You could stop study in it, like for example, if today is the last day of
your course.

Joseph: Right. So if the verbs these sentences are in the same mode and the same
tense, what’s different about them?

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Beatriz: El uso.

Joseph: Right, the usage is different. So for today, let’s focus on the usage of the first
example. “Un triángulo tiene tres lados”, “a triangle has three sides.” We said that this
cannot be true one day and false the next, right?

Beatriz: Right, Joseph.

Joseph: So the truth of this sentence is not bound by time?

Beatriz: No, it’s not.

Joseph: Nice. And it’s in the present tense of the indicative mode, right?

Beatriz: It is.

Joseph: So can we say that we use this tense in mode to express a timeless truth?

Beatriz: Yes, Joseph. You know there is a good example of this Beginner Lesson 6.
“Un cajón es un tambor”, “a ‘cajón’ is a drum.”

Joseph: Great example. So can a “cajón” be a drum one day and something else on
the next?

Beatriz: Nope.

Joseph: Right, that would be absurd. And because of this we see that the verb “es” has
been conjugated to the present tense of the indicative mode. It’s from the verb “ser”.
You know there was another example in Beginner Lesson 13 where Profesor Puga
says “Mariana, ¿Cuántos son cuatro más tres?”. “Mariana, how much is four plus
three?” And Mariana response “Cuatro más tres son siete”, “four plus three equals
seven.”

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Beatriz: Claro, es otro ejemplo del tiempo presente cuando expresa una verdad
atemporal.

Joseph: Right, right. It expresses the truth that is not bind up by time. Now examples
in Math are particularly useful to understand this concept.

Beatriz: Right. Another example of this usage comes up in Beginner Lesson 14 where
Professor Puga says “Y Eduardo, ¿cuántos son veinte menos siete?”.

Joseph: “And Eduardo how much is twenty minus seven?” Right. So again we can see
that the present tense is used to express a atemporal truths or timeless truths or
simply truths that are not bound up by time.

Beatriz: Now let’s look at the formation of some verbs.

Joseph: Sounds great. Let’s begin with an example.

Beatriz: Alright.

Joseph: If I say “Jorge ama a Susana”, “Jorge loves Susana”. Does the action of the
verb seem real or merely possible?

Beatriz: It seems real.

Joseph: And if a verb expresses an action as real, do we say that it’s in the indicative
mode or the subjunctive mode?

Beatriz: We call this the indicative mode.

Joseph: So we know that the verb “ama” is in the indicative mode. Now, in the same
example “Jorge ama a Susana”, “Jorge loves Susana.” Are we saying that he used to

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love her, that he loves her now or that he will love her tomorrow?

Beatriz: We are saying that he loves her now.

Joseph: Exactly. Does this tells us that the action of the verb is in the past, present or
future tense?

Beatriz: It’s in the present tense.

Joseph: Fantastic. So today we are going to focus on verbs in the present tense of the
indicative mode. That is verbs that express actions as real which takes place right
now.

Beatriz: So Joseph, how many types of verbs did we say there are in the Spanish
language?

Joseph: We said there are many types but that we can group the regular verbs into
three basic categories or conjugations.

Beatriz: And what are these three conjugations?

Joseph: There are those that end in “ar”, the first conjugation; “er”, the second
conjugation; and “ir”, the third conjugation.

Beatriz: So then which conjugation does the verb “amar” belong to?

Joseph: Well, because it ends in “-ar”, “ar”, it would belong to the first conjugation.

Beatriz: Right. And what about the verb “comer”, “to eat”?

Joseph: This one has got an “er” ending, I would say it belongs to the second
conjugation.

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Beatriz: And now, how about “partir”, “to leave”?

Joseph: Well, with the “ir” ending I would have to say it belongs to the third
conjugation.

Beatriz: ¡Excelente! Usemos estos verbos como modelos.

Joseph: Good idea. We use these verbs as models as we learn how to form the
endings. Now before we jump in here let’s remember that when we see a verb with
either an “ar”, “er” or “ir” endings we are looking at it in the infinitive form. This is key
because it tells us which conjugation it belongs to and this is also how you would find it
in a dictionary and on a vocabulary list. So let’s start by figuring out what the stem of
the verb “amar” is. Bea, could you tell us?

Beatriz: Of course. The stem is “am” spelt “a-m”.

Joseph: So if the verb is “amar” and the stem is “am”, the ending is going to be...

Beatriz: “Ar”, spell “ar”.

Joseph: Right. So because this ending is “-ar” we can say that belongs to the first
conjugation or that it’s an “ar” verb.

Beatriz: Así es.

Joseph: Now Bea, if we want to say “I love”, how do we change the ending?

Beatriz: We just need to remove the ending from the infinitive end “-ar” and add “-o”.
From “amar”, “amo”, “I love.”

Joseph: And if we want to say “you love”, where we are just addressing one single

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person informally.

Beatriz: Here we would just remove the ending from the infinitive form and add “as”.
From “amar”, “amas”, “you love.”

Joseph: Now if you want to say “he loves”, how would we do it?

Beatriz: This time we would drop the infinitive ending and just add “a”. From “amar”,
“ama”, “he loves.”

Joseph: Nice. And what about if we want to say “she loves”?

Beatriz: It could also be “ama”.

Joseph: Then how would we know that it’s referring to she and not to he?

Beatriz: Well, if wasn’t explicit in the context we would add the personal pronoun “ella”
in saying “ella ama”.

Joseph: So the personal pronoun are not required in Spanish?

Beatriz: No Joseph, they are not.

Joseph: Then when do we use them?

Beatriz: Only when the statement would otherwise be ambiguous or if we want to add
emphasis to the subject.

Joseph: Got you. So what about if you want to say “you love” and we’re addressing
one person but this time formally?

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Beatriz: It’s the same as the last. We would just say “ama” or with the personal
pronoun “usted ama”.

Joseph: Well, this is great. Now that we have covered the first, second and third
person singular of the first conjugation. So if we want to say “we love”?

Beatriz: Then we would use the ending “amos” spell “a-m-o-s”. From “amar”, “amamos”,
“we love.”

Joseph: And if we are addressing a group of people informally, how would you say “you
all love”?

Beatriz: We would add the ending “áis” spell “á” with an accent “is”. From “amar”,
“amáis”, “you all love.”

Joseph: And what about “they love”?

Beatriz: Yes, like we saw in the third person singular, the verb form is the same when
we are talking about they, the man or the masculine things , they, the woman or the
feminine things, or you all in the formal sense.

Joseph: And what’s the ending?

Beatriz: It’s just “an” spell “a-n”. From “amar”, “aman”, “they love” or “you all love.”

Joseph: Okay, let’s move on to the verb “comer”. Beatriz can you help us identify the
stem?

Beatriz: The stem is “com”.

Joseph: Okay. And if the stem is “com” then the ending would be...

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Beatriz: “Er”, spell “e-r”.

Joseph: So this is an “er” verb which means that the vowel “e” going to take the place
of the vowel “a” as we saw in the first conjugation. So Beatriz, how would we say “I
eat”?

Beatriz: “Yo como”.

Joseph: And to form this we would remove that “er” ending from the infinitive form and
add an “o” just like we did with the verb “amar”. From “comer”, “como”, “I eat.” And
Beatriz if we want to say “you eat” addressing one person informally?

Beatriz: “Comes”.

Joseph: And this time we are just removing the infinitive ending “er” and we are adding
the “es” instead of that “as” which we saw in that first conjugation. So now from
“comer”, “comes”, “you eat.”

Beatriz: That’s right.

Joseph: Okay. And we know that we use the same verb form to say “he eats”, “she
eats” or “you eat” when we are speaking to someone formally, so how would we do
this?

Beatriz: We would remove the “er” ending from the infinitive form and simply add an
“e”. From “comer”, “come”, “he eats”, “she eats” or “you eat.”

Joseph: And now that we have covered the first, second and third person singular for
the second conjugation or for a regular “er” verb. Now let’s move on to the plural. How
would say “we eat”?

Beatriz: Well, remember when we did this with an “ar” verb?

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Joseph: Yeah removed the “ar” ending from the infinitive and then we added “amos” to
get “amamos”, “we love.”

Beatriz: Well, because this is an “er” verb we are going to remove the infinitive ending
and add “emos”. From “comer”, “comemos”, “we eat.”

Joseph: And if we are addressing a group of people informally, how would we say “we
all eat”?

Beatriz: “Vosotros coméis”.

Joseph: Right, right. And this time we’ve dropped the infinitive ending which we are
doing for all of these verbs and then we added “-éis” spelled “e” with an accent and “is”.
From “comer”, “coméis”, “you all eat.” So we know that the verb form for the third
person is the same whether we are talking about they, the man, or the masculine
things or they, the woman or the feminine things, or you all in a formal sentence, so
how do we form this verb, Bea?

Beatriz: We’ll drop the “er” ending from the infinitive and add the ending “en” spelled
“en”. From “comer”, “comen”, “they eat” or “you all eat.”

Joseph: Now let’s look at the verb “partir” which belongs to the third conjugation. So to
get us started what can we say the stem for this verb is?

Beatriz: “Part”.

Joseph: Right. And if the stem is “part” that means the ending in the infinitive is...

Beatriz: “Ir”, spelled “i-r”.

Joseph: So can we expect to see the same changes in the vowel of the ending as we
saw in the “ar” and “er” verbs?

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Beatriz: Well, you will think so but that’s not really the case.

Joseph: No?

Beatriz: Regular verbs of the third conjugation are formed a lot like verbs of the second
conjugation.

Joseph: So in other words “ir” verbs are formed a lot like “er” verbs?

Beatriz: Right. They only different in two places.

Joseph: And where are those places?

Beatriz: In the first and second person plural.

Joseph: Okay. Let’s run through the conjugation and see how this happens. So how
would I say “I leave”?

Beatriz: “Parto”.

Joseph: So we’ve removed the “ir” ending from the infinitive and added an “o”.

Beatriz: Right, from “partir”, “parto”, “I leave.”

Joseph: And to say “you leave” addressing just one person informally?

Beatriz: “Partes”.

Joseph: Ahh, so it does look an “er” verb. Here we’ve removed the “ir” ending from the
infinitive which we always do with these verbs and added “es”.

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Beatriz: Right, Joseph. From “partir”, “partes”, “you leave.”

Joseph: And to say “he leaves”, “she leaves” or “you leave” when we are addressing
someone formally?

Beatriz: “Parte”.

Joseph: So again, this formation so far is identical to that of regular “er” verbs, in the
sense that we’ve removed the infinitive ending and added an “e”.

Beatriz: From “partir”, “parte”.

Joseph: So that’s the first second and third person singular and we haven’t seen
anything from the “er” verb yet. Bea, how do we say “we leave”?

Beatriz: We will remove the infinitive ending and add “-imos”, spelled “i-m-o-s”.

Joseph: So from “partir” to “partimos”, “we leave.” So I guess I spoke too soon? Here
we see that the “-imos” ending has the “i” vowel in it which reminds us that it’s an “ir”
verb. This we didn’t see with the “er” verb “comer”. So what about if we want to say
“you all leave” If we are addressing a group of people informally?

Beatriz: This one too is different from the “er” verb.

Joseph: Alright, let’s see how.

Beatriz: Here we drop the infinitive ending and add “-ís”, spelled “i” with an accent “s”.

Joseph: So from “partir” to “partís”, “you all leave.” And again this ending is proper to
regular “ir” verbs. We didn’t see this one in the conjugation of an “er” verb.

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Beatriz: No, we didn’t.

Joseph: So there is just one more form, Bea. How would we say “they leave” whether
we are talking about the men, women, masculine things, feminine things or addressing
a group of people formally?

Beatriz: We would say “parten”, adding the “en” ending to the stem.

Joseph: Ahh. So from “partir” to “parten”. Now this form is identical to that of the “er”
verb conjugation.

Beatriz: Right. So again the only difference is with the conjugation of “er” and “ir” verbs
occur in the first and second person plural.

OUTRO

Joseph: Well, this has been a really great Lesson. I know that we’ve covered a lot but
we’ve taken such a big step in conjugating one verb from each conjugation.

Beatriz: I think we have made some real progress.

Joseph: Me too. So be sure to check out the premium audio for this Lesson, where you
will get the review track to reinforce the vocabulary, the paradigms to make sure you
remember the conjugations we’ve covered here and the quiz to test your understanding
of the grammar related to verbs. Thanks for joining us and we will see you soon.

Beatriz: Gracias por acompañarnos y ya nos vemos muy pronto.

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