Lección 7: Gramática

1. Pretérito de verbos regulares2. Pretérito de SER, IR, y DAR3. Pronombres usados como

complemento indirecto4. El verbo GUSTAR

5. Construcciones reflexivas

Pretérito de verbos regulares (1)

• Spanish has two simple past tenses: the preterit and the imperfect. The endings for -er and -ir verbs are identical.

yo tomé I took; I did takeUd. comió you ate; you did eatellos decidieron they decided; they did

decide

Pretérito de verbos regulares (2)

• Verbs ending in -ar and -er that are stem-changing in the present indicative are regular in the preterit.

encontrar: tú encuentras (present) tú encontraste (preterit)

volver: yo vuelvo (present)yo volví (preterit)

Pretérito de verbos regulares (3)

• Verbs ending in -gar, -car, and -zar change g to gu, c to qu, and z to cbefore é in the first person of the preterit.

• pagar →pagué• buscar →busqué• empezar →empecé

Pretérito de verbos regulares (4)

• Verbs whose stem ends in a strong vowel change the unaccented i of thepreterit ending to y in the third-person singular and plural of the preterit.

• leer →leyó leyeron

Pretérito de verbos regulares (5)

• The preterit tense refers to actions or events that the speaker views as completed in the past.

• ¿Qué compraste ayer?• Compré un florero.

• ¿Qué comieron Uds.?• Comimos ensalada.

Pretérito de verbos regulares (6)

• Note that Spanish has no equivalent for the English did used as an auxiliary verb in questions and negative sentences.

• ¿Encontraste el dinero?• “Did you find the money?”• No lo busqué.• “I didn’t look for it.”

Pretérito de SER, IR, y DAR (1)

Pretérito de SER, IR, y DAR (2)

• ¿Fuiste al club ayer? Sí, fui para comprar ropa. Papá me dio el

dinero.

• ¿Quién fue tu profesor de español? El Dr. Vega.

Pretérito de SER, IR, y DAR (3)

• Note that ser and ir have identical preterit forms; however, there is no confusion as to meaning, because the context clarifies it.

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (1)

• In addition to a subject and direct object, a sentence can have an indirect object.

Ella les da el dinero a los muchachos. s. v. D.O. I.O.

What does she give? (el dinero)To whom does she give it? (a los muchachos)

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (2)

Ella les da el dinero a los muchachos.

s. v. D.O. I.O.

• In this sentence, ella is the subject who performs the action, el dinero is the direct object, and a los muchachos is the indirect object, the final recipient of the action expressed by the verb.

• Indirect object nouns are for the most part preceded by the preposition a.

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (3)

• An indirect object usually tells to whom or for whom something is done. Compare these sentences:

Yo voy a mandarlo a México. (lo: direct object)I’m going to send him to Mexico.

Yo voy a mandarle dinero. (le: indirect object)I’m going to send him money. (I’m going to send money to him.)

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (4)

• An indirect object pronoun can be used with or in place of the indirect object. In Spanish, the indirect object pronoun includes the meaning to or for. The forms of the indirect object pronouns are shown in the following table.

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (5)

• Indirect object pronouns have the same form as direct object pronouns, except in the third person.

• Indirect object pronouns are usually placed in front of the conjugated verb.

Le dimos una propina. We gave him a tip.

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (6)

• When used with an infinitive or in the present progressive, however, the indirect object pronoun may either be placed in front of the conjugatedverb or attached to the infinitive or the present participle.

Le voy a escribir una carta. (conj. verb)or:Voy a escribirle una carta. (infinitive)

I’m going to write you a letter.

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (7)

• The indirect object pronouns le and les require clarification when the context does not specify the gender or the person to which they refer. Spanish provides clarification by using the preposition a + pronoun or noun.

Le doy la información. I give the information . . . but: (to whom? to him? to her? to you?) Le doy la información a ella. I give the information to her.

Pronombres usados como complemento indirecto (8)

• The prepositional phrase provides clarification or emphasis; it is not, however, a substitute for the indirect object pronoun. While the prepositional form can be omitted, the indirect object pronoun must always be used.

¿Qué vas a comprarle a tu hija? Le voy a comprar un florero.

El verbo GUSTAR (1)• The verb gustar means to like something or somebody

(literally, to be pleasing). A special construction is required in Spanish to translate the English to like. Note that the equivalent of the English direct object becomes the subject of the Spanish sentence. The English subject then becomes the indirect object of the Spanish sentence.

I like your house.• Me gusta tu casa. s. D.O. I.O. s. Your house is pleasing to me. s. I.O.

El verbo GUSTAR (2)

Example: Me gusta tu casa.• Gustar is always used with an indirect object

pronoun —in this example, me.• The two most commonly used forms of gustar

are the third-person singular gusta if the subject is singular or if the verb is followed by one or more infinitives, and the third-person plural gustan if the subject is plural.

El verbo GUSTAR (3)

El verbo GUSTAR (4)

• Note that gustar agrees in number with the subject of the sentence, that is, the person or thing being liked.Me gustan las manzanas. Apples are

pleasing to me.• The person who does the liking is the indirect

object.Me gustan las manzanas. Apples are pleasing

to me.

El verbo GUSTAR (5)

Examples:- ¿Les gusta el francés? “Do you like French?”- Sí, nos gusta mucho el francés, pero nos gusta

más el español. “Yes, we like French very much, but we like Spanish better.”

• Note that the words más and mucho immediately follow gustar.

El verbo GUSTAR (6)

• The preposition a + a noun or pronoun is used to clarify meaning or to emphasize the indirect object.

A Aurora (A ella) le gusta esa panadería, pero a mí no me gusta.

A Beto y a Rosa les gusta ese restaurante.

• If the thing liked is an action, the second verb is an infinitive: Me gusta patinar.

Construcciones reflexivas (1)

• The reflexive construction (e.g., I introduce myself ) consists in Spanish of a reflexive pronoun and a verb.

• Reflexive pronouns refer to the same person as the subject of the sentence does.

Construcciones reflexivas (2)

Construcciones reflexivas (3)

• Reflexive pronouns are positioned in the sentence in the same manner as object pronouns.

• Note that except for se, reflexive pronouns have the same forms as the direct and indirect object pronouns.

Construcciones reflexivas (4)

• The third-person singular and plural se is invariable, that is, it does not show gender or number.

• Any verb that can act upon the subject can be made reflexive in Spanish with the aid of a reflexive pronoun.

Construcciones reflexivas (5)

Construcciones reflexivas (6)

Construcciones reflexivas (7)

• The following commonly used verbs are reflexive.aburrirse to get boredacostarse (o>ue) to go to bedafeitarse, rasurarse to shavebañarse to bathedespertarse (e>ie) to wake updivertirse (e>ie) to have fun

Construcciones reflexivas (8)

• The following commonly used verbs are reflexive (cont.)lavarse to wash oneselflevantarse to get upponerse to put onprobarse (o>ue) to try onquitarse to take offsentarse (e>ie) to sit down

Construcciones reflexivas (9)

Ejemplos:- ¿A qué hora se levantan Uds.?- Yo me levanto a las seis y Jorge se levanta a

las ocho.

- Uds. se levantaron muy tarde hoy.- Sí, porque anoche nos acostamos a la

medianoche.