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Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, hay, haber

It is important to be able to know how to say “there is” or “there are” in Spanish because it will be the basis upon which you can start describing places. In Spanish the verb to use is Haber. This verb, however, is irregular. For now, though, you don’t need to worry yourself with the conjugations. All you need to know is the following:

Hay = There is/There are

That’s right, in Spanish there is one verb conjugation to express both “there is” and “there are.” Nice, eh? Let’s look at some examples:

Hay tres niños en mi casa. (There are three kids in my house).
Hay un libro en la mesa. (There is a book on the table).
As you can see, Hay is used for both - there is and there are.

Click here to read more on Hay.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish irregular verbs, the spanish verb Poder, conjugating poder

Time to learn another very handy verb! The Spanish verb Poder, which is another irregular verb. Poder means “can or to be able to.”

Poder being an irregular verb, means it’s not conjugated the normal way, rather, there is a stem-change: o –> ue (except with nosotros)

Here is how to conjugated Poder:

Yo puedo (I can, or I am able to …)
Tú puedes (You can…)
Él/Ella/Usted puede (He/She/You can …)
Nosotros podamos (We can)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes pueden (They/You can …)
Now, including this lesson, you should now know how to conjugate the Spanish verbs: Ir, Tener and Poder. These are all great connector verbs, which you can use to expand your communications in Spanish.

With Poder, you can now express all the things you can or cannot do. For example:

Yo puedo correr rápido. (I can run fast).
No puedes comer mucho. (You can’t eat a lot).
Él puede patinar, bailar y concinar. (He can skate, dance and cook).

Click here to learn more Spanish grammar.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish verb tener, spanish irregular verbs, expressing age in spanish

Another VERY useful Spanish irregular verb is the verb Tener, which means to have. However, note that “tener” is not to be used in the sense of saying, “I have eaten a lot.” There is another Spanish verb, the verb Haber that is used for this purpose, which you will learn much much much later.

Tener is used to indicate possession and for a multitude of other uses, such as expressing hunger, thirst, fear, luck, etc. Click here to read more on the idiomatic expressions of Tener.

Here’s how to conjugate the Spanish verb Tener:

Yo tengo (I have)
Tú tienes (You have)
Él/Ella/Usted tiene (He/She/You have)
Nosotros tenemos (We have)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes tienen (They have)

As you can see, the Spanish verb Tener is irregular because the present tense conjugation of it experiences a stem change: e –> ie (except for nosotros).

Tengo dos libros en mi auto. (I have 2 books in my car).
Ustedes tienen una casa grande. (You have a big house).

Another great use of Tener is to express that someone or something has to do something. To express this, add “que”:

Tener + que + infinitive verb

Tengo que comer rápido. (I have to eat fast).
Tenemos que salir ahora. (We have to leave now).

To express that you feel like doing something, add “ganas de”:

Tengo + ganas de + infinitive verb

¿Tienes ganas de jugar al tenis conmigo? (Do you feel like playing tennis with me?).

Tener is also used to express age, in which the literal translation becomes “I have _ # of years.”

Tengo veinte años. (I’m 20 years old).

To read more on the Spanish verb Tener, click here.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, the spanish verb Ir, spanish irregular verbs, spanish verb conjugation

Time to start learning one of the most useful Spanish verbs - the Spanish verb “Ir,” which means “to go.” This verb is an irregular verb because the present tense conjugations do not follow the norm which you previously learned.

Here is how to conjugate Ir in the present tense:

Yo voy (I go)
Tú vas (you go)
Él/Ella/Usted va (he/she/you goes)
Nosotros vamos (we go)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes van (They/You all go)

Now, here is an important thing to know. Whenever you say that something or someone is “going to” a place, you have to add the Spanish preposition “a,” which means “to.”

Voy + a + place

Él va a su casa. (He goes to his house).
Nosotros vamos a Florida. (We’re going to Florida).

Now, “dónde” means “where.” However, when you ask the question of where someone or something is going, you use “Adónde,” which means “to where.” As you can see it’s a combination of the “a” and “dónde.”

¿Adónde vas esta noche? (Where are you going tonight?).

Now here’s another great function of the verb Ir + a: to say someone or something is “going to do something.”

Voy + a + infinitive form of verb

Voy a estudiar. (I’m going to study).
Usted va a cocinar. (You’re going to cook).
To ask what someone or somthing is going to do, you say:

¿Qué vas a hacer? (What are you going to do?).

Click here to read more on the Spanish verb Ir.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, conjugating spanish irregular verbs

In the past two lessons, we have learned how to conjugate Spanish regular verbs - the AR, ER and IR verbs in the present tense. Now there are a handful of verbs that are conjugated like any regular Spanish verb, except for in the first-person (”Yo” form) conjugation.

Here is the list of verbs and their “Yo” (1st person) form conjugations:

Conocer (to know) - Yo conozco (not conoco)
Dar (to give) - Yo doy (not do)
Estar (to be) - Yo estoy (not esto)
Hacer (to do/make) - Yo hago (not haco)
Saber (to know) - Yo sé (not sabo)
Salir (to go out, leave) - Yo salgo (not salo)
Ver (to see) - Yo veo (not vo)

Now for the rest of the conjugations for the other subject pronouns like tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, ustedes, ellos, ellas, the conjugations stay the same as you learned in Lessons 9 and 10 for AR and ER/IR regular verbs in the present tense.

To review all of these click here.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish present tense verbs, conjugating spanish verbs

Now it’s time to learn how to conjugate the Spanish regular verbs in the present tense than end in either “ER” or “IR.” But hey, there’s some good news here! Both “ER” and “IR” ending verbs in Spanish have the same root conjugations except for Nosotros. Here are the root endings that you will replace the “ER” or “IR” with:

-o (yo)
-es (tú)
-e (él, ella, usted)
-emos (nosotros - “ER” verbs) or -imos (nosotros - “IR” verbs)
-en (ellos, ellas, ustedes)
Simple as that. Let’s take a look at some examples:

ER Verbs

Comer (to eat) - yo como, ella come, nosotros comemos, ustedes comen.
Beber (to drink) - tú bebes

IR Verbs

Vivir (to live) - yo vivo, él vive, nosotros vivimos, ellos viven
Recibir (to receive) - tú recibes
Note: Just like AR verbs, there are also ER and IR verbs that are irregular or and in the present tense undergo a special change in the stem (front part) of the verb. These we will get into later.

Click here to read more on conjugating ER/IR Regular Verbs in the Present Tense

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish present tense, spanish verb conjugation, spanish AR verbs

In Spanish, all verbs end in either -ar, -er or -ir. In this lesson, we are going to learn how to conjugate Spanish AR ending “regular” verbs in the present tense. I say “regular” because there are irregular verbs in Spanish, in which either the stem or the root of the verb changes differently.

Spanish regular “AR” verbs have the following endings respective to the particular subject pronoun — meaning you drop the “ar” from the verb and add the following:

-o (Yo)
-as (tú)
-a (él, ella, usted)
-amos (nosotros)
-an (ellos, ellas, ustedes)

There you go, simple as that. Take a look at an example:
Enviar (to send) - Yo envio, Tú envias, Usted envia, nosotros enviamos, ellos envian.

Here are some common Spanish regular “AR” verbs:

Tomar (to take, to drink)
Hablar (to talk)
Manejar (to drive)
Bailar (to dance)
Nadar (to swim)
Caminar (to walk)

Click here to read more on Conjugating Spanish AR verbs in the Present Tense.

Technorati Tags: spanish verbs, spanish present progressive, conjugating the gerund in spanish

In the last lesson about the Spanish verb Estar, you learned that the present progressive is formed by using Estar. In this lesson, we will learn how conjugate the gerund or the “ing” form a verb. (When I say “ing,” I’m referring to when the verb in English ends in “ing,” like eating, watching, calling, showering, etc.).

In Spanish, to form the gerund, you will take verbs that end in “ar” and replace the “ar” with “ando.”

For example:

Mandar (to send) - mandando (sending)
Mirar (to watch/look) - mirando (watching/looking)
Hablar (to talk) - hablando (talking)

Now, for those verbs ending in “er” or “ir,” you’re going to drop these endings and add “iendo.” For example:

Comer (to eat) - comiendo (eating)
Vivir (to live) - viviendo (living)

Note that some verbs have a stem-change when converted to the gerund form, but this will be discussed later.

Now you can form the present progressive, which as you learned in lesson 7 is most often used only to describe or emphasize actions literally taking place in the moment.

Again, to form the present progessive, the formula is:

Estar (conjugated in the present tense) + gerund form of action verb.

Yo estoy comiendo pizza.

Click here to learn more Spanish Grammar.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verb estar, estar, spanish idiomatic phrase, spanish present progressive

Now that you’ve learned the Spanish verb “ser,” which means “to be,” it’s time to learn the other Spanish verb that means “to be” — Estar.

Here are the present tense conjagations:

Yo estoy (I am)
Tú estás (you are)
Él/Ella/Usted es (he/she is, you are)
Nosotros estamos (we are)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes están (They/You are)

Now, let’s talk about when to use Estar.

Estar is used to express temporary moods, feelings and conditions.

For example, you already studied how to meet and greet people, in which case, you learned the phrase — ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?). As you can see, the Spanish verb Estar is used because when you ask someone how they are, it’s a temporary mood that can change. Or for example: Estoy enfermo. (I am sick). Here we have a temporary condition.

Another use for Estar is location, to indicate where someone or something or some place is. When expressing location, you will also combine Estar + en.
¿Dónde estás? (Where are you?)
Estoy en mi casa. (I am in my house).

Finally, another use of Estar is to form the present progressive. This will be covered in another lesson, but basically it is combing Estar + gerund (-ing) of another verb:

Estoy comiendo. (I am eating).

This can be tricky, because in Spanish, the present tense conjugation of a verb can be used to express what we would say in English as the present progressive. For example:
1) Como pizza. (I eat pizza.) or (I am eating pizza).

In Spanish you only want to use the present progressive (estar + gerund of another verb) when the action is literally taking place in that moment. (Estoy llamando a mi madre. - I am calling my mother.).

Click here for more on the Estar.
Click here to learn Spanish idiomatic phrases with Estar.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish time, telling time in spanish, ser

Another important use of the Spanish verb Ser is to tell time.

When telling time in Spanish, there are only two conjugations of Ser that you will use:

Es (singular)
Son (plural)

If you haven’t already studied numbers in Spanish, then do so now: Learn Spanish Numbers.

Okay, here’s how to you tell time in Spanish:

Es la una (It’s 1 o’clock)
Son las dos (It’s 2 o’clock)
Son las tres (It’s 3 o’clock)
Son las cuatro (It’s 4 o’clock) … all the way until … Son las doce (It’s 12 o’clock).

Now to express minutes:

Use Spanish numbers from 1-30, but for 15 (say “cuarto”) and for 30 (say “media”). For example:

Es la una y doce. (It’s 1:12)
Son las nueve y cuarto. (It’s 9:15)
Son las once y media. (It’s 11:30)

Now for minutes from 31-59, don’t use the corresponding Spanish number. Instead, you’re going to express the next hour and how many minutes you subtract to get to the time. Sounds complicated but it’s not. For example:

It’s 2:40. This would be: Son las tres menos veinte. (menos = minus or less).
It’s 5:45. This would be: Son las seis menos cuarto.

Now to express whether it’s A.M. or P.M. add the following:

de la mañana (in the morning)
de la tarde (in the afternoon/evening)
de la noche (at night)

Son las siete y trece de la mañana. (It’s 7:13 a.m)

For a more comprehensive discussion of telling time in Spanish, visit the OuterSpanish Telling Time page