Basic Spanish for the Virtual Student- Section 3

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SHORT ACHIEVABLE GOALS

Ten more verbs- table with present, preterit, and imperfect
- decir- to say
- dirigir- to direct, manage
- entender- to know
- haber- {have or has}
  - it's a helper verb used for compound verb structures
    "I have spoken," Madame President said.
- hacer- to make, to do
- poder- to be able to
- poner- to put, place
- sonreír- to smile
- tener- to have
Irregular verbs- they don't follow the conjugation rules you learned
- g-verbs
  - You look at first person present singular and think "Where did that 'g' come from?"
- j-verbs
  - You look at first person present singular and think "Where did that 'j' come from?"
- e - ie verbs
- o - ue verbs
- e - i verbs

COMMON VERBS

If you had just ten verbs to work with, what might you want them to be?
This list will chose ten verbs, and show conjugations for present, preterit, and imperfect
estar and ser would be on this list but they have already been conjugated
ditto for amar, correr, and vivir
so this will bring your verb total to 15

Note: haber is a helper verb

If you 'have' something, be sure to use 'tener'
haber is 'have' (or 'has') as in "Madame President, you have spoken."
- Madame President, usted ha hablado
- hablado is a past particle. We haven't covered that yet.

		decir	dirigir	dormir	entender	haber	hacer	poder	poner	sonreír	tener
present	yo	digo	dirijo	duermo	entiendo	he	hago	puedo	pongo	sonrío	tengo
present	tú	dices	diriges	duermes	entiendes	has	haces	puedes	pones	sonríes	tienes
present	ella, él	dice	dirige	duerme	entiende	ha	hace	puede	pone	sonríe	tiene
present	nosotros	decimos	dirigimos	dormimos	entendemos	hemos	hacemos	podemos	ponemos	sonreímos	tenemos
present	vosotros	decís	dirigís	dormís	entendéis	habéis	hacéis	podéis	ponéis	sonreís	tenéis
present	ellos	dicen	dirigen	duermen	entienden	han	hacen	pueden	ponen	sonríen	tienen
preterit	yo	dije	dirigí	dormí	entendí	hube	hice	pude	puse	sonreí	tuve
preterit	tú	dijiste	dirigiste	dormiste	entendiste	hubiste	hiciste	pudiste	pusiste	sonreíste	tuviste
preterit	ella, él	dijo	dirigió	durmió	entendió	hubo	hizo	pudo	puso	sonrió	tuvo
preterit	nosotros	dijimos	dirigimos	dormimos	entendimos	hubimos	hicimos	pudimos	pusimos	sonreímos	tuvimos
preterit	vosotros	dijisteis	dirigisteis	dormisteis	entendisteis (check)	hubisteis	hicisteis	pudisteis	pusisteis	sonreísteis	tuvisteis
preterit	ellos	dijeron	dirigieron	durmieron	entendieron	hubieron	hicieron	pudieron	pusieron	sonrieron	tuvieron
imperfect	yo	decía	dirigía	dormía	entendía	había	hacía	podía	ponía	sonreía	tenía
imperfect	tú	decías	dirigías	dormías	entendías	habías	hacías	podías	ponías	sonreías	tenías
imperfect	ella, él	decía	dirigía	dormía	entendía	había	hacía	podía	ponía	sonreía	tenía
imperfect	nosotros	decíamos	dirigíamos	dormíamos	entendíamos	habíamos	hacíamos	podíamos	poníamos	sonreíamos	teníamos
imperfect	vosotros	decíais	dirigíais	dormíais	entendíais	habíais	hacíais	podíais	poníais	sonreíais	teníais
imperfect	ellos	decían	dirigían	dormían	entendiían	habían	hacían	podían	ponían	sonreían	tenían

Johnny looked at 'hube' and said "I have no use for that."

IRREGULAR VERBS

Several of the verbs that textbooks use to illustrate irregular verbs are in the table above (e.g., decir, dormir, entender)
The first irregular verbs a textbook may show are often the first person singular present irregulars
- tener -> tengo, venir -> vengo, decir -> digo, etc.
A textbook will then discuss how for some verbs, some conjugations change the stem of the verb. We will call these "stem-changers." This is not a proper term--don't put it on a test.
A verb may be exceptional for more than one reason:
- venir -> vengo, so it is a "g-verb".
- venir -> viene, so it is an e -> ie stem-changer.

Class 1- First person singular present with g

infinitive	definition	first person singular present
caer	to fall	caigo
componer	to compose	compongo
convenir	to agree, convene	convengo
decir	to say	digo
deshacer	to undo, destroy	deshago
detener	to stop (something, someone)	detengo
hacer	to make	hago
maldecir	to curse	maldigo
mantener	to maintain, support	mantengo
obtener	to obtain, procure	obtengo
oponerse	to oppose	me opongo (we haven't discussed reflexive verbs yet)
poner	to put	pongo
salir	to go out / to leave	salgo
tener	to have (to possess)	tengo
traer	to bring	traigo
valer	to value	valgo
venir	to come	vengo

Class 2- First person present g changes to j

infinitive	definition	first person singular present
escoger	to choose, pick	escojo
corregir	to correct	corrijo
recoger	to collect, pick up	recojo
dirigir	to conduct, direct	dirijo
elegir	to choose, select, elect	elijo
exigir	to demand, exact	exijo
fingir	to pretend	finjo

Class 3- stem changer: e -> ie

infinitive	definition	third person singular present
acertar	to hit the target, to do it right	acierta
fregar	to scrub (washing dishes)	friega
gobernar	to govern, rule	gobierna
helar	to freeze	hiela
negar	to deny	niega
nevar	to snow	nieva (weather verb, you can't say él nieva :)
cerrar	to close, fasten, shut or turn off	cierra
encerrar	to enclose, confine	encierra
comenzar	to begin, start	comienza
empezar	to begin	empieza
confesar	to confess	confiesa
pensar	to think	piensa
despertarse	to awaken (oneself)	se despierta
contener	to contain, restrain	contiene
detener	to detain, withold	detiene
obtener	to get	obtiene
encender	to inflame, light	enciende
entender	to understand	entiende
convenir	to agree	conviene
defender	to defend, plead	defiende
advertir	to caution, forewarn	advierte
mentir	to tell a lie	miente
atravesar	to cross, pass through	atraviesa

Class 4- stem changer: o -> ue

acostarse	to go to bed and lie down	se acuesta
encontrar	to meet, find	encuentra
jugar	to play (sport, game)	juega
mostrar	to show	muestra
absolver	to absolve	absuelve
devolver	to return, refund	devuelve
envolver	to wrap up	envuelve
llover	to rain	llueve (weather verb) you can't say él llueve :)
morder	to bite	muerde
mover	to move, persuade	mueve
poder	can, to be able to	puede
dormir	to sleep	duerme
morirse	to die	se muere

Class 5- stem changer: e -> i

decir	to say	dice
gemir	to grieve, moan	gime
impedir	to hinder, prevent	impide
medir	to compare, measure	mide

Gracias a Johnny Nahui-Ortiz

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I used purely semantic html for these free lessons. That means that you should be able to save this to a palm pilot or other PDA, and view them with the PDAs browser. The only problems might be the tables, and the images at the top, the only images used. If anyone tries this, I'd love to hear feedback about how well it works, or tips that I could give others.