Double or nothing: Verbs with two changes A few Spanish verbs have both a spelling change and a stem change in the present tense. You must conjugate these verbs to accommodate both changes. Table 3-4 lists these verbs. Table 3-4 Verbs with Spelling and Stem Changes inthe Present Tense Verb English ‘Conjugation corregir to correct corrija, corriges, corrige, corregimos, corregis, corrigen elegir ta elect elijo, eliges, elige, elegimas, elegis, eligen conseguir fo get, brain _consigo, consigues, consigue, conseguimes, conseguis, consiguen ‘seguir to follow sigo, sigues, sigue, sequimos, seguis, siguen Using irregular verbs In Spanish, some present-tense verbs have irregular forms that you must memorize. We cover the three categories of irregular present tense verbs in the following sections: those that are irregular only in the yo form, those that are irregular in all forms except nosotros and vosotros, and those that are completely irregular. Inregutar yo forms In the present tense, some verbs are irregular only in the first-person singular (yo) form. You conjugate the other ver! forms in the regular fashion: by dropping the infinitive ending (ar, -er, or -ir) and adding the ending that corresponds to the subject. The following table presents the irregular yo form of these verbs: Spanish Verb Meaning yo Form of Present Tense caber to fit quepo caer to fall caigo dar to give doy hacer to make, todo hago poner to put pongo saber toknow a fact sé to know how toSpanish Verb Meaning Tense salir to go out salgo traer to bring traigo valer to be worth valgo ver to see veo yo Form of Present The following examples show these irregular forms in action Yo le doy un reloj y él le da aretes. (I'give fer a watch and he gives her earrings.) Yo me pongo un abrigo y él se pone un suéter. (I put on acoat and he puts on a siveater.) Irregular yo, tu, él (ella, Ud.), and ellos (ellas, Uds.) forms In the present tense, the verbs listed in Table 3-5 are irregular in all forms except nosotros and vosotros. Table 3-5 Irregular Verbs in All Forms except Nosotros and Vosotros Verh Meaning yo we él nosotros vosotros ellos decir to say, digo dices dice decimos decis dicen to tell tobe estoy estés esta estamos estais estan tosmell _huelo hueles huele olemos aléis —_huelen to have tengo tienes tiene tenemos tencis tienen tocome _vengo vienes viene venimos venis _vienen Tener followed by que means fo have to and shows obligation: Yo tengo que trabajar ahora. (J have to work now.) Completely (well, almost) irregular verbs The verbs in Table 3-6 are irregular in all or most of their forms in the present tense.Table 3-6 Verbs Irregular it in All or Most of Their Forms Verh Meaning yo Cy él nosotros vosotros ellos ir togo voy vas va vamos: van oir iohear aigo oyes oye cimos _ ois ‘oyen reir tolaugh tio ries rie reimos reis rien ser tobe soy eres es somos _ sais son Expressing yourself with irregular verbs The irregular verbs dar (fo give), hacer (to make, to do), and tener (to have), as well as a few other irregular verbs, are commonly used in everyday Spanish as part of idiomatic expressions. High-frequency expressions that use dar include the following: Expression dar un abrazo (a) dar las gracias (a) dar un paseo Here is an example: Meaning to hug, to embrace to thank to take a walk Ellos dan un paseo por el parque. (They take a walk in the park.) High-frequency expressions that use hacer include the following: Expression hacer buen (mal) tiempo hacer frio (calor) hacer una pregunta hacer una visita hacer un viaje hacer viento Meaning to be nice (bad) weather to be cold (hot) weather to ask a question to pay a visit to take a trip to be windyHere are some examples of hacer expressions: Hace mal tiempo hoy. (The weather is bad today.) Hacemos un viaje a Puerto Rico. (We are taking a trip to Puerto Rico.) High-frequency expressions that use tener include the following: ‘Expression Meaning tener calor (Erio) to be warm (cold) tener cuidado to be careful tener dolor de... to have a... ache tener éxito to succeed tener ganas de to feel like tener hambre (sed) to be hungry (thirsty) tener lugar to take place tener miedo de to be afraid of tener prisa to be ina hurry tener razén. to be right tener suefio to be sleepy tener suerte to be lucky Here are some examples of tener expressions: Tengo un dolor de cabeza. (J have a headache_) Ellos tienen razén. (They are right.) Common expressions that use other verbs that have a spell- ing change or stem change in the present tense or in another tense include the following: Expression Meaning dejar caer to drop legar a ser to become ofr decir que to hear that pensar + infinitive to intend querer decir to mean Here is an example: jCuidado! Vas a dejar caer el vaso. (Be careful! You are going to drop the glass.)Recognizing reflexive verbs Whenever you look at yourself in the mirror or buy yourself something at the mall, you're involved in a reflexive action. You, the subject, are doing something to or for yourself. In English, reflexive actions become a little fuzzy, because so much is considered to be understood. Spanish, however, delineates reflexive action by requiring the use of a reflexive verb. When creating a reflexive verb construction, you need a sub- ject, a reflexive pronoun, and a verb. When you conjugate reflexive verbs in English, you place the pronouns in front of the conjugated verb. In other words, you say, “You bathe yourself.” But in Spanish, the order is you yourself bathe. Are you wondering how to recognize a reflexive verb? It's really quite easy. If an -ar, er, or -ir infinitive (which is con- jugated in its usual manner) has -se attached to its end, you know you have a reflexive verb (lavarse /to wash oneself], baiiarse /fo bathe oneself)). That -se ending shows that the reflexive verb has a reflexive pronoun as its direct or indirect object (see Chapter 2). The subject of a reflexive verb, like subjects with other verbs, may be omitted. Whether you use or imply the subject, however, the subject and its reflexive pronoun must refer to the same person or thing: (Yo) Me Iamo Gloria. (My name is Gloria. (Literally: I call myself Gloria.]) (Nosotros) Nos levantamos. (We get up.) Reflexive pronouns are exactly the same as direct and indi- rect object pronouns except for the third-person singular and plural (se) forms. Because you use se when double object pronouns appear in a sentence (as we cover in Chapter 2), remembering to use it as the reflexive pronoun should be rela~ tively easy. Table 3-7 shows reflexive verbs and the reflexive pronoun for each subject.es Table 3-7 Properly Using Reflexive Pronouns Infinitive Subject Reflexive Verb Pronoun dormirse yo me duermo (to fall asleep) despertarse ti te ‘despiertas (to wake up) desvestirse él, ella, Ud. se desviste (to undress) lavarse (to wash) nosostros nos lavamas levantarse (fo getup) vasotros. os. levantais: bafiarse (to go away) elles, elas, Uds. se bafian Some verbs may throw you off a bit. Depending on what you want to say, a verb may have both a reflexive and a non- reflexive form. How's that possible? Well, a reflexive verb requires that the subject act upon itself. What if, however, that subject acts upon someone or something else? In that case, the sentence doesn’t need a reflexive pronoun. Look carefully at the examples that follow: Ella se lava. (She washes herself.) Ella lava a su perro. (She washes her dog.) Conversely, some verbs that generally aren't used reflexively can be made reflexive (if the subject is acting upon itself) by adding a reflexive pronoun: El prepara la comida. (He prepares the meal.) El se prepara. (He prepares himself) ‘The following table presents many common reflexive verbs (letters in parentheses indicate a spelling change). Verb Meaning Verb Meaning aburrirse fo become bored irse to go away acostarse to go to bed lavarse to wash @ to ue) oneself afeitarse to shave levantarse — fo get upVerb Meaning alegrarse to be glad (de) bafiarse to bathe oneself callarse to be silent cansarse to become tired casarse to get married cepillarse to brush (hair, teeth) despedirse fo say goodbye eto) despertarse fo wake up (€ to ie) desvestirse to get undressed to) divertirse to have fun to ie) dormirse to fail asleep (© to ue) ducharse to take a shower encontrarse fo be located, (0 to ue) meet enfadarse to get angry (con) enojarse to become angry hacerse to become Verb olvidarse (de) de) reirse (de) secarse sentarse (eto ie) sentirse (eto ie) vestirse (toi) volverse (o toue) Meaning to be called, named to put on to forget to comb one’s hair to put on, place oneself to worry fo remain to complain to remove to laugh at to break (a part of the to dry oneself to sit down to feel to get dressed to become To negate a reflexive verb, you put ne or the proper negative word (see Chapter 2) before the reflexive pronoun: gSe enoja Ud. a menudo? (Do you offen get angry?) No, no me enojo a menudo. (Wo. { don't get angry often.) No me enojo nunea. (7 never get angry.)Just like with direct and indirect object pronouns (refer to Chapter 2), you generally place reflexive pronouns before the conjugated verbs: Ella no se siente bien. (She doesn feel well.) In sentences with two verbs that follow one subject (as in the first two examples that follow) or in sentences with a present participle (see the second two examples here and the fol- lowing section), you have the choice of placing the reflexive pronoun before the conjugated verb or after and attached to the infinitive or the present participle. When you attach the pronoun to a present participle, an accent is required on the stressed vowel. (No) Voy a maquillarme. (/'m [not] going to put on my makeup.) (No) Me voy a maquillar. (I'm [not] going to put on my make-up.) (No) Estoy maquillandome. (/ am [not] putting on my make-up.) (No) Me estoy maquillando. (7 am [not] putting on my make-up ) Making Progress with the Present Progressive You can use the simple present tense to describe a current action or an action that you perform on a regular basis. But you can also express the same present action as something that's taking place right now by using the present progressive. To form the present progressive, you need a form of estar (lo be) and a present participle. We explain both parts of this equation in the following sections. Understanding present participles Present participles are verb forms that end in -ing. A Spanish present participle has two English equivalents:It may represent the English for “while” or “by” + a pres- ent participle (an English verb form ending in -ing): Estudiando, él salié bien en su examen. (By studying. he passed his test.) + It may represent an English present participle used as an adjective that ends in -ing- Esa nifia, quien est4 tocando el piano, es mi hermana. (That girl playing the piano is my sister.) A Spanish present participle, unlike an English gerund (ing verb acting as a noun), may not be used as a noun subject. Spanish uses the infinitive form instead. In the example that follows, the English verb “swimming” is the noun subject of the verb “is.” Note the Spanish use of the infinitive, madar: Nadar es mi pasatiempo favorito. (Swimming is my favor- ite pastime.) Forming the present participles of regular verbs Forming participles of regular verbs is quite easy, because participles have only one form. Here's all you have to do: Drop the -ar from -ar verb infinitives and add -ando (the equivalent of the English -ing). Drop the -er or 4r from -er or -ir verb infinitives, respec- tively, and add -iendo (the equivalent of the English -ing). The following table shows these changes for some example verbs: Ending Verb Meaning Pres. Participle Meaning -ar hablar fo speak ~—_—hablando speaking er aprender folearn aprendiendo —_learning “ir escrib fowrite —_escribiendo writing ee Be careful! If an -er or -ir verb stem ends in a vowel, you must drop the ending and add -yendo (the Spanish equivalent of -ing) to form the present participle: caer (to fall): cayendo construir (to build): construyendocreer (to believe): creyendo Jeer (to read): leyendo oir (fo hear): oyendo ‘traer (lo bring): trayendo Forming the present participles of stem-changing and irregular verbs You form the present participle of a stem-changing -ir verb by changing the vowel in the stem from -e to -i or from to-u, dropping the -ir infinitive ending, and adding the proper ending for a present participle. (Flip to “Changing verb stems” and “Using irregular verbs” earlier in this chapter for more on these verb types, and check out the preceding section for instructions on forming present participles.) From e — it decir (to say, to tell) > diciendo (saying, telling) mentir (to lie) — mintiendo (lying) pedir (lo ask) —> pidiendo (asking) repetir (to repeat) + repitiendo (repeating) sentir (to feel) > sintiendo (feeling) servir (to serve) — sirviendo (serving) venir (to come) — viniendo (coming) From 0 > u: dormir (to sleep) + durmiendo (sleeping) morir (to die} —» muriende (dying) Only three Spanish verbs have irregular present participles. You don’t use them very frequently, but you should still be aware of their forms. Yes, you have to memorize them in case you need to use them; at least you only have to worry about three! Here they are: ir (to go): yendo 1 poder (io be able): pudiendo 1 reir (to laugh): riendoUsing estar to form the present progressive Estar (to be) is the verb you most often use to form the pres- ent progressive because the present tense of estar expresses that something is taking place. The following table presents the present tense conjugation of this irregular verb, which you must commit to memory: Ce cim de yoestoy nosotros estamas ti estas vosotros estais él, ella, Ud. esta ellos, ellas, Uds. estan You form the present progressive by taking the present tense of the verb estar and the present participle of the action verb (see the preceding section). When you put these two together, you have fo be + doing the action. Here are some examples: El nifio esta durmiendo. (The child is sleeping.) Estamos escuchando. (We are listening.)