Click on each link below for a review summary to help you complete the assignments and prepare for the quiz to demonstrate your mastery of the objectives.
Estar is used with descriptive adjectives to talk about emotional conditions and states of being.
- Ana está muy contenta y tranquila. (Ana is very happy and calm.)
When trying to decide between ser and estar, ask yourself: is this a characteristic of the person/thing (use ser), or is it a condition or state (use estar)? For this reason, emotions usually go with estar, while personality traits go with ser.
Adjetivos usados con ser y estar
With some adjectives, the meaning changes depending on whether you are trying to describe a characteristic or a condition. For instance: Él es aburrido (he is boring [quality or characteristic]) vs. Él está aburrido (he is bored [state or condition]).
The present progressive is formed as follows: Subject Pronoun + estar (conjugated) + gerund
In Spanish, the ending of the gerund depends on the kind of verb:
- for -ar verbs: drop the “r” and add -ndo –> -ando
- for -er and -ir verbs: drop the “-er” or “-ir” and add -iendo
- Stem-changing -ir verbs (not -ar or -er verbs!) change their stem vowels as follows: o>u, e>i and e>i.
- The gerund of the verb ir is irregular: yendo.
Ejemplos:
- -ar verb:
- Tomar — tomando (taking)
- Cantar — cantando (singing)
- -er verb:
- Beber— bebiendo (drinking)
- -ir verb:
- Escribir— escribiendo (writing)
- stem-changing -ir verbs:
- Dormir— durmiendo (sleeping)
- Preferir-– prefiriendo (preferring)
- Servir– sirviendo (serving)
singular | plural | |
1a | yo estoy escribiendo | nosotros estamos escribiendo |
2a | tú estás escribiendo | vosotros estáis escribiendo |
3a | él/ella/usted está escribiendo | ellos/ellas/ustedes están escribiendo |
Note: To form a negative sentence in the present progressive, place the no in front of the form of estar: No estoy escribiendo.
Palabra para preguntar ¡Atención a la acentuación! |
Question word |
¿Qué? | What? |
¿Cuál?/ ¿Cuáles? | Which one/ones? |
¿Cómo? | How? |
¿Dónde? | Where? |
¿De dónde? | From where? |
¿A dónde? | To where? |
¿Quién? ¿Quiénes? | Who? |
¿Cuándo? | When? |
¿Cuánto? ¿Cuánta? ¿Cuántos?¿Cuántas? |
How many? |
¿Por qué? | Why? |
You have been using various verbs in Spanish where in English only “to be” is used. Let’s review and contrast:
Tener (to have) Stem changer |
Hacer (to make/to do) Regular in the present |
Salir (to leave, to go out) Regular in the present |
Traer (to bring) Regular in the present |
Venir (to come) Stem changer |
Valer (to be worth) Regular in the present |
Poner (to put) Regular in the present |
Seguir (to follow) Stem changer |
Decir (to say, to tell) Stem changer |
tengo | hago | salgo | traigo | vengo | valgo | pongo | sigo | digo |
tienes | haces | sales | traes | vienes | vales | pones | sigues | dices |
tiene | hace | sale | trae | viene | vale | pone | sigue | dice |
tenemos | hacemos | salimos | traemos | venimos | valemos | ponemos | seguimos | decimos |
tenéis | hacéis | salís | traéis | venís | valéis | ponéis | seguís | decís |
tienen | hacen | salen | traen | vienen | valen | ponen | siguen | dicen |
Oír (to hear) Irregular, “y” in some forms because of three vowels together: “i” in the middle becomes a “y” sound, and an accent mark is needed at other times to separate the weak and strong vowels. |
Ver (to see) Regular, but note that accent mark is not needed for vosotros form, since it is one syllable. |
Dar (to give) Regular, but note that accent mark is not needed for vosotros form, since it is one syllable. |
oigo | veo | doy |
oyes | ves | das |
oye | ve | da |
oímos | vemos | damos |
oís | veis | dais |
oyen | ven | dan |
Please see the Cultura section in the Study Plan for these activities.