El Primer Trimestre Continúa… (The First Quarter Continues…)

The First Quarter continues... it ends the 31st of October. In this quarter you must also learn the Reflexive Pronouns in Spanish, the "Verbo Ser" and the present tense of AR verbs. You will also learn how to tell time in Spanish. You have already used some Reflexive Pronouns when asking "¿Cómo te llamas?" and responding "Me llamo…" We used them in Capítulo 1 (and I gave you a handout) and we will continue using them in Capítulo 2. In Spanish, a Reflexive Verb has an extra pronoun used with or without the subject pronoun that reflects the subject. For the Reflexive Verb "llamarse" (to call oneself) you use the following conjugations of this verb using the following Reflexive Pronouns:

You already know that the real (literal) translation of
"¿Cómo te llamas?" is "How do you call yourself?" - which really doesn't make sense in English. In English we say "What is your name?" So the te is used for "yourself." The me is used for "myself" (you will literally respond "I call myself..."). To translate "What is his or her name?" (How does he or she calls herself?) you will ask in Spanish "¿Cómo se llama él?" or "¿Cómo se llama ella?" etc. There are other Reflexive Verbs like lavarse (lavar - to wash), peinarse (peinar - to comb), vestirse (vestir - to dress) that you don't need to learn right now. When they end in se you know they are Reflexive Verbs ("llamarse" comes from the verb "llamar" - you add the pronoun "se" to the infinitive to make it a Reflexive Verb). To learn to conjugate Reflexive Verbs, you need to learn a different set of pronouns called Reflexive Pronouns (in the image above). These pronouns are positioned before the verb, while the ending "se" is dropped and the verb is conjugated normally (in this case like regular AR verbs - notice the endings o, as, a, amos, áis and an). They correspond to the English forms: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, or themselves. 

A Reflexive Verb is used to indicate that the subject does something to or for himself or herself, it reflects the action of the verb back to the subject. Other examples are "peinarse," "lavarse," "limpiarse," "dormirse," "ponerse." Examples: Yo me lavo las manos (I wash my hands), Ella se peina (She combs her hair), El chico se duerme (The boy falls asleep).

Review the "Subject Pronouns" handout too. To conjugate the verb "lavarse" properly you need to know the present tense of regular AR verbs. So the table below is extremely important and you will be using it throughout this school year (and beyond). I suggest you print it and paste it in your notebooks or simply copy it there. It will really simplify everything for you. Once you memorize the endings of all the regular AR, ER and IR verbs like you see them below, your life will be a lot easier when learning Spanish (trust me). You need to remember all these endings for Spanish II, III and IV (and the AP Spanish courses).

Those are the endings of regular AR, ER and IR verbs. So if you have a verb like “cantar” (an AR verb because it ends in AR), the stem or base of the verb is “cant” and all you have to do is add the ending for each subject pronoun. So, for Yo you use canto (cant-o): Yo canto (I sing). Practice this with all the subject pronouns. How do you say “he sings”?

If you have a regular ER verb like beber (to drink) - you will say Yo bebo (for "Yo" - I), etc. For a verb like vivir (to live), an IR verb - Yo vivo. Practice this and ask señora Feld if you have any questions.

Ongoing homework: memorize the Verbo Estar if you haven't done so (many of you had difficulties conjugating this verb on the last test). Also memorize the Verbo Ser for all the subject pronouns. You can find the Verbo Estar in your textbook (libro) on page 76 and the Verbo Ser on page 44. Write these verbs on Index Cards. Learn when to use each verb (when do you use "Ser" and when do you use "Estar"). Remember: these are "irregular" verbs and don't follow the pattern of AR and ER verbs. Estar's endings are the same as the regular AR verbs except for the Yo form (estoy) and for the "a" accents, and Ser has completely different endings for all persons. You simply have to memorize both verbs...

¡Así es la vida! (Such is  life!)

Practice the conjugation of these verbs by completing the following sentences below (I will collect this on Wednesday, October 9, 2013). You can copy it, paste it in a Word document and enter the proper conjugation of these verbs - or write them on lose leaf. You don't have to enter the translations. Those of you who had many of these wrong on your test MUST write or type all the first two sections (on Verbo Estar) and conjugate this verb properly for extra-credit:

To make it easier I have translated the following sentences...

Verbo Estar

• 1.  Vosotros ________ en el edificio. (You are in the building)
• 2.  Ud. _________ en Madrid. (You are in Madrid)
• 3.  Yo no _________ contenta. (I'm not happy)
• 4.  Juan _________ de acuerdo contigo. (Juan is in agreement with you)
• 5.  ¿Dónde ________ tus padres? (Where are your parents?)
• 6.  Tú ________ en la universidad. (You are in the university)
• 7.  Yo ________ muy ocupada. (I'm very happy)
• 8.  Ella ________ muy triste. (She is very sad)
• 9.  La silla ________ en la sala. (The chair is in the living room)
• 10.  Nosotros _________ muy enojados. (We are very mad)

Verbo Ser

• 1.  Marcela y yo ________ muy trabajadoras. (Marcela and I are very hardworking)
• 2.  Tus padres ________ de los Estados Unidos. (Your parents are from the USA)
• 3.  ¿Vosotros ________ de Nueva York? (Are you from NY?)
• 4.  Mañana _______ lunes. (Tomorrow is Monday)
• 5.  Nosotros _________ muy buenos amigos. (We are very good friends)
• 6.  Tú _______ flaco. (You are thin)
• 7.  Nosotros __________ muy inteligentes. (We are very intelligent)
• 8.  Yo _________ muy creativa. (I am very creative)
• 9.  Ella ________ muy bonita. (She is very pretty)
• 10.  Él ________ muy buena persona. (He is a very good person)

This last sentence (No. 10) can be tricky, because "Él" as you know is the masculine subject pronoun for "He" - but the word "person" in Spanish is "persona" whether we're referring to a girl (woman) or boy (man). This sentence can also be written as "Él _________ una muy buena persona" (both ways, like you see in No. 10 and this way are correct).

Also review your last test. You will have a Test on "Verbos Estar y Ser" on Tuesday, October 15, 2013. The test will also include numbers 1-30 and whatever we cover to this date (including "Subject Pronouns" - I won't include the "Reflexive Pronouns"), how to tell time in Spanish, and the textbook exercises I asked you to complete, and workbook pages 11-13, 17 and 18, and 23-25. I won't include the Present Tense of AR, ER and IR verbs. But you must know the "uses" of the "Verbos Ser y Estar" (when to use these verbs). Study the "Ser y Estar" PowerPoint in Edmodo.

You will work on Workbook pages 17-18, and 21, 23-25 this week (I will check workbooks October 18). These pages are about "Telling Time in Spanish" and about "Personal (Subject) Pronouns" and "Verbo Ser." Also, Texbook pages 40-47 (we will work on these next week October 7-11.