28 veintiocho
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Lección 2
Spanish verbs are classified according to their endings. There are three
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conjugations: -ar, -er, and -ir.
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—Rosa, tú hablas inglés, ¿no? “Rosa, you speak English, don’t you?”
—Sí, hablo inglés y español. “Yes, I speak English and Spanish.”
Puntos para recordar
1. Present indicative of-ar verbs
(Presente de indicativo de los verbos terminados en -ar)
hablar (to speak)
Singular
Stem Ending
yo habl- o Yo hablo español.
tú habl- as Tú hablas español.
Ud. habl- a Ud. habla español.
él habl- a Juan habla español. Él habla español.
ella habl- a Ana habla español. Ella habla español.
Plural
nosotros(as) habl- amos Nosotros(as) hablamos español.
vosotros(as) habl- áis Vosotros(as) habláis español.
Uds. habl- an Uds. hablan español.
ellos habl- an Ellos hablan español.
ellas habl- an Ellas hablan español.
—¿Qué idioma hablan Uds. “What language do you speak
con el profesor? with the professor?”
—Hablamos español. “We speak Spanish.”
Native speakers usually omit subject pronouns in conversation because the
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ending of each verb form indicates who is performing the action described
by the verb. The context of the conversation also provides clues as to whom
the verb refers. However, the forms habla and hablan are sometimes
ambiguous even in context. Therefore, the subject pronouns usted, él, ella,
ustedes, ellos, and ellas are used in speech with greater frequency than the
other pronouns.
Regular verbs ending in
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-ar are conjugated like hablar. Other verbs
conjugated like hablar are conversar, desear, estudiar, necesitar,
terminar, tomar, and trabajar.
—¿A qué hora terminan Uds. hoy? “What time do you finish today?”
—Terminamos a las tres. “We finish at three o’clock.”
—¿Qué necesitas? “What do you need?”
—Necesito el horario de clases. “I need the class schedule.”
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The infinitive (unconjugated form) of a Spanish verb consists of a stem and an ending. The
stem is what remains after the ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) is removed from the infinitive.
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