Review in spanish verb
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Useful Websites StudySpanish.com- This website contains descriptions of grammar and practice quizzes. Best for beginner students. Spanish.About.com- This
website contains descriptions of grammar and usually has good examples. IPFW- University of Indiana/Perdue University website that has detailed grammar explanations on a low tech site. Great for advanced students and students that like the full story. Colby.edu- This site contains great practice activities. Conjuguemos.com- This site has some practice activities for many types of grammar. You will have to find the current grammar we are working on by scrolling down. WordReference.com Verb Conjugator-Need to know the forms of any verbs in Spanish? Type the verb in here. (Note this will give you the conjugations for many tenses, make sure you are looking at the right one) Download SPANISH VERB REVIEW. ar (infinitive = "to")... SPANISH VERB REVIEW GENERAL INFORMATION A verb is a word that shows action or a state of being. Every complete sentence must have a verb. Spanish verbs are based in the infinitive. Spanish infinitives are divided into three groups or conjugations: 1st conjugation 2nd conjugation 3rd conjugation -ar verbs -er verbs -ir verbs Spanish infinitives and verb forms can be divided into two component parts: the stem--the part that remains after removing the infinitive ending--and the ending--the part that is attached to the stem. Both of these parts communicate vital information. For example: stem ending habl ar (infinitive = "to") what? -- meaning (speak) who? -- person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) how many? -- number (singular/plural) when? -- tense (past/present/future) how? -- mood (indicative, etc.) The meaning of the verb is self-explanatory. In the example above habl means "speak, talk". Person tells who is speaking or who is being spoken to or about. First person is the speaker, "I" in English, "yo" in Spanish. Second person is the person(s) being spoken to, "you" in English, "tú, vosotros, usted, ustedes" in Spanish. Third person refers to the person(s) or thing(s) being spoken about, "he, she, it, they" in English, "él, ella, ellos, ellas" in Spanish. Number is simply singular or plural. For example, first person singular is "I" in English, "yo" in Spanish, while first person plural is "we" in English and "nosotros, nosotras" in Spanish. T e n s e is simply another word for time. It can only be past, present or future. Finally, mood indicates the tone or circumstances of the sentence. For example, the indicative mood is used to indicate, state or ask information. The subjunctive mood is used to express doubt, denial or uncertainty. The imperative mood is used for commands. The conditional mood expresses the English equivalent of "would." There is another verb feature called aspect. The perfect is used in compound tenses, formed by the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the main verb, as in the verb phrase "I have studied", "(yo) he comido" in Spanish. The imperfect is used to express past action that is ongoing, habitual or continuous. Finally, a verb can be non-progressive--"hablo", or progressive--"estoy hablando." It is the combination of these four factors--person, number, tense, mood that result in the more than fifty forms each Spanish verb has. But, keep in mind the important role played by patterns in learning these many verb forms. The key to mastering Spanish verbs is becoming familiar with the small number of fairly consistent patterns, and not trying to memorize all forms of all verbs. Another important characteristic that makes Spanish different from English is that Spanish verbs are synthetic, whereas their English counterparts are paraphrastic. What this means is that Spanish condenses or synthesizes information (often) into a single verb form that requires a verb phrase in English. For example, "hablo" can mean "I speak, I do speak, I am speaking", depending on one's intention or interpretation. -2THE PRESENT INDICATIVE This tense is used to express or ask about action taking place in the present, or action which takes place in general. There are five groups or patterns in this tense. 1. Regular Verbs. Remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and attach one of the following endings to the stem: -ar verbs -o -as -a -er verbs -amos -áis -an -o -es -e -ir verbs -emos -éis -en -o -es -e -imos -ís -en 2. Irregular Verbs. Since there is no predictable pattern for these verbs' forms, they are generally memorized: ser - to be estar - to be soy eres es estoy estás está somos sois son estamos estáis están ir - to go haber - to have voy vas va he has ha vamos vais van hemos habéis han 3. Irregular First Person Singular Only (Yo Form) Verbs. All of the verbs in this group have an inexplicably irregular "yo" form. All other forms of these verbs are regular. Note that verbs marked with an asterisk (*) belong to more than one group: infinitive meaning yo form caber caer -cer dar decir* -ducir hacer oír* poner saber salir tener* traer venir* ver to fit, be contained to fall conocer, merecer, etc. to give to say, tell conducir, traducir, etc. to do, make to hear to put, place, set to know to leave, go out to have, possess to bring to come to see quepo caigo -zco doy digo -duzco hago oigo pongo sé salgo tengo traigo vengo veo -34. Stem-change (shoe) Verbs. These verbs make predictable internal changes as noted below, but still use the regular endings. For example: cerrar (ie) - to close cierro cerramos cierras cerráis cierra cierran o - ue contar - to count costar - to cost dormir - to sleep encontrar - to find, meet llover - to rain mostrar - to show poder - to be able probar - to test, try recordar - to remember volver - to return e - ie comenzar - to begin, start empezar - to begin, start entender - to understand extender - to extend nevar - to snow pensar - to think, plan perder - to lose preferir - to prefer querer - to want, wish, love sentir - to feel tener* - to have venir* - to come e-i decir* - to say, tell elegir* - to elect freír* - to fry pedir - to request, ask for reír* - to laugh repetir - to repeat seguir* - to follow, continue servir - to serve sonreír* - to smile u - ue jugar - to play 5. Spelling-change Verbs. These verbs make somewhat predictable spelling changes, but still use regular endings: A. Verbs ending in -GER and -GIR: Change G to J to maintain the "soft g" sound in the yo form only. Examples include: coger - to get, catch corregir* - to correct dirigir - to direct elegir* - to elect, choose escoger - to select, pick, choose exigir - to demand recoger - to pick up, collect cojo corrijo dirijo elijo escojo exijo recojo -4B. Verbs ending in -GUIR: Drop the silent U to maintain the "hard G" sound in the yo form only. Examples include: conseguir* - to obtain, get distinguir - to distinguish extinguir - to extinguish seguir* - to continue, follow consigo distingo extingo sigo C. Verbs ending in -UIR (but not -GUIR or -QUIR), and OÍR*: Change I to Y in the "shoe" forms. Examples include: construir - to construct contribuir - to contribute destruir - to destroy distribuir - to distribute fluir - to flow huir - to flee, run away influir - to influence oír* - to hear construyo construimos construyes construís construye construyen D. Verbs ending in -IAR, -UAR, and REUNIR: Accent I or U in the "shoe" forms. Examples include: confiar - to trust, confide continuar - to continue enviar - to send fiar - to trust guiar - to guide, lead reunir - to gather, meet confío confiamos confías confiáis confía confían E. Verbs ending in -EÍR: Accent i in all forms. Examples include: freír* - to fry refreír* - to reheat, saute reír* - to laugh sonreír* - to smile frío freímos fríes freís fríe fríen THE PRETERIT (past indicative) The preterit is used to express simple, completed action in the past, often associated with a "point" in time and translated as "-ed" in English. Words or time expressions often calling for the preterit are ayer, anoche, anteanoche, esta mañana, el/la ... pasado/a, hace ... días, etc. 1. Regular Verbs. -ar -er, -ir -é -amos -í -imos -aste -asteis -iste -isteis -ó -aron -ió -ieron -52. Irregular Verbs. ir - to go ser - to be dar - to give ver - to see fui fuimos di dimos vi vimos fuiste fuisteis diste disteis viste visteis fue fueron dio dieron vio vieron 3. New-stem Verbs. These verbs form a totally new stem and all take the following endings: -e -imos -iste -isteis -o -ieron (-eron after J) New-stem verbs fall into the following three categories: -a stem traer -i stem traj- decir hacer querer satisfacer venir -u stem dijhic(hizo) quissatisfic(satisfizo) vin- andar caber estar haber poder poner saber tener -ducir anduvcupestuvhubpudpussuptuv-duj- 4. Stem-change (loafer) Verbs. Most stem-change verbs are regular in the preterit. That is, their stem vowel does not change. However, -ir stem-change verbs change O - U or E - I in third persons only: dormir (ue,u) - to sleep pedir (i,i) - to request dormí dormimos pedí pedimos dormiste dormisteis pediste pedisteis durmió durmieron pidió pidieron Examples: mentir (ie,i), morir (ue,u), preferir (ie,i), repetir (i,i), sentir (ie,i), servir (i,i), vestirse (i,i) 5. Spelling-change Verbs. Endings are regular, stems go through changes. A. Verbs in -ZAR: change Z to C in the first person singular only. Examples: almorzar, avergonzar, empezar almorcé, avergoncé, empecé -6B. Verbs in -GAR: change G to GU in the first person singular only. Examples: jugar, llegar, colgar, rogar jugué, llegué, colgué, rogué C. Verbs in -CAR: change C to QU in the first person singular only. Examples: buscar, colocar, indicar, tocar busqué, coloqué, indiqué, toqué D. Verbs in -GUAR: place dieresis (ü) over U in the first person singular only. Examples: averiguar, apaciguar, amortiguar averigüé, apacigüé, amortigüé E. Verbs in -EER, -EÍR (I,I), -UIR, CAER, and OÍR: accent I in all forms (-EÍR verbs do not accent I in -IERON); and change I to Y in third person singular andplural (except -EÍR). Examples: caer, creer, leer, construir, huir, freír, reír, sonreír. caí, caíste, cayó, caímos, caísteis, cayeron creí, creíste, creyó, creímos, creísteis, creyeron huí, huíste, huyó, huímos, huísteis, huyeron THE IMPERFECT The imperfect is used to: (1) express repeated, customary or habitual action in the past (English "used to"); (2) express mental activity in the past; (3) describe in the past with no direct action taking place (to set the scene); and (4) express a continued (ongoing) past action which is interrupted by some other action (English "was" or "were" "-ing"); the latter verb will be in the preterite. 1. Regular Verbs. -ar -er, -ir -aba -ábamos -ía -íamos -abas -abais -ías -íais -aba -aban -ía -ían 2. Irregular Verbs. ir - to go ser - to be ver - to see iba íbamos era éramos veía veíamos ibas ibais eras erais veías veíais iba iban era eran veía veían THE PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE This tense is used to imply subjectivity. That is, there exists the possibility that the action may or may not take place, usually expressed as a question, negative, feeling, or command. Note the following examples: Espero que vayan pronto. (I hope they leave soon.) ¿Es posible que llueva? (Is is possibly going to rain?) No creen que yo pueda hacerlo. (They don't think I can do it.) ¡Hablen Uds. en voz baja! (Speak in a quiet voice!) -7Most expressions calling for the subjunctive in Spanish have two subjects and two verbs, whose clauses are separated by q u e , as in the first three examples above. However, if the subjects are the same, the infinitive replaces the subjunctive: Espero salir pronto. (I hope to leave soon.) ¿Es possible comer ahora? (Is it possible to eat now?) 1. Regular Verbs. Remove the infinitive ending and use the opposite endings: -er endings for -ar verbs and -ar endings for -er and -ir verbs. -ar verbs -er, -ir verbs -e -emos -a -amos -es -éis -as -áis -e -en -a -an 2. Irregular Verbs. There are only six unpredictable verbs in the present subjunctive: ir - to go ser - to be dar - to give vaya vayamos sea seamos dé demos vayas vayáis seas seáis des deis vaya vayan sea sean dé den haber - to have saber - to know estar - to be haya sepa esté estemos hayamos sepamos hayas hayáis sepas sepáis estés estéis haya sepa esté estén hayan sepan 3. Stem-change (shoe) Verbs. All "shoe" verbs use the above endings and go through the same stem-changes (U-UE, O-UE, E-I,E-IE) as in the present indicative. However, "shoe" verbs ending in -ir make additional changes of O-U and E-I in nosotros and vosotros (shoe verbs with "laces"). For example: dormir (ue,u) sentir (ie,i) repetir (i,i) duerma durmamos sienta sintamos repita repitamos duermas durmáis sientas sintáis repitas repitáis duerma duerman sienta sientan repita repitan 4. Yo Form Verbs. You will recogize these verbs as having an irregular yo form in the present indicative. In the present subjunctive, that same yo form is used as the stem, to which the subjunctive endings are added. For example caber - to fit, has the irregular yo form q u e p o. Simply drop the final -O and add the opposite endings: quepa, quepas, quepa, quepamos, quepáis, quepan. -8Infinitive Yo Form Subjunctive caber caer -cer decir -ducir hacer oír poner salir tener traer valer venir ver quepo caigo -zco digo -duzco hago oigo pongo salgo tengo traigo valgo vengo veo quepa, quepas, ... caiga, caigas, ... -zca, -zcas, ... diga, digas, ... -duzca, -duzcas, ... haga, hagas, ... oiga, oigas, ... ponga, pongas, ... salga, salgas, ... tenga, tengas, ... traiga, traigas, ... valga, valgas, ... venga, vengas, ... vea, veas, ... 5. Spelling-change Verbs. The forms of these verbs in the present subjunctive are similar to their indicative counterparts, except that opposite endings are used. A. Verbs ending in -GER and -GIR: Change G to J to maintain the "soft G" sound in all forms. coger corregir (i,i) dirigir elegir (i,i) escoger exigir recoger coja, cojas, ... corrija, corrijas, ... dirija, dirijas, ... elija, elijas, ... escoja, escojas, ... exija, exijas, ... recoja, recojas, ... B. Verbs ending in -GUIR: Drop the silent U to maintain the "hard G" sound in all forms. conseguir (i,i) distinguir extinguir seguir (i,i) consiga, consigas, ... distinga, distingas, ... extinga, extingas, ... siga, sigas, ... C. Verbs ending in -UIR (but not -GUIR or -QUIR). construir contribuir destruir distribuir fluir huir influir construya, construyas, ... contribuya, contribuyas, ... destruya, destruyas, ... distribuya, distribuyas, ... fluya, fluyas, ... huya, huyas, ... influya, influyas, ... D. Verbs ending in -IAR, -UAR, and REUNIR: Accent I or U in the "shoe" forms. confiar continuar enviar guiar reunir confíe, confíes, ... continúe, continúes, ... envíe, envíes, ... guíe, guíes, ... reúna, reúnas, ... -9E. Verbs ending in -EÍR: Change E to I and accent I in the "shoe" forms. freír refreír reír sonreír fría, frías, ... refría, refrías, ... ría, rías, ... sonría, sonrías, ... THE FUTURE INDICATIVE The future tense in Spanish has two basic uses: To replace English "will" or "shall" and to express probability. Note its use in the following examples: --¿Qué hora es? --Serán las tres. (It's probably 3 o'clock.) Un momento. Iré contigo. (Just a moment. I'll go with you.) The forms of the future (and the conditional in the next section) use the entire infinitive or a modified infinitive plus the following endings: -é -emos -ás -éis -á -án 1. Regular Verbs. Use the infinitive plus the above endings for -AR, -ER and -IR verbs. For example: Estudiaré para el examen mañana. (I'll study for the test tomorrow.) Los Gómez venderán su casa pronto. (The Gomezes will probably sell their house soon.) Recibirás mi respuesta esta tarde (You'll receive my response this afternoon.) 2. Modified Infinitives. These groups are easily remembered as the "5-5-2" categories according to their modification. A. Verbs that change E or I to D: poner salir tener valer venir pondré, pondrás, ... saldré, saldrás, ... tendré, tendrás, ... valdré, valdrás, ... vendré, vendrás, ... B. Verbs that drop E: caber haber querer poder saber cabré, cabrás, ... habré, habrás, ... querré, querrás, ... podré, podrás, ... sabré, sabrás, ... -10C. Verbs that drop E and C: decir hacer diré, dirás, ... haré, harás, ... THE CONDITIONAL The conditional mood is often taught immediately after the future because its forms and uses are parallel. The conditional replaces English "would" or expresses past probability. For example: ¿Qué hora sería? (What time could it have been?) Me dijiste que vendrías. (You told me you would come.) Like the future tense, the conditional uses the infinitive or a modified infinitive, to which the following endings (from the imperfect) are added: -ía -íamos -ías -íais -ía -ían THE PERFECT TENSES These compound tenses parallel English. They use a form of the auxiliary verb haber - to have and the past participle of the main verb. Note the following examples: Papá todavía no ha llegado. (Dad still hasn't arrived.) Ellos ya habían comido. (They had already eaten.) El avión ya habrá salido. (The plane has probably already left.) 1. Formation of the Past Participle. Past participles have several uses in Spanish, including as adjectives, nouns, and part of the perfect tenses, in which case they always end in -O. A. Regular Verbs. Verbs ending in -AR drop the infinitive ending and add -ADO. Similarly verbs ending in -ER and -IR drop their infinitive ending and add -IDO. For example: hablar hablado comer comido vivir vivido B. Verbs ending in -AER, -EER, -EÍR, some -UIR, and OÍR. Place a written accent over I. For example: caer creer huir leer oír reír traer caído creído huído leído oído reído traído -11C. Irregular Verbs. The following verbs have irregular past participles which must be memorized: abrir cubrir decir escribir freír hacer morir poner romper ver volver abierto cubierto dicho escrito frito hecho muerto puesto roto visto vuelto 2. Formation of the Perfect Tenses. A. The Present Perfect. This tense uses the present indicative of HABER and is used to relate an event in the past to the present. For example: No tengo hambre porque ya he comido. (I'm not hungry because I've already eaten.) he hemos has habéis ha han B. The Pluperfect. This tense uses the imperfect of HABER and relates an earlier past event to the recent past. While there is a Preterite Perfect, this tense suffices for uses in the past. Note: Los alumnos no habían estudiado suficiente para la prueba. (The students hadn't studied enough for the quiz.) había habíamos habías habíais había habían C. The Future Perfect. Use the future of HABER in this tense to relate future actions or to express probability: Todavía no lo habrán visto, ¿verdad? (They probably haven't seen it yet, right?) habré habremos habrás habréis habrá habrán -12D. The Conditional Perfect. Use the conditional of HABER in this tense to relate past events. No habrían ido allí. (They wouldn't have gone there.) habría habríamos habrías habríais habría habrían E. The Present Perfect Subjunctive. This tense is uses the present subjunctive of HABER to express subjectivity: Dudan que yo haya conquistado al enemigo. (They doubt that I have defeated the enemy.) haya hayamos hayas hayáis haya hayan F. The Pluperfect Subjunctive. Use the imperfect subjunctive of HABER to express contrary to fact situations in the past: Tú no habrías salido si yo te hubiera llamado antes. (You wouldn't have left if I had called you earlier.) hubiera hubiéramos hubieras hubierais hubiera hubieran THE IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE This tense is used to express contrary to fact statements in the past, or when the verb in the main clause is in the past or conditional. Its formation is simplified by using the third person plural (ellos) form of the preterite as the stem. Just remove the -RON of that form and add the following endings: -ra ´-ramos -ras -rais -ra -ran OR -se ´-semos -ses -seis -se -sen The -SE forms are found primarily in literary works and have been replaced in contemporary use by the -RA forms. Here are some examples of the imperfect subjunctive: Era imposible que yo terminara a tiempo. (It was impossible for me to finish on time.) Mamá exigió que los hijos se acostaran temprano. (Mom demanded that the children go to bed early.) Review the third person plural (ellos) form of thepreterit when working with this tense. -13- THE PROGRESSIVE TENSES These tenses parallel English in form, but not in use. That is, people who translate directly from English to Spanish misuse or overuse this tense. The progressive is composed of a form of E S T A R or a verb of motion, and the present participle of the main verb, and emphasizes the ongoing or "right now" nature of the action. Observe the following examples: No puedo hablar ahorita porque estoy estudiando. (I can't talk right now because I'm studying.) La niña entró llorando. (The girl came in crying.) Los médicos aún siguen buscando la causa de su muerte. (The doctors are still looking for the cause of her death.) The reason these forms are so often misued, especially with ESTAR, is because of the assumed one-toone correspondence between ESTAR and the English forms of "being--is, am, are, ...", and the present participle and English "-ing." Unless the ongoing nature of the action is being stressed, the indicative can often express the same idea: Saco mejores notas porque estudio más este año. (I'm getting better grades because I'm studying more this year.) 1. Formation of the Present Participle. A. Regular Verbs: Verbs ending in -AR drop the infinitive ending and add -ANDO. Verbs ending in -ER and -IR add -IENDO to the stem: hablar hablando speaking comer comiendo eating escribir escribiendo writing B. Stem-change -IR Verbs: Several -IR verbs make an additional change of the stem vowel of O-U or E-I before adding -IENDO: decir dormir morir pedir sentir venir diciendo durmiendo muriendo pidiendo sintiendo viniendo telling sleeping dying requesting feeling coming C. Verbs ending in -AER, -EER, -UIR, and OÍR: Change the I of -IENDO to Y: caer creer fluir huir leer oír traer cayendo creyendo fluyendo huyendo leyendo oyendo trayendo falling believing flowing fleeing reading listening bringing -14D. Irregular Verbs: The following verbs have unpredictable present participles which must be learned by rote: freír ir reír sonreír friendo yendo riendo sonriendo frying going laughing smiling 2. Formation of the Progressive Tenses. A. With forms of ESTAR: están comiendo they are eating estábamos estudiando we were studying estará nadando she's probably swimming estaría durmiendo he was probably sleeping B. With Verbs of Motion: andar entrar salir ir seguir venir anduvieron hablando entraron sonriendo salieron riendo va comiendo siguen cantando vienes quejando they walked talking they'll enter smiling they left laughing he goes along eating they continue singing you come complaining COMMANDS Spanish commands are more complicated than English for three reasons: There are more than one way of saying "you" in Spanish; some positive commands are different from their negative forms; and two tenses are required, the subjunctive or the imperative. Look at the chart below to understand these complications: Tú Vosotros Ud. Uds. Nosotros + imperative imperative subjunctive subjunctive vamos a + inf. subjunctive - subjunctive subjunctive subjunctive subjunctive no vamos a + inf. subjunctive The tú and vosotros forms are called familiar commands, the Ud. and Uds. forms are formal commands, and the nosotros forms are indirect commands, translated as "Let's ..." Observe the following examples of these various commands: No hables en voz tan alta. (Don't speak so loudly.) Toma tu sombrero y póntelo. (Take your hat and put it on.) Lea Ud. más despacio, por favor. (Read slower, please.) Vamos a bailar. or Bailemos. (Let's dance.) Clase, no se vayan Uds. todavía. (Don't leave yet.) Venid compañeros. Sentaos. (Come in friends. Sit down.) -15Notice from some of the above examples that two rules about pronouns apply depending on the command forms: In front of positive commands and attached to the rear of negative forms. 1. Positive Familiar Commands. These are the tú and vosotros forms telling someone with whom you are informal to do something. A. Regular Verbs: For tú, simply use the third person singular form of the present indicative (see pp. 2-4). hablar Habla (tú). Speak. comer Come (tú). Eat. repetir Repite (tú). Repeat. For vosotros, simply replace the -R of the infinitive with a D for all verbs. However, if the reflexive pronoun os is added, the -D is dropped, except for the verb IRSE, which retains the -D: hablar comer venir sentarse irse Hablad. Speak. Comed. Venid. Sentaos. Idos. Eat. Come. Sit down. Go away. B. Irregular Verbs: You should quickly recognize the following verbs which have irregular positive commands: decir hacer poner salir tener venir Di la verdad. Haz tu tarea. Pon la mesa. Sal ahorita. Ten paciencia. Ven acá. Tell the truth. Do your homework. Set the table. Leave right now. Be patient. Come here. There are no irregular positive vosotros commands, except IRSE, noted above. 2. Negative Familiar Commands. Simply use the present subjunctive (see pp. 7-9) of the verb for both singular and plural forms: No te vayas. No os sentéis. No hables. No volváis. Don't leave. Don't sit down. Don't talk. Don't return. 3. Positive and Negative Formal Commands. Both the singular (Ud.) and plural (Uds.) forms use the present subjunctive to express positive and negative commands (see pp. 6-8). However they differ in the location of object pronouns--in front for positive and attached to the rear of negative forms. Note these examples: Tráigamelos. No salgan todavía. Coma más despacio. Véndanmelo ahorita. Bring them to me. Don't leave yet. Eat more slowly. Sell it to me right now. -164. First Person Indirect Commands. Spanish also classifies the idea of "Let's ..." as a command form, although indirectly. There are two ways of expressing this command: By using the nosotros form of the present subjunctive or with vamos a .... Observe the following examples: Bailemos. No se lo digamos. Vamos a comer ahora. Traigámoselo. Let's dance. Let's not tell it to her. Let's eat now. Let's bring it to her. The only exception to the above rule is the verb IR, which uses the present indicative: Vamos a casa. Let's go home. THE PASSIVE VOICE All the above verb forms are used for active sentences. But passive sentences also exist in Spanish, although to a lesser degree than in English. There are two ways of expressing the passive voice in Spanish. 1. S E R + Past Participle + P O R + Agent. The "true" passive voice is expressed by the above formula. Note its use below: Las ciudades fueron fundadas por los españoles. (The cities were founded by the Spaniards.) Tenochtitlán fue destruída por Cortez. (Tenochtitlán was destroyed by Cortez.) Las cartas serán entregadas por el cartero. (The letters will be delivered by the postman.) Note that the form of SER can be in several tenses, singular or plural, and that the past participle agrees with the object (cartas--entregadas). 2. Using The Reflexive Construction. In cases where the agent is not expressed or is unimportant, the reflexive pronoun S E is used with the third person singular or plural of the verb. This construction is often used in newspaper advertisements and can be translated as "one ...". Note its use in these examples: Se necesita secretaria. (Wanted--secretary.) Aquí se hablan español y francés. (Spanish and French are spoken here.) ¿Cómo se dice ...? (How does one say ...?) Así se hace, ¿no? (This is how it's done, right?) |
