Quiz 3/11 Flashcards
Estar v. Ser: How should you use Estar?
Use estar for:
- LOCATION: Express location of people, places or objects.
- Los libros estan en la mesa. - CONDITION: to talk about temporal condition.
- “Como estas?” “Estoy bien.” - EMOTIONAL CONDITIONS: to talk about emotional conditions.
- Estoy muy ocupada esta semana.
Estar v. Ser: How should you use Ser?
Use SER for:
- IDENTIFYING - yourself and others.
- Soy Ana y esta es mi hermana, Luisa. - PROFESSIONS - to indicate professions.
- Pablo Picasso es un artista famoso. - PERSONALITY/PHYSICAL TRAITS
- Somos altos y delgados.
- Soy estudiante bueno. - TIME AND DATE
- Es la una de la tarde. Hoy es miercoles. - NATIONALITY/ORIGIN
- Soy de Texas. - POSSESSION (w/ “de”)
- Este celular es de Anita. - LOCATION
- La fiesta es en la residencia estudiantil.
What are the ideal differences between the preterite and the imperfect?
The preterite is used to express “completed and over” actions.
The imperfect is used to express actions and conditions in the past that are seen as habitual or ongoing.
General guidelines for using the preterite against the imperfect:
- Relates a completed past action or series of completed past actions.
Comimos en ese restaurante la semana pasada.
We ate in that restaurant last week.
- Focuses on the beginning or end of a past event.
La cena comenzó a las nueve, pero no terminó hasta medianoche.
Dinner started at nine, but it didn’t end until midnight.
- Relates a completed past condition that is viewed as completely over and done with at this point in time (usually gives a time period associated with the condition).
Manuel estuvo enfermo por dos semanas, después de comer en ese restaurante, pero ahora está bien.
Manuel was sick for two weeks after eating in that restaurant, but now he is well.
- Relates an action that interrupted an ongoing action.
Ya comíamos el postre cuando por fin Miguel llegó al restaurante.
We were eating dessert when Miguel finally arrived at the restaurant.
General guidelines for using the imperfect against the preterite:
- Describes habitual or routine past actions.
Comíamos en ese restaurante todos las semanas.
We used to eat/ate in that restaurant every week.
- Focuses on the duration of the event in the past, rather than its beginning or end.
Cenábamos desde las nueve hasta medianoche.
We were eating from 9 until midnight.
- Describes past conditions (such as time, weather, emotional states, age, and location) that were ongoing at the time of description (no focus on the beginning of end of that condition).
El restaurante era famoso por su comida latinoamericana y estábamos muy contentos con los platos que pedimos.
The restaurant was famous for its Latin American food and we were very happy with the plates that we ordered.
- Describes ongoing background events in the past that were interrupted by another action.
Ya comíamos el postre cuando por fin Miguel llegó al restaurante.
We were eating dessert when Miguel finally arrived at the restaurant.
Here are some context words typically used with the preterite:
de repente - suddenly por fin - finally ayer - yesterday la semana pasada - last week el mes pasado - last month el año pasado - last year una vez - once dos veces - twice
Here are some context words typically used with the imperfect:
generalmente - generally por lo general - generally/usually normalmente - normally todos los días/meses/años - every day/month/year todas las semanas - every week frecuentemente - frequently típicamente - typically
Present Progressive Tense:
The present progressive tense is the Spanish way of expressing continuous present action (like English or Greek participles). In English, these typically translate as “verb-ing.” But, as opposed to English, they are ONLY used for the present situation in Spanish (no “I am going to do this on Friday”).
The structure is expressed by replacing the end of a verb stem with either “ando” or “iendo.” There also must be the correct form of estar preceding the verb: esta estudiando (he/she is studying).
ir stem changing verbs reflect the stem change in this verb form.
conjugate “caminar” into the present progressive:
to walk; estoy caminando (I am walking) estas caminando (you are walking) esta caminando estamos caminando estais caminando estan caminando. (they are walking)
conjugate “ver” into the present progressive:
to see/watch; estoy viendo (I are seeing/watching) estas viendo (you are seeing/watching) esta viendo estamos viendo estais viendo estan viendo. (they are seeing/watching)
conjugate “dormir” into the present progressive:
to sleep; estoy durmiendo estas durmiendo esta durmiendo estamos durmiendo estais durmiendo estan durmiendo.
What is the imperfect progressive tense and how is it used?
The imperfect progressive is a verb form used to intensify the following:
• An action that was in progress in the past
• An event that was happening in the past
That is, if you’re simply stating that something was in progress in the past and not trying to emphasize that aspect, just use the imperfect.
The action expressed by the imperfect progressive tense must be an action that was in progress in the past (as opposed to the preterite progressive, which emphasizes “completed” actions in the past):
El estudiante estaba durmiendo cuando el maestro empezó la clase.
The student was sleeping when the teacher started class.
Yo estaba atravesando la calle cuando vi venir el carro.
I was crossing the street when I saw the car coming.
How do you form the imperfect progressive tense?
The imperfect progressive is a compound tense in Spanish, as it is in English. It is formed by conjugating estar in the imperfect and adding the gerund of the main verb.
yo estaba jugando
nos estábamos viviendo
Conjugate “jugar” into the imperfect progressive:
estaba jugando
estabas jugando
estaba jugando
estábamos jugando
estabais jugando
estaban jugando
What other verbs can be combined with the gerund form of a verb to form the imperfect progressive?
seguir, ir, and venir
Rosa seguía comiendo.
Rose continued to eat.
