7. Recordemos las estructuras verbales

As you remember from Unit 3, Spanish has diferent kinds of grammatical structures to help us express a thought. The structures that we studied can be classified as follows:

• 

  The two verb rule.

• Present progressive.
• Ir + a + infinitive.
• Tener + que + infinitive.
• Deber + infinitive.
• Gustar and similar verbs.

a) The two verb rule

These structures are formed by the combination of two verbs. If two verbs are used consecutively without a break in the subject or a conjunction (and, but, or), the first verb is conjugated and the second one stays in the infinitive. When two verbs are walking, the first does the talking. The verb that tells you the most is the first one because it is broken out by the subject. (The first verb means more in a sense.)

Think about the whole point of this book. Yo puedo hablar en español. Yo puedo escribir en español. Yo puedo comprender español. Yo puedo entender otras culturas.

¡Yo puedo tener muchas oportunidades siendo bilingüe!

Also we studied some structures where the verbs require a preposition between the conjugated verb and the infinitive such as:

• Vamos a estudiar en casa de Juan.
• Tiene que estar en casa.
• Debe esperar a su hermano.* Notice: Deber can use or not the preposition de.

To the list of verbs above we will add one more verb for now that always needs a preposition. The first one that we will study is “jugar”. In the next section we will study the other one.

Juego al (a el) fútbol todas las mañanas.

Juego a las muñecas (dolls) con mi amiga Beth.

Jugar always is followed by the prepositon a. The contraction of the preposition a and the article “el” = “a + el”= “al”. This helps separate the sounds and is similiar to English when we say a bird vs an owl.

b) Present progressive

Do you remember the progressive form of the verbs? In English, we have the present progressive and past progressive. In Spanish, we have the progressive form in all the tenses. The progressive forms in Spanish are only used for emphasis, for instance, to emphasize that an action is taking place at a particular moment, as opposed to another time, or to stress continuity of the action. In English, the progressive tenses are used far more frequently and they are used for habitual actions, to state general truths, or to indicate that an action is happening at a specific moment.

The formula for the Spanish progressive forms is:

Auxiliar verb estar (conjugated in the tense needed) + the gerund

¡Estamos saliendo ahora mismo! à We are leaving right now!

The gerund cannot stand alone as it is not a conjugated verb. To form the gerund, take the root + “ando” in AR verbs. Take the root + iendo in the ER and IR verbs: hablar à hablando. beber à bebiendo, vivir à viviendo.

To express the concept of an action in progress you need the verb “estar” conjugated in the tense that the action is happening (present, past, future) plus the gerund. Again we are applyng the two verb rule: when two verbs are walking, the first does the talking. In the progressive forms the first always is “estar” and the second part is a gerund.

When a verb is not conjugated it is called a verbal in English or verboide in Spanish. Until now we know two different types of verboides: gerund and infinitive. Later we will study the third one.

The progressive forms work as a structure: Estar (conjugated) + (gerund).

He is running. She is walking.

Él está corriendo. Ella está caminando.

c) Ir + a + Infinitive

As you recall, in Spanish, there are two ways to express the future. One is conjugating the verb in the future tense, and the other, more basic form used mostly in spoken Spanish, expresses plans (future actions). The structure “ir + a + infinitive” will help us express the future, using the verb conjugation in present tense.

So far we’ve been learning conjugations in the indicative mood, at the present time. The construction “ir + a + infinitive” is extremely useful since you know the conjugation of the verb to go in the indicative mood in the present tense. With this knowledge we can express any action in the future, without knowing the conjugations for the true future tense.

Voy a nadar en la tarde. à I’m going to swim in the afternoon.

Pedro y Dulce van a bailar hoy. à Pedro and Dulce are going to dance today.

¿Qué van a hacer hoy? à What are you going to do?

¡Claro que vamos a la fiesta! à Of course we are going to the party!

Rosa va al cine. à Rosa is going to the movies.

*Notice that the preposition “a” comes after ir when you want to say that someone is going to a place. When a is followed by the masculine definite articleà a + el (definite article) the contraction al is mandatory.

d) Tener + que + Infinitive

Sometimes adding a preposition after the conjugated verb changes the meaning significantly. An example is the verb “have” that we already studied: TENER:

Yo tengo 20 años.

Mi hermano tiene una casa.

Nuestros hijos tienen muchos juguetes (toys).

If we use Tener + que + Infinitive, the meaning is HAVE TO. In English and in Spanish we use this structure to express the idea of it being necessary to do something. It is a responsibility.

Tengo que estudiar las estructuras en español. à I have to study the Spanish structures.

Vosotros tenéis que leer la novela. à You (all) have to read the novel.

¡No tengo que hacer tarea hoy!. à I do not have to do homework today!

e) Deber + Infinitive

Spanish also has another structure to express obligation, but in this case it is a DUTY. We use the verb Deber + infinitive. As with the verb tener, the verb deber changes in meaning with or without the preposition. The verb deber without the preposition means to owe; an example is:

Juan debe el dinero a Pedro. à Juan owes the money to Pedro.

Deber has a completely different meaning when coupled with an infinitive as in must or should as a duty or moral obligation.

Margarita debe ser honesta con el doctor. à Margarita must be honest with the doctor.

Juan debe pagar la mátricula. . à Juan must pay the tuition.

Nosotros debemos llamar al 911. à We must call 911.

Deber de + infinitive is more for an expression or supposition. María debe de ser la persona más simpática del mundo. María must be or has to be the nicest person in the World.

f) Gustar and similar verbs

Another structure that we already studied is GUSTAR to indicate something or someone is pleasing to a person. As you recall, it has 4 components:

*Remember: for actions or singular things we use gusta; for plural things we use gustan.

To analyze the structure gustar and how it works, remember some basic grammar elements. A sentence is the expression of a thought formed by the subject and the predicate. The predicate is formed by the core (conjugated verb) and the complement (extra information).

Sentence: Noah speaks Spanish to Trevor.

Sometimes it is not so simple to find the subject in a sentence at first glance. Look for the verb to help you determine who? or what? does the action.

Verb (core of the predicate): speaks

Who speaks Spanish? Noah is the answer!

Noah is the subject of our sentence.

Noah is doing the action.

The complement in the predicate is the extra information. The extra information is a word (or words) that are needed to complete the meaning of a sentence. Now we will study the direct and indirect complements, also known as direct or indirect objects.

The Indirect Object tells to whom or for whom something is done. To identify the indirect object we only need to ask “to/for whom” or “to/for what” the action is done:

To whom does Noah speaks? To Trevor

Trevor is the indirect object.

The Direct Object receives the action of a verb. It answers the questions “what or whom” about the verb.

What does Noah speak? Spanish

Spanish is the direct object.

Let’s see more examples:

As you see, not all sentences need to have a direct and indirect object. You find sentences with none, both, or only with one. Let’s see other examples:

Now it is your turn: Identify the elements by dissecting the sentences and noting the parts that correspond below.

Bearing in mind the components of a sentence, let’s review the structure gustar. This structure indicates some activity or activities (with the verb in infinitive) or a thing(s) that is/are pleasing to a person. This structure doesn’t have a conventional formation: sujeto + predicado (verbo + complement). We start with the indirect object pronoun that agrees with whom is receiving joy or pleasure.

Sentence: Me gusta el chocolate.

We can start the sentence with the Indirect Object Pronoun, or we have the option to start by emphasizing or clarifying who is the Indirect Object. We will review this point later. For now we are going to start with the Indirect Object Pronoun, which is a pronoun that receives the action of the verb.

GUSTA means something is pleasing.

What is pleasing? The chocolate!

The subject is the chocolate, the thing which provokes pleasure.

Notice the subject for the verb “gustar” is after the verb. This is what was meant by looking at the verb to determine who your subject is. With the verbs that work like “gustar”, the subject is after the conjugated verb.

To find an Indirect Object we need to answer “to/for WHOM” or “to/for WHAT” the subject is pleasing.

To whom the chocolate is pleasing?

¿A quién le gusta el chocolate? A mí à indirect object.

Notice the Indirect Object Pronouns represent the Indirect Object in the sentence; who receives the consequences of the actions of the subject.

(A mí) me gusta el chocolate.

Remember the structure “gustar” is not following the conventional form sujeto + predicado (verbo + complement) à the structure is backwards: (predicado (complement verb) + subject.)

If we would like to use the conventional form writing sujeto + predicado (verbo + complement), we need to change the sentence Me gusta el chocolate to El chocolate me place. The meaning doesn’t change, we are expressing the same idea with another verb, and in this case the sentence follows the conventional form.

Me gusta el chocolate.

El chocolate me place.

In the sentence,”Me gusta el chocolate,” I have the option to emphasize to whom the chocolate is pleasing using the optional part of the structure: a mí me gusta el chocolate.

As you can see in the sentence, we have the indirect object pronoun “me” and also have the indirect object “a mí”. That is the reason why it is optional, we really don’t need to have the indirect object pronoun and the indirect object, but we use the indirect object for emphasis.

In the case of the third persons in the singular or in the plural, we use the indirect object pronoun and the indirect object to clarify… let’s see the following example:

Le gusta el chocolate

To whom is the chocolate pleasing?

¿A quién provoca placer el chocolate? le à Indirect Object Pronoun

Who is the indirect object?

I don’t know who the indirect object is. It can be “ella, él or usted.” Who is it?

I need to clarify. I need to use the optional section of the structure to specify who it is:

A ella le gusta el chocolate,a Juan le gusta el chocolate o a usted le gusta el chocolate.

In summary, with the structure gustar and similar verbs, use always the indirect object pronoun before the verb. In case we want to emphasize we can use the optional part of the structure, which is the indirect object as with the first and second persons (singular and plural). For the third person (singular and plural) the optional section has the function to clarify who the indirect object is.

Do you remember what other verbs use the structure gustar? ___________________________________________________________________________

The verbs that we studied are regular verbs, but now we will study an irregular one “DOLER”. It changes the “o” to ue” in the root. Again the endings are all the same as the regular ER endings. Let’s see the following examples:

Doler: to hurt, to ache:

• ¿A ustedes les duele correr y caminar?
• A ellos les duelen los pies (feet).

As you notice “doler” is irregular. It changes the “o” to ue” in the root, the endings are all the same as the regular ER endings. Like “poder or dormir”.

With all this information you can complete the following chart using the structure gustar and similar verbs with the verb: DOLER. Don’t forget for actions or singular things we use DUELE, for plural things we use DUELEN. The structure DOLER indicates something or someone is hurting a person and has the four components as a similar verb that follow the structure GUSTAR.

Complete the following chart of components for the structure DOLER as in the example:

TAREA:

For homework apply what you learned about the new verbs and write 10 questions in Spanish using the “tú” form that you might use to get to know your future roommate better. You may include things like, “Do you sleep late? “Do you prefer to study in the dorm room or in the library?” “What things do you have for the dorm room or apartment?” What will you do on the weekend? Do you have to work? What are your duties? And also what he or she likes to do. Think about how you would answer these questions for yourself so you are prepared to answer these questions in partner activities. Remember to hand in your homework at the beginning of the next class.