Spanish verb tenses

355 Pages·2015·6.456 MB·English

by  Richmond, Dorothy Devney

Spanish
Verb Tenses
PREMIUM THIRD EDITION
Dorothy Richmond
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Other titles by Dorothy Richmond:
Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Spanish
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary Building with Suffixes
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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For Daisy and Lily Richmond
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
I THE PRESENT TENSE
1
1 Conjugation of regular verbs 3
The basics of verbs 3
Conjugating verbs 4
Regular -ar verbs 5
Negative sentences 7
Regular -er verbs 9
Regular -ir verbs 11
Asking questions 14
2 Ser and estar 19
Using ser 20
Using estar 25
3 Hay 31
4 Tener 35
Possession 35
Age 37
Idiomatic expressions with tener 37
Obligation 39
5 The personal a 43
6 Common irregular verbs 47
Phrases with two verbs—querer, poder, deber 49
Describing the weather—hacer, estar 50
Playing games—jugar 51
Expressing future action—ir • a • infinitive 52
v
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7 Saber and conocer 57
Saber 57
Conocer 60
8 Stem-changing verbs 65
o > ue 65
e > ie 67
e > i 69
9 Irregular verb groups 73
Infinitives ending with -cer preceded by a vowel 73
Infinitives ending with -ucir 75
Infinitives ending with -cer or -cir preceded by a consonant 77
Infinitives ending with -ger or -gir 78
Infinitives ending with -aer 80
Infinitives ending with -uir not preceded by g 81
Infinitives ending with -guir 83
10 Reflexive verbs 87
11 Gustar and similarly formed verbs 93
12 The present progressive 99
Formation of the present progressive 99
Object pronouns with the present progressive 104
THE PAST TENSES, THE FUTURE TENSE,

II THE CONDITIONAL TENSE, AND THE PRESENT
AND PAST PERFECT TENSES
107
13 The preterite tense 109
Regular verbs in the preterite 110
Irregular verbs in the preterite 117
Verbs that change meaning in the preterite 132
14 The imperfect tense 135
Regular verbs in the imperfect 136
Irregular verbs in the imperfect 136
When to use the imperfect 137
15 The future tense 159
Regular verbs in the future 159
Irregular verbs in the future 164
vi Contents
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16 The conditional tense 171
Regular verbs in the conditional 171
Irregular verbs in the conditional 174
17 The present perfect tense 179
Formation of the present perfect 179
18 The past perfect tense 187
Formation of the past perfect 187
THE IMPERATIVE, THE SUBJUNCTIVE,

III THE FUTURE AND CONDITIONAL PERFECT
TENSES, AND THE PASSIVE VOICE
195
19 The imperative 197
tú commands 197
usted commands 202
ustedes commands 204
vosotros commands 205
nosotros commands 207
Notable characteristics of commands 207
20 The present subjunctive 211
Formation of the present subjunctive 212
Uses of the present subjunctive 214
21 The imperfect subjunctive 233
Formation of the imperfect subjunctive 233
Uses of the imperfect subjunctive 234
22 The future perfect tense 245
Formation of the future perfect 245
Uses of the future perfect 245
23 The conditional perfect tense 251
Formation of the conditional perfect 251
Uses of the conditional perfect 252
24 The present perfect subjunctive 257
Formation of the present perfect subjunctive 257
Uses of the present perfect subjunctive 258
Contents vii
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25 The pluperfect subjunctive 263
Formation of the pluperfect subjunctive 263
Uses of the pluperfect subjunctive 264
26 The passive voice 271
Incomplete passive voice 271
Complete passive voice 277
appendix a Verb conjugation charts 281
appendix b Verbs that take a preposition 285
Answer key 291
Spanish-English glossary 311
English-Spanish glossary 325
viii Contents
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Acknowledgments
As this book goes into its third edition, nearly twenty years after its initial publication,
the first person to acknowledge—then, now, and always—is Gilmore T. Schjeldahl, a
former private student. His intelligence and bottomless pit of inquisitiveness into the
inner workings of anything—Mr. Schjeldahl was a scientist with the soul of an artist—
inspired me to write a book on Spanish verbs dealing with not just the what and how,
but also the why and when of verb usage. I remain endlessly grateful to Mr. Schjeldahl
for all he taught me.
In the same spirit, I thank all the students who selected and worked through the
first two editions of this book. Their curiosity, intelligence, and number were great
enough to generate another edition. This is a great honor.
Once again I was fortunate to work personally with Christopher Brown, publisher,
who oversaw the production of this book at McGraw-Hill Education. I have long con-
sidered Christopher a great editor and friend.
Finally, and always, I thank my husband, Martin, and our daughters, Daisy and
Lily, for being good and honorable people, and for all they add to my life and this world.
ix
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