This is just like the previous Q & A page, only this one deals with 8-10. The following are a selection of questions the 102 students have recently submitted, as well as my answers to them. I did not include all of the questions and took the liberty of combining several, as some of the questions were very similar. The questions and answers are divided into the following sections. Click on the topic to see questions related to that topic, click top to return back here.
Chapter 8 questions
- Impersonal Direct Objects
- Expressing likes with 'gusta' and 'encanta'
- Using Negative words
- Using the impersonal 'se'
Chapter 9 questions
- More on using reflexives
- Combining prepositions and pronouns
- Forming the Imperfect
- The difference between Preterite and Imperfect
- Expressing past desire
Chapter 10 questions
- The Present Perfect
- How to form exclamations
- The differece between Por & Para
- Creating Adverbs
- Using other verbs like GUSTA
Impersonal Direct Objects - Grammar 8.1
What are impersonal direct object pronouns?
Impersonal direct object pronouns are just the DO’s we use for non-humans. So we will have the same markers: lo, la, los, las. In other words if I say ‘it’. See the following example:
¿Dónde está mi libro? --- lo puse en la cocina.
Notice that the ‘lo’ refers back to ‘libro.’ So it matches in gender and number with the noun it is referring to. It also has the same distribution as all the other reference markers we’ve looked at:
¡Juan tiene un coche nuevo!
--- Quiero verlo.
--- Lo compró en Chicago.
--- Él ya no lo quiere más.
In each of these sentences, the ‘lo’ is referring back to the car.’
It says that direct object pronouns USUALLY placed before the verb, when would they not?:
The placement of the direct object pronoun can be before the conjugated verb or after the infinitve. See the following examples:
A Juan le gusta comer pizza.
1) Él la come todos los días.
2) No quiere comerla en la noche.
3) No la quiere comer en la noche.
Notice that in the first follow up statement, the ‘la’ is used instead of the object, and that it is before the conjugated verb. The same is true of the third statement. The second statement allows the placement of the pronoun after the infinitive. Sentences two and three are stating the same thing, but just moving the pronoun to a different spot.
The following is a great site for more work on direct objects:
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/DO_IO.html
You can also use the website for the book:
www.mhhe.com/dosmundos - click on student edition, chapter 8, grammar 8.1 for more help
What is the difference between encantan and encanta?
The verb encantar works just like gusta (only it means ‘enchanted by’ or ‘love,’ while gusta means ‘like’). The ending of encantar will change according to the object it is modifying. So it really only has two possibilities regardless of tense: singular and plural. So see the following examples:
Me encanta la ensalada. (I love salad.)
Me encantan las manzanas. (I love apples.)
It is also singular when it modifies verbs, regardless of what comes after it:
Me encanta comer ensalada. (I love to eat salad.)
Me encanta comer manzanas. (I love to eat apples.)
It really depends on the word that is next to the verb:
Me encanta la ensalada y las manzanas. (I love salad and apples.)
Me encantan las manzanas y la ensalada. (I love apples and salad.)
When do we use the personal ‘a’ for gusta? And when do we use the pronouns?
The personal ‘a’ lets us know where this action is going (like the indirect objects), so when we state where the action is going we sometimes need to put in the personal ‘a’. The six indirect object pronouns are seen below as well as the pronouns:
A mí me gusta…
A ti te gusta…
A él le gusta…
A nosotros nos gusta…
A vosotros os gusta
A ellos les gusta.
As we generally know who we are talking about with the first and second person markers (me, te, nos, os), we don’t usually add the pronouns (a mí, a ti, … ) except for emphasis. We absolutely must add them in the third person unless it is very clear in the context who we are talking about. The reason is that the third person can be any number of people, including the formal usted, and so it needs to be defined.
A Sr. Abels le gusta el aguacate.
So in this example, if we don’t include ‘a Sr. Abels’ then we don’t know who likes the ‘aguacate.’
For more help on gusta and encanta see this site:
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/gustar1.html
Using Negative words - grammar 8.3
When to use nada, nadie, nunca o, ninguno/a?
The negative words nada, nadie etc… pretty much follow the use in English. The big difference is WHERE to put them. They can go before a verb:
Nadie come hígado.
Nunca voy al cine.
If they go after the verb, there must be some sort of a negative before the verb for agreement. Ex.
No conozco a nadie.
No voy al cine nunca.
Is it possible to have double negatives in Spanish, where they cancel each other out? Do I have to worry about that? I have noticed they seem to use them sometimes; so is it always okay?
The concept of double negative is not the same in Spanish. In some ways we might even need a ‘double negative.’ What is important in the language is to have a negative before the verb if the concept is negative. Sometimes this action results in having a ‘double (or more) negative’ See the following example:
Yo nunca como hígado.
Yo no lo como nunca.
In both sentences, there is a negative before the verb. If we drop the ‘no’ in the second sentence, it no longer makes sense:
Yo lo como nunca. (This sentence is bad.)
How do you use alguno and ninguno?
These two forms are going to pick something out of a set of possibilities. So see the following examples:
¿Hay algunos libros buenos? (Are there any good books?)
Si hay algún libro bueno. (Yes there is one(some) good book)
There are a couple of things to notice here. First of all, the question is asking if there are any (a sub set out of the infinite books available) that are good (making sub-set even smaller). The answer picks out of that subset the possibility of just one.
The second thing to notice here is the lack of the ‘o’ on the word. Notice that the context is before a singular masculine noun. Thus if we were to answer the sentence in the negative:
No, no hay ningún libro bueno. (No, there aren’t any good books.)
Here we are still picking out of the subset (only now the possibility is nothing – yielding negative). We also need to drop the ‘o’ because the noun is masculine and singular.
«A mí también» means "so do I," but how do you say "me too" again?
Well we can say a mí también, for both of these. To say 'me too' in the negative is to say 'a mí tampoco' or 'yo tampoco.'
The difference in saying 'a mí también and yo también (or the negatives for that matter) depends on the verb we are using. Notice that with gusta we use the personal 'a' (defining the indirect object) so if we are going to say "me too" with that verb, then we will say 'a mí también.' If on the other hand we use some other verb (not referring to the indirect object) we will just say yo también. See the following examples:
«Me gusta bailar» --> «¡A mí también!»
«Mañana voy a bailar» --> «¡Yo también!»
Where can I find more information on negatives and all that?
To see the website we used in class to discuss this concept, see the following link:
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/negatives.html
You can also use the site from the book:
www.mhhe.com/dosmundos - click on student edition, chapter 8, grammar 8.3 for more help on this one.
The impersonal SE - Grammar 8.4
Isn’t the word se used when we speak of knowing? As in “no se.” in section# 8.4 the y’re using it in a w a y I don’t understand.
Well, the word ‘se’ is pretty confusing. I think you are referring to the ‘(yo) sé’ of saber. Another ‘se’ is the reflexive ‘se’ which means that the action comes back to the person. The ‘se’ of this grammar point is called the impersonal ‘se’ and is used to express one or you. You’ve probably seen or heard the following phrases:
¿Cómo se dice «tablecloth» en español?
Aquí se habla español.
These are stating how does ‘one say’ …. and here ‘one speaks Spanish.’ We are making the verb impersonal. There are some changes that happen because of this as well. Not only do we put se in front of the verb, but we also have to change to verb according to the object. This works just like the verb ‘gusta.’ That is, regardless of the tense, the verb has two possibilities: singular or plural. Look at the following examples:
Aquí se sirven mariscos. (Here they serve shellfish.)
Aquí se sirve pan caliente. (Here they serve hot bread)
Notice that the verb (servir) changed according to the noun – singular or plural. The verb changes only according to the next word, so look at the following examples:
Aquí se sirven mariscos y pan caliente. (Here they serve shellfish and hot bread.)
Aquí se sirve pan caliente y mariscos. (Here they serve hot bread and shellfish.)
So it works very similar to ‘gusta’ in that the form of the verb is singular or plural depending on the next word in the sentence.
If you would like to see some exercises with this same topic, look at the following page:
www.mhhe.com/dosmundos - go to student edition, chapter 8, grammar 8.4
Why is it,"Soy muy parecida a mi madre" and not "Me parezco mucho a mi madre" ?
The verb parecerse means to ‘look alike’ or ‘resemble.’ The adjective ‘parecido’ means similar, or resemblance. The truth is that you can say both of them, Its just that with one you are using a verb and with the other an adjective – they both come from the same root, and mean pretty much the same thing.
To see more about reflexives - review past comments here:
Why is it that we must use the “personal “a” after the verb “parcerse?” What is it exacly that the “a” is conveing? Is it that the meaning changes from sentence to sentence (like from “to” to “at”) or is it that English doesn’t really have any equivalent word?
Well, we tend to put the ‘personal a’ with personal direct and indirect objects. Here we are stating whom we are similar to. So we can look at it like that. Another way of looking at it, is view it as a two-word verb. In English we have a lot of two-word verbs (get up, get out, get down … ) and the meaning doesn’t always have to do with the preposition. This is just a two word verb that needs to have this preposition in this position.
Combining Prepositions and Pronouns - Grammar 9.2
Con and mí combine to form conmigo same with ti, how does it work for él / ella, ud., nosostros, etc.?
Yes, we can combine con + mí to make conmigo, and con + ti to make contigo. However that’s it, no more combinations. To express with you (formal) we just state as in the following sentence:
Quiero ir al supermercado con usted.
Forming the Imperfect - Grammar 9.3
Could use explain the imperfect endings? Also can you explain the ir, ser, and ver, irregular in the imperfect?
Forming the imperfect is actually pretty straightforward. The ending of the verb is removed and the following endings are added:
|
-AR |
-ER |
-IR |
Yo |
-aba |
-ía |
-ía |
Tú |
-abas |
-ías |
-ías |
Ella |
-aba |
-ía |
-ía |
Nosotros |
-ábamos |
-íamos |
-íamos |
Vosotros |
-abais |
-íais |
-íais |
Ustedes |
-aban |
-ían |
-ían |
There are some important things to notice here. First of all the ER and IR verbs have the same endings. The first and third person singular forms also have the same forms, so we will need to make a difference between the yo and él forms. Notice also that the nosotros form accents the first vowel.
There are only three irregular verbs, and there are NO stem-changing verbs so jugar in the yo is jugaba no crazy ue in there. The irregular verbs are the following:
|
IR |
SER |
VER |
Yo |
iba |
era |
veía |
Tú |
ibas |
eras |
veías |
Ella |
iba |
era |
veía |
Nosotros |
íbamos |
erámos |
veíamos |
Vosotros |
ibais |
erais |
veíais |
Ustedes |
iban |
eran |
veían |
That’s about it for forming the imperfect – you might want to see the following link with practicing where to use the imperfect: http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/pret_imp.html
Imperfect and Preterite differences - Grammar 9.4
Do we have to use the imperfect tense? Why can't we just use the past tense?
Actually yes, we ‘get’ to use the imperfect. It expands what we are able to say in the past tense, as it is also a past tense, the imperfect just has a different way of viewing time than the preterite does.
Is there a reason to use imperfect or the preterite at different times?
There are lots of reasons on when to use the preterite or the imperfect. In class we discussed that the preterite is used to describe bounded events in the past while the imperfect was unbounded (like the present) and can be translated as continuous, stative, or progressive in the past. I have a handout on this, explaining some of the differences between the two.
You can try the following webpage for exercises making a difference between the two aspects:
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/pret_imp.html
Expressing past desire - grammar 9.5
I was a little confused on saying what you were going to do: the imperfect of ir + a + Infinitive.
Well this is pretty much just stating a past desire. So if I wanted to say ‘I was going to study’ I will need to use the imperfect instead of the preterite as in the following sentence:
Yo iba a estudiar…
The reason we have to use the imperfect instead of the preterite is because it is a past desire (see the handout we discussed in class). So because it is a past desire, it is hard to put limits (or boundaries) on it and we have to say it is the imperfect (e.g. no boundaries). We can use other ways of expressing past desire as in the following examples:
Queríamos esquiar el jueves, pero ahora dicen que va a llover.
Íbamos a esquiar el jueves, pero ahora dicen que va a llover.
Pensábamos esquiar el jueves, pero ahora dicen que va a llover.
If ir + a + infinitive is for the imperfect verb then why can it also be used for past and present?
Well ir + a + infinitive is actually just a construction; it has nothing to do with the time of the event. As you can see here we are using it to express past desire. We have also used it to express future. The different tenses can be seen in the following examples:
Yo voy a trabajar mañana. (future action)
Yo fui a trabajar ayer (past action)
Yo iba a trabajar ayer, pero llovió. (past desire)
The Present Perfect - Grammar 10.1
I’m not sure what the Present Perfect tense is. Why is it that we need to mix past and present tense?
The meaning of the present perfect is similar to that of English – it refers to past events that have (or have not) happened before the time of speaking. Notice that we also mix past and present in English (I have eaten). Generally it is used to refer to an action or event of the present day week, month, etc. The perfect tense is formed by combining the verb ‘haber’ and a verb in its past participle form. This is seen in the following chart:
yo |
he |
-AR --> -ado |
tú |
has |
|
ella |
ha |
-ER --> -ido |
nosotros |
hemos |
|
vosotros |
habéis |
-IR --> -ido |
ellos |
han |
|
These are the irregular forms (for a song to remember these verbs, click here).
abrir --> abierto, decir --> dicho, hacer --> hecho,
poner --> puesto, escribir --> escrito, romper --> roto,
ver --> visto, volver --> vuelto, cubrir --> cubierto,
morir --> muerto, resolver --> resuelto
What is the difference between haber and tener. Is it that one is of physical possession and the other is speaking of action?
Both the verbs haber and tener mean ‘have.’ The difference is the have is used to combine with other verbs as in have eaten (he comido) have been (he estado) have slept (he dormido). The other have (tener) is used to possess objects: I have a hat (tengo un sombrero), or with states of being: have a cold tengo un resfrío.
If these words are ending in -ed why are they now irregualr ? Are there really this many irregular verbs for this chapter??
Well they don’t end in –ed. That is English and we really can’t translate. We have several irregular participles in English too: eat/ate/eaten, sleep/slept/slept, and so forth. We really have less irregular verbs in this chapter than we do in the preterite chapter.
I still don't understand exclamations, can you go over that again?
Qué is used in exclamations of emotion or feeling. With adverbs and adjectives, it has the meaning of how!
¡Qué bien canta Ricky Martin! How well Ricky Martin sings!
¡Qué bonita es esta ciudad! How pretty this city is!
When qué is used wiith nouns, it has the meaning of what!
¡Qué suerte tienes! What luck you have!
When an adjective follows a noun in an exclamation, tan or más usually precedes the adjective:
¡Qué computadora más (tan) rápida! What a fast computer!
Cuánto , cuánta, cuántos, cuántas can be used in exclamations. With verbs, ¡cuánto! usually means how (or how much).
¡Cuánto habla tu hermano! How (much) your bother talks!
¡Cuánto sabe el bebé! How much the baby knows!
With nouns, ¡cuánto! and ¡cuánta! mean how much! and ¡cuántos! and ¡cuántas! mean how many!
¡Cuánta lluvia cae! How much rain is falling!
¡Cuánto dinero gastas! How much money you spend!
¡Cuántos libros hay en esta biblioteca! How many books there are in this library!
¡Cuántas sillas hay en el auditorio! How many chairs there are in the auditorium!
When do you use "para" and when do you use "por?"
PARA and POR have very different meanings – one way to look at them is with an image.
POR can be looked at as ‘through’ or within something or the following image:
Here something is going totally through the circle on its way somewhere else, or is located within the circle.
The language states that we can use POR for vehicles (located within the vehicle – surrounded by it). We can use POR with time (within the period of time, moving through that time), and with places (going through a city a town for a tour or on our way someplace else). See the following examples:
Yo viajo por tren mañana. (I travel by train tomorrow)
Yo viajo por la mañana. (I travel during the morning)
Yo viajo por Indianápolis cuando voy a Chicago. (I travel through Indianapolis when I go to Chicago.)
PARA on the other hand has a deadline or goal. We are headed toward a place, but have not yet arrived there. We can see this in the following image.
Here we are headed toward a goal, but not yet there. So we really cannot use PARA with vehicles (as we have to be within it to do any good). We can sue PARA with time (as in a deadline, or future goal), and with places (going toward a city, or toward an object). See the following examples:
La tarea es para mañana. (The homework is for/due tomorrow)
Viajo para Chicago mañana. (I am traveling to/toward Chicago tomorrow)
I kind of understand por and para, but when should "en" "a" or "de" be used?
Apart from ‘por’ and ‘para’ these prepositions (‘en’ ‘a’ and ‘de’) are among the most common. I’ll give you a really brief overview of each of these prepositions.
‘En’ gives the meanings of ‘in,’ ‘into,’ on,’ and ‘at’ (location). This is easier to see when the object is actually in view. Notice that there are multiple ways of translating the phrase into English.
María está en casa. Mary is in (at the) home.
Pongo agua en el vaso I put water in(to) the cup.
‘a’ means ‘at’ or ‘to.’ It is also used as the ‘personal ‘a’ The personal ‘a’ really conveys no meaning other than to signal that the person (or thing) that follows is the object (direct or indirect) of the verb. We don’t have a function like this in English, and so we don’t translate it into English. See some examples sentences in Spanish & English below:
Voy a casa I’m going home (lit- I’m going to the house)
Te llamo a las 3 I’ll call you at three.
Yo conozco a Bob I know Bob.
Le pregunto al profesor I’ll ask the profesor.
‘De’ typically means ‘of’ or ‘from,’ it also lets us know about origin, possession, or material makeup. This is seen in the following sentences:
Es uno de mis amigos. (He) is one of my friends ‘of’
Cayó de la ventana. (it) fell from the window. ‘from’
Juan es de Argentina Juan is from Argentina. origin
La casa es de Juan The house belongs to Juan. Possession
Los aretes son de oro. The earrings are (made of) gold. Material makeup
Do you ever have to conjugate a verb if "mente'' is added to it?
I think you are asking how the adjective is changed when you add the suffix –mente. Well, if the adjective is masculine, you change it to the feminine form (o à a). Everything else stays in its singular form (ending in –a, -e or a consonant). See the following examples:
Claro --> claramente clearly
Breve --> brevemente briefly
Silenciosa --> silenciosamente silently
Note that if the adjective has an accent, then you keep that accent when you form the adverb as in the following examples:
Rápido --> rápidamente quickly
Fácil --> fácilmente easily
More verbs like gusta - grammar 10.5
In 10.5 they are using the me, nos, things again ? How do we know when to use them and are they necessary ??
Well we are using the indirect objects again because these verbs work just like gusta. They are either singular or plural depending on the object and the indirect object tells us where this action (or likeability) is going. To answer your question, these words are absolutely necessary and (see the verbs below) are associated with the indirect object they refer to. Look for the personal a in the below phrases:
A mí me gusta…
A ti te gusta…
A él le gusta…
A nosotros nos gusta…
A vosotros os gusta…
A ellos les gusta…
Look back at the explanation for gusta in chapter 8 for more info
Is there a trick to remembering verbs (and their forms). I’ll go over them and think: “Hey cool, I got them down.” Then come across one (well, usually more than one) in reading and have no idea what it means.
Well the best thing you can do is memorize them and practice with them. It helps to concentrate on the root of the word, as it doesn’t usually change too much (except for several preterite forms). It also helps to constantly quiz yourself and to listen to a lot of the language. Try these sites for some additional help
This is has a chart on present tense that is pretty helpful:
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/present_tense.html
There is also a great chart on the preterite tense here:
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/preterite.html
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