Read Madrigals Magic Key to Spanish Online
Authors: Margarita Madrigal
Tags: #Reference, #Language Arts & Disciplines
In order to change verbs into the intimate form ADD THE LETTER “S” TO THE SINGULAR THIRD MAN IN ALL TENSES (except the preterite and the command).
| | FORMAL | INTIMATE |
| PRESENT | usted habla | tú hablas, you speak |
| IMPERFECT | usted hablaba | tú hablabas, you used to speak |
| FUTURE TENSE | usted hablará | tú hablarás, you will speak |
| CONDITIONAL | usted hablaría | tú hablarías, you would speak |
| PRES. SUBJUNCTIVE | hable | hables |
| PAST SUBJUNCTIVE | hablara | hablaras |
In compound tenses add the letter “s” to the auxiliary verb
| | FORMAL | INTIMATE |
| PRES. PERFECT | usted ha hablado, you have spoken | tú has hablado, you have spoken |
| PAST PERFECT | usted había hablado, you had spoken | tú habías hablado, you had spoken |
| PRES. PROGRESSIVE | usted está hablando, you are speaking | tú estás hablando, you are speaking |
| PAST PROGRESSIVE | usted estaba hablando, you were speaking | tú estabas hablando, you were speaking |
| FUTURE | usted va a hablar, you are going to speak | tú vas a hablar, you are going to speak |
ER and IR verbs
| | FORMAL | INTIMATE |
| PRESENT | usted vende | tú vendes, you sell |
| IMPERFECT | usted vendía | tú vendías, you used to sell |
| FUTURE TENSE | usted venderá | tú venderás, you will sell |
| CONDITIONAL | usted vendería | tú venderías, you would sell |
| PRES. SUBJUNCTIVE | venda | vendas |
| PAST SUBJUNCTIVE | vendiera | vendieras |
To form the intimate preterite of “ar” verbs remove “ar” from the infinitive and add “aste.”
EXAMPLES
:
tú hablaste, (intimate)
you talked
tú compraste, (intimate)
you bought
To form the intimate preterite of “er” and “ir” verbs remove the “er” or “ir” and add “iste.”
EXAMPLES
:
tú vendiste, (intimate)
you sold
tú escribiste, (intimate)
you wrote
To form the intimate command of “ar” verbs remove “ar” and add the letter “a.”
| habla, speak | compra, buy |
To form the intimate command of “er” and “ir” verbs remove the “er” or the “ir” and add “e.”
| vende, sell | escribe, write |
Remember that subject pronouns are very frequently dropped in Spanish. “Tú” is dropped more often than not because the ending of the verb makes it clear who the subject is.
You can either say, “Tú hablas muy bien” (
You speak very well
) or simply “Hablas muy bien.”
The intimate form has an archaic English equivalent (thou, thee, thine), but it has not been used here since it is not used in present-day speech.
The actual translation of “Tú hablas” is
“Thou speakest.”
Only one nonconformist verb is
irregular in the present tense intimate form: “usted es” becomes “tú eres.” All the rest of the nonconformist verbs follow the regular rule in the present: Add the letter “s” to the singular, third man form.
EXAMPLES
:
tú haces,
you do
; tú vienes,
you come
; tú tienes,
you have
To form the
intimate preterite of nonconformist verbs remove the letter “o” from the singular third man form of the preterite and add “iste.”
EXAMPLES
:
| FORMAL | INTIMATE |
| usted tuvo, you had | tú tuviste, you had |
| usted estuvo, you were | tú estuviste, you were |
| usted vino, you came | tú viniste, you came |
| usted puso, you put | tú pusiste, you put |
In “fué,” you remove the “é” and add “iste”:
usted fué,
you went
; tú fuiste,
you went
In “cayó,” “oyó,” “leyó” and all other verbs that end in “yo” remove the “yo” and add “iste” (accent the í).
EXAMPLES
:
| FORMAL | INTIMATE |
| usted cayó, you fell | tú caíste, you fell |
| usted leyó, you read | tú leíste, you read |
| usted oyó, you heard | tú oíste, you heard |
To form the intimate command of nonconformist verbs drop the “ga” from the formal command.
| FORMAL COMMAND | INTIMATE COMMAND |
| venga, come | ven, come |
| salga, go out | sal, go out |
| diga, say | di, say |
| ponga, put | pon, put |
| tenga, have ( take ) | ten, have ( take ) |
| traiga, bring | trae, bring |
| caiga, fall | cae, fall |
The “i” changes to “e” in the intimate form of the verbs “trae” and “cae.”
To form the negative of the intimate command add “s” to the formal command.
| FORMAL COMMAND | INTIMATE NEGATIVE COMMAND |
| venga, come | no vengas, don’t come |
| salga, go out | no salgas, don’t go out |
| diga, say | no digas, don’t say |
| ponga, put | no pongas, don’t put |
| tenga, have ( take ) | no tengas, don’t have |
| traiga, bring | no traigas, don’t bring |
| caiga, fall | no caigas, don’t fall |
Four verbs do not follow the rule:
| FORMAL COMMAND | INTIMATE COMMAND | INTIMATE NEGATIVE COMMAND |
| oiga, hear, listen | oye, hear, listen | no oigas, don’t hear |
| haga, do, make | haz, do, make | no hagas, don’t do |
| vaya, go | vé, go | no vayas, don’t go |
| sea, be | sé, be | no seas, don’t be |
“Con usted” (
with you
) has an intimate form: “contigo” (
with thee
).
The intimate equivalent for LO, LA, LE is TE.
| FORMAL | INTIMATE |
| lo ví, I saw you (masc.) | te ví, I saw you ( thee ) |
| le dí, I gave you | te dí, I gave you ( thee ) |
| la invité, I invited you (fem.) | te invité, I invited you |
MI (sing.), MIS (pl.),
my
SU (sing.), SUS (pl.),
your, his, her, their, its
NUESTRO (
our
) has masculine, feminine, singular, and plural endings:
| NUESTRO | NUESTROS |
| NUESTRA | NUESTRAS |
EXAMPLES
:
mi casa,
my house
mis casas,
my houses
su casa,
your, his, her, their house
sus casas,
your, his, her, their houses
nuestras casas,
our houses
nuestro auto,
our car
nuestros autos,
our cars
MÍO (
mine
), SUYO (
yours, his, hers, theirs
) and NUESTRO (
ours
) have masculine, feminine, singular, and plural endings.
Mine
:
| mío | míos |
| mía | mías |
Yours, his, hers, theirs
:
| suyo | suyos |
| suya | suyas |
Ours
:
| nuestro | nuestros |
| nuestra | nuestras |
EXAMPLES
:
El libro es mío.
The book is mine
.
La blusa es mía.
The blouse is mine
.
Los libros son míos.
The books are mine
.
Las blusas son mías.
The blouses are mine
.
El libro es suyo.
The book is yours
.
La blusa es suya.
The blouse is yours
.
Los libros son suyos.
The books are yours
.
Las blusas son suyas.
The blouses are yours
.
Es mío.
It’s mine
(referring to a masculine thing).
Es mía.
It’s mine
(referring to a feminine thing).
El dinero es nuestro.
The money is ours
.
Ese hijo mío.
That son of mine
.
ITO, ITA, ITOS, ITAS are diminutive endings in Spanish.
| el sombrero, the hat | el sombrerito, the little hat |
| la casa, the house | la casita, the little house |
| los sombreros, the hats | los sombreritos, the little hats |
| las mesas, the tables | las mesitas, the little tables |
The diminutive is often used in Spanish as an expression of endearment.
EXAMPLES
:
abuelo,
grandfather
mi abuelito,
my grandfather
(an endearing term)
ojos,
eyes
ojitos,
sweet eyes, pretty eyes
(a term of endearment)
un gato,
a cat
un gatito,
a kitten, a cute little cat
una casa,
a house
una casita,
a cute little house, a charming little house
RULE I: When a word ends in N, S, or a vowel it receives the stress on the next to the last syllable.
EXAMPLES
:
entran, EN–tran (stress the e)
sombreros, som–BRE–ros (stress the e)
dentista, den–TIS–ta (stress the i)
posible, po–SI–ble (stress the i)
loco, LO–co (stress the first o)
RULE II: When a word does not end in N, S, or a vowel it receives the accent on the last syllable.
EXAMPLES
:
tractor, trac–TOR (stress the o)
postal, pos–TAL (stress the a)
Any word that does not follow either Rule I or Rule II is an abnormal word and therefore must have a written accent.
EXAMPLES
:
público, pú–bli–co
dramático, dra–má–ti–co
árbol, ár–bol
azúcar, a–zú–car
conversación, con–ver–sa–ción
café, ca–fé
The letters A, E, O form syllables whether used alone or in combination with any other letter.
EXAMPLES
:
lc–o
cre–e
The letters I and U form syllables when they are not combined with any vowel.
EXAMPLES
:
popular, po–pu–lar
capital, ca–pi–tal
When I and U are combined with another vowel they do not form separate syllables.
EXAMPLES
:
ciudad, ciu–dad
oigo, oi–go
familia, fa–mi–lia
traigo, trai–go
If you are a beginner, do not read the following rules until you have mastered lesson 40.
Accents are used to distinguish two identical words that have different meanings.
EXAMPLES
:
| de, of, from | dé, give |
| el, the | él, he |
| mi, my | mí, me |
| si, if | sí, yes |