Introduction
This
post is about the practical use of verbs in general and more
particularly the preterite tense, indicative mood of
regular verbs ending in -ir.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. Suddenly, as
you point at a particular house, you appear to indicate that someone
had lived at that address at some time in the past . The other person
appears not to have heard you properly and says to you something
like: "tell me, who lived here?".
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿quién vivió aquí?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿quién vivió aquí?
OUR
TIP
The
question is an invitation for you to say who lived in the house you
are looking at. When stating who lived in a given place, you may
need to consider different levels of formality in your reply.
That will be specifically the case when your answer includes a
reference to the person you are talking to. The examples below
include cases in which a more or less formal type of answer is
required.
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
Yo viví*
aquí (I
lived here);
Tú viviste*
aquí, ¿no? (you
-familiar
lived here, didn't you?);
Usted vivió*
aquí, ¿no? (you
-formal
lived
here, didn't
you?);
Pedro vivió
aquí, ¿no?
(Pedro live here, didn't he?);
María vivió
aquí, ¿no?
(María lived here, didn't she?);
Nosotros
vivimos*
aquí, ¿no? (we
lived here, didn't we?);
Vosotros
vivisteis*
aquí, ¿no? (you
-familiar/
plural
lived here, didn't you?);
Ustedes
vivieron*
aquí, ¿no? (you
-formal/
plural lived
here, didn't you?);
Pedro y
María vivieron*
aquí, ¿no? (Pedro
and Maria lived here, didn't they?);
Now you should
practise replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿quién vivió aquí?
*Please
see grammar topic below, Verbs
Verbs
A verb is a 'doing'
word which conveys:
In
addition, the verb may also convey the mood
or feelings of the speaker toward the action which takes place. The
verb may, for example, indicate whether the speaker is stating a
fact, expressing a wish or indeed giving an order.
Verb
Conjugation
Please
see notes on conjugation*
at the end of this post.
Indicative
Mood-Preterite Tense
1.
Regular Verbs Ending in -ar
Subject
|
TRABAJAR
(TO
WORK)
|
| I |
Yo
|
TRABAJÉ
|
| You |
Tú
|
TRABAJASTE
|
| You |
Usted* |
TRABAJÓ
|
| He |
Él |
| She |
Ella
|
| We |
Nosotros
|
TRABAJAMOS
|
| You |
Vosotros**
|
TRABAJASTEIS
|
| You |
Ustedes***
|
TRABAJARON
|
| They |
Ellos
|
| They |
Ellas
|
*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'
**NB
'You' plural
***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural
2.
Regular Verbs Ending in -er
Subject
|
COMER
(TO
EAT)
|
| I |
Yo
|
COMÍ
|
| You |
Tú
|
COMISTE
|
| You |
Usted* |
COMIÓ
|
| He |
Él |
| She |
Ella
|
| We |
Nosotros
|
COMIMOS
|
| You |
Vosotros**
|
COMISTEIS
|
| You |
Ustedes***
|
COMIERON
|
| They |
Ellos
|
| They |
Ellas
|
*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'
**NB
'You' plural
***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural
3.
Regular Verbs Ending in -ir
Subject
|
VIVIR
(TO
LIVE)
|
| I |
Yo
|
VIVÍ
|
| You |
Tú
|
VIVISTE
|
| You |
Usted* |
VIVIÓ
|
| He |
Él |
| She |
Ella
|
| We |
Nosotros
|
VIVIMOS
|
| You |
Vosotros**
|
VIVISTEIS
|
| You |
Ustedes***
|
VIVIERON
|
| They |
Ellos
|
| They |
Ellas
|
*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'
**NB
'You' plural
***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural
*
Verb Conjugation Notes
It
is worth remembering once more that in its basic form (infinitive),
a Spanish verb is just a general 'doing' word. In that form, a verb
simply indicates an action and nothing else. If we want a verb to be
more specific about the action in a sentence, we need to conjugate
it. It is only when conjugated that the verb indicates:
The conjugation
tables above refer to using conjugation establish who does the
action. What follows below are some notes on establishing when
the action takes place and the mood/ attitude of the speaker
towards the action.
Subjunctive
Mood
The
use of subjunctive
mood
is disappearing English. Nowadays is often viewed as an old and
unfashionable form of the language.
In contrast, the
use of subjunctive mood is very much alive and in everyday use
in Spanish. This widespread use of subjunctive mood tends to be the
bane of many a learner of Spanish from the English speaking world.
The
concept of subjunctive
mood
is perhaps best illustrated by contrasting its use against the use of
indicative mood with examples in English. The following are a couple
of examples which should serve that purpose:
Indicative
mood (“Peter eats an apple”).-
Indicative mood is commonly used to make statements of facts or
positive beliefs such as this one. As can be seen in the sample
sentence (in quotes above), the speaker makes a clear and
unambiguous statement
of a fact (Peter
eats an apple).
Subjunctive
mood (“Peter would eat an apple if he were hungry”).-
In contrast with indicative mood, subjunctive mood is commonly used
to make statements indicating hypothetical or non-fact actions. As
can be seen in the sample sentence (in quotes), in this case the
speaker sees the action of eating an apple as something
hypothetical,
something which may or may not happen (Peter would eat an apple...
if he were hungry).
Verb
Tenses
Verb tenses relate
to setting the time period (when) during which the action of
the verb takes place. Basic times (periods) for Spanish verb actions
are:
The past (before
now)
The present (now)
The future (after
now)
Each
Spanish verb tense corresponds to one of those basic time periods. In
other words choosing a verb tense places the action of the verb in
one of those basic periods and determines when
the action takes place.
Now
you should practise the use of the preterite-indicative mood
of regular verbs with some examples of your own.
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