Friday 7 February 2014

Tell Me, Who Will Call Him?

Introduction
This post is about the practical use of verbs in general and more particularly the future tense, indicative mood of regular verbs ending in -ar.





SCENARIO

 Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are talking about a third person (male). You are talking about what will happen to that person when someone calls him on the phone. At some point, the other person says to you something like: "tell me, who will call him?".




In Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime, ¿quién le llamará?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame, ¿quién le llamará?

OUR TIP
The question is an invitation for you to say who will call the person in question. When stating who will do something, 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:
  • Le llamaré* yo (I will call him);
  • Le llamarás* tú, ¿no? (you -familiar will call him, won't you?);
  • Le llamará* usted, ¿no? (you -formal will call him, won't you?);
  • Le llamará* Pedro, ¿no? (Pedro will call him, won't he?);
  • Le llamará* María, ¿no? (María will call him, won't she?);
  • Le llamaremos* nosotros, ¿no? (we will call him, won't we?);
  • Le llamaréis* vosotros, ¿no? (you -familiar/ plural will call him, won't you?);
  • Le llamarán* ustedes, ¿no? (you -formal/ plural will call him, won't you?);
  • Le llamarán* sus padres, ¿no? (his parents will call him, won't they?);

Now you should practise replying to someone who says to you:
Dime, ¿quién le llamará?

*Please see grammar topic below, Verbs
Verbs
A verb is a 'doing' word which conveys:
  • What action takes place in a sentence
  • Who does that action
  • When that action occurs.
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-Future Tense

    1. Regular Verbs Ending in -ar
Subject
TRABAJAR
(TO WORK)
I
Yo
TRABAJARÉ
You
Tú
TRABAJARÁS
You Usted*

TRABAJARÁ
He Él
She
Ella
We
Nosotros
TRABAJAREMOS
You
Vosotros**
TRABAJARÉIS
You
Ustedes***
TRABAJARÁN
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
COMERÉ
You
Tú
COMERÁS
You Usted*

COMERÁ
He Él
She
Ella
We
Nosotros
COMEREMOS
You
Vosotros**
COMERÉIS
You
Ustedes***
COMERÁN
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
VIVIRÉ
You
Tú
VIVIRÁS
You Usted*

VIVIRÁ
He Él
She
Ella
We
Nosotros
VIVIREMOS
You
Vosotros**
VIVIRÉIS
You
Ustedes***
VIVIRÁN
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:
  • Who does the action
  • When the action takes place
  • The mood/ attitude of the speaker towards the action

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 future-indicative mood of regular verbs with some examples of your own.
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