Notes on subject pronouns and present of regular -ar verbs (SPAN 2312-Fall 2018) PDF

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SUBJECT PRONOUNS Like English, Spanish has “subject pronouns.” In this case, “subject” means that these pronouns refer to the entity performing the action in the sentence. For example, in the English sentence “He ate the sandwich” pronoun “he” is subject pronoun because it refers to the person who performed the action of eating the sandwich. Second, the word “pronoun” means that this word replaces another noun that has been previously mentioned. The speaker, therefore, uses the pronoun to avoid sounding redundant. For example, the following English sentence is grammatically correct, but it sounds a bit redundant: “John woke up. Then John had breakfast.” A better alternative would involve replacing the second instance of “John” with its corresponding pronoun, “he”: “John woke up. Then he had breakfast.” Some of the pronouns used by speakers of some Latin-American varieties of Spanish are a bit different from the ones used by speakers of Castilian Spanish (the variety of Spanish spoken in Spain). You should feel free to choose the dialect of Spanish you are most comfortable with, bearing in mind the main differences, just in case you encounter speakers of the dialect you don’t happen to speak!

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Subject pronouns (Spain) 1 Yo ‘I’

Vosotros ‘You’ (plural, and informal). That is, vosotros is the Spanish equivalent of ‘You guys,’ or ‘Y’all’

Tú

Vosotras ‘You’ (plural, and informal) (used when the group consists of female people only).

‘You’ (singular, and informal)

Usted ‘You’ (singular, and deferential)

Ustedes

Él ‘He’

Ellos ‘They’

Ella ‘She’

Ellas ‘They’ (when the group consists of female people only).

‘You’ (plural, and deferential)

Nosotros ‘We’ Nosotras ‘We’ (used when the group consists of female people only).

Subject pronouns (in many parts of Latin America) Yo ‘I’ Tú ‘You’ (singular, and informal)

Nosotros ‘We’ Nosotras ‘We’ (used when the group consists of female people only).

Usted ‘You’ (singular, and deferential)

Ustedes ‘You’ (plural, and colloquial)

Él ‘He’

Ustedes ‘You’ (plural, and deferential). That’s right, ustedes can be used to address a group of people in formal and informal situations.

Ella ‘She’

Ellos ‘They’ Ellas ‘They’ (when the group consists of female people only).

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To be more precise, the subject pronouns that you can hear in parts of southern Spain mirror the ones used by speakers in many areas of Latin America.

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Let’s take a look at the two lists of pronouns. Spanish uses two pronouns, tú and usted , to address someone directly. These pronouns, therefore, are equivalent to English ‘you.’ However, whereas tú is used in informal/intimate situations (for example, when addressing a close friend or a family member), usted is used in formal contexts, that is, in situations that require the speaker to show deference towards the hearer. Castilian Spain maintains the distinction between formal and informal “you” when the speaker addresses two or more people. Specifically, vosotros / vosotras are used to address people in informal situations, whereas ustedes is appropriate in formal contexts. In Latin American, however, only ustedes is used, so the speaker might need to resort to other linguistic devices to make it clear that s/he is being deferential towards his/her hearers (for instance, “Ladies and gentlemen, . . .”).

THE PRESENT OF –AR VERBS As you may already know, verbs are words that refer to actions (running, studying, etc.) or states (remaining, staying, etc.). Spanish verbs are classified into three main groups, depending on the ending of the infinitive form (in English, the infinitive corresponds to the construction “to” + Verb, as in “to eat”). Here are the three classes, also known as “conjugations”: (1) -ar (or “first conjugation”) verbs: cantar ‘to sing,’ bailar ‘to sing,’ estudiar ‘study,’ etc. (2) –er (or “second conjugation”) verbs: comer ‘to eat,’ temer ‘to fear,’ etc. (3) –ir (or “third conjugation”) verbs: partir ‘to break,’ salir ‘to leave,’ etc.

We will have plenty of time this semester to discuss irregular verbs, so let’s focus on the regular type. In this context, “regular” means that the verb in question follows the same pattern as other verbs within its class. Spanish verbs change the way they look much more frequently than English verbs do. This wider variation is not random, but rather serves one important function: to express who’s performing the action and when. Spanish regular verbs convey all this information via a series of endings. By definition, all regular verbs in the same class have the same endings, which is good news for you. Take a look at the different present endings displayed by a regular –ar verb, such as cantar ‘to sing’:

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Yo canto

Nosotros / Nosotras cantamos

Tú cantas

Vosotros / Vosotras cantáis (remember, this form is used only in Spain)

Él / Ella / Usted canta

Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes cantan

Notice that before attaching each present ending, you have to delete the –ar infinitive ending. Once you do that, add the appropriate ending to the remaining part of the verb (known as the “stem”). In the case of cantar, the stem is cant-. So, let’s practice a little bit. Let’s pick one of the regular –ar verbs at the bottom of p. 43. In Spanish, buscar means ‘to look for.’ The first question is: what’s the stem of buscar? The answer, of course, is busc-. With this information in mind, can you now conjugate the present tense of this verb? Try to do so without looking at the answer key below: Yo busco

Nosotros / Nosotras buscamos

Tú buscas

Vosotros / Vosotras buscáis (remember, this form is used only in Spain)

Él / Ella / Usted busca

Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes buscan

Now based on the list of regular –ar verbs on p. 43, how do you say. . .? (1) “I teach” __________________

(4) “You (sing., informal) listen” __________________

(2) “We pay” __________________

(5) “They work” __________________

(3) “She speaks” __________________

(6) “You (pl., informal) need” __________________

ANSWER KEY: (1) Yo enseño

(4) Tú escuchas

(2) Nosotros / Nosotras pagamos

(5) Ellos / Ellas trabajan

(3) Ella habla

(6a) Vosotros necesitáis (only in Spain) (6b) Ustedes necesitan (whichever form you wish to use will be marked as “correct” on our exams)

One final point before we conclude this lesson. You may be wondering: if the endings of Spanish verbs signal who’s performing the action and the subject pronouns indicate who’s performing the action as well, why do we have to use both words? Put differently, aren’t expressions such as Yo canto ‘I sing’ a bit redundant? After all, the –o ending of the verb already indicates that it’s me who’s doing the singing, so why do we need the yo part as well?

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The answer is: we don’t. Using the pronoun with the verb is a teaching tool that helps students associate the verb endings with their subjects more easily. In Spanish, if you combine the verb form with the pronoun in the same sentence (Yo canto, Yo bailo, etc.), it’s probably because you want to either emphasize who’s performing the action or establish a contrast between two or more subjects. For instance, Yo bailo salsa, pero María, no ‘I dance salsa, but María doesn’t.’ If you remember this when hearing or reading samples of Spanish, your comprehension skills will improve. Many students of Spanish fail to identify who’s performing the action in the sample because they are waiting to hear or see a pronoun when in fact, the verb has already conveyed that information. So, from now on, every time you hear or read a Spanish verb pay close attention to its ending, because that little portion of a word is actually telling you a whole lot!

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