Unit 2 Notes

2.01

Words

Notes

• Cognates

  • El gato means car jack (used to change tires) and cat

  • El volante means steering wheel and flier

  • Context clues show the meaning of the word in different situations

• Informal Commands Intro

  • You use informality when addressing someone as tú—such as friends and siblings

  • Affirmative informal commands are used to tell others what to do

  • When using affirmative informal commands you use the él/ella form of the verb in the present tense

  • Context is used to tell if someone is making a statement or a command

• Affirmative informal commads

  • For -ar verbs you replace the infinitive (-ar) with the él/ella form (-a)

    • Ex: Manejar (To drive) —> Maneja

  • For -er verbs you replace the infinitive (-er) with the él/ella form (-e)

    • Ex: Correr (to run) —> Corre

  • For -ir verbs you replace the infinitive (-ir) with the él/ella form (-e)

    • Ex: Abrir (to open) —> Abre

• Negative Informal Commands

  • Start with the word no

  • For -ar verbs you replace the infinitive (-ar) with -es

    • Ex: Manejar —> Manejes

  • For -er and -ir verbs you replace the infinative (-er or -ir) with -as

    • Ex: Encender —> Enciendas

  • Verbs with spelling changes in their negative command form

    • Tocar —> No toques

    • Llegar —> No llegues

    • Cruzar —> No cruces

    • Recoger —> No recojas

• Irregular Command Forms

  • Dar

    tú	Des
    él, ella, usted	dé
    ellos/ellas, ustedes	Den

  • Decir

    tú	Di
    él, ella, usted	Diga
    ellos/ellas, ustedes	Digan

  • Estar

    tú	estés
    él, ella, usted	esté
    ellos/ellas, ustedes	estén

  • Ir

    tú	Vayas
    él, ella, usted	Vaya
    ellos/ellas, ustedes	Vayan

  • Ser

    tú	Seas
    él, ella, usted	Sea
    ellos/ellas, ustedes	Sean

2.02

Words

Notes

• La dirección can be used to give an address or to give directions, and context clues must be used to find which is being used

• The verb seguir (to follow)

  • Stem-changing verb

  • Used to give directions

  • Conjugation:

    Yo	Sigo
    Tú	Sigues
    él/ella/usted	Sigue
    Nosotros/Nosotras	Seguimos
    Vosotros/Vosotras	Seguís
    Ellos/ellas/ustedes	Siguen

• Common informal commands in giving directions are seguir (to follow), doblar (to turn), cruzar (to cross), and parar (to stop)

• When showing the location of a noun you use the formula:

  Noun + estar + preposition

  • Conjugations of estar

    Yo	Estoy
    Tú	Estás
    él/ella/usted	Está
    nosotros/nosotras	Estamos
    vosotros/vosotras	Estáis
    ellos/ellas/ustedes	Estan

  • Prepositions: Show the location of a noun (person, place, thing, or idea) or a pronoun (word taking the place of a noun

    • Ex: To the left of, on top of

  • Example: La iglesia está a la derecha de la oficina de correos. (The church is to the right of the post office)

• Comparatives

  • Ways to compare nouns

    • Comparatives of equality (as…as)

      • Ex: The giraffe is as tall as the tree)

      • Formula: tan + adjective + como

    • Comparatives of inequality (more/less than)

      • Ex: The giraffe is taller than the elephant)

      • Formula: más + adjective/noun + que

      • Formula: menos + adjective/noun + que

    • Superlatives (The most/the least)

      • Ex: The giraffe is the tallest animal

  • To use comparatives of equality with adjectives use the formula: Tan (as) + adjective + como (as)

    • Ex: Ella es tan alta como el automóvil (She is as tall as the car)

  • To use comparatives of equality with nouns use the formula: Tanto (as much/many) + noun + como (as)

    • Gender and number of the noun must match

    • Ex: Hay tantos parques en tu comunidad como en la mía. (There are as many parks in your community as in mine.)

    • Ex: Hay tantas señales de alto como semáforos en la carretera. (There are as many stop signs as there are street lights on the road.)

  • Tanto como is used to say as much as

    • You do not need to match number and gender to a noun as you would with tanto + noun + como

    • Ex: Camino en el parque tanto como en el gimnasio. (I walk in the park as much as in the gym.)

  • For comparatives of inequality you use the formula: Más/menos (more/less) + adjective + que (than)

    • The adjective must match the first noun (subject of comparison)

    • Ex: El hospital es más interesante que el museo.

      (The hospital is more interesting than the museum.)

    • Ex: La farmacia es menos grande que el condominio.

      (The pharmacy is less big than the condominium.

2.03

Words

Stem-Changing Verbs

• Stems do not change in the nosotros/as and vosortos/as form

Notes

• To say you have to do something you use the formula: Tener (conjugated) + Que + Infinitive

  • Ex: Tienes que llenar el tanque para hacer las diligencias. (You have to fill up the tank to do the errands.)

• To say you did something you use the formula: Acabar (conjugated) + De + Infinitive

  • Ex: Acabo de llenar el tanque de gasolina. (I just filled up the tank with gas.)

• There is a letter change in the yo form of recoger, and it is conjugated as recojo

• Informal tú Commands

  • You change the ending to the él/ella form

  • With irregular verbs there are different conjugations

• Affirmative Informal Commands with irregular verbs

  Verb	Affirmative tú Command	English
  Ser	Sé	Be
  Poner	Pon	Put
  Tener	Ten	Have
  Salir	Sal	Go out
  Venir	Ven	Arrive; come; go to
  Ir	Ve	Go
  Decir	Di	Say
  Hacer	Haz	Do; make

• Negative Informal tú Commands with irregular verbs

  Verb	Affirmative tú Command	English
  Ser	No seas	Don’t be
  Dar	No des	Don’t give
  Estar	No estés	Don’t be
  Ir	No vayas	Don’t go
  Hacer	No hagas	Don’t do; don’t make

2.06

Words

Notes

• Direct objects and direct object pronouns

  • Direct objects are people or things that directly receive the action of the verb, and answer the questions what or whom

  • Direct object pronouns:

    Pronoun	Meaning
    Me	Me
    Te	You
    Lo/La	Him/Her/It/You formal
    Nos	Us
    Os	You all
    Los/Las	Them/You all formal

  • Direct object pronouns replace the direct object with a pronoun

  • The direct pronoun must match the gender and number of the object being replaced, not the subject of the sentence

  • Direct object pronouns can be used in affirmative and negative statements

• Direct Object Examples:

  • El contable usa la calculadora. (The accountant uses the calculator.) —> El contable usa la calculadora. (The accountant uses it.)

    • Verb: Usa

    • Direct object: La calculadora

    • Direct object pronoun: La

  • La soldado tiene el uniforme. (The female soldier has the uniform.) —> La soldado lo tiene. (The female soldier has it.)

    • Verb: Tiene

    • Direct object: El uniforme

    • Direct object pronoun: Lo

  • La comadrona tiene al bebé en sus brazos. (The midwife has the baby in her arms.) —> La comadrona lo tiene en sus brazos. (The midwife has him in her arms.)

    • Verb: Tiene

    • Direct object: Al bebé

    • Direct object pronoun: Lo

  • El mecánico usa las herramientas. (The mechanic uses the tools.) —> El mecánico las usa. (The mechanic uses them.)

    • Verb: Usa

    • Direct object: La herramientas

    • Direct object pronoun: Las

  • Nosotras no vemos al abogado. (We don’t see the lawyer.) —> Nosotras no lo vemos. (We don’t see him.)

    • Verb: Vemos

    • Direct object: Al abogado

    • Direct object pronoun: Lo

  • Ella no ama los vegetales del agricultor. (She doesn’t love the farmer’s vegetables.) —> Ella no los ama. (She doesn’t love them.)

    • Verb: Ama

    • Direct object: Los vegetales del agricultor

    • Direct object pronoun: Los

• Indirect objects and indirect object pronouns

  • Indirect objects are living things that answer the questions to whom or for whom the action of the verb is being performed

  • Indirect object pronouns replace the indirect object with a pronoun

  • Indirect object pronouns:

    Indirect Object Pronoun	Meaning
    Me	Me
    Te	You
    Le	Him/her/you formal
    Nos	Us
    Os	You all
    Les	They/You all formal

• Indirect Object Examples

  • Ella compra las frutas para José. (She buys the fruits for José.) —> Ella le compra las frutas. (She buys the fruits for him.)

    • Indirect Object: José

    • Indirect Object Pronoun: Le

  • Salvador le escribe una carta a la política Mendoza. (Salvador writes a letter to the politician Mendoza.) —> Salvador le escribe mucho. (Salvador writes to her a lot.)

    • Indirect Object: la política Mendoza

    • Indirect Object pronoun: Le

2.07

Words

Notes

• Contar (To count)

  • Stem change o → ue

  • Conjugations:

    Subject pronoun	Contar
    Yo	Cuento
    Tú	Cuentas
    él/ella/usted	Cuenta
    Nosotros/Nosotras	Contamos
    Vosotros/Vosotras	Contáis
    Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Cuentan

• Direct Object pronouns

  • Must match the person or thing it is replacing in gender and number

    Singular Masculine	Plural Masculine
    Lo	Los

    Singular Feminine	Plural Feminine
    La	Las

  • The direct pronoun is written before the verb

• Indirect Object pronouns

  • Does not need to match the person or thing it is replacing in gender but must match in number

    Singular	Plural
    Le	Les

  • Le can refer to him, her, or you

  • Les refers to them

  • The indirect object pronoun is placed before the verb

  • To clarify who the indirect object pronoun is referring to, the indirect object noun is placed at the end of the sentence

    • Ex: La voluntaria le da la comida a la persona sin hogar. (The volunteer gives him/her the food to the homeless person.)

• Double object pronouns (Indirect and direct pronouns in the same sentence)

  • When using double object pronouns the indirect object pronoun comes before the direct object pronoun

    • Ex: Cecilia nos da los fondos para la caridad. Cecilia nos los da. (Cecilia gives us the funds for charity. Cecilia gives them to us.)

      • Indirect Object Pronoun: Nos

      • Direct Object Pronoun: Los

  • The “se” rule

    • Used when the indirect object pronoun le or les and the direct object pronoun lo, las, la, or las

    • When both pronouns start with the letter ‘L’ the first pronoun (indirect object) needs to be changed to se

    • Se could refer to him, her, you, or them, so Spanish speakers clarify by placing the indirect object noun at the end of the sentence

    • Combinations:

      Two L’s	Se rule
      Le lo	Se lo
      Le la	Se la
      Le los	Se los
      Le las	Se las
      Les lo	Se lo
      Les la	Se la
      Les los	Se los
      Les las	Se las