Lección 12
Conjugation II
Domingo
Juan se despierta, como siempre, a las siete, pero no se levanta. Es domingo. Juan se estira en la cama. En la pared hay un calendario y en la ventana una fotografía de Juana. Juan mira la fotografía y piensa con delicia: „Hoy voy a casa de Juana”. Después Juan coge un libro y lee. Lee hasta las diez. A las diez se levanta, se afeita, se lava, bebe una taza de café, fuma un cigarrillo y va a casa de Juana.
Juana es la novia de Juan. En casa de Juana ya esperan al novio. Juan entra, da la mano a la madre de Juana, después al padre y besa a Juana.
Llega la hora de la comida. Todos comen sopa, carne con patatas, frutas y beben vino. Después de la comida, Juan fuma un cigarrillo y el padre de Juana fuma un cigarro.
Vocablos
| el | domingo | Sunday |
| despertarse | to wake up | |
| comer | to eat; to have lunch (Mexico, Spain), to have dinner (Latin America) | |
| pero | but | |
| estirarse | to stretch | |
| el | calendario | calendar |
| la | fotografía | photograph, photo, picture; photography |
| mirar | to look at | |
| pensar | to think | |
| la | delicia | delight |
| hoy | today | |
| coger | to take; to grab; to get; to pick up | |
| leer | to read | |
| beber | to drink | |
| fumar | to smoke | |
| la | novia | girlfriend; bride |
| el | novio | boyfriend; (bride)groom |
| ya | already; now | |
| esperar | to wait (for) | |
| dar | to give | |
| la | mano | hand |
| la | madre | mother |
| el | padre | father |
| besar | to kiss | |
| la | comida | food; meal; lunch / dinner |
| todo(s) | all (everyone) | |
| la | sopa | soup |
| la | carne | meat |
| la | patata | potato |
| la | fruta | fruit |
| el | vino | wine |
| el | cigarro | cigar |
Notes
The meaning of words and expressions
The preposition de (similar to the English ‘of’) is used both with animate and inanimate objects:
una taza de café
a cup of coffee
la fotografía de Juana
the photo of Juana
la madre de Juana
Juana’s mother
The preposition en doesn’t always correspond to the English in, for example:
En la pared hay un calendario
There is a calendar on the wall.
Lean the expressions:
leer hasta las diez
to read until 10 o’clock
besar a Juana
to kiss Juana
esperar al novio
to wait for the boyfriend
esperar la comida
to wait for the meal
la hora de la comida
mealtime
después de la comida
after the meal
Note: we choose ‘meal’ for ‘comida’ as a neutral meaning. It can be ‘lunch’, ‘dinner’ or ‘food’ in different countries and different context.
Grammar points
1. Conjugation II
Verbs that in the infinitive form end in -er belong to the second class or conjugation II.
Comer, beber, leer are three of such verbs.
The present tense of the indicative mood of the second class is formed from the stem of an infinitive verb with the help of the following endings:
Presente
comer — to eat
| singular | plural | ||||
| yo como | I eat | nosotros comemos | we eat | ||
| tú comes | you eat | vosotros coméis | you eat | ||
| él | come |
he eats | ellos | comen |
they eat (m.) |
| ella | she eats | ellas | they eat (f.) | ||
| Vd. | you eat | Vds. | you eat | ||
2. The conjugation of some irregular verbs
The verb dar the same as the verbs ir and estar belongs to the verbs of individual conjugation.
Presente
dar — to give
| singular | plural | ||||
| yo doy | I give | nosotros damos | we give | ||
| tú das | you give | vosotros dais | you give | ||
| él | da |
he gives | ellos | dan |
they give (m.) |
| ella | she gives | ellas | they give (f.) | ||
| Vd. | you give | Vds. | you give | ||
The verbs pensar to think and despertarse to wake up conjugate as the verb comenzar (see lesson 10)
Presente
despertarse — to wake up
| yo me despierto | I wake up | ||
| tú te despiertas | you wake up | ||
| él | se despierta | he wakes up | |
| ella | she wakes up | ||
| Vd. | you wake up | ||
| nosotros nos despertamos | we wake up | ||
| vosotros os despertáis | you wake up | ||
| ellos | se despiertan | they wake up (m.) | |
| ellas | they wake up (m.) | ||
| Vds. | you wake up | ||
The verb coger [koˈxer] to take; to grab; to get; to pick up.
In order to keep the [x] sound in the verb coger, the letter g changes to j in the 1st person singular, for example:
yo cojo
nosotros cogemos
tú coges
vosotros cogéis
él coge
ellos cogen
3. Relations between nouns in a Spanish sentence
Juana está en casa.
Juana is at home.
La fotografía de Juana.
The photo of Juana.
Los libros del alumno.
The books of the student.
Da la mano a la madre.
He shakes hands with the mother. (lit.: he gives the hand to the mother)
Da la mano al padre.
He shakes hands with the father.
Mira la fotografía.
He looks at the photo.
Habla con Juan.
He talks with Juan.
Like in English, Spanish uses different prepositions to show relations between words. Some relations and prepositions are similar to English and some are not. Examples:
Mira a la madre.
He looks at the mother.
Espera al padre.
He waits for the father.
Pay attention to the:
Mira la fotografía.
Mira a la madre.
In the first case, there is an inanimate object, while there is a person in the second case. Remember it.
Note:
If the preposition de comes before the masculine definite article el, the merge of the preposition and the article usually happens: de + el = del.
Exercises
I. Answer the following questions:
¿Por qué no se levanta Juan? ¿Qué mira Juan cuando se despierta ¿Qué lee Juan? ¿Hasta qué hora lee Juan? ¿Qué bebe Juan cuando se levanta? ¿Qué come Juan en casa de Juana? ¿Qué fuma Juan? ¿Qué fuma el padre de Juana?
II. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate preposition:
Doy la mano Juana. El padre Juana es empleado. Esto es el periódico padre Juana. Esto es la taza madre Juana. Doy el periódico padre. Juana besa madre y padre y va al cine.
III. Translate into English:
Estoy en casa y leo un libro. Es domingo. Yo no trabajo hoy. Me gusta leer en la cama, cuando no trabajo. Por la tarde voy a casa del señor López, el ingeniero. Por la noche vamos todos al cine. Me gusta el cine. Siempre, cuando regresamos del (from) cine vamos a casa del señor Ramírez, bebemos vino, fumamos cigarrillos o cigarros y hablamos hasta las diez. A las diez todos se van a casa. Yo también.
IV. Translate into Spanish:
I wait, you (sing.) wait, he waits, we wait, you wait (pl.), you wait (p.f.), they wait.
You (sing.) think, we think, he thinks, she doesn’t think, you (pl.) think, she thinks, he doesn’t think, you (p.f.) think, I think.
V. Translate into Spanish:
I drink coffee, smoke a cigarette, read a book and don’t get up. I don’t get up because I don’t work. I don’t work because it’s Sunday. Today I eat at engineer Lopez’s house. Mr. and Mrs. Lopez always eat meat, fruit and drink water (agua). I drink wine in the evening, when I return home. When I get up, I eat fruit and drink black coffee. I don’t drink milk because I don’t like (it).
