Lección 23
Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto, conjugation II and III. Saber
La correspondencia de Juan
Vocablos
la | correspondencia | correspondence; mail, post |
viajar | to travel | |
el | mundo | world |
entero, -a | whole, entire | |
Polonia | Poland | |
Francia | France | |
Inglaterra | England | |
los | Estados Unidos | United States |
Alemania | Germany | |
el | país | country |
diferente | different | |
el | congreso | conference; congress |
recibir | to receive, to get | |
el | motivo | motive, reason, occasion, cause |
próximo, -a | close, near; upcoming; next | |
la | fiesta | holiday; party; feast |
el | Año Nuevo | New Year |
decidir | to decide | |
escribir | to write | |
el | papel | paper |
el | sobre | envelope |
la | tarjeta | card |
postal | postal | |
algunos | some, a few | |
ilustrado, -a | illustrated | |
Varsovia | Warsaw | |
la | ciudad | city, town |
invitar | to invite | |
visitar | to visit | |
dirigirse | to head, to go; to direct; to address | |
la | oficina | office |
el | correo | mail, post; oficina de Correos — Post Office |
el | sello | stamp |
pegar | to affix; to paste, to hit, to glue, to stick | |
echar | to throw; to put; to mail, to post | |
el | buzón | mailbox, postbox |
la | impaciencia | impatience, here: forward |
la | contestación | reply, response, answer |
Notes
The meaning of words and expressions
The meaning of the word todo
Todo all, everything, everyone is a relative pronoun-noun. Moreover, todo can function as a relative pronoun-adjective that is usually goes before a noun and agrees with it in gender and number.
esto es todo
this is all
toda la noche
all night
todo el tiempo
all the time
todos los muchachos
all the boys
todas las muchachas
all the girls
todo el día — all day (long), the whole day
todos los días — every day
Article omission (continuation)
en Polonia
in Poland
París
Paris
en Francia
in France
Londres
London
en Inglaterra
in England
Madrid
Madrid
en Alemania
in Germany etc.
Moscú
Moscow etc.
The names of countries and cities are usually used without articles, as in English.
Exception
la Unión Soviética
The Soviet Union
la Federación de Rusia
The Russian Federation
los Estados Unidos
the United States
el Canadá
Canada
la Habana
Havana etc.
The gender of the nouns denoting the names of countries and cities is defined by the endings: -a — for the feminine gender: Polonia, Francia, Varsovia; other vowels and consonants — for the masculine gender: París, Londres, Madrid, Moscú.
Remember the expressions:
en muchos ... más
in many other ...
con motivo de ...
on the occasion of ...
Grammar points
1. Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto, conjugation II and III
Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto for verbs of conjugation II and III forms the same way as for conjugation I, except for the ending. For conjugation II and III, the infinitive verbs get the ending -ido, for example:
conocer — conocido
decidir — decidido
Some verbs get irregular forms, for example:
escribir — escrito
Pretérito perfecto | ||||
conjugation II | ||||
conocer — to know | ||||
singular | plural | |||
1. | he conocido | I have known | hemos conocido | we have known |
2. | has conocido | you have known | habéis conocido | you have known |
3. | ha conocido | (s)he has known | han conocido | they have known |
conjugation III | ||||
decidir — to decide | ||||
singular | plural | |||
1. | he decidido | I have decided | hemos decidido | we have decided |
2. | has decidido | you have decided | habéis decidido | you have decided |
3. | ha decidido | (s)he has decided | han decidido | they have decided |
Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto for conjugations I, II and III
conjugation I | ||
tomar — to take | ||
he tomado | I have taken | |
has tomado | you have taken | |
ha tomado | (s)he has taken | |
hemos tomado | we have taken | |
habéis tomado | you have taken (pl.) | |
han tomado | they have taken | |
conjugation II | ||
comer — to eat | ||
he comido | I have eaten | |
has comido | you have eaten | |
ha comido | (s)he has eaten | |
hemos comido | we have eaten | |
habéis comido | you have eaten (pl.) | |
han comido | they have eaten | |
conjugation III | ||
partir — to divide | ||
he partido | I have divided | |
has partido | you have divided | |
ha partido | (s)he has divided | |
hemos partido | we have divided | |
habéis partido | you have divided (pl.) | |
han partido | they have divided |
More information about Present Perfect in Spanish was given in the previous lesson.
2. The conjugation of the irregular verb saber
Saber — to know, can | ||||
Presente | ||||
singular | plural | |||
1. | sé | I know | sabemos | мы знаем |
2. | sabes | you know | sabéis | you know |
3. | sabe | he knows | saben | they know |
Pretérito imperfecto | ||||
singular | plural | |||
1. | sabía | I knew (lit.: was knowing) | sabíamos | we knew |
2. | sabías | you knew | sabíais | you knew |
3. | sabía | he knew | sabían | they knew |
Pretérito perfecto compuesto, | ||||
singular | plural | |||
1. | he sabido | I have known | hemos sabido | we have known |
2. | has sabido | you have known | habéis sabido | you have known |
3. | ha sabido | he has known | han sabido | they have known |
Imperative mood
¡sabe!
know!
¡sabed!
know!
Exercises
I. Form Present Perfect Compound from the following verbs:
pegar
escribir
querer
yo
tú
Vd.
nosotros
Vds.
ellos
él
ella
II. Form the necessary tense forms from the verbs hablar, beber, salir:
Presente
Pretérito imperfecto
Pretérito perfecto
yo
él
nosotros
Vd.
Vds.
tú
III. Translate into English:
Todo el día Juan no ha pensado más que en una cosa: ¿a quién escribir una carta y a quién una tarjeta? Ha llegado Juana y le ha aconsejado escribir cartas a los muchachos y tarjetas a las muchachas. — La idea es buena — dice Juan — pero ¿por qué me aconsejas así? — Porque no me gusta cuando escribes mucho a las muchachas. — ¿Quieres ir conmigo a la oficina de Correos? — pregunta Juan. — Vamos a comprar sellos. — Yo he comprado hoy muchos sellos, puedo darte algunos a ti. — Bueno, entonces vamos a pegar los sellos y vamos a echar todas estas cartas en el buzón. — Bueno — dice Juana — voy a casa para decir a mamá que voy contigo y tú escribe tu correspondencia. A las tres Juana regresa y pregunta: ¿Has terminado? — No he podido terminar, he comprado papel y he escrito todas las cartas, pero no tengo más tinta en mi pluma para escribir las tarjetas.
IV. Translate into Spanish:
Все ответили, и Хуан получил много красивых открыток из Лондона, Парижа и из многих других городов. Juan has returned from Moscow. At home he had many letters and cards for him. Juan (has) started to read at once and was reading until four o’clock. At four o’clock Juana (has) arrived and advised him to answer at once. When Juan was writing, Juana was reading a book. When Juan (has) finished, Juana (has) asked: Is that all? — Yes, these are all the letters and postcards, all the correspondence, read it, Juana! Juana (has) read them, then she (on them has) affixed the stamps on them, and they put/throw all the mail/correspondence in the mailbox. They all (have) answered and Juan (has) received many beautiful cards from London, Paris and many other cities.
V. Fill in the gaps with an appropriate form of todo:
los amigos de Juan viven en Madrid. Juan contesta a carta recibida de Moscú. Juana escribía durante el día. He viajado la noche.