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Lección 34

Pretérito Anterior and Adverbs in Spanish

Ya es tarde

— ¿Quiere Vd. más café, Miguel?
— No, gracias. Debo irme ya. Tengo que escribir varias cartas a mi casa y a mis amigos de Moscú. Tengo que ir también al fotógrafo mañana. He prometido mandar a todos fotografías desde Madrid y quiero recoger los rollos que había dejado para revelar hace varios días ya.
— ¿Se acuerda Vd. de la fotografía que nos había mandado?text translation
 — Sí.
— Pues gracias a esta fotografía, le reconocimos en seguida que hubo bajado Vd. del tren.
— Yo me preocupaba seriamente pensando en mi llegada a Madrid, y apenas hubo parado el tren, bajé rápidamente para saludarles. Ahora me parece que hace mucho tiempo que estoy aquí. Me divierto de modo extraordinario. Pero ya es tarde y quiero escribir mi correspondencia hoy mismo. Muchas gracias por su amable acogida, buenas noches y hasta la vista.
— Hasta pronto. text translation

Vocablos

  varias several
  prometer to promise
  mandar to send; to order
  recoger to pick up; to collect, to gather
el rollo roll; reel
  revelar to reveal; to develop
  reconocer to recognize
  en seguida que at once that, as soon as
  bajar to get off
el tren train
  preocuparse to worry
  seriamente seriously
  apenas barely, hardly; as soon as
  parar to stop
  saludar to say hello to, to greet
  divertirse to have fun, to have a good time
  de modo in a way
  extraordinario, -a extraordinary
  hoy mismo this very day
la acogida welcome, reception
  hasta pronto see you soon

Learn the expressions:

 

ya es tarde

it’s already late

 

no, gracias

no, thank you

 

debo irme

I have to/must go

 

tengo que ir

I have to/must go

 

¿se acuerda Vd.?

do you remember?

 

gracias a

thanks to

 

en seguida que

at once that, as soon as

 

hace mucho tiempo

a long time ago

 

buenas noches

good night

Grammar points

1. Pretérito Anterior

Pretérito Anterior is the other Past Perfect tense in Spanish, but we will not call it that way since it is used rarely and we already know the other tense from lesson 32.

en seguida que hubo bajado...

as soon as you had got off ...

apenas hubo parado ...

barely had stopped ...

Currently, Pretérito Anterior is pretty much only used in written texts to express a past fact that happened immediately before another that is linked to it, that also happened in the past. The following conjunctions usually accompany it:

 

en seguida que

as soon as

 

apenas

barely, as soon as

 

cuando

when; as

 

luego que

after, later that

 

después que

after, later that

For example:

Apenas hubimos comido, llegó Juan.

As soon as we had eaten, Juan arrived.

Pretérito anterior is formed with the auxiliary verb haber in the simple past tense and the passive participle (participio pasivo) of the verb.

Pretérito anterior
conjugation I
tomarto take
singular plural
1. hube tomado I had taken hubimos tomado we had taken
2. hubiste tomado you had taken hubisteis tomado you had taken
3. hubo tomado he had taken hubieron tomado they had taken
conjugation II
comerto eat
singular plural
1. hube comido I had eaten hubimos comido we had eaten
2. hubiste comido you had eaten hubisteis comido you had eaten
3. hubo comido he had eaten hubieron comido they had eaten
conjugation III
partirto divide, to cut, to split
singular plural
1. hube partido I had cut hubimos partido we had cut
2. hubiste partido you had cut hubisteis partido you had cut
3. hubo partido he had cut hubieron partido they had cut

Note:

The verb divertirse to have fun, to have a good time is conjugated as the verb comenzar (group I of deviating verbs, compare with lesson 10).

 

yo me divierto

I have fun

 

tú te diviertes

you have fun

 

él se divierte

he has fun

 

nosotros nos divertimos

we have fun etc.

The verb recoger to pick up; to collect, to gather belongs to regular verbs, but in order to keep the same sound from the stem, the consonant g before the vowel o changes into j.

 

yo recojo

I pick up

 

tú recoges

you pick up

 

él recoge

he picks up

 

nosotros recogemos

we pick up etc.

2. Adverbs of Manner (adverbio de modo)

 

seriamente

seriously

 

rápidamente

quickly, fast

 

de modo extraordinario

extraordinarily, in an extraordinary way

Adverbs of manner are formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -mente that joins feminine adjectives, for example:

 

rápido

quick

 

rápida

quick

 

rápidamente

quickly

 

discreto

discreet

 

discreta

discreet

 

discretamente

discreetly

 

extraordinario

extraordinary

 

extraordinaria

extraordinary

 

extraordinariamente

extraordinarily

If an adverb is formed from a long adjective, the nouns modo, manera way, manner can be used instead plus the adjective, for example:

instead of:

 

extraordinariamente

extraordinarily

you can say:

 

de modo extraordinario

in an extraordinary way

 

de manera extraordinaria

in an extraordinary manner

3. Degrees of Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs, as adjectives, have three degrees of comparison:

 

discretamente

discreet

 

más discretamente

more discreetly

 

lo más discretamente

the most discreetly

The comparison degree of equal (el comparativo de igualdad) adverbs, as adjectives, is expressed with the verb tan that goes before the adverb and como that goes after the adverb, for example:

Juan obra tan cuerdamente como José.

Juan acts as wisely (sensibly) as Jose.

The superior or the inferior degrees of comparison (el comparativo de superioridad о de inferioridad) of adverbs are formed with the help of más or menos that go before the adverb and the conjunction que that usually goes after the adverb, e.g.:

Juan obra más (menos) cuerdamente que José.

Juan acts more (less) wisely than Jose.

The superlative degree of adverbs is formed by adding the neutral article lo to the comparative degree of the adverb, for example:

 

lo más discretamente

the most discreetly

This form of the superlative degree is usually used in a combination with the word posible that is translated in the meaning: as ... as possible, for example:

Juana observaba a Juan lo más discretamente posible.

Juana was watching Juan as discreetly as possible.

The superlative degree of adverbs can be formed without the conjunction que after the adverb, but only with más that goes before the adverb, for example:

Juan es él que más cuerdamente obra.

Juan is the one who acts most wisely.

The following adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:

bien well mejor better lo mejor the best
mal bad(ly) peor worse lo peor the worst
mucho much más more lo más the most
poco мало menos less lo menos the least

Exercises

I. Conjugate the verbs according to the given information:

saludar

Presente

 

Pretérito anterior

yo

 

yo

Vd.

 

ellos

 

él

Vds.

 

Vd.

nosotros

 

nosotros

 

Clave

vosotros

 

ellos

 

Vds.

Clave

Past imperfect

 

Present perfect

nosotros

 

ellos

Vds.

 

ella

 

nosotros

Clave

Past simple

 

Past perfect

él

 

vosotros

Vd.

 

Vds.

vosotros

 

nosotros

Vds.

 

Vd.

Clave

prometer

Presente

 

Pretérito anterior

yo

 

yo

Vd.

 

ellos

 

él

Vds.

 

Vd.

nosotros

 

nosotros

 

Clave

vosotros

 

ellos

 

Vds.

Clave

Past imperfect

 

Present perfect

nosotros

 

ellos

Vds.

 

ella

 

nosotros

Clave

Past simple

 

Past perfect

él

 

vosotros

Vd.

 

Vds.

vosotros

 

nosotros

Vds.

 

Vd.

Clave

decidir

Presente

 

Pretérito anterior

yo

 

yo

Vd.

 

ellos

 

él

Vds.

 

Vd.

nosotros

 

nosotros

 

Clave

vosotros

 

ellos

 

Vds.

Clave

Past imperfect

 

Present perfect

nosotros

 

ellos

Vds.

 

ella

 

nosotros

Clave

Past simple

 

Past perfect

él

 

vosotros

Vd.

 

Vds.

vosotros

 

nosotros

Vds.

 

Vd.

Clave

II. Substitute the infinitive verb with the correct form of Pretérito anterior:

Juana salió de casa y en seguida que comprar un periódico, regresó. Apenas salir de la casa, recordó que no había cerrado la puerta. Apenas cerrar la puerta oyó pasos, se volvió y vió a un hombre grandísimo. En seguida que lo ver abrió la puerta y entró temblorosa en casa.

Clave

III. Translate into English:

Miguel miraba las fotografías y no sabia que fotografía mandar a quien. Iba por la calle pensando en esto, cuando encontró a Juana y María. En seguida que las hubo visto se acercó y se las dió. Las muchachas le aconsejaron que fotografías debía mandar. En seguida que las hubo dejado, Miguel fué al correo.

Clave

IV. Translate into Spanish:

As soon as I had got up, I drank a cup of coffee. (While) drinking the coffee, I was thinking about Juana. As soon as I had thought about her, someone knocked at the door. Barely had I opened the door, (when) Juan and Juana came in and invited me to the theater. As soon as we had left the house, we met Pepe and Maria who were also going to my house. We all went to the theater talking on the way about my impressions of Madrid.

Clave