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Lección 40

Conjugation of Regular Verbs in Spanish (summary). Usage of Haber (Impersonal hay and hay que). Acostarse

Miguel piensa ya en el regreso

— ¿Cómo ha dormido usted después de la corrida, don Miguel?
— He soñado con toros y caballos, toreros y picadores. La verdad es que dormí mal anoche. Hoy no iré a ninguna parte. Escribiré una carta a mis padres y me acostaré temprano, porque mañana estaremos muy ocupados José y yo. Toda la mañana hemos estudiado el plano de Madrid, preparando el plan de todos los lugares que visitaremos mañana. El tiempo pasa rápidamente, ya pronto me iré y tengo que ver mucho todavía. Quiero ver lo más posible.
— Se va usted pronto. ¡Qué lástima!
— No se puede vivir siempre como turista, hay que trabajar también.
— Sí, eso es verdad. text translation

Vocablos

  soñar to dream
el caballo horse
el torero (toreador) toreador (bullfighter)
el picador picador
  anoche last night, yesterday evening
  en (a) ninguna parte nowhere; anywhere (with negative English verbs)
  acostarse to go to bed; to lie down
el plano plan; map (of a city)
el lugar place; spot
la lástima shame, pity, sorry
el turista tourist

Learn the expressions:

 

tener que ver

have to see

 

lo más posible

as much as possible

 

¡qué lástima!

what a pity! what a shame!

Grammar points

1. The conjugation of regular verbs in all the tenses of the indicative mood

conjugation I

conjugation II

conjugation III

tomar to take

comer to eat

partir to divide, to split

Modo indicativo (indicative mood)
Presente
tomo I take como I eat parto I split
tomas you take comes you eat partes you split
toma he takes come he eats parte he splits
tomamos we take comemos we eat partimos we split
tomáis you take coméis you eat partís you split
toman they take comen they eat parten they split
Imperfecto
tomaba I was taking comía I was eating partía I was splitting
tomabas you were taking comías you were eating partías you were splitting
tomaba he was taking comía he was eating partía he was splitting
tomábamos we were taking comíamos we were eating partíamos we were splitting
tomabais you were taking comíais you were eating partíais you were splitting
tomaban they were taking comían they were eating partían they were splitting
Pretérito perfecto (compuesto)
he
tomado

(comido,

partido)
I have taken I have eaten I have split
has you have taken you have eaten you have split
ha he has taken he has eaten he has split
hemos we have taken we have eaten we have split
habéis you have taken you have eaten you have split
han they have taken they have eaten they have split
Pretérito indefinido (simple)
tomé I took comí I ate partí I split
tomaste you took comiste you ate partiste you split
tomó he took comió he ate partió he split
tomamos we took comimos we ate partimos we split
tomasteis you took comisteis you ate partisteis you split
tomaron they took comieron they ate partieron they split
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
había
tomado

(comido,

partido)
I had taken I had eaten I had split
habías you had taken you had eaten you had split
había he had taken he had eaten he had split
habíamos we had taken we had eaten we had split
habíais you had taken you had eaten you had split
habían they had taken they had eaten they had split
Pretérito anterior
hube
tomado

(comido,

partido)
I had taken I had eaten I had split
hubiste you had taken you had eaten you had split
hubo he had taken he had eaten he had split
hubimos we had taken we had eaten we had split
hubisteis you had taken you had eaten you had split
hubieron they had taken they had eaten they had split
Futuro imperfecto
tomaré I will take
tomarás you will take
tomará he will take
tomaremos we will take
tomaréis you will take
tomarán they will take
comeré I will eat
comerás you will eat
comerá he will eat
comeremos we will eat
comeréis you will eat
comerán they will eat
partiré I will split
partirás you will split
partirá he will split
partiremos we will split
partiréis you will split
partirán they will split
Futuro perfecto
habré
tomado

(comido,

partido)
I will have taken I will have eaten I will have split
habrás you will have taken you will have eaten you will have split
habrá he will have taken he will have eaten he will have split
habremos we will have taken we will have eaten we will have split
habréis you will have taken you will have eaten you will have split
habrán they will have taken they will have eaten they will have split
Gerundio
tomando taking comiendo eating partiendo dividing, splitting
Imperativo
¡toma! take! ¡come! eat! ¡parte! / divide!
\ split!
¡tomad! take! ¡comed! eat! ¡partid! / divide!
\ split!
Participio
tomado taken; comido eaten; partido divided, split

2. Usage of haber. Impersonal forms hay and hay que

The verb haber is used as the auxiliary verb to form compound tenses of other verbs. Furthermore, the haber is used an an impersonal verb. In the present tense, it has the special impersonal form hay that can form a number of constructions, for example:

 

hay

there is/are

 

hay que + infinitive

one must/should + infinitive

 

no hay que

we must not, we should not, let’s not, don’t have to

Presente

Pretérito imperfecto

Pretérito indefinido (simple)

 

he
has
ha
hemos
habéis
han

 

había
habías
había
habíamos
habíais
habían

 

hube
hubiste
hubo
hubimos
hubisteis
hubieron

Futuro imperfecto

Gerundio

Participio

habré
habrás
habrá
habremos
habréis
habrán

habiendo

habido

In the tenses given below, the verb haber is used only in the impersonal form, i.e. in 3rd person singular:

Pretérito perfecto: ha habido
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto: había habido
Pretérito anterior: hubo.

The impersonal form of the verb haber can be used in all the tenses:

 

hay

there is/are

 

había

there was/were

 

ha habido

there has been

 

hubo

there was/were

 

había habido

there had been

 

hubo habido

there had been

 

habrá

there will be, e.g.:

 

Habrá mucha gente en el cine.

There will be a lot of people in the cinema.

habrá habido there will/must have been

The impersonal constructions are also used with all the tenses, for example:

 

hay que

one must

 

había que

one had to

 

habrá que

one will have to etc.

3. The verb acostarse

The verb acostarse to go to bed; to lie down belongs to group II of deviating verbs (see lesson 16) and conjugates the same way as the verb poder:

 

yo me acuesto

I go to bed

 

tú te acuestas

you go to bed

 

él se acuesta

he goes to bed

 

nosotros nos acostamos

we go to bed

 

vosotros os acostáis

you go to bed

 

ellos se acuestan

they go to bed

Exercises

I. Translate into English:

Me levanto temprano. Siempre me gusta levantarme con el sol. Tomo mi desayuno en la cama y miro por la ventana. En la calle no hay nadie. Paseo solo por las calles de Madrid, llego a la Plaza de España y admiro el monumento a Cervantes, después regreso lentamente a casa. Todos se levantan, toman café y van al trabajo. De nuevo me quedo solo. Llaman a la puerta. Entra Carmencita con una carta en la mano. Mis amigos me invitan a comer hoy en su casa. A las dos como con mis amigos, bebo vino sabrosísimo y me quedo con ellos hasta la noche.

Clave

II. Rewrite exercise I replacing the present tense with pretérito perfecto.

Clave

III. Translate into English:

En casa de mis amigos bebía, comía, charlaba y así pasaba el tiempo. Recordábamos nuestros paseos por la ciudad. José recitaba poesías. Carmen cantaba, pero nadie escuchaba. José fumaba tanto y todos gritaban tanto que nadie podía ver ni oír nada.

Clave

IV. Rewrite exercise III replacing pretérito imperfecto with pretérito simple.

Clave

V. Translate into Spanish:

I like talking with Juana. I look at her and admire her. I always liked (lit.: would always like) talking with her and always admired her beauty. I have decided to go to the museum alone today. On the way I entered a restaurant, ate a good soup and a little bit of meat. Then I went to the café where I had two cups of coffee. Yesterday I met Russians in the museum and today I met them in the café. I will not talk to them. I have decided to speak only in Spanish in Madrid.

Clave