Otra vez Carmen y José riñendo

— Carmen, estás hablando y hablando, ¿no puedes quedarte un momento sin hablar?
— Y tú no dejas pasar un día sin reprocharme algo. Dije solamente, que cuando se alquila una casa se debe mirar bien el número de ella. Mariano se equivocó por no haber mirado bien.
— ¿De qué hablas Carmencita? ¿Estabas escuchando el cuento?
— Sí.
— No debías haberlo escuchado. No es un cuento para ti. ¡Ah! olvidé deciros que había llegado una carta de Miguel. Fué mordido por un perro y está enfermo.
— ¿Y quién ha escrito la carta?
— Creo que la carta ha sido escrita por su mamá, pero no estoy seguro.
— ¿Y contestaste ya a la carta anterior?
— No.
— ¡Qué mal! Hace tiempo que debías haber contestado.

Vocablos

Grammar points

1. Usage of sin + infinitive

In lesson 39 you learned the construction al + infinitive that is used to express adverbial subordinate clause of time.

The construction sin + infinitive is used to express adverbial subordinate clause of manner and indicates in what way an action is happening (history of the action). Sin + infinitive is translated into English using Gerund, for example:

2. Perfect / Compound Infinitive

In Spanish, the infinitive verb has two forms: simple infinitive and compound or perfect infinitive.

The perfect form of the infinitive is formed with the auxiliary verb haber in the infinitive form and the participle of the conjugated verb, e.g.:

haber mirado
haber comido etc.

Both simple and perfect infinitives on their own do not express neither tense nor person nor number.

Being in a sentence with a personal form of another verb, simple and perfect forms express the tense that is used with the personal form of the conjugated verb.

Simple infinitive expresses an action that is simultaneous with the action of the conjugated verb, while perfect infinitive expresses an action that precedes the action expressed by the personal form of the conjugated verb, e.g.:

3. Passive Voice (Voz Pasiva) (continuation)

The participial form of the passive voice in Spanish is formed with the personal forms of the verb ser and the passive participle of the conjugated verb, for example:

The participial form of the passive voice in modern Spanish is rarely used; it is replaced by the impersonal form of the passive voice with the pronoun se:

The passive participle agrees with the subject in person and number, e.g.:

Conjugation of verbs in passive voice

Note:

The participial form of the passive voice is also used with the verb estar if:

• the passive participle functions as an adjective without an object, e.g.:

   

  La carta está escrita.

  The letter is written.

• the sentence indicates a place or geographical location, e.g.:

4. The general rules for using articles in Spanish

We talked about the articles in the beginning of the course. In this lesson, we will examine the general rules for using the articles.

The definite article is used:

a) Before nouns that name well-known objects or meanings, e.g.:

b) Before nouns that express abstract ideas (no article in English in this case), e.g.:

c) before nouns that denote unique objects, as in English, e.g.:

d) before nouns that refer to academic degrees, ranks, positions, e.g.:

or:

When calling someone directly, the article is not used, like in English:

e) before names of the week, before dates, when indicating time, years etc., answering the question: when?

f) instead of the possessive pronouns when naming parts of the body, clothes or other objects that belong to someone or closely related to them, e.g.:

g) before name of mountains, rivers, seas and names only of some countries and cities, e.g.:

h) before ordinal numbers preceding nouns, e.g.:

The indefinite article is used:

a) before nouns to introduce them for the first time, as in English, e.g.:

b) before nouns that go after the impersonal form, e.g.:

c) before nouns after which cualquiera is used in the meaning any, e.g.:

The neutral article lo is used:

a) before an adjective, an adverb or a passive participle, giving them abstract nature, e.g.:

b) lo + adverb in the superlative degree in a combination with the word posible, e.g.:

c) lo + adjective or adverb in a combinatin with que, e.g.:

d) in other expressions, for example:

5. Omission of Articles

The article is omitted:

a) before nouns if demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, indefinite pronouns or cardinal numbers go before them, e.g.:

b) before nouns that are used after the verb ser as a nominal part of the predicate and refer to a profession, nationality, party affiliation:

However, if the above mentioned nouns are used with an attribute, the article goes before them, e.g.:

c) before proper names, for example:

d) before uncountable nouns when indicated that only part of the sunstance or object is used, e.g.:

or

e) before nouns with the prepositions: a, con, de, en, e.g.:

f) after the verb tener in the negative form or after the preposition sin, e.g.:

g) After que in exclamatory sentences and after como, and also after the preposition de, e.g.:

Exercises

No more exercises.