LESSON NOTES

Verb Conjugation #4
The Actual Present

CONTENTS

Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Grammar
Cultural insight

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VOCABULARY

Spanish English Class Gender

decidir to decide verb

preparar to prepare, to get ready verb

beber to drink verb

actual actual adjective

presente present adjective, masc. noun

duración duration noun feminine

perdurar to last verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Ellos han decidido mudarse a Europa en los Es difícil decidir que diseño es el mejor.
ultimos meses.
"It's hard to decide which design is the best."
"They have decided to move to Europe in the
coming months."

La niña prepara su ropa de la escuela todas las Bebíamos sangría toda la noche.
noches antes de dormir.
"We drank sangria all night."
"The little girl prepares her school clothes every
night before going to sleep."

El presente actual es uno de los usos del tiempo El tiempo presente es más real que el futuro.
presente.
"The present tense is realer than the future."
"The actual present is one of the usages of the
present tense."

Todo acto tiene duración. ¿Por cuánto tiempo perdura la acción?

"Every act has a duration." "How long does the action last?"

GRAMMAR
What today's paradigms let us see is the uniformity of the regular endings for all three conjugations.
What we see by looking at these paradigms is how the endings of the regular verbs are consistent, even
though their stems are different.

This is one of the reasons why it's so important to be able to tell which conjugation a verb belongs to: it
the main, it tells us which scheme its endings will follow. Compare Verb Conjugation Lesson 4 to 3 in
order to see this more clearly.

In order to memorize these forms, let's get into the habit of looking at the paradigms. Below, you'll find
the three paradigms that we covered for today, one from each conjugation.

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First Conjugation: preparar (to prepare)

Singular Plural

yo preparo nosotros preparamos

(I prepare) (we prepare)

tú preparas vosotros preparáis

(you prepare) (you all prepare)

él prepara ellos preparan

(he prepares) (they prepare)

ella prepara ellas preparan

(she prepares) (they prepare)

usted prepara ustedes preparan

(you prepares) (you all prepare)

Second Conjugation: beber (to drink)

Singular Plural

yo bebo nosotros bebemos

(I drink) (we drink)

tú bebes vosotros bebéis

(you drink) (you all drink)

él bebe ellos beben

(he drinks) (they drink)

ella bebe ellas beben

(she drinks) (they drink)

usted bebe ustedes beben

(you drink) (you all drink)

Third Conjugation: decidir (to decide)

Singular Plural

yo decido nosotros decidimos

(I decide) (we decide)

tú decides vosotros decidís

(you decide) (you all decide)

él decide ellos deciden

(he decides) (they decide)

ella decide ellas deciden

(she decides) (they decide)

usted decide ustedes deciden

(you decide) (you all decide)

CULTURAL INSIGHT

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In today's Verb Conjugation Lesson, we talked about how verbs in the Present Tense of the Indicative
Mood can be used to express a current an action that lasts for a certain amount of time. And when this
action is expressed by the verb, it takes place within that duration. For example, if I say "Mariela habla
español" (Mariela speaks Spanish), her ability to speak Spanish existed before I said so and it will exist
afterwards too. Think about a state, like satisfaction. You could say "estoy satisfecho" (I'm satisfied).
Now, is this satisfaction instantaneous or is it something that came before the moment of speech and
will continue after it? The duration of this satisfaction encompasses the time which the verb "estoy"
signifies. When we use the present tense this way, we highlight its actuality.

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