LESSON NOTES

Verb Conjugation #6
Present of Approval

CONTENTS

Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Grammar
Cultural insight

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VOCABULARY

Spanish English Class Gender

volar to fly verb

querer to want, to love verb

mentir to lie verb

morir to die verb

poder power masc. noun

contar to count, to depend verb

seguir to continue, to follow verb

repetir to repeat verb

aprobación approval noun feminine

aprobar to approve verb

pedir to request verb

perder to lose, to miss verb

cerrar to close verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

No me gusta volar. Tengo miedo. ¿No quieres un permanente?

"I don't like to fly. I'm afraid." "Don't you want a perm?"

Te quiero. No te miento. Digo la verdad.

"I love you." "I'm not lying to you. I'm telling the truth."

Me muero de sed. El gobierno ya tiene demasiado poder.

"I'm dying of thirst." "The government already has too much power."

Puedes contar conmigo. El pronóstico del tiempo dijo que habría lluvia,
seguida de una fuerte nevada durante las
"You can depend on me." próximas horas.

"The forecast said there will be rain, followed by

heavy snow during the next few hours."

Seguí para allá, hasta el antiguo Banco Negro. ¿Puedes repetirlo, por favor?

"Keep going over there until you get to the "Can you repeat that please?"
former Black Bank."

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 El presente de aprobación se usa para hacer No aprueba la boda de su hija.
preguntas.
"She doesn't approve of her daughter's
"The present of approval is used to ask wedding."
questions."

¿Pedimos la cuenta? Por llegar tarde al restaurante perdimos la

reservación y terminamos en McDonald's para el
"Should we ask for the check?" día de los enamorados.

"For arriving late to the restaurant, we lost our

reservation and ended up at McDonald's for
Valentine's day."

¡La tienda cierra a las 8 de la noche todos los días, La tienda cierra a las seis de la tarde.
así que mejor vamos ahora mismo!
"The store closes at six in the afternoon."
"The store closes at 8 PM every day, so we'd
better go right now!"

GRAMMAR
Up until now, we've focused on so-called "regular" verbs. These are called "regular" because they follow
on of there basic patterns, which we call "conjugations".

Today, we learned about three groups of "irregular" verb. Now, even though these are so-called
irregular verbs, they still follow patterns, though these patterns are not as common as the "regular"
verbs. Nevertheless, there are a number of verbs that follow them.

The irregularity of these verbs has a common thread. In each of these three cases, the stem of the
infinitive form changes and then the personal endings which we saw for regular verbs is added.

Stem changes occur is all the persons, except for the first and second person plural ("nosotros" we;
"vosotros" you all). In the tables below, we've noted these, with an asterisk*.

O-UE STEM CHANGE: volar (to fly)

Infinitive Stem: vol-

With Stem Change: vuel-

Singular Plural

yo vuelo nosotros volamos*

(I fly) (we fly)

tú vuelas vosotros voláis*

(you fly) (you all fly)

él vuela ellos vuelan

(he flies) (they fly)

ella vuela ellas vuelan

(she flies) (they fly)

usted vuela ustedes vuelan

(you fly) (you all fly)

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Other verbs that follow this O-to-UE stem change include:

"contar" (to count), "costar" (to cost), "jugar" (to play), "mover" (to move), "poder" (to be able), "volver"
(to return), "dormir" (to sleep) and "morir" (to die).

E-IE STEM CHANGE: perder (to lose)

Infinitive Stem: perd-

With Stem Change: pierd-

Singular Plural

yo pierdo nosotros perdemos*

(I lose) (we lose)

tú pierdes vosotros perdéis*

(you lose) (you all lose)

él pierde ellos pierden

(he loses) (they lose)

ella pierde ellas pierden

(she loses) (they lose)

usted pierde ustedes pierden

(you lose) (you all lose)

Other verbs that follow this E-to-IE stem change include:

"cerrar" (to close), "pensar" (to think), "comenzar" (to begin), "querer" (to want), "defender" (to defend),
"entender" (to understand), "preferir" (to prefer), "sentir" (to feel) and "mentir" (to lie).

E-I STEM CHANGE: pedir (to request)

Infinitive Stem: ped-

With Stem Change: pid-

Singular Plural

yo pido nosotros pedimos

(I request) (we request)

tú pides vosotros pedís

(you request) (you all request)

él pide ellos piden

(he requests) (they request)

ella pide ellas piden

(she requests) (they request)

usted pide ustedes piden

(you request) (you all request)

Other verbs that follow this E-to-I stem change include: "impedir" (impede), "reír" (to smile), "repetir" (to
repeat), "seguir" (to follow), "servir" (to serve) and "vestir" (to dress).

CULTURAL INSIGHT
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The Present Tense of the Indicative Mood is often used to ask a question. This can be a little deceiving,
since there is no other helping verb to tell us that this is so. For example, in English we say "Should I go
with you to the store" or "Can I go with you to the store?", where "can", and it's placement before the
main verb "go", tell us that this is a question. In Spanish, the only written indication is the inverted
question mark. For example, we would say "¿te acompaño a la tienda?". This usage of the Present Tense
is extremely common. When you're about to leave one place and go to another, someone may ask
"¿vamos?" (should we go); when ordering something jointly at a restaurant, you would ask "¿pedimos
una entrada?" (should we order a starter?); when making plans to do something later, you may ask "¿te
recojo a las diez?" (should I pick you up at ten?).

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