Learn how to form negative commands using the subjunctive form of Spanish regular and irregular verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola amigos. Habla Dylan, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on pod101 world? My name is Carlos. |
| Dylan: In this lesson, you will learn about negative commands. |
| Carlos: The conversation takes place in the church. |
| Dylan: The conversation is between the mother-in-law, father-in-law, Carlos, Mónica and the priest. |
| Carlos: The speakers are friends, so they are speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Suegro: Mira Carlos, ese que está allá es el padre Juan, te lo voy a presentar. No le digás que sos ateo. |
| Suegra: Eso es muy importante, no le digás que no crees en Dios. Qué va a decir él si se entera que mi futuro nuero es ateo. |
| Mónica: ¡Ya!, déjenlo en paz, ¡por favor! |
| Suegro: Padre Juan, Padre Juan, este es mi futuro nuero, Carlitos. |
| Padre Juan: ¡Mucho gusto hijo!¡Lindas sandalias! |
| Carlos: ¡Gracias! ¡Su majestad! |
| Mónica: Humm, ¡Carlos! Disculpe, Padrecito. Carlos está aprendiendo español, no lo domina todavía. |
| Suegro: Look Carlos, that man over there is Father Juan. I'm going to introduce you. Don't tell him you're atheist. |
| Suegra: That is very important. Don't tell him you don't believe in God. What are they going to say if they find out our future son-in-law is atheist? |
| Mónica: That's it! Leave him alone. Please! |
| Suegro: Father Juan, Father Juan, this is my future son-in-law, Carlitos. |
| Padre Juan: Nice to meet you, son! Nice sandals!! |
| Carlos: Thank you! Your majesty! |
| Mónica: Mmm Carlos! Excuse us, Father. Carlos is learning Spanish; he hasn't mastered it yet. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: Oh my Gosh, your majesty! |
| Carlos: That’s hilarious. |
| Dylan: What is that about? |
| Carlos: Maybe it’s a joke. I mean sarcasm. The father-in-law is sarcastic or he is sarcastic too. |
| Dylan: Maybe he rubbed off on it. |
| Carlos: Your majesty! That’s how it is… |
| Dylan: I don’t know yeah it’s funny, it’s funny. |
| Carlos: That is hilarious. |
| Dylan: Hey and the priest noticed his sandals. |
| Carlos: And he liked them. |
| Dylan: Yes, I think so. |
| Carlos: He is a Vatican too kind of. |
| Dylan: Yeah, not that bad. |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Ateo”. |
| Carlos: “Atheist.” |
| Dylan: “A-te-o”, “ateo”. “Presentar”. |
| Carlos: “To introduce.” |
| Dylan: “Pre-sen-tar”, “presentar”. “Enterarse”. |
| Carlos: “To find out.” |
| Dylan: “En-te-rar-se”, “enterarse”. “Yerno”. |
| Carlos: “Son-in-law.” |
| Dylan: “Yer-no”, “yerno”. “Majestad”. |
| Carlos: “Majesty.” |
| Dylan: “Ma-jes-tad”, “majestad”. “Dominar”. |
| Carlos: “To master”, “to dominate.” |
| Dylan: “Do-mi-nar”, “dominar”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Okay, let’s have a look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we will look at is “ateo”. |
| Carlos: “Ateo”, “atheist.” A bad word in many circles of this country. |
| Dylan: In many countries, but yeah in Catholic countries, it’s not exactly looked upon passively. |
| Carlos: No, not at all. |
| Dylan: But it is nice that at least this family seems to be a little accepting. |
| Carlos: Right, now my opinion of the father-in-law is changing because he says “Mira Carlos, ese que está allá es el padre Juan, te lo voy a presentar. No le digás que sos ateo”. |
| Dylan: “Look Carlos, that man over there is father Juan, I am going to introduce you. Don’t tell him you are atheist.” |
| Carlos: Well, they may not like it but they are at least not shunning him. |
| Dylan: Very true and I agree that it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell that to a priest. |
| Carlos: You know I just used that word recently. |
| Dylan: Well, yeah why? |
| Carlos: Well, I have a friend who I grew up with. We were very close when we were like 7 to like 10 but he grew up in the catholic church and he was hardcore about it. I mean he believed in wholeheartedly. |
| Dylan: Okay. |
| Carlos: And we lost touch for like 5 years and I recently spoke to him and when I say recent, I mean yesterday and I kind of found now he is an atheist. |
| Dylan: You know that happens a lot more than you think. |
| Carlos: Especially in the US and other like secular countries. |
| Dylan: That’s a matter of opinion anyway. That’s a sticky conversation. |
| Carlos: Yeah, it is. We should just focus on the vocabulary words. |
| Dylan: Well, if “ateo”, “atheist”, is one who does not believe in God, what is the opposite? |
| Carlos: The opposite would be “creyente”, “a believer.” |
| Dylan: Good but one last question. Which do you fall into? |
| Carlos: I am a believer of what I will not say. |
| Dylan: Fair answer. |
| Carlos: Next up. |
| Dylan: “Presentar”. |
| Carlos: “To introduce.” |
| Dylan: How was this verb used in the conversation? |
| Carlos: Well, we just heard the sentence for the first example “Mira Carlos, ese que está allá es el padre Juan, te lo voy a presentar. No le digás que sos ateo”. |
| Dylan: “Look Carlos, that man over there is father Juan. I am going to introduce you, don’t tell him you are atheist.” |
| Carlos: You know, that is a good verb to take a closer look at like I always get confused of what to say when introducing people like I want to introduce you to Montserrat. |
| Dylan: “Dylan, ella es Montserrat. Montserrat, ella es Dylan”. |
| Carlos: But using the verb “presentar”? |
| Dylan: “Dylan, me gustaría presentarte a Montserrat”. |
| Carlos: Ah, perfect. Thank you for clearing that up. |
| Dylan: No problem, but you think of a related word. |
| Carlos: “Conocer”, “to know” or “to meet a person for the first time.” |
| Dylan: Next up another verb, “enterarse”. |
| Carlos: “To find out.” |
| Dylan: And they make it clear that they don’t want the priest to find out. |
| Carlos: “Eso es muy importante, no le digás que no crees en Dios. Qué va a decir él si se entera que mi futuro nuero es ateo”. |
| Dylan: “That’s very important. Don’t tell him you don’t believe in God. What are they going to say if they find out our future son-in-law is atheist.” |
| Carlos: Hey, pick your battles. At least they are accepting as future son-in-law and not a tourist. |
| Dylan: Very true. |
| Carlos: “Yo nunca leo los periódicos. Por eso nunca me entero de lo que pasa en el mundo”. |
| Dylan: “I never read newspapers. So I never find out what goes on in the world.” |
| Carlos: And a related word... |
| Dylan: “Enterado”. An adjective which means... |
| Carlos: “To be aware of something.” |
| Dylan: Next up is a related word for an earlier vocab entry in another lesson. |
| Carlos: And what’s that? |
| Dylan: “Yerno”. |
| Carlos: “Son-in-law.” |
| Dylan: You would know that word. Wouldn’t you? |
| Carlos: Well, that being that I am being one soon, I had to know that one. |
| Dylan: So like this Carlos, you are “un futuro yerno”. |
| Carlos: As of this moment, yes, “a future son-in-law.” |
| Dylan: “Eso es muy importante, no le digás que no crees en Dios. Qué va a decir él si se entera que mi futuro nuero es ateo”. |
| Carlos: “That is very important. Don’t tell me don’t believe in god. What are they going to say if they find out that our future son-in-law is atheist.” |
| Dylan: Luckily, you are not an atheist. |
| Carlos: No and I don’t think my “suegra” will be very happy about that. |
| Dylan: I know this is far, far off being that she is only almost like 2 years old but “yo quiero a mi yerno com a un hijo”. |
| Carlos: That’s sweet. You want your son-in-law to be like a son but they don’t let you call their mom, right? |
| Dylan: No, no never. |
| Carlos: You know, I don’t remember the female version. How do you say “daughter-in-law” again? |
| Dylan: “La nuera”. |
| Carlos: “La nuera”. Okay, got it now. |
| Dylan: Next up a noun, “majestad”. |
| Carlos: “Majestad”. Not very hard, “majesty.” |
| Dylan: But quite a funny mix-up. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Dylan: Well, listen again to what Carlos says when he is introduced to the priest. |
| Carlos: “Su majestad”. |
| Dylan: “Your majesty.” I would have fallen on the floor laughing if I had seen that in real life. |
| Carlos: I am sure. |
| Dylan: But I think that Mónica was a little embarrassed. |
| Carlos: Wouldn’t you be? |
| Dylan: “Les presento a su majestad, el Rey Luis V”. “I introduced you to your majesty King Lewis, the 5th.” |
| Carlos: Ah okay, very proper. |
| Dylan: And you can think of related word. |
| Carlos: Sure. “Rey”, “king”, “reina”, “queen” and they live in “el palacio”, “the palace.” |
| Dylan: Last but not least, the verb “dominar”. |
| Carlos: “Dominar”. “To master” or “to dominate.” |
| Dylan: This is when Mónica makes the excuse to the priest to excuse Carlos. |
| Carlos: “Disculpe, Padrecito. Carlos está aprendiendo español, no lo domina todavía”. |
| Dylan: “Excuse us, father. Carlos is learning Spanish, he hasn’t mastered it yet.” |
| Carlos: His response is classic. It makes you wonder if it’s a joke or not. |
| Dylan: Well, knowing what I know about Carlos from the past lessons, I think it just maybe. |
| Carlos: He will probably get along with the “suegro” sooner or later if he has sense of humor. |
| Dylan: Well, probably. |
| Carlos: “Todavía yo no domino las reglas de gramática del español”. |
| Dylan: You still haven’t mastered the grammatical rules of Spanish? |
| Carlos: I can’t say that I have. |
| Dylan: Well, with the little time you will get there. |
| Carlos: How about a related word? |
| Dylan: “La dominación”. |
| Carlos: “The domination?” |
| Dylan: No, no, actually “dominion” or “rule.” |
| Carlos: Ah okay, well thanks for clearing that up. |
| Dylan: Okay, grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Carlos: Now what are we looking at again? |
| Dylan: We are looking at negative commands. |
| Carlos: Now where do we hear a negative command? |
| Dylan: “No le digás que sos ateo”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t tell him you are an atheist.” |
| Dylan: Now remember, there is something special going on when we use negative commands. |
| Carlos: Right. We use the subjunctive form for verbs when we give negative commands. |
| Dylan: For regular verbs, conjugating in the subjunctive to give negative commands simply requires that we conjugate the stem of the verb in the “yo”, “I” form. Then we drop the “O” and interchange the corresponding “ar”, “er” or “ir” endings of the verb. “As” or “es”, “as” or “es” for the informal to form. |
| Carlos: So what you mean is that we substitute “A” for the endings of “er” and “ir” verbs to form the subjunctive. |
| Dylan: Likewise, we substitute “E” for the endings of “ar” verbs to form the subjunctive. |
| Carlos: And luckily irregular verbs follow the similar pattern. Generally we must first conjugate the stem of the verb in the “yo” form which is the “I” form. |
| Dylan: Then we substitute “A” for the corresponding endings of “er”, “ir” verbs and we do the opposite for “ar” verbs. Observe the formations below to get a clear idea of how we do this. |
| Carlos: Formation. |
| Dylan: Here are the basic rules for giving negative command. |
| Carlos: For “ir” and “er” verbs. |
| Dylan: No plus conjugated stem of “yo” form with the “O” dropped plus corresponding “a”r ending as shown in the table below. “As”. |
| Carlos: “Tú”. |
| Dylan: “A”. |
| Carlos: “Usted”. |
| Dylan: “Amos”. |
| Carlos: “Nosotros”. |
| Dylan: “An”. |
| Carlos: “Ellos/ustedes”. |
| Dylan: For example, “decir” meaning “to say.” |
| Carlos: Now let’s follow the same formula “No” plus “dig” which is the root, drop the “O”, “as”, “no digas”. |
| Dylan: “Tú”. |
| Carlos: “No digas nada”. |
| Dylan: “Don’t say anything.” |
| Carlos: “Usted”. |
| Dylan: “No diga nada”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t say anything.” |
| Dylan: “Nosotros”. |
| Carlos: “No digamos nada”. |
| Dylan: “Don’t say anything.” |
| Carlos: “Ustedes”. |
| Dylan: “No digan nada”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t say anything.” For “ar” verbs... |
| Dylan: “No” plus the conjugated stem of “yo” form with the “O” dropped plus corresponding “ir”, “er” ending. |
| Carlos: So the verb endings in “es”. |
| Dylan: “Tú”. |
| Carlos: “He”. |
| Dylan: “Usted”. |
| Carlos: “Hemos”. |
| Dylan: “Nosotros”. |
| Carlos: “Han”. |
| Dylan: “Ellos/ustedes”. |
| Carlos: Take our example “hablar”, “to speak.” |
| Dylan: It’s “no” plus “habl-” because you drop the “o” plus “es”, “no hables”. |
| Carlos: “Tú”. |
| Dylan: “No hables”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t speak.” |
| Dylan: “Usted”. |
| Carlos: “No hable”. |
| Dylan: “Don’t speak.” |
| Carlos: “Nosotros”. |
| Dylan: “No hablemos”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t speak.” |
| Dylan: “Ustedes”. |
| Carlos: “No hablen”. |
| Dylan: “Don’t speak.” |
| Carlos: Sample sentences. We will get some down. So negative commands, regular verbs. Let’s say one for “ar”. |
| Dylan: “Cerrar”, “to close”. |
| Carlos: “No cierres la puerta”. |
| Dylan: “Don’t close the door”, “tú” informal command. |
| Carlos: How about “er” verbs? |
| Dylan: “Comer”, “to eat.” |
| Carlos: “No comas la hamburguesa”. |
| Dylan: “Don’t eat the hamburger”, “tú” informal command. |
| Carlos: “Ir”. “Escribir”, “to write.” |
| Dylan: “No escribas la carta”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t write the letter”, “tú” informal command. Now for irregular verbs. “Decir”, “to say.” |
| Dylan: “No digas nada”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t say anything.” “Tú” informal command. “Hacer”, “to do” or “to make.” |
| Dylan: “No hagas eso”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t do that” , “tú” informal command. “Tener”, “to have.” |
| Dylan: “No tengas miedo”. |
| Carlos: “Don’t be scared”, “don’t have fear.” “Tú” informal command. Know how we substitute “A” for the endings of “er” and “ir” verbs which is kind of different from the regular way. Likewise we substitute “E” into the endings of “ar” verbs to form the subjunctive. |
Outro |
| Carlos: But you know what, guys that just about does it for the season. All right. |
| Dylan: ¡Hasta luego! |
| Carlos: Nos vemos, ¡chao! |
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