Learn how to form the imperfect tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: “Making an entrance at a Mexican party”. Estoy aquí con JP, como siempre. ¿Cómo estás JP? |
| JP: Muy bien gracias. ¿Tú Fernando? |
| Fernando: Muy bien. |
| JP: Now, Fernando, what are we going to talk about today? |
| Fernando: Bueno aquí vamos a hablar acerca del tiempo imperfecto. La conversación tendrá lugar en una fiesta y la conversación será entre Gustavo, Jimena y Manuel. Y estarán utilizando el registro familiar. |
| JP: All right. Let’s go to listen. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Gustavo: Hola Jimena. ¿Cómo están? Sabes, estábamos inseguros si era aquí la fiesta. |
| Jimena: ¿De plano? Bueno, qué bueno que le atinaron. |
| Manuel: ¿Cómo estás Jimena? Tu amigo Gustavo tiene unas ideas bastante locas. Quería quedarse aun si no fuese aquí. |
| Jimena: Sí, no me extraña de Gustavo. Por eso es de mis amigos favoritos. |
| Manuel: ¿Y yo dónde quedo? Qué mala onda. Sólo por eso me voy a tomar todo tu vino. |
| Jimena: [Risas] Ok. Nada más no vayas a tirar una sola gota. |
| Gustavo: Hello, Jimena. How are you? You know, we weren't sure whether the party was here. |
| Jimena: Really? It's good that you found the place. |
| Manuel: How are you, Jimena? Your friend Gustavo has some rather crazy ideas. He wanted to stay even if it weren't here. |
| Jimena: Yes, that doesn't surprise me about Gustavo. That's why he's one of my favorite friends. |
| Manuel: So where do I stand? So not cool. Just for that, I'm going to take away your wine. |
| Jimena: Okay. Just don't waste a single drop of it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Ok, Fernando, we’re back and it looks like Gustavo and Manuel just made it to Jimena’s party. |
| Fernando: Así es. Parece ser que no estaban seguros si era ahí o no. |
| JP: Right. But they made it, right? |
| Fernando: Sí llegaron y parece ser que estás bastante contentos. Bueno los tres. |
| JP: Yes, Jimena greeted them at the door and of course you have to ask everybody how they are. |
| Fernando: Claro y eso es lo que hizo Gustavo. Hola Jimena. ¿Cómo estás? Y después le comenta que no estaban seguros si era ahí o no. |
| JP: Right. And she was like “Really?”. |
| Fernando: Sí. |
| JP: De plano. |
| Fernando: “De plano” es algo bastante mexicano. Y demuestra que está muy agradecida, está muy contenta con que hayan dado con el lugar. |
| JP: And then it’s Manuel’s turn to say hello, and he kind of rats out Gustavo, he kind of, he kind of tells Jimena that Gustavo was going to stay whether or not this was her place. |
| Fernando: Sí de hecho Manuel le comenta a Jimena que pues este Gustavo tiene unas ideas bastantes locas porque si no fuera ahí la fiesta se iban a quedar de todos modos. Sin conocer a nadie. |
| JP: Right. And Jimena is not even surprised. |
| Fernando: Sí de hecho Jimena le dice “ Sí, no me extraña de Gustavo.” Pero por eso lo quiere, porque es de sus amigos favoritos. Porque es, yo creo, le gustan los locos. O a los amigos locos, almenos. |
| JP: Yes, right. Now Manuel is a little disturbed that, you know, Gustavo “el loco” is the one that is one of the favorite friends, so you know, he has to play a little bit hurt, right? |
| Fernando: Sí, sí definitivamente. Pero Manuel sabe que él también es uno de los favoritos y por eso bromea con Jimena diciéndole que se va a acabar todo su vino. |
| JP: Right. So it takes her wine away. |
| Fernando: Sí nada más que Jimena le dice, bueno, nada más no vayas a tirar una sola gota. |
| JP: Yes, you shouldn’t waste wine. |
| Fernando: Sí, exactamente. |
| JP: Wine is for drinking. |
| Fernando: Sí, no para tirarse. |
| JP: Ok, let’s take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: de plano |
| JP: “Really”, “totally” |
| Fernando: de pla-no, de plano. Atinar. |
| JP: “To hit the target” |
| Fernando: a-ti-nar, atinar. Extrañar |
| JP: “To surprise” |
| Fernando: ex-tra-ñar, extrañar. Que mala onda. |
| JP: “So not cool” |
| Fernando: que ma-la on-da, que mala onda. Tirar |
| JP: “To throw” |
| Fernando: ti-rar, tirar |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Ok, Fernando, let’s take a look at some of these words and phrases that came up into the lesson. |
| Fernando: Empecemos con “de plano”. |
| JP: De plano. |
| Fernando: De plano. |
| JP: You said this was a terribly, you said this was a Mexican phrase, right? ¿Sobretodo? |
| Fernando: Sí, se maneja más en México. Bueno, almenos yo la he escuchado más en México que en otros países. |
| JP: Ok. And it means something like “totally”, right? |
| Fernando: Sí exacto, pero asi con ese sentido. ¿De plano? |
| JP: “Really?” |
| Fernando: “Really?” |
| JP: Ok, so when it’s a question it’s like “Really?”, but when it’s in the answer it’s like “Totally.”. |
| Fernando: Exacto, sí. De plano voy a ir. |
| JP: “Ok, I’m totally going to go.” |
| Fernando: ¿De plano no puedes ir? |
| JP: “You really can’t go?” |
| Fernando: Exacto. |
| JP: Ok, what’s the next word? |
| Fernando: Atinar. |
| JP: Atinar. Now, “atinar” is kind of a fun word. It means “to hit the target”, and it’s kind of got an archery field to it, right? Atinar. |
| Fernando: Sí, atinar y en este caso se usa más como en términos figurativos. |
| JP: Ok, yes. This is a figurative speech. Because what did Jimena say, how did she use this word? |
| Fernando: Sí, dice “Que bueno que le atinaron.” |
| JP: Ok, so, that’s like “So good that you found the place.”, right? That’s the translation, but the literal translation is like “It’s so good that you hit the target.” |
| Fernando: Exacto, sí. Y en este caso eso fue. |
| JP: Ok, so… Now, it’s kind of like you guessed correctly. Right? |
| Fernando: Sí. |
| JP: That’s kind of the sense that “atinar” is “to guess correctly”. |
| Fernando: Sí, básicamente eso es. |
| JP: All right. What’s next? |
| Fernando: Extrañar. |
| JP: “Extrañar” – “to surprise”, right? |
| Fernando: Exacto. |
| JP: Ok. Now this verb can also mean others things, you know, depending on the context, you can mean “to miss somebody” or “to give a strange feeling”. |
| Fernando: Exacto. |
| JP: Ok, but in here it meant “surprise”, right? Now, how did Jimena use it in the dialogue? |
| Fernando: Dijo, “Sí, no me extraña de Gustavo,” |
| JP: Ok. So, it doesn’t surprise me about Gustavo. |
| Fernando: Sí exacto. |
| JP: Yes that he is such a party animal, he doesn’t care. |
| Fernando: Sí, no es algo foráneo para ella. |
| JP: Exactly. Ok. Extrañar. |
| Fernando: Sí. |
| JP: All right. |
| Fernando: Pasamos a la siguiente. |
| JP: Yes, please. |
| Fernando: Que mala onda. Es una frase. |
| JP: Ok. “Que mala onda”, ok. This sounds super Mexican to me, as well. |
| Fernando: Que mala, e JP. |
| JP: Que mala onda. So not cool. Now, literally, this is “What bad wave.”, “What a bad wave.” |
| Fernando: Sí y lo que no queremos es que la gente lo tradusca literalmente. |
| JP: Yes, so don’t, what I just did, don’t do that. All right. “Que mala onda” means “So not cool.”. Ok, now, when you say “onda” expresses to a Mexican it’s kind of like a way American say vibe, right? |
| Fernando: Exacto. |
| JP: So, “What a cool vibe.” or “What a not cool vibe.”. |
| Fernando: Sí sí sí, estoy totalmente de acuerdo. |
| JP: Yes, in this case is “mala onda” . “What a not cool vibe.” |
| Fernando: Sí en este caso Manuel le dice a Jimena “Que mala onda” pero lo dice jugando. |
| JP: Right. He’s pretending to be hurt by her. |
| Fernando: ¿Entonces cómo le haces tú, JP, cuando alguien te dice “que mala onda”? ¿Cómo lo traduces eso? |
| JP: “So not cool.” |
| Fernando: Exacto, pero así con ese acento, ¿no? Con esa pronunciación. |
| JP: “Dude, that is so not cool.” |
| Fernando: Sí, como si fueras alguien de la costa -- de la costa este. |
| JP: Yes, it’s a surfer, it’s a surfer. “So not cool.” |
| Fernando: Exacto. |
| JP: Ok, the last one? |
| Fernando: Tirar. |
| JP: Tirar – “to throw”. Ok. And this is something that the pitcher does in the baseball game, right? Tirar |
| Fernando: Sí pero aquí no estamos . |
| JP: No, we’re talking about wine here. So, what’s going on? |
| Fernando: Mucho más importante. |
| JP: Sí. |
| Fernando: No, aquí lo que quiso decir Jimena es que no vaya a tirar ni una sola gota Manuel. |
| JP: Ok, so “don’t throw it out”. |
| Fernando: Pues no. No, en realidad lo que quiso decir Jimena es “no se vaya a desperdiciar”. |
| JP: Ok, so “don’t waste it”. |
| Fernando: Exacto |
| JP: Ok, so… |
| Fernando: Pero en este caso lo dice, obviamente porque usan el registro familiar, lo dicec en tono bromista. |
| JP: Ok, so as long as you don’t throw any of it out, as long as you don’t waste any of it. |
| Fernando: Sí, sí es decir si abre manuel una botella y se toma una sola copa pues es desperdiciar el resto de la botella. |
| JP: Ok, cool. Shall we go to the grammar point? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Fernando: Porfavor. |
| JP: Ok, Fernando, this grammar point I know is your favorite part of Spanish grammar. Yes, it’s the Imperfect Tense, right? I want to review the Imperfect Tense. |
| Fernando: Sí. |
| JP: Now, the reason why we’re reviewing this Imperfect Tense is because we heard it three times in the dialogue. The first time is when Gustavo said “We were unsure if it was here.” |
| Fernando: Sí. Estábamos inseguros si era aquí la fiesta. |
| JP: Ok, now that’s actually the first and second time, because the first verb is “estábamos inseguros”, right? “We were unsure.” So, that’s the verb “estar” in the Imperfect. The second time we heard the verb “ser”, when he says “estábamos inseguros si era aquí” , right? That “era” is the verb “ser”. |
| Fernando: Exactamente. |
| JP: Ok. Now, the third time we heard it was when Manuel said “He wanted to stay even though I might not have been here.” |
| Fernando: Quería quedarse aun si no fuese aquí. |
| JP: Ok. “Quería quedarse” – “He wanted to stay”. So, we have three examples of the Imperfect “estábamos”, “era” and “quería”. And those three examples cover all three of the formations of the Imperfect Tense. We’ve got the regular “ar” formation with “estar” and “estábamos”, we’ve got the regular ir/er formation with the verb “querer” in “quería”, and then we’ve got the irregular “ser””era”, right? So, we’ve got all three represented. Now, I’m not going to talk a lot about the formation because this is something that’s better if you see it happening. Now, you can go to our lesson notes at the website, which is www.Spanishpod101.com to have a look at the charts, I’ve laid out the charts, but just to review quickly, the “ar” verbs like “estar” get a suffix like “aba”, so if I wanted to say “I was”… |
| Fernando: Estaba. Yo estaba. |
| JP: Yo estaba. “We were”? |
| Fernando: Nosotros estabamos. |
| JP: “Nosotros estabamos” and that’s exactly what we see here in the dialogue. Ok. Now, let’s take a look at the verb “querer” which is an er/ir verb. Now, er and ir verbs have the same suffixes in the Imperfect. So, here it’s “querer”, so he wants to say “Gustavo wanted”. |
| Fernando: Gustavo quería. |
| JP: Ok, “Gustavo quería”, right? |
| Fernando: Sí. |
| JP: And so, there, the ending is “ía”, right? And that “ia” is a thematic ending that’s going to happen in all the different persons, so, if for example, if I say “I wanted”… |
| Fernando: Yo quería. |
| JP: “Yo quería” it’s exactly the same word “qiería quería”. How about “we”, “we wanted”? |
| Fernando: Nosotros queríamos. |
| JP: Nosotros queríamos, you saw that “ía” in there, right? |
| Fernando: Sí. |
| JP: Ok. So, that “ía” sound is throughout the suffixes in the er and ir suffixes. The same way that the “aba” sound is throughout the ar suffixes. |
| Fernando: Aba, no --no el grupo |
| JP: Not the group… |
| Fernando: Ok. |
| JP: Not the Swedish super group, no. Just “estaba”. |
| Fernando: No vayas a cantar la canción Fernando porfavor. |
| JP: I’m not going to sing Fernando, I know that many of you will. |
| Fernando: No. |
| JP: Now, we have one more verb group represented here and that’s the irregular. So, for example, we have the verb “ser” and to say “I was”? |
| Fernando: Yo era. |
| JP: Yo era. How about “we were”? |
| Fernando: Nosotros éramos. |
| JP: Ok, and just for luck, we’ll do how about “they”? |
| Fernando: Ellos eran. |
| JP: Ellos eran. Ok. So, you hear that that “era” is radically different from the Infinitive “ser”, but it definitely has a thematic thing going to it, right? Era, era, será, éramos, era y serán. |
| Fernando: Exacto. |
Outro |
| JP: Is there anything else to do. |
| Fernando: Yo creo que despedirnos nada más. |
| JP: OK cool. Hasta luego everyone. |
| Fernando: Hasta luego. |
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