Learn about present tense of the indicative mood can be used to express an action that takes place on a regular basis
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Beatriz: Buenos días, me llamo Beatriz. |
| Joseph: Joseph here. “The habitual present”. |
| Beatriz: Hola Joseph, ¿cómo va todo? |
| Joseph: Todo va muy bien, gracias Beatriz. Qué bueno estar contigo de nuevo aquí. It’s great to be back here with you for another lesson. |
| Beatriz: Igualmente, Joseph. |
| Joseph: Today we have #5 from the Verb Conjugation Series at Spanishpod101. |
| Beatriz: ¡Ya era hora! |
| Joseph: It’s about time. |
| Beatriz: En la lección 4 hablamos de las verdades atemporales. |
| Joseph: That’s right. In Lesson 4 we talked about atemporal truth and how they can be used with the Present Tense. |
| Beatriz: Joseph, what about for today? |
| Joseph: Para hoy, for today, we’ll look at how the Present Tense can be used to express something that’s done on a regular basis. |
| Beatriz: It’s really nice to go over the different usages and then look at their formations. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Joseph: I couldn’t agree more. Beatriz, which verbs are we going to focus on today? |
| Beatriz: Today we’ll look at “necesitar”, “correr” and “abrir”. |
| Joseph: That’s great. “Necesitar”, “correr”y “abrir”. “To need”, “to run” and “to open”. You know, a friend of mine recently told me that he thinks learning verbs in Spanish is like learning how to drive a car with a manual transmission. |
| Beatriz: Interesante la imagen. |
| Joseph: Yes. He thinks that all you need to do is learn all the parts and how they work as a whole. |
| Beatriz: Creo que veo por dónde va la cosa, pero igual me parece difícil. |
| Joseph: So, you see where he’s going with this, but it seems unlikely to you? |
| Beatriz: Así es. |
| Joseph: ¿Y por qué? Why is that? |
| Beatriz: Bueno, porque para mí el tiempo es el concepto clave para aprender el sistema verbal. |
| Joseph: Interesante. So, Beatriz, you think that time is the key concept for learning the verbal system. Why is that? |
| Beatriz: Porque el verbo posibilita la acción en el tiempo. |
| Joseph: Because the verb makes action in time possible. Interesante. |
| Beatriz: Which point of you do you think is right? |
| Joseph: Wow. I have to think about this. No sé. I don’t know. |
| Beatriz: You don’t? |
| Joseph: I don’t. Do you? Which point of view do you think is right? |
| Beatriz: Okay, let’s figure out. Entonces, hablemos un ratito sobre el uso. |
| Joseph: Buena idea. Good idea. Let’s talk a little bit about the usage. |
| Beatriz: So, you said that today we are talking about actions that occur on a regular basis, right? |
| Joseph: That’s right. For example, if I say “me levanto a la seis de mañana” or “I get up at 6 in the morning”, does this mean that it’s 6 in the morning right now and that I’m getting up? |
| Beatriz: No, not now. |
| Joseph: Okay, but on other days, days before today, I’ve gotten up at 6, right? |
| Beatriz: Well, it sounds like you usually get up at 6. |
| Joseph: Okay. So, would you say that there’s a good chance that I’ll continue to get up at this time in days to come? |
| Beatriz: That sounds likely. |
| Joseph: Now, in Iberian Lesson 10 there’s an example of this. Megan and David are in a restaurant, and they’re trying to figure out what to order. |
| Beatriz: Okay. |
| Joseph: Well, Megan says: “A mi me apetece el besugo, aquí está buenísimo”. “I feel like having the sea bream. It’s delicious here.” |
| Joseph: Now, the verb “está” here, this one seems to be used in the same way as “levanto” in “me levanto a la seis”. |
| Beatriz: Claro, porque el restaurante es conocido por su besugo. Debe estar buenísimo, ¿no? |
| Joseph: Claro. Right. So, as you say, this restaurant is known for their sea bream. When Megan says “está bueno aquí” – “It’s good here.” It’s like saying “It’s always good here” or “Every time they make it here it’s good.” |
| Beatriz: That reminds me of Newbie Lesson 12. |
| Joseph: Yes? |
| Beatriz: Yes. There, Juana and Felipe are eating lunch at Felipe’s aunt, Rosa. And, when Aunt Rosa offers Juana a second helping, she responds: |
| Juana: “Estoy satisfecha. Usted prepara muy bien el cebiche”. |
| E: “I’m satisfied. You prepare the cebiche very well.” |
| Joseph: I see what you’re saying. So, with this expression “Usted prepara muy bien el cebich”e – “You prepare the cebiche well” it’s like saying that every time she makes cebiche, she does it well. It’s habitual. |
| Beatriz: That’s right. Lo que suena un poco confuso es el hecho de que estos actos parecen discontinuos. |
| Joseph: Interesante. So, Bea, you’ve made a really good point here. You said that what seem a little confusing is that the acts here appeared discontinuous. |
| Beatriz: Right. |
| Joseph: Well, the thing is: if we use the Present Tense to refer to discontinuous acts that are not carried out in the present moment, not right now, but that have been carried out before and will be carried out after, we can say that the present is habitual. |
| Beatriz: Es habitual porque viene del hábito. |
| Joseph: Exactamente. It’s habitual because it comes from a habit. Todos preparados. |
| Beatriz: ¡Esta parte me encanta! |
| Joseph: Time to go through a few paradigms for today. |
| Beatriz: That’s right. |
| Joseph: Which verbs are we looking at now? |
| Beatriz: “Necesitar”, “correr” y “abrir”. |
| Joseph: “Necesitar”, “correr” y “abrir”. Okay. “To need”, “to run” and “to open”. Now, so far, in this series, we’ve given three forms for the third person. Well, three identical forms. |
| Beatriz: Right. Es que cuando el sujeto es “él”, “ella” o “usted”, la forma verbal es lo mismo. |
| Joseph: Exactly. And this is because when the subject is “él” – “he”, “ella” – “she” or “usted” – “you” in the formal sense, the form of the verb is the same for all three. |
| Beatriz: Lo mismo sucede también en el plural. |
| Joseph: Good point, Bea. And this happens in the plural, too. And we can always, always, always rely on this. So, from now on, we’ll only be giving one form for the third person. Well, one form in the singular and one form in the plural. Okay. So, Beatriz, why don’t we start with the first conjugation verb, the regular verb “necesitar” – “to need”? |
| Beatriz: Let’s go. “Necesitar”. |
| Joseph: “To need”. |
| Beatriz: “Yo necesito”. |
| Joseph: “I need.” |
| Beatriz: “Tú necesitas”. |
| Joseph: “You need” - informal. |
| Beatriz: “Él/ella/usted necesita”. |
| Joseph: “He needs”, “She needs”, “You need” - formal. |
| Beatriz: “Nosotros necesitamos”. |
| Joseph: “We need.” |
| Beatriz: “Vosotros necesitáis”. |
| Joseph: “You all need” - informal. |
| Beatriz: “Ellos/ellas/ustedes necesitan”. |
| Joseph: “They need” masculine and feminine, “You all need” formal. Okay. So, that was the verb “necesitar”. Now, let’s move on and look at the verb “correr”. Beatriz? |
| Beatriz: Okay. “Correr”. |
| Joseph: “To run.” |
| Beatriz: “Yo corro”. |
| Joseph: “I run.” |
| Beatriz: “Tú corres”. |
| Joseph: “You run” - informal. |
| Beatriz: “Él/ella/usted corre”. |
| Joseph: “He runs”, “She runs”, “You run” - formal. |
| Beatriz: “Nosotros corremos”. |
| Joseph: “We run.” |
| Beatriz: “Vosotros corréis”. |
| Joseph: “You all run” - informal. |
| Beatriz: “Ellos/ellas/ustedes corren”. |
| Joseph: “They run” masculine and feminine, “You all run” – formal. Great. So, that was the regular second conjugation verb “correr” – “to run”. And now, moving on to the third conjugation, “abrir”. Beatriz? |
| Beatriz: “Abrir”. |
| Joseph: “To open.” |
| Beatriz: “Yo abro”. |
| Joseph: “I open.” |
| Beatriz: “Tú abres”. |
| Joseph: “You open” – informal. |
| Beatriz: “Él/ella/usted abre”. |
| Joseph: “He opens”, “She opens”, “You open” – formal. |
| Beatriz: “Nosotros abrimos”. |
| Joseph: “We open.” |
| Beatriz: “Vosotros abrís”. |
| Joseph: “You all open” – informal. |
| Beatriz: “Ellos/ellas/ustedes abren”. |
| Joseph: “They open”, masculine and feminine, “You all open” – formal. |
| Beatriz: So, again, we see that only the endings change. The stem stays the same. |
| Joseph: Right. You can really start to get a sense of the uniformity of verbs in Spanish by going through these paradigms. |
| Beatriz: Right. I mean, we’ve only just begun. What? |
| Joseph: And as you’ll see in upcoming lessons, there are a lot of different patterns to recognize, especially when we look at some of the “verbos irregulares” – “the irregular verbs”. |
| Beatriz: No pongas el carruaje delante de la mula. |
| Joseph: And Beatriz, what does that mean? Come on. That’s not fair to say that and not explain it to our students. What does that mean? |
| Beatriz: All right. “Don’t put the car before the horse”. “No pongas el carruaje delante de la mula”. |
| Joseph: So, we’ll have to wait until next lesson. |
| Beatriz: Es sólo una semana. |
| Joseph: Bueno. |
| Beatriz: It’s just one week. |
| Joseph: Esperemos pues. |
Outro |
| Joseph: All right. That will do it for today’s show. |
| Beatriz: Ha sido un gusto. |
| Joseph: De igual manera. |
| Beatriz: ¡Que todos estén muy bien! |
| Joseph: Be well. |
| Beatriz: Ya nos vemos. ¡Chao, chao! |
| Joseph: Chao. |
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