The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol (Everything®) (26 page)

Past Perfect Tense

Past perfect tense is covered in the next chapter. It is a compound tense used to describe that happened before other past-tense events. Here’s an example of how the past perfect may be used with a past-subjunctive clause:

Le había dicho a Cristóbal que tuviera cuidado.

I had told Christobal to be careful.

Conditional Tense

One other way of using the past subjunctive is with the conditional tense:

Querríamos que pasearas el perro.

We would like you to walk the dog.

Si pudiera pagar los estudios, me haría piloto.

If I could pay for my studies, I would become a pilot.

FACT

It’s a Command

So far, we’ve covered two grammatical moods: indicative and subjunctive. The third and final grammatical mood is the imperative mood—the mood of command. Whereas the indicative describes what is and the subjunctive suggests what may be, the imperative mood is used to make a direct address. This is why the imperative mood is basically limited to the second person, “you”
(tú, usted,
vosotros, ustedes).
In Spanish, the imperative mood also works with
nosotros—
in English, it’s the equivalent of the phrase “let’s.”

The mood of command isn’t limited to commands, per se. It may be used to ask or even suggest, as long as it’s done in a direct address. Here are a few examples of the imperative mood in action:

¡Cállate la boca!

Shut your mouth!

No me mires así.

Don’t look at me like that.

Cierra la puerta, por favor.

Please close the door.

No vayamos a la playa hoy—no hace sol
.

Let’s not go to the beach today—it’s not sunny.

Conjugating verbs in the imperative mood is a bit tricky. Some forms look like indicative conjugations, others are identical to subjunctive conjugations, and still others have distinctive endings. Furthermore, the conjugation may change depending on whether the imperative statement is positive (do!) or negative (don’t!). The following sections are organized according to the person being addressed—whether you’re addressing one or more people, and whether you’re using the formal or informal form of address.

Hey, You!

Positive commands directed at
tú
are identical to the third person singular form of the indicative. Compare:

Ella habla inglés. Usted queda en el equipo.

She speaks English. You (formal) are staying on the team.

Habla despacio. Quédate aquí.

Speak slowly. Stay here. (addressed to one person informally)

A few verbs drop the ending in the positive
tú
command:

The negative form of the
tú
command is rather different: it’s identical to the second person singular subjunctive form. Compare the following:

Me alegro que no pierdas tiempo.

I’m happy that you don’t waste your time. (informal “you”)

No pierdas tiempo.

Don’t waste time.

A Formal Address

If the command is addressed to
usted,
the conjugation is identical to the third-person singular of the subjunctive. Similarly, if
ust-edes
is the addressee, the conjugation is identical to the third-person plural of the subjunctive. These forms are the same in positive and negative commands.

Por favor, preste atención.

Please pay attention. (to
usted)

Traigan los libros para la próxima clase.

Bring the books to the next class. (to
ustedes)

No tire la basura en los lugares públicos.

Don’t throw trash in public places. (to
usted)

To be more polite, add
usted
or
ustedes
to follow the command verb:

Por favor, no entre usted por aquí.

Please do not enter through here.

Let’s Do It!

In Spanish, a command may be addressed to
nosotros;
in English, we make these commands with the phrase “let us” or “let’s.” This kind of a command is still directed at one or more people—it’s just that the speaker includes himself or herself in the address.

To form positive and negative commands, you can use the
nosotros
form of the subjunctive:

Escuchemos la música.

Let’s listen to music.

No empecemos ya.

Let’s not start yet.

Also note that
vamos
is used instead of
vayamos
in positive commands:

Vamos al cine. No vayamos al gimnasio.

Let’s go to the movies. Let’s not go to the gym.

ALERT

When in Spain:
Vosotros

As you know, most people in the Spanish-speaking world will address more than one person with
ustedes,
whether the address is formal or informal. In Spain, there’s a distinction between
vosotros
and
ustedes,
and it needs to be retained in the imperative mood.

To make a positive
vosotros
command, drop the final “r” of the verb’s infinitive form and replace it with a “d.” Take
hablar
as an example:
hablar
– r + d =
hablad.

Escuchad la música.

Listen to the music.

Desembarcad del tren con cuidado.

Disembark from the train carefully.

The one exception to this rule is the verb
i r
(to go). Instead of
id,
the correct form is
idos:

Idos a la escuela con nosotros.

Go to the school with us.

To form negative
vosotros
commands, use the
vosotros
subjunctive form:

No prestéis dinero a él.

Don’t lend him money.

With Reflexive or Object Pronouns

You’ve already seen that imperative-mood verbs behave weirdly around subject pronouns—if the pronoun like
t ú
or
usted
is there, it follows the verb. There are also some differences in the placement of reflexive and object pronouns. In negative commands, the pronouns behave as usual—they precede the verb. However, in positive commands the pronouns are attached to the end of the verb:

Hazlo como digo.

Do it as I say.

Cuídense bien.

Take care of yourselves.

As a result, some verbs (like
cuidar
in the previous example) require an accent mark to signal correct pronunciation. Furthermore,
nosotros
and
vosotros
forms have a change in the verb ending.

Drop the “S”

In positive
nosotros
commands, the final “s” of the ending is dropped when the verb is combined with the reflexive pronoun
nos
or the indirect object pronoun
se:

Lavémonos las manos.

Let’s wash our hands.

Prestemos el coche a nuestro amigo. Prestémoselo.

Let’s lend the car to our friend. Let’s lend it to him.

This is done to avoid clunky-sounding forms like
lavémosnos
and
prestémosselo.

Drop the “D”

Easy pronunciation is also the reason for dropping the “d” in positive
vosotros
commands that end with the reflexive pronoun
os:

Controlaos, por favor.

Please control yourselves.

Practice Makes Perfect

Conjugate the following verbs (in parentheses) in the present subjunctive:

1.
Ustedes esperan que la profesora
___________________
(repetir) el trabajo.

2.
Él no está seguro que su marido
___________________
(confiarse) en ella.

3.
Bailamos mientras ___________________ (tocarse) la música.

4.
Tú me aconsejas que yo no ___________________ (pensar) así.

5.
Estoy lista en caso de que ___________________(llegar) temprano.

6.
Ellos me exigen que yo ___________________ (fingir) alegría.

7.
Usted duda que yo ___________________ (sentirse) bien, ¿verdad?

8.
Vosotros necesitáis que yo ________________ (ser) el médico.

9.
_______________ (ser) lo que ______________ (ser).

Translate the following commands into Spanish:

1. Open the door! (to
tú)

____________________________________

2. Don’t stop! (to
vosotros
)

____________________________________

3. Take my hand! (to
usted)

____________________________________

4. Let’s go!

____________________________________

5. Let’s not eat it.

____________________________________

To check your answers, refer to the answer key in Appendix D.

C
HAPTER
14
Perfect
Compound Tenses

SPANISH TENSES MAY BE DIVIDED into two groups: simple tenses and compound tenses. Simple tenses are verb forms made up of one word—
comprendió
(he understood),
hablaba
(she was talking),
cantarán
(they will sing)
.
Compound tenses are formed with two words—the auxiliary verb that is conjugated to agree with the subject, plus another verb.

You already encountered compound tenses in some of the earlier chapters. Progressive tenses, which use
estar
as the auxiliary verb and the present participle, are used to refer to actions that are happening at a particular time. The perfect tenses make up another important group of compound tenses. Perfect compound tenses describe an action that takes place over time, and it is formed with a conjugated form of
haber
and a past participle.

Haber
and Past Participle

Haber
is the equivalent of “to have” as used in perfect tenses (not in the sense of owning something); for example,
haber sido
is translated as “to have been.” You’re already familiar with some forms of
haber
because
haber
is the verb used in the expression “there is/are.”