No Latin American Spanish voice installed — playing the Spain voice.
2.4
Grammar
Ser de: where are you from?
Look and think
Find the forms of ser in the dialogue. Lucía asks one person and two people
Use ser de + place to say where someone is from: The question is (tú) or (usted).
Here is the complete present tense of ser. In Spain, you for a group of friends is and takes its own form . You for a group in formal situations is , with the same form as : .
| ser | |
|---|---|
| yo | soy |
| tú | eres |
| él / ella / usted | es |
| nosotros / nosotras | somos |
| vosotros / vosotras | sois |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | son |
Examples
Somos de Madrid.
We're from Madrid.¿De dónde sois?
Where are you (all) from?Ellas son italianas.
They are Italian (women).
Verbs ending in -ar: hablar
Look and think
Look at , , , . What do the forms for yo have in common?
Most Spanish verbs end in -ar, -er or -ir. To use a regular -ar verb, take away -ar and add the endings below. The ending shows who does the action, so the pronoun is usually not needed:
The Spanish present covers both English I speak and I'm speaking / I'm studying: = I study Spanish / I'm studying Spanish.
| hablar | estudiar | trabajar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablo | estudio | trabajo |
| tú | hablas | estudias | trabajas |
| él / ella / usted | habla | estudia | trabaja |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablamos | estudiamos | trabajamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | habláis | estudiáis | trabajáis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | hablan | estudian | trabajan |
Examples
Hablamos español en clase.
We speak Spanish in class.¿Trabajas o estudias?
Do you work or study?Claire habla tres idiomas.
Claire speaks three languages.
Nationalities: masculine and feminine
Look and think
Claire says , Marta says , Daniel says . Why do the endings change?
Nationality words are adjectives, so they agree with the person: a man is , a woman is . Plural adds -s or -es: , .
Words ending in -e (and ) are the same for men and women: , .
Watch the accent: → , ; → . The stress stays on the same syllable, but the written accent disappears when the word ends in a vowel.
| ending | man | woman | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| -o / -a | mexicano | mexicana | mexicanos, mexicanas |
| consonant / + -a | español | española | españoles, españolas |
| -és / -esa | francés | francesa | franceses, francesas |
| -e (one form) | canadiense | canadiense | canadienses |
Examples
Marta es brasileña.
Marta is Brazilian.Daniel y Claire no son españoles.
Daniel and Claire are not Spanish.Mi profesora es alemana.
My teacher is German.