Thursday, 12 November 2015

The Forms of the Present Subjunctive / Las formas del presente del subjuntivo


 present
indicative
PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE
ayudar
poner
seguir
yo ayud-ø  ~
yo pong-ø  ~
yo sig-ø  ~
ayude ayudes ayude ayudemos ayudéis ayuden
ponga pongas ponga pongamos pongáis pongan
siga sigas siga sigamos sigáis sigan
In order to form the present subjunctive, use the first person singular of the present indicative –the yo form–, remove the -o, and add endings in -e for -ar verbs, and endings in -a for -er and -ir verbs. This change of vowel may involve some spelling changes:
pag-ø ~ pague busc-ø ~ busque empiez-ø ~ empiece
• Stem-changing verbs in -ar and -er change their stems in the same way and in the same cases as in the present indicative:
piense
vuelva
pienses
vuelvas
piense
vuelva
pensemos
volvamos
penséis
volváis
piensen
vuelvan
• Stem-changing verbs in -ir, whatever the change that occurs in the present indicative, change the stem of thenosotros and vosotros forms of the present subjunctive from e to i and from o to u. (see complete rules.)
muera
sienta
pida
mueras
sientas
pidas
muera
sienta
pida
muramos
sintamos
pidamos
muráis
sintáis
pidáis
mueran
sientan
pidan
Only six verbs do not follow the rules above to form the present subjunctive:
ir  →  vaya, vayas, vaya, vayamos, vayáis vayan
ser  →  sea seas sea seamos seáis sean
estar  →  esté estés esté estemos estéis estén
saber  →  sepa sepas sepa sepamos sepáis sepan
haber  →  haya hayas haya hayamos hayáis hayan (subjunctive for hay)
dar  →  dé des dé demos deis den
Subjunctive?
All the verbs we have studied so far have been in the Indicative Mood because they indicate states or actions that are presented as factual. The Subjunctive Mood is used, mostly in dependent clauses, after verbs that suggest non-factual events, such as indirect commands, doubts, subjective perception, etc. Compare the following two groups of sentences:
Presented as factual (indicative):Desired, doubted (subjunctive):
I insist that he is here.
Insisto en que está aquí.
I insist that he be here.
Insisto en que esté aquí.
I believe he did it.
Creo que lo hizo.
I demand that he do it.
Exijo que lo haga.
I know he is here.
Sé que está aquí.
I doubt he'll be here.
Dudo que esté aquí.

Monday, 28 September 2015

Friday, 25 September 2015

Debate - artículos interesantes

Para ayudaros en vuestra investigación, aquí tenéis varios artículos que os pueden ser interesantes;
Artículos sobre la independencia de Cataluña en El País y en eldiario.es.
Artículos sobre inmigración en eldiaro.es y en El Mundo.es
Artículos sobre Rafael Correa y las elecciones del 2017 en El Universo, El Universal, La Hora y  El Ecuador Times (en inglés en el NYT)

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

Friday, 11 September 2015

Los derechos humanos


Pregunta para la próxima clase; Los derechos humanos, ¿Son naturales o creados por el hombre?

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

The Passive Voice / La voz pasiva

A. SER + PAST PARTICIPLE
The passive voice is formed in Spanish in the same way as in English, with the appropriate form of the verb ser and the past participle (which, as an adjective, must agree in gender and number with the subject). The agent, if mentioned, comes after the preposition por.:
Este libro es leído por todo el mundo.
Las rosas fueron compradas por la niña.
La ventana fue rota por la policía.
This book is read by everyone.
The roses were bought by the girl.
The window was broken by the police.
For use of estar with past participle, see §25.
To review the forms of the past participle, see §26.
B. PASSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS USING SE
• Spanish avoids the passive with ser when the agent of the action is unknown or irrelevant. The most common way of expressing a passive idea in Spanish –that something happens, but without expressing who in particular does it–, is by using se with a verb in the third person:
Aquí se habla español.
Se necesita tener paciencia.
Se come bien en Francia.
¿Se puede viajar sin visa?
Ese modelo ya no se usa.
Spanish is spoken here.
You need to be patient.
One eats / People eat well in France.
Is it possible to travel without a visa?
That model is not used (in use) anymore.
• When the subject (modelo in the above example) is plural, the verb must be plural:
Esos modelos ya no se usan.
Se venden camisas en esta tienda.
En América no se conocían los caballos.
Those models are not used anymore.
Shirts are sold in this store.
Horses were not known in America.
• Similar to English, Spanish can also use an impersonal They..., without the subject pronoun:
Allá no respetan los derechos humanos.
Firmaron el acuerdo esta mañana.
O: El acuerdo se firmó esta mañana.
They don't respect human rights there.
They signed the agreement this morning.
The agreement was signed this morning.
 C. SE + INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS (SE ME, SE LES, ETC.)

• The passive se may be followed by an indirect object pronoun indicating the person who undergoes the action of the verb (to whom?):
Se le mandaron flores (a ella).
Se les ofreció el trabajo (a ellos).
No se me dijo eso (a mí).
Flowers were sent to her. (She was sent flowers)
The job was offered to them. (They were offered...)
That wasn't told to me. (I wasn't told that).
These examples illustrate the common "false passive" in English, that is, a construction that uses the indirect object (to whom?) as the subject: "She was sent flowers"; "They were offered the job";“I was told”.
~ The passive with ser won’t work for this type of constructions. Use se and indirect object pronouns instead, being careful to always use the verb in the third person:
We were given directions. ~Se nos dieron instrucciones.
You were told what to do. ~Se te dijo qué hacer.
• The combination of se + indirect object pronoun (se me, se te, se le[s], se nos, etc.) is also used to express ideas such as losing, breaking, forgetting and dropping, when not deliberate, underlying that something happened by accident. The passive se indicates that the event was involuntary; the object pronouns refer to the person(s) affected by the event; and the verb uses the third person singular or plural to agree with the things lost, broken, forgotten, etc. Examples:
By accidentSomewhat deliberate:
Se le rompieron dos costillas.
He broke two ribs (by accident).
Rompió su promesa.
He broke his promise.
Se les perdió la llave.
They lost their key.
Perdieron el partido.
They lost the game (match).
Se me cayó el libro.
I dropped the book.
Caí en una trampa.
I fell into a trap.
Se te olvidó mi dirección.
You forgot my address.
Olvidaste tus malos recuerdos.
You forgot your bad memories.
Se nos acabó la gasolina.
We ran out of gas.
Acabamos el trabajo.
We finished the paper (or the job).
Página original y ejercicios online aquí.