The Present Tense in Spanish


Present tense:

The present tense is used for the following

1.     An action or state of being at the present time.
a.     Hablo español – I speak Spanish
b.    Estoy muy triste – I am very sad

2.    A habitual action.
a.     Voy a la biblioteca todos los días – I go to the library every day.

3.    To express facts or general truths.
a.     Seis menos dos son cuatro – six minus two is four
b.    El ejercicio hace maestro al novicio – practice makes perfect

4.    Vividness (or a commentary) when talking about past events. Frequently used in writing.
a.     El asesino se pone pálido. Tiene miedo. Sale de la casa y corre a lo largo del río. The murderer turns pale. He is afraid. He goes out of the house and runs along the river.

5.    A near future.
a.     Mi hermano llega mañana. My brother arrives tomorrow.
b.    ¿Escuchamos un disco ahora? Shall we listen to a record now?

6.    An action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present. A native Spanish speaker will use the present tense of a verb with hace, which is also in the present. Examples would be:
a.     Hace tres horas que miro la televisión. I have been watching television for three hours.
b.    Hace treinta minutos que espero un autobús. I have been waiting for a bus for 30 minutes.

7.    Finally, when using por poco to say almost or nearly:
a.     Por poco me mata. It almost killed me.
b.    Por poco él choca el coche. He almost hit the car.

Present Continuous.

Describes an action that is happening. Use estar plus the gerund of the verb:

I am talking – estoy hablando
We are eating – estamos comiendo
We are selling our house – estamos vendiendo nuestra casa.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

¿Puedes hablar niñita?

Image
It is interesting hearing a child learn to speak and particularly interesting for me as I am learning a language (Spanish) myself. My granddaughter Julia has two languages to learn - Spanish from her mother and English from the rest of her current world. She also makes up words of her own to fill in the gaps, so the result is a blend of Spanglish toddler talk. It’s quite creative and often quite funny. Here are some of her words: Buo - is milk (hot or cold). I don’t know where this one came from. The Spanish for milk is ‘leche’ so there’s no obvious link there. Wei-wei - that’s her word for me, grandad. I think it came from ‘abuelo’ the Spanish word for grandad and I think she picked up on the ‘welo’ sound within the word. I rather like being Wei-wei Ma-ma, not to be confused with Mammy  - is what she calls Margaret. The ‘ma’ sound, probably comes from the ‘ma’ in grandma. Often Julia shouts it very loudly indeed. Wei-wei - Nina - is her word for grandma Nidia and (just
Read more

Classes start again in September

Classes will start again on September 19 th , 10am to noon at the Copeland Centre, Bretton. Subs will be £6 per term (to pay for the hall rental) and £1 for printing and pens. Tea and coffee will be available at break, with the usual contribution to keep funds topped up. This has been 10p per tea and 15p per coffee. I believe that Anita will co-ordinate our drinks fund. Biscuits are by kind donation, with birthdays and holidays a good excuse to donate! Anyone in the current class who wishes to continue will have a place reserved if they have put their name down. New people will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis. The book we will be using is Sueños World Spanish (Book 1). You might also find Collins Easy Learning Spanish Grammar and Collins Easy Learning Spanish Verbs useful companions. These are all available secondhand on Amazon or at high street bookshops. We have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1676535839023535/ which contains dates,
Read more