GRAMÁTICA Subject Pronouns and Conjugating –AR verbs p. 82 & 84

S UBJECT PRONOUNS The subject of a sentence tells who is doing the action. Sometimes we use people’s names as the subject. Por ejemplo (for example): Diego escucha música. Diego listens to music.

Subject Pronouns You can also use the subject pronouns I, you, he, she, we, they to tell who is doing an action. The subject pronouns replace people’s names. Here are all the subject pronouns in Spanish: yo Inosotros we (masculine, or masculine/feminine) tú you (familiar)nosotras we (only feminine) usted you (formal)ustedes you/ you all (plural) él heellos they (masculine, or masculine/feminine) ella sheellas they (only feminine)

YOUUUUUUUUUU IN S PANISH Tú, usted, and ustedes all mean “you.” Use tú with your family, friends, people your age or younger, and anyone you call by his/her first name. Use usted with adults you address with a title such as señor, señora, profesora, etc. Usted is usually written as Ud. Use ustedes when speaking to two or more people, regardless of age. Ustedes is usually written as Uds. ** In Spain, use vosotros/vosotras when speaking to two or more people you call tú individually. Use ustedes when talking to two or more people you call usted individually.

M ASCULINE /F EMININE If a group is made up of males only or of a mix of males and females together, use the masculine forms of the subject pronouns: Nosotr os Ell os If a group is all females, use the feminine forms: Nosotr as ell as

S UBJECT PRONOUNS You can combine a subject pronoun and a name to form a subject Alejandro y yo = nosotros Carlos y ella = ellos Pepe y tú = ustedes Lola y ella = ellas

Present tense of –AR verbs You already know that the infinitive forms of Spanish verbs always end in –ar, -er, or – ir (to run, to play, to jump, to skate) The largest group of verbs end in –ar. Sometimes we want to use verbs in ways other than in the infinitive form. How do we do that?

Present tense of –ar verbs First step: You need to drop the –ar ending in order to make the change, leaving just the stem. Hablar  habl- Second step: You need to add the correct verb ending (-o, -as, -a, -amos, -an) to the stem. The verb endings always indicate who is doing the action. In this case, they tell WHO is speaking.

E XAMPLE OF A VERB CONJUGATION Hablar: to speak (yo) hablo I speak Nosotros hablamos Nosotras We speak (tú) hablas You speak (Usted) (él) habla (ella) You speak, he speaks, she speaks Ustedes Ellos hablan Ellas You (plural) speak, they speak

-A R IN THE PRESENT TENSE In Spanish, the present tense form of a verb can be translated into English in two ways. Hablo español = I speak Spanish OR I am speaking Spanish. Because verb endings show who is doing the action, subject pronouns are often used with the verbs for emphasis or clarification.