1001 Pitfalls in Spanish by Marion P. Holt;Julianne Dueber

Author:Marion P. Holt;Julianne Dueber
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2009-06-06T19:40:00+00:00

After a comparative, indefinites require the negative form in Spanish.

Juan me quiere mas que nadie.

John loves me more than anyone.

Mas que nada me gusta viajar.

I like to travel more than anything.

Both the indefinite alguien and its negative nadie require the "personal a" when used as direct objects.

Esta mai ana no he visto a nadie.

This morning I've seen no one. (Or, this morning I haven't seen anyone.)

8 Verbs

All verbs, both regular and irregular, are subject to changes of person (3 singular and 3 plural forms), tense (14 in Spanish), and mood (indicative or subjunctive). Some verbs may also undergo a change of voice-that is, a change from active to passive.

The basic form of every verb is its infinitive. For each verb there are also two participles: present and past. Although a number of common verbs are irregular in formation, the majority of Spanish verbs fall into three basic groups or conjugations: (1) those with an infinitive ending in -ar (tomar - to take); (2) those whose infinitive ends in -er (vender - to sell); and (3) those ending in -ir (vivir - to live). Changes in the verb are effected by dropping the infinitive ending and adding appropriate endings to the stem, by adding an ending to the entire infinitive, or by using the past and present participles with an auxiliary or helping verb which indicates person, tense, and mood.

PERSON

A Spanish verb may be governed by the person speaking (1st person), the person or persons spoken to (2nd person familiar "you" or 3rd person formal "you"), or the person(s) or thing(s) spoken about (3rd person). Verbs are third person when the subject is a noun. Although in Spanish, as in English, there are pronoun forms to indicate person. These pronouns are used less frequently than in English, since unlike English the person is usually apparent in the verb ending. Excessive and unnecessary use of personal subject pronouns is considered bad usage in Spanish and can give an undesired emphasis to a statement. (Also see section on Personal Pronouns.)

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