|
 |
Bolio’s Spanish Log | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4603 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 57 of 344 27 March 2014 at 12:04am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Is there no Preterite tense for Reflexive verbs???? This is driving me crazy.
EXAMPLE: Acostarse (to go to bed)/ I go to bed = me acuesto How do I say "I went to bed". Can I not just change the ending to show that it already happened????? And what tense is this Crush: BOLIO wrote: - So we conjugate the Haber and have the "ado" for the action of the second verb. So If I were talking about just you, it would have been "me ha inspirado". Right? You could say "me ha ayudado", but generally people online will use "tú", so: "me has ayudado". But yeah, you use the conjugated form of haber and the past participle of the verb, which generally ends in "-ado" for -ar verbs and "-ido" for "-ir/-er" verbs, though there are a few exceptions in the "-er/-ir" verbs, like volver/vuelto, escribir/escrito, morir/muerto, etc. thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3867 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 58 of 344 27 March 2014 at 3:02am | IP Logged | |||||
I should not be answering, but if I am wrong about this, someone please correct me! But I think the preterite for acostarse is: me acosté.
Again, I'm not Crush, :-) but my understanding is that the verb haber (conjugated in the present tense) plus the past participle is the present perfect. If you are into grammar, that is like an event that either has ended (been perfected), without some specific time element or is continuing into the present. Like "I have already eaten." or "I have walked 2 miles so far." But something completed a long time ago or with a specific time element would be the preterite. Like "I ate at noon." or "I ran 2 miles yesterday." Then we get into the imperfect... AGHHH!!! :-) Ha! There are other tenses that use Haber+Past Participle, but haber is conjugated for a different tense. for present perfect, it is congugated "he, has, ha, hemos, han (leaving out vosotros)" Does that make sense? And does anyone else reading have anything to add, or please correct me if I'm wrong, because I also am just learning Spanish and need help with my grammar! :-) Edited by nancydowns on 27 March 2014 at 3:20am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5511 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 59 of 344 27 March 2014 at 7:02am | IP Logged | |||||
The preterite tense for a reflexive verb is exactly the same as a non reflexive verb, you simply add the reflexive pronoun, me/te/se etc. So as nancydowns said above, it's simply me acosté. Here's the conjugation table for acostarse below, just so you can visualise it and see how it works. Wordreference - Conjugation of Acostarse
You've got it, that's exactly how it's done. Just think about how we do it in English, we use the verb "to have" as well, yet we use the same "to have" verb to mean both tener and haber in Spanish. Thus, "he has gone to the market" = ha ido al mercado. "He had gone to the market" = hubo/había ido al mercado. "He would have gone to the market" = habría ido al mercado, and so on. So you've already got it, just do some practice sentences and familiarise yourself with it and it will be second nature in no time. ¡Ánimo con el castellano! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4603 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 60 of 344 27 March 2014 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Thank you both very much. I feel as if I have fallen into a hole and cannot climb myself out. I know I can get this. Here is the problem. If someone asked me about all of these different tenses in English, I would not be able to tell them. SO Spanish is a real concern.
I am a simple person, college educated , but simple. Can I just focus on the 5 Indicative tenses (Present, Future,Imperfect, Preterit,Conditional) along with the Present Perfect and move on??? That link VOS gave me has 18 different tenses. Do I use 18 different tenses to communicate in English?? Thanks again everyone! This is just another humble reminder of how far I have to go. So I went to the Cervantes website concerning the testing of Spanish (A1,A2,B1..etc). So I read the A1 sample questions I could understand it much better than the native material I have been using. Actually it was easy. I was so proud. Then I started my study for the day and was humbled. I was not getting it at all and it seemed as if it was a mountain of info that appeared impossible to master. But today is a new day. ¿Cómo se come un elefante? 27hrs done/ 423 to go Edited by BOLIO on 27 March 2014 at 11:07pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5320 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 61 of 344 28 March 2014 at 12:35am | IP Logged | |||||
|
It can be overwhelming depending how you think about it. I am pretty simiple too... I chose my college based on the fact that it did not have an English/Humanities requirement.
I still don't know the names for the different tenses. I just don't think about them in grammatical terms. Other than the two past tenses and the subjunctive I think about them in terms of how they are translated into English. I'd say you definitely need to know the following verb concepts (and I am not going to use grammar terms): present tense future (will...) haber (have...) ir a (going to...) past 1 past 2 (-aba, -ia in Spanish) conditional (would...) subjunctive -iendo / -ando (-ing) In terms of speaking, there are some pretty easy tricks to use if you can get just a few. For example, conjugating ir and haber are pretty easy. With those two and the present tense conjugations you can fairly effectively cover the future, past and present. Edit: actually, now that I think about it more, I even think of the past tenses in English... I just think of the -aba/-ia tense more or less as "was/were + verb+ing or used to verb" and most other situations as the other past tense. The subjunctive is a different nut to crack. I studied it and it never made sense... then, all of a sudden, I just understood it and could use it fairly well. It is amazing how things just happen if you keep working at it and using the language. Edited by James29 on 28 March 2014 at 1:55am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3867 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 62 of 344 28 March 2014 at 1:32am | IP Logged | |||||
I understand completely, BOLIO! I got really tired feeling when I first looked at those verb charts, and I tried to start memorizing them... but I quickly gave that up. Now it is just as I come across a conjugation, I look it up. That way, I know when that particular conjugation is used and what the regular form is. When I look at those charts now, I try to focus on just one conjugation, like if I read something and am not sure of the tense, I go to that verb's chart and find that particular conjugation. Then I look across the line and see how each person is conjugated in that particular tense. James29 is so right. If you can think of it in English and get in your mind which conjugation goes with which English tense, it will help so much! Just keep plugging away, like you said... one bite at a time! :-) I'm right there with you! Edited by nancydowns on 28 March 2014 at 1:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4603 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 63 of 344 28 March 2014 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Thank you both.
This weekend I will be fishing for two days while camping. Just me and a couple of friends having a good time. I will have my Madrigal's Spanish Key and also Assimil with me and I should be able to get at least 4 hrs a day in study. I looked ahead in Madrigal's book and it does cover all of these that James mentioned: present tense future (will...) haber (have...) ir a (going to...) past 1 past 2 (-aba, -ia in Spanish) conditional (would...) subjunctive -iendo / -ando (-ing) I will keep at it. Today I will spend one hour on FSI before leaving. Thanks to everyone and have a great weekend! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3867 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 64 of 344 28 March 2014 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
You too, BOLIO! Don't get overwhelmed with the grammar. Keep working on the FSI, it drills all of these tenses. Yesterday, I worked on the estar + iendo on FSI. Who cares about the names of the tenses, as long as you know what to use when! :-) And that is what the FSI drills will do, drill it into your head when to use a certain construction! Have fun on your trip! Edited by nancydowns on 28 March 2014 at 2:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
