Present Tense of -ar Verbs ( Los Verbos -ar en el Presente)
Mini-dialogue in a party for us: the foreign students.
Oscar: ¿No desean ustedes bailar?
(Don't you want to dance?)
Julio: ¡Cómo no! Yo bailo con Luisa. Ella habla inglés.
(Of Course! I'll dance with Luisa. She speaks English.)
Marta: Yo hablo francés y bailo con Robert.
(I speak French and dance with Robert.)
Oscar: Y yo bailo con Nancy.
(And I dance with Nancy.)
Nancy: Sólo si pagas las bebidas. ¡Bailas muy mal!
(Only if you buy (pay for) the drinks! You dance very badly!)
Who made or might have made the following statements?
Yo bailo con Robert. (I dance with Robert.) ___________________
Yo hablo inglés. (I speak English.) __________________
Yo hablo alemán. (I speak German.) ________________
As you can see, there were a few -ar verbs in this mini-dialogue:
bailar (to dance)
hablar (to speak)
pagar (to pay[for])
Before we begin:
What is a verb?
A verb (un verbo) is a word that tells of an action or state of being.
The house is in Miami.
We run.
The infinitive (El Infinitivo)
Is a verb that has not been changed.
An infinitive verb cannot tell us who
or what does something or when it is done.
In English: the infinitive is translated to:
to dance, to pay [for], to speak.
In Spanish: all infinitives end in:
-ar, -er, or -ir. The regular -ar verbs are the
largest group of verbs in Spanish.
Hablar (to speak)
Singular Plural
yo hablo nosotros hablamos
tú hablas nosotras hablamos
usted (Ud.) habla vosotros habláis
él habla vosotras habláis
ella habla ustedes (Uds.) hablan
ellos hablan
ellas hablan
Did you noticed what happened to the endings of the verb “hablar” (to speak)?
Hablar habl-
-o
-as
-a
-amos
-áis
-an
Some important -ar verbs:
bailar (to dance) enseñar (to teach)
buscar (to look for) escuchar (to listen [to])
cantar (to sing) nadar (to swim)
comprar (to buy) practicar (to practice)
ayudar ( to help) regresar (to return)
estudiar (to study) tomar (to take, to drink)
cocinar (to cook) trabajar (to work)
dibujar (to draw) tocar ( to play)
In Spanish the word “for” is included in the verbs like:
pagar (to pay for)
buscar (to look for)
When two verbs are used one after the other, the second verb is in the infinitive form:
Necesito trabajar (I need to work)
Desean bailar también. (They want to dance too.)
In English, we need to use the subject or personal pronouns.
However, in Spanish, they are not required.
We might use them for clarification, emphasis, or contrast.
1.Clarification: When the context does not make the subject clear:
usted/ella/él habla.
2. Contrast: Subject pronouns are used to contrast two individuals or group:
Ellos hablan mucho; nosotros hablamos poco.
(They talk a lot; we talk a little.)
3. Emphasis:
Subject pronouns are used to emphized the subject when in English
you would stress it with your voice:
Yo hablo bien. ( I speak
well)
Negation:
A Spanish sentence is made negative by placing the word “no” before the conjugated verb. No equivalent for the English words “do” or “does” in negative sentences exists.
El señor no habla inglés. (The man does not speak English.)
No, no necesitamos dinero. (No, we do not need money.)
¡Hasta luego! See you later!
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