Spanish - Module

MODULE I-A (BASIC SPANISH)

A. INDEFINITE ARTICLES

The forms of the indefinite article in Spanish are un for masculine and una for feminine.

un muchacho a boy una muchacha a girl

B. GENDER OF NOUNS

(a) Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. Irrespective of endings, nouns denoting male beings are masculine. Nouns denoting female beings are feminine.

hombre man mujer woman

un hombre a man una mujer a woman

(b) Generally, names of things are masculine if they end in –o, and feminine if they end in –a.

un libro a book una casa a house

(c) The gender of certain nouns not conforming to the preceding rules must be learned separately. When any of them are given in the following lessons their gender is indicated in the vocabularies by the indefinite or definite article.

un lápiz a pencil

C. FIRST CONJUGATION

(a) There are three conjugations in Spanish. The infinitives of all verbs of the first conjugation end in –ar.

comprar to buy

(b) The part which precedes –ar is called the radical. In the case of comprar it is compr…

Singular

|Compro |I buy, am buying, do buy |

|(compras) |(you buy, are buying, do buy) |

|usted compra |You buy, are buying, do buy |

|Compra |He, she (it) buys, is buying, does buy |

Plural

|Compramos |We buy, are buying, do buy |

|(compráis) |(you buy, are buying, do buy) |

|ustedes compran |You buy, are buying, do buy |

|Compran |They buy, are buying, do buy |

Note: the personal subject pronouns are frequently not necessary in Spanish as they are in English. They are given in a later lesson. For the...