Conjugation Dictionary
See pages 149-179.
A. Present
C. Preterite (Past)
I spent my life in Mexico.
Yo pasé mi vida en México.
I attended the university.
Yo asistí a la universidad.
In 1999 our team won ten games.
En 1999 nuestro equipo ganó diez partidos.
D. Future
The future tense expresses an action that is
going to happen in the future.
I will go to the park tomorrow.
Yo iré al parque mañana.
She will go to the party tomorrow.
Ella irá a la fiesta mañana.
She will sing in the program.
Ella cantará en el programa.
The future tense is used to express the idea of
probability or conjecture.
Juan is probably already here.
Juan ya estará aquí.
Who can he be?
¿Quién será?
Who can they be?
¿Quiénes serán?
E. Conditional
An example of the conditional tense in English is:
He said that he would come tomorrow.
It is the future
of a past tense.
The conditional tense tells what
was going
to take
place:
Maria said that she would come.
María dijo que vendría.
Maria said that she would be late.
María dijo que sería tarde.
The conditional is also used in contrary-to-fact
statements. It tells what would happen if
something else was so.
If I had time, I would go to the park.
Si yo tuviera tiempo, iría al parque.
If he had time, he would go to the cafe.
Si él tuviera tiempo, iría al café.
Verbs:
Tense Definitions
I lived (used to live, was living)
in Mexico.
Yo vivía in México.
I played (used to play, was playing) soccer.
Yo jugaba al fútbol.
I was (used to be) happy.
Yo estaba contento-a.
It was two o’clock.
Eran las dos. (plural)
The imperfect tense expresses an on-going
or repeated action in the past.
The imperfect tense tells time in the past:
It was one o’clock.
Era la una. (singular)
The present tense expresses an action that
is happening now or that occurs as a general
rule.
The present tense can also express a future
action:
The present progressive (-
ing
form) expresses
an action taking place exactly at the time of
expression:
I eat too much (now or generally).
Yo como demasiado.
Tomorrow I am going to the park.
Mañana yo voy al parque.
I am eating (right now).
Yo estoy comiendo.
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The past tense records a past completed
action. It also records a series of events,
such as a single completed unit in the past.
It doesn’t matter how long it lasted nor
how many times it was repeated.
Five Most Common Tenses
BOX 10
B. Imperfect
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