Madrigals Magic Key to Spanish (99 page)

grande (
big
)

5. (bigger): ____________

6. (the biggest):_____________

alto (
tall
)

7. (taller): ____________

8. (the tallest):_____________

gordo (
fat
)

9. (fatter): ____________

10. (the fattest):_____________

delgado (
thin
)

10. (thinner): ____________

12. (the thinnest):_____________

feo (
ugly
)

13. (uglier): ____________

14. (the ugliest):_____________

bueno (
good
)

15. (better): ____________

16. (the best):_____________

malo (
bad
)

17. (worse): ____________

18. (the worst):_____________

bonita (
pretty, fem.
)

17. (prettier, fern.): ____________

18. (the prettiest, fern.):_____________

Now check your answers with those below. If you made less than four errors you are doing exceptionally good work. If you made more than ten errors, however, you have not learned this material carefully enough.

1. más raro
   
2. más bonito
   
3. más grande
   
4. más alto
   
5. más gordo
   
6. más delgado
   
7. más feo
   
8. mejor
   
9. peor
   
10. más bonita
    
11. el más raro
    
12. el más bonito
    
13. el más grande
    
14. el más alto
    
15. el más gordo
    
16. el más delgado
    
17. el más feo
    
18. el mejor
    
19. el peor
    
20. la más bonita
    

Now comes the important verb test. Fill in the blanks with the Spanish equivalents of the following English words. You should be able to complete this test in twenty minutes.

1. I work.
   _________________________
   
2. They bought.
   _________________________
   
3. We take.
   _________________________
   
4. Do you speak?
   _________________________
   
5. I invite.
   _________________________
   
6. Edward sings.
   _________________________
   
7. We visit.
   _________________________
   
8. I have finished.
   _________________________
   
9. I’m going to pass.
   _________________________
   
10. I am singing.
    _________________________
    
11. I have received.
    _________________________
    
12. Mary is writing.
    _________________________
    
13. I have understood.
    _________________________
    
14. We have sold.
    _________________________
    
15. Have you read?
    _________________________
    
16. I heard.
    _________________________
    
17. I saw.
    _________________________
    
18. Where are you?
    _________________________
    
19. She has invited.
    _________________________
    
20. They are reading.
    _________________________
    
21. I went.
    _________________________
    
22. I had bought.
    _________________________
    
23. She was writing.
    _________________________
    
24. Did you go?
    _________________________
    
25. I had an accident.
    _________________________
    
26. I prepare.
    _________________________
    
27. Have you bought?
    _________________________
    
28. They have invited.
    _________________________
    
29. He smokes.
    _________________________
    
30. He is swimming.
    _________________________
    
31. I paid.
    _________________________
    
32. He lives.
    _________________________
    
33. They wear.
    _________________________
    
34. Who paid?
    _________________________
    
35. I hope.
    _________________________
    
36. I hope to see.
    _________________________
    
37. We hope to buy.
    _________________________
    
38. I close.
    _________________________
    
39. I tell (a story).
    _________________________
    
40. We find.
    _________________________
    
41. I play (a game).
    _________________________
    
42. She is going to buy.
    _________________________
    
43. They are working.
    _________________________
    
44. We are studying.
    _________________________
    
45. They are studying.
    _________________________
    
46. She came.
    _________________________
    
47. They did.
    _________________________
    
48. We went.
    _________________________
    
49. I had to work.
    _________________________
    
50. He had to see.
    _________________________
    

Check your answers with those below.

1. Trabajo.
   
2. Compraron.
   
3. Tomamos.
   
4. ¿Habla usted?
   
5. Invito.
   
6. Eduardo canta.
   
7. Visitamos.
   
8. He terminado.
   
9. Voy a pasar.
   
10. Estoy cantando.
    
11. He recibido.
    
12. María está escribiendo.
    
13. He comprendido.
    
14. Hemos vendido.
    
15. ¿Ha leído?
    
16. Oí.
    
17. Ví.
    
18. ¿Dónde está?
    
19. Ha invitado.
    
20. Están leyendo.
    
21. Fuí.
    
22. Había comprado.
    
23. Estaba escribiendo.
    
24. ¿Fué usted? (¿Fué?)
    
25. Tuve un accidente.
    
26. Preparo.
    
27. ¿Ha comprado?
    
28. Han invitado.
    
29. Fuma.
    
30. Está nadando.
    
31. Pagué.
    
32. Vive.
    
33. Llevan.
    
34. ¿Quién pagó?
    
35. Espero.
    
36. Espero ver.
    
37. Esperamos comprar.
    
38. Cierro.
    
39. Cuento.
    
40. Encontramos.
    
41. Juego.
    
42. Va a comprar.
    
43. Están trabajando.
    
44. Estamos estudiando.
    
45. Están estudiando.
    
46. Vino.
    
47. Hicieron.
    
48. Fuimos.
    
49. Tuve que trabajar.
    
50. Tuvo que ver.
    

This was a very difficult test. If you made no more than five errors, you passed the test with flying colors. You are a first class student. Keep up the good work.

If you made twenty or more errors, you should review Lessons 20–30 before you go on.

asically, there are three main groups of verbs in Spanish.

I call the irregular verbs the nonconformists because they don’t conform to the rules and frequently go off half cocked in different directions.

The nonconformist verbs have a sort of club in which they accept only peculiar verbs as members of their society. If a verb has an outstanding idiosyncrasy, it can belong to the nonconformist club. If a verb dares to be regular or even radical changing, the nonconformists will have nothing to do with it, tagging it as “too common.”

“Ir” (
to go
) is the president of the nonconformist club because it is so completely irregular that you can’t even recognize its different tenses unless you know them, which you do.

The nonconformist club consists of eighteen important members and a few hangers-on.

P
AST
T
ENSE
(
PRETERITE
)

You already know the past tense of most of the nonconformist verbs. Of the eighteen verbs, eleven end in “e” in the first person singular of the past and in “o” in the third man form singular
of the past. You have already studied these verbs and know that the “e” and the “o” are not accented.

The past tense endings of eleven nonconformist verbs are:

This is the most important chart in the book. It puts the past tense of irregular verbs snugly in your pocket.

Remember that these are the endings of eleven nonconformist verbs. Some are “ar” verbs, some are “er,” and some are “ir” verbs. But they all have the same past tense endings as in the chart above.

P
AST
T
ENSE
(
PRETERITE
)

GROUP I

For your convenience, the letters that should be stressed will be in heavy type in the following lists.

	E	O	IMOS	IERON
1. tener, to have	t u ve	t u vo	tuv i mos	tuvi e ron
2. estar, to be	est u ve	est u vo	estuv i mos	estuvi e ron
3. andar, to walk	and u ve	and u vo	anduv i mos	anduvi e ron
4. poner, to put	p u se	p u so	pus i mos	pusi e ron
5. poder, to be able	p u de	p u do	pud i mos	pudi e ron
6. saber, to know	s u pe	s u po	sup i mos	supi e ron
7. venir, to come	v i ne	v i no	vin i mos	vini e ron