CSG015

4

Complete Spanish Grammar

5.    Garli’s mother talks to the reporter (el/la reportero[a]).

6.    The actress fears the critics. _

7.    Your friends eat fajitas. _

Wlieii Is the Present Tense Used in Spanish?

The present tense is used in Spanish:

•    to describe an action happening now. Often, it is translated with the -ing form in English.

Ahora, veo a Anna.    Now I see Anna.

Louis llega a la puerta.    Louis is arriving at the gate.

•    to express actions that take place regularly, in a habitual way, although the actions may not be occurring in the present. Expressions of time and other adverbs are often used to indicate that these actions take place routinely in the present.

Normalmente, compro las frutas    Usually I buy fruit at the supermarket.

en el supermercado.

•    to describe events that will take place in the near futurę. A reference to the futurę may appear in the contextor sentence.

Manana discuto el plan eon ustedes    Tomorro w I will discuss the plan at the

meeting.

en la reunión.

Este verano, viajo a Alemania.    I will travel to Germany this summer.

•    to ask questions, especially questions requesting permission or someone's opinion or preference.

^Bebes cafe o te?    Do you drink coffee ortea?

^Abro la puerta?    Shall I o pen the door?

.jCompramos la casa?    Do we buy thehouse?

Keep in mind the auxiliary verb do in English is not translated. In Spanish, an auxiliary verb is not needed to ask a question.

Often the context or words surrounding a verb help pin down information about the time the action takes place. The following are some expressions of time used ffequently to refer to actions that take place customarily in the present:

iwaliiilami
al mediodia	at noon	nunca	never
de ve z en cuando	from time to time	por la manana	in the morning
el lunes, el martes, etc.	on Monday,		or this morning
	on Tuesday, etc.	por la noche	in the evening
esta semana	this week		or at night
este mes	this month	por la tarde	in the afternoon
hoy	today	siempre	always
los lunes, los martes, etc.	on Mondays, on Tuesdays, etc.	todos los dias	every day