# ser - conjugation



## satimis

Hi folks,


Please advise whether following verb-to-be in Spanish are correct?



> Yo (I)                                                                            soy
> Nosotros (we)                                               somos
> 
> Tú (familiar you)                                                eres
> Vosotros (familiar you)                                  sois
> 
> Ud, él, ella (polite you, he, she)             es
> 
> Plurel
> Uds, ellos, ellas (you, them)          son


In which case use ellos/ellas?  male/female?


How to pronounce;
sois

as;
soys ?


Thanks in advance.


B.R.
satimis


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## danielfranco

Yes, that's the correct conjugation on present tense of the verb "to be", in Spanish. This website has a very handy conjugator in its dictionary. Go to the Spanish dictionary and enter the verb "ser". When it loads the definition, on the top you will see a link to the conjugator.

Also, yes, ellos = male and ellas = female.

And, yes, "sois" is pronounced "soys," as in soy sauce.
D


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## satimis

Hi danielfranco,

Thanks for your advice.



danielfranco said:


> Yes, that's the correct conjugation on present tense of the verb "to be", in Spanish. This website has a very handy conjugator in its dictionary. Go to the Spanish dictionary and enter the verb "ser". When it loads the definition, on the top you will see a link to the conjugator.......



Whether you meant following page;
http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=ser


B.R.
satimis


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## danielfranco

Yep, you got it! So when you click on the "conjugator" link, it takes you to this page:

http://www.wordreference.com/conj/ESverbs.asp?v=ser
D


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## satimis

danielfranco said:


> Yep, you got it! So when you click on the "conjugator" link, it takes you to this page:
> 
> http://www.wordreference.com/conj/ESverbs.asp?v=ser
> D



Thanks, danielfranco.


The Spanish song "Besame mucho".

On "besar" conjugation;

http://www.wordreference.com/conj/ESverbs.asp?v=besar

I can't find it.  Is it an old Spanish work NOT commonly used nowadays?


B.R.
satimis


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## danielfranco

No, it's pretty common. The conjugation of "bésame" is the imperative second person (you kiss me) with the pronoun attached at the end of the verb (sorry, I don't know the English for "pronombre pospuesto"):

(Tú) besa + me = bésame.

D


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## satimis

danielfranco said:


> No, it's pretty common. The conjugation of "bésame" is the imperative second person (you kiss me) with the pronoun attached at the end of the verb (sorry, I don't know the English for "pronombre pospuesto"):
> 
> (Tú) besa + me = bésame.
> 
> D


Oh, I see.  It is similar to German combining 2 or more words together.  The French word "silvousplait" is also a combination of "sil vous plait".  But it is NOT common in English.  (Tú) is to be understood same as Italiano.

Thanks


Edit:

But I can't find bésame or besame on that conjugation page.


B.R.
satimis


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## Viviana W

Hi satimis!

"Ellos" and "ellas" is plural: they. "Ellos", "male". Ellas, female.
En español rioplatense (Argentina) decimos "ustedes" en lugar de "vosotros". Thus: "ustedes son".

Bye and have a good day


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## duncandhu

Satimis,

for the conjugation page, you would have to look for just "besa" which is like the command "kiss" or "besar" which is "to kiss". What danielfranco was saying is that because in Spanish when you want to add an object (like "kiss me") you have to add the object pronoun ("me") to the end of the word, it doesn't appear in the conjugator, hence when you tried "bésame" and "besame" it didn't work. Whereas if you remove it, or enter the infinitive, it will work.

Hope that helps

Saludos
Duncan


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## satimis

Hi Viviana,



Viviana W said:


> "Ellos" and "ellas" is plural: they. "Ellos", "male". Ellas, female.


Noted and thanks.




> En español rioplatense (Argentina) decimos "ustedes" en lugar de "vosotros". Thus: "ustedes son".


Did I understand the above line correctly?

In español rioplatense (Argentina Spanish) infinitive "dicir", second-person, plural, is "ustedes".  Generally Vosotros is second person plural familiar.  Thus "you are"


español rioplatense=castellano rioplatense? 

"ustedes" is second-person, plural and formal?

Thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## satimis

duncandhu said:


> Satimis,
> 
> for the conjugation page, you would have to look for just "besa" which is like the command "kiss" or "besar" which is "to kiss". What danielfranco was saying is that because in Spanish when you want to add an object (like "kiss me") you have to add the object pronoun ("me") to the end of the word, it doesn't appear in the conjugator, hence when you tried "bésame" and "besame" it didn't work. Whereas if you remove it, or enter the infinitive, it will work.


Hi Duncan


Thanks for your advice.


"me" is 1st person, singular object in Spanish similar to "me" in English

What about

2nd person singular and plural (like "you" in English) in Spanish

and
3rd person singular and plural.  Male and female.


Thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## duncandhu

satimis said:


> Hi Duncan
> 
> 
> Thanks for your advice.
> 
> 
> "me" is 1st person, singular object in Spanish similar to "me" in English
> 
> What about
> 
> 2nd person singular and plural (like "you" in English) in Spanish
> 
> and
> 3rd person singular and plural. Male and female.
> 
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> B.R.
> satimis


 
This is where it gets (not too) complicated:

2nd person singular is "te" (informal) or "le" (formal - Usted)
2nd person plural is "os" (informal - vosotros) or "les" (formal, Ustedes)

3rd person singular is either "lo / la / le / se" **
3rd person plural is "los / las / les / se"**

** Which one you use depends on the verb, whether it has a CD (complemento directo) and/or CI (complemento indirecto):

"lo" *generally* is for "it" or "he" where the verb only has one object - the person, or when the "it" is either male, or unknown gender (i.e. a concept)

"la" is for a female object (la leche, la cama, una chica, la verdad)

"le" is mainly used for when the verb has 2 objects - a direct object and an indirect object - e.g.

"le dije a Juan que no podía ir al cine el viernes"
In this case the "le" refers to Juan, and the other object of the verb comes after - the "que no podía ir al cine el viernes" - following clause.

When the two objects are 3rd person, we use "se":

"Da el vaso a José" - "Give the glass to José."
"Dáselo" - "Give it to him" - in this case the "se" refers to the person, and the "lo" refers to the "it". If we know that the "it" is female, we have to use "la".


"Dime la verdad" - "Tell me the truth"
"Dímela" - "Tell me! (it)" Since we know that the object "the truth - la verdad" is female, we have to use "la"

"¿Has visto mi bolígrafo?" - "Have you seen my pen?"
"No, no lo he visto." - "No, I haven't seen it."

"¿Has visto a Nuria?" - Have you seen Nuria?
"Sí, la ví ayer." - Yes, I saw her yesterday.

There are various cases where you can use "le" instead of "lo/la" for a person, but it's not really correct, but accepted (it's called "leismo").

Can a Spanish native speaker provide a better explanation? I think I'm struggling a bit here!

Saludos
Duncan


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## phosphore

Bésame (like "kissme" and not "besa me" like "kiss me") is just an orthographic convention. You won't find "kiss me" in an English verb conjugator and similarly you can't find "bésame" in a Spanish verb conjugator.


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## Outsider

Nor _besarme_, the infinitive. Yes, _bésame_ is regarded as "a form of _besar_" + _me_.


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## xqby

satimis said:


> "ustedes" is second-person, plural and formal?


 
In Spain yes, in America not really. "Ustedes" is both formal and informal here since "vosotros" is not used. 

Two people you normally adress with "tú" or "vos" would still be talked to with "ustedes."


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## satimis

Hi duncandhu,



duncandhu said:


> 2nd person singular is "te" (informal) or "le" (formal - Usted)
> 2nd person plural is "os" (informal - vosotros) or "les" (formal, Ustedes)


When to use "te" and "le"?  
When to use "os" and "les"?

Can they be mixed and freely used?




> "Da el vaso a José" - "Give the glass to José."
> "Dáselo" - "Give it to him" - in this case the "se" refers to the person, and the "lo" refers to the "it". If we know that the "it" is female, we have to use "la".


Why add <'> above a (Dá) as in "Dáselo"?


TIA


B.R.
satimis


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## satimis

phosphore said:


> Bésame (like "kissme" and not "besa me" like "kiss me") is just an orthographic convention. You won't find "kiss me" in an English verb conjugator and similarly you can't find "bésame" in a Spanish verb conjugator.


Noted with thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## satimis

Outsider said:


> Nor _besarme_, the infinitive. Yes, _bésame_ is regarded as "a form of _besar_" + _me_.


Noted and thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## Outsider

satimis said:


> Why add <'> above a (Dá) as in "Dáselo"?


To mark stress. If you would not add it, the stress would move to the syllable before the last, *_da*se*lo_.


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## satimis

xqby said:


> In Spain yes, in America not really. "Ustedes" is both formal and informal here since "vosotros" is not used.


Noted and thanks.




> Two people you normally adress with "tú" or "vos" would still be talked to with "ustedes."


Can "tú" or "vos" be used freely without affecting the meaning of the sentence?  TIA

B.R.
satimis


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## Outsider

satimis said:


> Hi duncandhu,
> 
> 
> When to use "te" and "le"?
> When to use "os" and "les"?
> 
> Can they be mixed and freely used?


As Duncandhu noted, _te_ and _os_ are used together with the informal pronouns _tú_ and _vosotros_, while _le_ and _les_ are used with the formal pronouns _usted_ and _ustedes_.

Normally, you will use either one or the other with any given person, or group of people. It can take a while to learn to make this distinction if you're not used to it, but you'll find many threads about this topic in this and other forums (including the Cultural Discussions forum). Search the forums for threads with keywords and phrases such as _usted_, _ustedes_, _formal_, _formality_, _form of address_, _you_, and so on. The choice between these pronouns is also subject to some regional variation. For example, _vosotros_ is only used in Spain.


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## satimis

Outsider said:


> To mark stress. If you would not add it, the stress would move to the syllable before the last, *_da*se*lo_.


Hi Outsider,

Please explain further what did it mean "the stress would move to the syllable before the last"

Thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## Outsider

It means that instead of pronouncing "_DA_-se-lo" you'd pronounce the word "da-_SE_-lo". You write the accent on the _a_ to show that the stress must remain on that vowel.


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## satimis

Outsider said:


> Search the forums for threads with keywords and phrases such as _usted_, _ustedes_, _formal_, _formality_, _form of address_, _you_, and so on. The choice between these pronouns is also subject to some regional variation. For example, _vosotros_ is only used in Spain.


Hi Outsider,

I think it'll take me sometime to learn them.  Thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## satimis

Outsider said:


> It means that instead of pronouncing "_DA_-se-lo" you'd pronounce the word "da-_SE_-lo". You write the accent on the _a_ to show that the stress must remain on that vowel.


Noted and thanks

satimis


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## Outsider

satimis said:


> I think it'll take me sometime to learn them.


Take your time and don't let yourself be discouraged. You'll get there eventually. 

Here's a rule of thumb to give you a crude idea: if you're on a first-name basis with someone, then you'll probably address that person informally in Spanish. If you address someone with a title in English (Sir, Madam, Mr., Mrs. etc.) then you'll definitely want to address them formally in Spanish, too. When in doubt, it's better to use the formal address.


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## satimis

Outsider said:


> Take your time and don't let yourself be discouraged. You'll get there eventually.
> 
> Here's a rule of thumb to give you a crude idea: if you're on a first-name basis with someone, then you'll probably address that person informally in Spanish. If you address someone with a title in English (Sir, Madam, Mr., Mrs. etc.) then you'll definitely want to address them formally in Spanish, too. When in doubt, it's better to use the formal address.


Hi Outsider,


Thanks.

I'll find an online book guiding me learning Spanish.  Googling brought me many threads.  Any suggestion?  TIA

B.R.
satimis


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## xqby

satimis said:


> Can "tú" or "vos" be used freely without affecting the meaning of the sentence?


 
You mean, is there a difference between these two?
¿Cómo estás? (tú)
¿Cómo estái? (vos)

Not a difference in meaning. Maybe in... flavor, for lack of a better word. 
It's like how Australians say "g'day" and Americans don't. Either way it's a greeting, but they're clearly from different regions.


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## Outsider

satimis said:


> I'll find an online book guiding me learning Spanish.  Googling brought me many threads.  Any suggestion?


Try the WR forums' search engine first. And start by searching the Spanish-English Grammar forum only.


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## phosphore

satimis said:


> Hi Outsider,
> 
> Please explain further what did it mean "the stress would move to the syllable before the last"
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> B.R.
> satimis


 

Unlike in English, the stress in Spanish is always on the penultimate (two or more syllable words ending in a vowel, /n/ or /s/) or ultimate syllable (all other words), unless it is marked differently. In this particular case, we write _da_, _dale_ but _dáselo_ because the morphemes are {da}, {se} (which originates from {le}) and {lo}, where the morpheme that is accented is {da} (meaning _give_) and other two are enclitics (like _me_ in _give me_, which does not have its proper accent): as I previously mentioned, it is an orthographic convention to write the verbs and the object pronouns it precedes as one word, and thus you should write an accent on the antepenult in order to pronounce the word properly (as ['daselo] and not [da'selo]).


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## satimis

xqby said:


> ¿Cómo estás? (tú)
> ¿Cómo estái? (vos)


Hi xqby,


To my understanding both mean "how are you".  If I'm not wrong.

But searching WordReference.com on "Cómo" it means to eat?  Why?

What does this small symbol " ¿" indicate?  Thanks


satimis


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## satimis

Outsider said:


> Try the WR forums' search engine first. And start by searching the Spanish-English Grammar forum only.


Noted and thanks

satimis


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## satimis

phosphore said:


> Unlike in English, the stress in Spanish is always on the penultimate (two or more syllable words ending in a vowel, /n/ or /s/) or ultimate syllable (all other words), unless it is marked differently. In this particular case, we write _da_, _dale_ but _dáselo_ because the morphemes are {da}, {se} (which originates from {le}) and {lo}, where the morpheme that is accented is {da} (meaning _give_) and other two are enclitics (like _me_ in _give me_, which does not have its proper accent): as I previously mentioned, it is an orthographic convention to write the verbs and the object pronouns it precedes as one word, and thus you should write an accent on the antepenult in order to pronounce the word properly (as ['daselo] and not [da'selo]).


Hi phosphore,

Noted and thanks


B.R.
satimis


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## xqby

satimis said:


> To my understanding both mean "how are you". If I'm not wrong.
> 
> But searching WordReference.com on "Cómo" it means to eat? Why?


 
You have to be careful, and read the entire dictionary entry.
"Como" can be a preposition, an adverb, a conjunction, or the _yo_ conjugation of "comer" (to eat).
"Cómo" is mostly equal to "how."



satimis said:


> What does this small symbol "¿" indicate?


 
Questions and exclamations in Spanish work sort of like quotes in other languages. You have to mark both sides.

- ¿Qué dijiste?
- "Eres muy gordo"
- ¡No me digas eso!


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## satimis

xqby said:


> - ¿Qué dijiste?


I suppose it means "What did you say?"

Que (tu)dijiste
dijiste from verb-to-be "decir" (to say)


How to pronounce "dijiste"




> - "Eres muy gordo"


I suppose it means "You are too fat"?

(tu)eres
gordo - fat
muy - too

Here why muy is before gordo?  Not after it?

how to pronounce "muy"?




> - ¡No me digas eso!


I guess it means "I say that"?


I have no idea of the words order here.  Please help.  Thanks


Other noted with thanks.


B.R.
satimis


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## Dama_J

Hi satimis. 

Dijiste is pronounces di-JIS-te - the stress is on the 2nd-last syllable as explained above by phosphore.

"Eres muy gordo" - you are very fat. Muy = very, always goes before the adjective.
Es muy importante, es muy dificil, etc.

 "¡No me digas eso!" 			 		means "don't tell me that!" Digas = 2nd person negative command form, same as present subjunctive.


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## Fernita

Hi everybody!
Please remember that according to the rules, you must deal with *only one topic at a time*. That's the reason why I've closed this thread.
Thanks for your understanding.
Fernita
Moderator.


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