Subject-verb agreement

with "ser" and regular -AR verbs

Review of present-tense forms of irregular verb "ser": 

  • soy (present-tense yo-form)
  • eres (present-tense tú-form)
  • es (present-tense 3rd-person-singular form)
  • somos (present-tense nosotros-form)
  • son (present-tense 3rd-person-plural form)
     

 We do not use vosotros-forms in this course. 

 

Let's practice with this using 2 exercises in Supersite that were not assigned.

Conjugation procedures for present tense of regular -AR verbs:

  • If the subject is "yo", the form is--->[stem] + "o"
     
  • If the subject is "tú", the form is---->[stem] + "as"
     
  • If the subject is "él", "ella", "usted" or any singular noun, the form is--->[stem] + "a"
     
  • If the subject is "nosotros", "nosotras" or any person plus "y yo", the form is--->[stem] + "amos"
     
  • If the subject is "ellos", "ellas", "ustedes", any other plural noun or any series of singular nouns joined by a "y" (meaning "and"), the form is--->[stem] + "an"

Section 7--Present-tense conjugation of  -AR verbs

Step-by-step review of how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense.

 

Ustedes _________(tomar) muchas clases este semestre.
 

To create the correct form, do this:

 

1. Start by deriving the stem by removing the -AR ending. 

  • We take the "ar" off of "tomar"
     
  • Our stem is "tom".

 

 

Ustedes _________(tomar) muchas clases este semestre.

 

2. Look to the left of the blank to find the subject of the verb. 

  • We see "ustedes", a 3rd-person-plural subject pronoun.
     
  • We add the 3rd-person-plural ending, which is "AN" to the stem (tom).
     
  • This gives us "toman", the correct conjugation.

Let's practice this via some exercises from Lección 2 that were not assigned.