INTERMEDIATE
Café Homework Week 1
Café Homework Week 2
Café Homework Week 3
Café Homework Week 4
Café Homework Week 5
Café Homework Week 6
Café Homework Week 7

Intermediate

Café Homework Week 1

Please come by the house and pick up the new unit "HÁGALO" in the orange
folder on the porch.

Café Homework Week 1

Lesson: The Imperative Mood

The imperative mood means COMMANDS. It is not considered a conjugation.

With the exception of a handful of irregular verbs, the imperative is
formed like this:
1. Take the first person singular (yo) form of a verb in the present
indicative.
Examples:
hablo, vivo, como, hago, tengo, comienzo

2a. For AR verbs, replace the O with E
Examples:
hable, comience (and Z to C, in this case)

2b. For ER and IR verbs, replace the O with A
Examples:
viva, coma, haga, tenga

This gives you the form used to address USTED.
TÚ is a whole different story. Forget it for now.

Exceptions to the above pattern are:
SER: sea
ESTAR: esté
DAR: dé
IR: vaya
SABER: sepa

Assignment 1
Write 20 original sentences in which you use 20 different verbs in the
imperative. Use 10 regular verbs and 10 irregular verbs. You need to set
up a context for the verb in the imperative, because otherwise it doesn’t
make sense.
Example:
¡Me caí! ¡Llame al 911! (I fell! Call 911!)

You see, you have to show WHY the person is saying LLAME.

Assignment 2
Read a book and bring it to class.

ALSO: Read page 1 of the new unit "HAGALO"

Intermediate

Café Homework Week 2

Café Homework Week 2

Lesson 1: The Imperative Mood: Ustedes

Without exception, the USTEDES form is formed by adding a N to the end of the USTED form.
Examples:
hablen, comiencen, vivan, coman, hagan, tengan, sean, estén, dén

Lesson 2: The Imperative Mood: Nosotros
This is the equivalent of saying, "Let’s…" (As in, "Let’s eat.")

With the exception of a stem-changing irregular verbs (like comenzar, perder, pensar, y dormir), the NOSOTROS form is formed by adding MOS to the end of the USTED form.

Examples:
hablemos, vivamos, comamos, hagamos, tengamos, seamos, estemos, demos

Exceptions:
comencemos, perdamos, pensemos, durmamos…

Assignment
Write 20 original sentences in which you use 20 different verbs in the imperative. In 10 sentences, use the USTEDES form. In the other 10, use the NOSOTROS form. Again, you should set up a context for the verb in the imperative, because otherwise it doesn’t make sense.

Intermediate

Café Homework Week 3

Lesson 1: Direct Object Pronouns

Direct objects receive the action in a sentence.

Example:
Yo leo el libro. (What is being read? The book. BOOK is the direct object.)

In Spanish, the following pronouns are used to represent direct objects:
me          nos
te
lo            los
la            las
 

Lesson 2: The Use of Direct Object Pronouns with the Affirmative Imperative

When direct object pronouns are used with the imperative (affirmative) they come after the verb and are joined to it, forming a new word.

Examples:
Hace frío y la puerta está abierta. Ciérrela. (It’s cold and the door’s open. Close it.)
Cuando usted llega a su casa, llámeme. (When you get home, call me.)

Note that with the addition of another syllable, an accent us placed on the stressed syllable.

When the command is negative, the pronoun comes before.
 

Assignment
Write 20 original sentences in which you use 20 different verbs in the AFFIRMATIVE imperative and in which there is an object pronoun. In 10 sentences, use the USTED form. In 5, use the NOSOTROS form. In the other 5, use the USTEDES form. Again, you should set up a context for the verb in the imperative and establish what the direct object is (as in my examples), because otherwise it doesn’t make sense.

 

Café Homework Week 4
Assignment
Write out a recipe for a simple food dish using detailed instructions and plenty of verbs in the imperative. Optional: Bring the ingredients or the final product to class.

 

Café Homework Week 5

Lesson 1: Relflexive Verbs

The reflexive structure has several uses. This week, we’ll focus on one only.

In this first use, the subject of a transitive verb is the object of the same verb that he or she executes. (A transitive verb takes an object, like WASH, SEE, CUT.)

Examples:
1.Simón baña el perro. (Simón bathes the dog.—not reflexive.)
Simón se baña. (Simón bathes himself.—reflexive.)

2. María lava los platos. (María washes the dishes.—not reflextive.)
María se lava las manos. (María washes her hands.—reflexive.)

Just about any transitive verb can be reflexive, but sometimes only in a poetic sense. Some verbs have a different meaning when they are reflexive. Some intransitive verbs can be reflexive and they fall in this category. More on that next week.

Assignment
Write ten pairs of sentences like the pairs in the examples above. In the first, use a transitive verb that is not reflexive. In the second, use the same verb reflexively. Also, and this is IMPORTANT, please pick up the new unit ("¿CÓMO ME VEO?") from the front porch.

 

Café Homework Week 6

Lesson: Relflexive Verbs: Independent versus Mutual Action

The first use of the reflexive structure (on which we focussed last week) can be called INDEPENDENT: the subject is the direct or indirect object of his, her, or its own action.

Example 1:
Independientemente, Margarita y Ramón se miran en los espejos.

The second use (on which we’re focussing this week) can be called MUTUAL: two or more entities perform the same action and are themselves the object of the other’s action.

Example 2:
Margarita y Ramón se miran con amor.

Note that the phrase "Margarita y Ramón se miran" can be an example of either use. Another example:
Los hombres se ponen los sombreros.

This could mean, "The men put on hats," or "The men put hats on each other."

Assignment
Write ten pairs of sentences like the pair made up of examples above. In the first, use the INDEPENDENT reflexive. In the second, use the MUTUAL reflexive. The context should make it clear which is which. Use plural subjects in all the sentences (nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas, ustedes, etc.).

 
 
 

Café Homework Week 7

Lesson: Relflexive Verbs: Passive Voice

The third use of reflexive verbs is to express the PASSIVE VOICE. The passive voice treats the object of a verb as the subject of a sentence. The true action in question has no stated subject. It’s an impersonal way to express an action.

Examples:
1. Aquí se habla español. (Spanish spoken here. Who’s speaking it? It doesn’t matter.)
2. En esta tienda, no se venden libros.  (In this store, books are not sold. Who’s not selling them? It doesn’t matter.)
3. En Cuba se cultiva tabaco. (In Cuba tobacco is cultivated.)

The MEANING here is PASSIVE VOICE but the TECHNICAL STRUCTURE is REFLEXIVE. Note that in example 2, it’s "No se VENDEN libros," (not VENDE). The form of the verb corresponds to the "subject" (libros) not to the unmentioned people who are supposed to be doing the action.

Assignment
Write 10 examples of this use that have some sort of context as in the examples above.

Questions?

Last updated 29 January 2008