COMMANDS IN THE TÚ FORM
Anytime you're going to make a so-called "command form" in Spanish, you have to think about two things:
1. Is it a positive command? (Telling someone to do something)
2. Is it a negative command? (Telling someone not to do something)
The NEGATIVE tú command, as the others that you saw, comes right out of the
now-famous SUBJUNCTIVE MODE.
ex: ¡No comas tan de prisa! (Don't eat so fast!)
ex: No hagas tonterías. (Don't do such silly things.)
ex: ¡No te olvides de estudiar! (Don't forget to study!)
(Did you notice how this works with OLVIDARSE DE, a reflexive verb?)
ex: No te bañes ahora. (Don't take a bath now.)
ex: No te afeites con mi cuchilla. (Don't shave with my razor.)
ex: No te vayas tan pronto. (Don't go away so soon.)
Remember: IR means "to go", while IRSE means "to go away...
The POSITIVES, however, come from the PRESENT TENSE...What I do is find the
TÚ form, then just drop off the "S", and that gives me the COMMAND form:
ex: Come más despacio. (Eat more slowly.)
ex: Vive aquí, en esta casa. (Live here, in this house.)
ex: Habla español en la clase. (Speak Spanish in class.)
BUT...
There are some irregular forms in the POSITIVE:
ex: DECIR >> DI Di la verdad. (Tell the truth.)
ex: HACER >> HAZ Haz toda la tarea. (Do all your homework.)
ex: IR >> VE Ve a la clase ahora. (Go to class now.)
ex: PONER >> PON Pon el libro aquí. (Put the book here.)
ex: SALIR >> SAL Sal de aquí ahora. (Leave from here now.)
ex: SER >> SÉ Sé bueno, ¿vale? (Be good, okay?)
ex: TENER >> TEN Aquí, ten. (Here, have this.)
ex: VENIR >> VEN Ven acá. (Come here.)
Remember, these are only irregular in the POSITIVE forms.
BUT, what happens when you include REFLEXIVE, INDIRECT- or DIRECT-OBJECT pronouns?
ex: Dame el dinero. (Give me the money.)
ex: Muéstrame el dinero. (Show me the money.)
ex: Báñete esta noche. (Take a bath tonight.)
Conclusion: these pronouns go on the END of a POSITIVE command.
BUT...
ex: No me lo des. (Don't give it to me.)
ex: No me lo muestres. (Don't show it to me.)
ex: No te bañes ahora. (Don't take a bath right now.)
More examples...
ex: Dime la verdad. (Tell me the truth.)
No me digas mentiras. (Don't tell me lies.)
ex: Háblame, por favor. (Talk to me, please.)
No me hables ahora. (Don't talk to me now.)
One way to think about it: Remember your number line in math? And how the
positive numbers go to the right, and the negative numbers go to the left?
Well, think of it this way when deciding where to put those OBJECT PRONOUNS:
POSITIVE COMMAND: They go to the right.
NEGATIVE COMMAND: They go to the left.
INDIRECT COMMANDS
This only means that you can use the SUBJUNCTIVE to tell someone to do something:
ex: Te digo que estudies la historia. (I´m telling you to study history.)
ex: Le quiero decir que se vaya para casa. (I want to tell him to go home.)
ex: Nos dicen que trabajemos más. (They're telling us to work more.)
"NOMINALIZATION"
Fancy way to say that we don't have to repeat the noun in every sentence that we say.
ex: I like intelligent students and comical students.
That's too repetitive, so I'm going to take out the second reference to students:
ex: I like intelligent students, and comical ones.
We use the word "ones" often in order to avoid the constant repetition of the noun that
we're talking about.
In Spanish, it works like this:
ex: Me gustan los estudiantes inteligentes, y también los cómicos.
ex: Donald Trump tenía un hotel en Los Ángeles, y un hotel en New York.
change: Donald Trump tenía un hotel en Los Ángeles, y uno en New York.
ex: Mi amigo compró la computadora de SONY y yo compré la computador de HP.
change: Mi amigo compró la computadora de SONY y yo compré la de HP.
ex: Quiero la camisa azul, no quiero la camisa negra ni la camisa roja.
change: Quiero la camisa azul, no quiero la negra, ni la roja.
Can you think of any examples?
LONG FORM OF POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
Possessive adjectives in Spanish, like those of English, are a way of indicating
who owns or is in possession of something. Their use is straightforward, although
they (like other adjectives) must match the nouns they modify in both number and
gender.
Unlike English, Spanish has two forms of possessive adjectives, a short form that
is used before nouns, and a long form that is used after nouns. Short-form pronouns
are explained in another lesson.
Following are the long-form possessive adjectives with examples of usage:
| mío, mía, míos, mías | my, of mine | Son libros míos. (They are my books. They are books of mine.) |
| tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas | your (singular familiar), of yours | Prefiero la casa tuya. (I prefer your house. I prefer the house of yours.) |
| suyo, suya, suyos, suyas | your (singular or plural formal), its, his, her, their, of yours, of his, of hers, of theirs | Voy a la oficina suya. (I am going to his/her/your/their office. I am going to the office of his/hers/yours/theirs.) |
| nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras | our, of ours | Es un coche nuestro. (It is our car. It is a car of ours.) |
| vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras | your (plural familiar), of yours | ¿Dónde están los hijos vuestros? (Where are your children? Where are the children of yours?) |
As you may have noticed, the short form and long forms of nuestro and vuestro and related pronouns are identical. They differ only as to whether they are used before or after the noun.
Note that the possessive adjectives vary by number and gender. The change is with the nouns they modify, not with the person(s) who own or possess the object.
Es un amigo tuyo. (He is a friend of yours.) Es una amiga tuya. (She is a friend of yours.) Son unos amigos tuyos. (They are some friends of yours.) Son unas amigas tuyas. (They are some friends of yours.)If you've already studied possessive pronouns, you may have noticed that they are identical with the possessive adjectives listed above. In fact, some grammarians consider the possessive adjectives to actually be pronouns.
Choice of possessive form: Generally speaking, there is little or no difference in meaning between the long and short forms of the possessive. Most often, you'd use the long form as the equivalent of "of mine," "of yours," etc., in English, although (as in English) they are usually interchangeable in meaning. The short form is more common, and in some cases, the long form can be somewhat awkward or have a slight "literary" flavor, although it is used in informal speech as well. (this portion courtesy: spanish.about.com)