Unit 5: The infinitive, stem-change verbs, and por and para
Unit 5: Basic Vocabulary
Vocabulario básico
Adjetivos:
| alto | high, tall |
| bajo | low, short (height) |
| bastante | enough* |
| corto | short |
| extraño | strange |
| propio | own (false friend) |
Adverbios:
| bastante | enough, fairly, sufficiently, rather* |
| hasta | even |
| tan | so |
| tanto | as much, so much |
*Note the different as well as overlapping meanings of bastante when used as an adverb versus adjective: Habla bastante. (He speaks enough.) ¿Hay bastantes sillas? (Are there enough chairs?) Hablas bastante bien. (You speak fairly [rather, sufficiently] well.)
Conjunciones (Conjunctions):
| así (que) | so, this, therefore |
| lo que | what, that which |
| siempre que | whenever, provided that |
Expresiones:
| algunas veces | sometimes |
| a menudo | often |
| a veces | at times |
| muchas veces | often (many times) |
| la primera vez | the first time |
| rara vez, raras veces | seldom, infrequently, rarely |
Preposiciones:
| hasta | until, up to, as far as |
| sin | without |
Sustantivos:
| la época | epoch, era, time |
| la era | era |
| la hora | hour, time (of day) |
| la manera | manner, way |
| la medianoche | midnight |
| el medio | means, medium, middle |
| el mediodía | noon, midday |
Verbos:
| almorzar (ue) | to eat lunch |
| amenazar (con) | to threaten (to) (cognate: to menace) |
| cerrar (ie) | to close, to shut |
| comenzar (ie) | to begin, to start* |
| conducir | to drive, to conduct |
| conseguir (i) | to obtain, to get, to manage (before an inf.) |
| convencer (a) | to convince |
| correr | to run |
| destacar(se) | to stand out |
| detener | to detain, to arrest** |
| devolver (ue) | to return (an object) |
| dormir (ue) | to sleep (cognate- dormant) |
| empezar (ie) | to start, to begin* |
| encender (ie) | to turn on |
| encontrar (ue) | to encounter, to find |
| enseñar (a) | to show, to teach |
| entender (ie) | to understand |
| entregar | to deliver, to hand in |
| ganar | to gain, to earn, to win |
| jugar (ue) | to play (a sport, a game) |
| jurar | to swear |
| llover (ue) | to rain |
| mostrar (ue) | to show |
| nevar (ie) | to snow |
| ofrecer | to offer |
| pedir (i) | to request, to ask for |
| pensar (ie) | to think |
| pensar + inf. | to intend (to do something)**** |
| pensar + en | to think about someone or something, to reflect on someone or something**** |
| pensar + de | to think (in the sense of having an opinion about something), often used in a question***** |
| perder (ie) | to lose |
| poder (ue) | to be able to, can |
| preferir (ie) | to prefer |
| querer (ie) | to want, to love |
| reconocer | to recognize |
| recordar (ue) | to remember, to remind |
| seguir (i) | to follow, to keep on, to continue (doing something), to remain, to be |
| servir (i) | to serve, to be useful |
| soler (ue) (+inf.) | to be accustomed/ used (to doing something) |
| sonar (ue) | to ring, to sound |
| tocar | to play (music), to touch |
| traducir | to translate |
| tratar | to treat |
| tratar (de + inf.) | to try (to do something) |
| volar (ue) | to fly |
| volver (ue) | to return (to a place) |
*These two verbs are generally used synonymously, with equal frequency.
**Like mantener, this is a compound form of tener and has all the same irregularities.
***This frequent expression is easy to mistranslate as, for example, “I am thinking about …ing.” Be sure to translate it as “I intend to….”
****Pienso mucho en mi abuelo. I think about my grandfather a lot.
*****¿Qué piensan Uds. de la nueva ley? What do you think of the new law?
¡Ojo! There are five verbs in the list above that because of their similarity may cause confusion in reading. These verbs have cognates in English, which may serve as a mnemonic device to help avoid confusion.
| Verb | Mnemonic Device | |
|---|---|---|
| pensar (to think) | is “pensive” | |
| perder (to lose) | is “perdition” | |
| pedir (to request/ask for) | is “to petition” (Remember that t and d are phonetically related consonants.) | |
| poder (to be able to/can) | is “potent” | |
| poner (to put) | is “to position” (or “to posit”) |
The relationship between poner and “to position” will be seen in the preterite tense (section 8.2.), which in the first person singular is puse.
