Good morning, good afternoon or good evening. Welcome to Spanish Route. The program, the podcast to learn Spanish in the easiest and most fun way.



In case you still do not know me, I'm Sergio and I'm your personal Spanish trainer.



And this is already the third program, third stage on your way to Spanish. Today we are going to continue with a little more grammar. I will explain the subject's personal pronouns, especially the difference between "Tú"and "usted"; and between "vosotros" and "ustedes".



Then we will treat the conjugation of the verbs "ser" and "estar", which in other languages use a single verb for their different uses but Spanish uses two verbs. 



But first I want to remind you that on my website: SpanishRoute.com, you have the transcription and translation into English of this class and a very easy exercise to practice the concepts we are dealing with today.



Also, from spanishRoute.com/contact , you can write me with questions and questions that we will solve in the program. 



And if you want to improve your pronunciation I can help you practice your Spanish with Skype conversation sessions at a very reduced price.  



Remember SpanishRoute.com



And now Let's start with the class.



Subject's personal pronouns



They are the pronouns with which we conjugate the verbs. They replace the name or noun that forms the subject of the phrase. In Spanish, subject personal pronouns are:



Yo (I), tú (you), él (he), ella (she), usted (you), nosotros, nosotras (we), vosotros, vosotras (you), ellos, ellas (them) ustedes (you).  



For example:



Juan habla español (Juan speaks Spanish) . I can replace the subject " Juan " with the pronoun "él": Él habla español ( He speaks Spanish).



Los chicos hablan español (The boys speak Spanish). I can replace the subject "los chicos" (the boys)  with the pronoun "ellos" (them): Ellos hablan español (They speak Spanish).



As we saw the personal pronouns are the words that accompany the verb and allow us to know what or who we are talking about. They represent the grammatical person.



In Spanish there are three grammatical persons of the singular and their corresponding persons of the plural. and Some have a feminine form. But not all.



We will continue with the example of the verb "hablar" (to speak). "Hablar español" (speak Spanish).



For the first person of the singular we use "Yo"(I).   It refers to the person who speaks.  



Yo hablo español (I speak Spanish)



In the plural: Nosotros for the masculine and nosotras for the feminine( we). It refers to the group to which the person speaking belongs.



Nosotros hablamos español / Nosotras hablamos español (We speak Spanish / We speak Spanish).



The feminine form is used when the whole group belongs to the female sex. If in the group there are people of both sexes, the masculine form can be used in a general way, it is what is called "generic masculine", as we saw in the previous class, remember? The same happens for the rest of the cases in which there are masculine and feminine personal pronouns.



The second person of the singular: Tú (You). It refers to the person to whom the speaker is speaking.



Tú hablas español. (You speak Spanish)



The second person in the plural is vosotros for the masculine, vosotras for the feminine (you). It refers to the group to which the speaker is speaking.



Vosotros habláis español / Vosotras habláis español (You speak Spanish / Vosotras you speak Spanish).



The third person of the singular is: Él, ella y usted (He, she and you) (Él, masculine / ella feminine). Él and ella refer to a person who is neither the speaker nor the listener. It is neither first person nor second person.



Él habla español / Ella habla español (He speaks Spanish / She speaks Spanish)



And what happens to "usted"?



Usted (you) are grammatically a third person pronoun that is why it is used with the verb in the third person, but semantically it is used to refer to the second person, that is, to refer to the listener, the person with whom we are speaking.



It is used as a more courteous way, showing respect or distancing. It is for a more formal use, while for normal or informal use we will use the second person pronoun  "Tú".



Usted (You speak Spanish). There are no different ways for masculine and feminine.



Examples of the use of "usted" can be when we address a police officer, a judge, our boss, or an older person and when we want to be extremely polite and formal.



The plurals of the third person are: Ellos (m), ellas (f) y ustedes (They and you).



Ellos hablan español / ellas hablan español (They speak Spanish).



Ustedes hablan español (You speak Spanish).



It is necessary to know what these pronouns are because we will use them continuously in the examples, but you have to know that in many occasions in normal conversations of Spanish, this subject pronoun is usually omitted, since in the conjugation of the verb the person is already implied grammatical to which we are referring.



For example, I can say: En España hablamos español (In Spain we speak Spanish).



In the conjugation of the verb "hablar" (to speak), we see that it is in the first person of the plural. Therefore, the subject pronoun "nosotros" (we) does not have to appear . The two sentences are correct. Both...



En España nosotros hablamos español (In Spain we speak Spanish) and,,,



En España hablamos español (In Spain we speak Spanish).







Verb Ser y Estar



Now that we have clear the different personal pronouns for the subject we will conjugate the verbs "ser y estar" (to be) and to be and we will treat their different uses.



Remember:



Yo soy tu entrenador personal de español y yo estoy muy feliz de hablar contigo          (I am your personal Spanish trainer and I am very happy to talk to you).



Can you see the differences between "ser" and "estar" in this phrase?



Yo soy tu entrenador personal de español y yo estoy muy feliz de hablar contigo          (I am your personal Spanish trainer and I am very happy to talk to you).



The conjugation of the verb "Ser" (to be)



The verb "ser" (to be) is an irregular verb. This means that its conjugation is a bit more difficult than regular verbs, since it does not follow any rule to change its form according to grammatical persons.



The conjugation of the verb to be in the indicative present is:



Yo soy (I am)Tú ere (You are)Él / Ella / Usted es (He / She is  / You are



Nosotros / Nosotras somos (We are)Vosotros / Vosotras sois (You are)Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes son (They / You are



The conjugation of the verb "Estar"



The verb "estar" (to be) is regular. It means that its conjugation is done using the root of the infinite " estar, " that is est-, with the corresponding ending to each grammatical person. These endings are common for regular verbs (which we will see in upcoming programs, do not worry).



In this way, the conjugation of the verb estar is the following:



Yo estoy (I am)Tú estás (You are)Él / Ella / Usted está (He / She is  / You are



Nosotros / Nosotras estamos (We are)Vosotros / Vosotras estáis (You are)Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes están (They / You are



Do you see the difference between a regular and an irregular verb? Very good and...



When do we use the verb "Ser" and when do we use the verb "estar"?



Well, as a general rule we use the verb "ser" (to be) to describe, point or talk about the permanent or unalterable qualities of people or things. Of its characteristics that never change. And we use the verb "estar" (to be) to talk about temporal states or characteristics of people and things that can change over time. 



But as always there are also exceptions.



We see it better with examples.



The verb "ser" is used to indicate permanent states:  



> We use it to indicate the nationality or place of origin of the persons:



Yo soy español, soy de España (I'm spanish. I am from Spain)



Ella es francesa, es de Francia (She is French. He's from France).



> It can also be used to indicate the name of a person. As you know, it is usually said: 



Me llamo Sergio (My name is Sergio). But I can also say ... Soy Sergio (I'm Sergio).



El se llama Juan, su nombre es Juan (His name is Juan,  he is Juan).



> In professions: Yo soy profesor (I am a teacher), Ella es profesora (she is a teacher). 



Remember that the verb does not change depending on the gender of the subject. It is said: Él es profesor (he is a teacher) , ella es profesora  (she is a teacher). 



> To indicate religion or political ideas: Yo soy católico (I am Catholic), Ellos son ecologistas (they are ecologists).



> To describe things in relation to their shape, size and material. Characteristics that do not change, for example: 



La mesa es cuadrada (The table are square)



El elefante es grande (The elephant is big)



La camisa es de seda (The shirt is silk)



> The verb ser is also used to indicate possession and relationships between people:



Tú eres mi amigo (You are my friend)



Juan es mi hermano (Juan is my brother).



El libro es de María (The book is of Maria)



> To indicate dates and times and periods of time:



Hoy es lunes (Today is Monday)



Son las tres de la tarde (It's three o'clock).



Es de noche (It's night) 



Es verano (It's summer).



In this last example, you might think that dates and times change over time and you should use the verb "estar" but in Spanish the verb "ser" is used to indicate periods of time.



Although there is also an exception: You can use the verb "estar" in the first person plural plus a preposition to talk about the passage of time in relation to us:



For example. We can say:



Estamos en verano (We are in summer) , instead of "es verano".



Estamos a lunes (We are on Monday) , instead of "es lunes".



The verb "estar" is used as we said before to indicate temporal characteristics or that can change over time.