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Lesson 19 · Lección decimonovena - Lección diecinueve

Personal Pronouns and the Verbs poder, saber, conocer, acordarse in Spanish

Conchita y el padrino ciego

Don Joaquín se detiene en el umbral.

¿Cómo está usted, don Joaquín? — le dice doña Juana.

¿Qué tal le va a usted, don Joaquín? — le dice don Antonio.

¿Y ustedes? ... ¿Y ustedes? ... Caramba. La verdad es que hace tiempo que no nos vemos. Y ahora tampoco nos vemos ... Digo, yo soy el que no puede ver a ustedes.

Doña Juana se acerca a la escalera y grita:

— ¡Clara, Lola, Concha, bajad! Don Joaquín está aquí.

Se oye en la escalera un rumor de faldas, de voces, de risas ... Y de repente, como una aparición mágica, las tres se hallan en la entrada y miran serias, derechas, a don Joaquín con sus ojos azules, grises, negros.

— ¿Vosotras no conocéis a don Joaquín? — les dice don Antonio.

Las tres callan.

— Clara ¿tú no te acuerdas? ... ¿Y tú ¿Lola?

— No, no — dice don Joaquín — ella no puede acordarse. Pero yo sí Hint

me acuerdo de ella. Lola tiene los ojos azules. text translation

— Sí, don Joaquín, Lola tiene los ojos azules — afirma doña Juana.

— ¿Y Conchita? — pregunta don Joaquín — ¿está aquí?

— Aquí está, delante de usted — contesta don Antonio.

— Conchita — dice don Joaquín — yo soy tu padrino.

— Sí, don Joaquín — dice Conchita — ya sé que es usted mi padrino. Hint

— Ella me pregunta muchas veces por usted — dice doña Juana.

— Yo no puedo verte, Conchita — dice don Joaquín — ¿Cómo eres? ¿Cómo es Conchita?

— Es alta y delgada — contesta doña Juana.

— ¿Cómo tiene el pelo?

— El pelo es rubio y largo.

— ¿Y los ojos? ¿De qué color tiene los ojos?

— Los ojos son entre grises y verdes.

— ¿Y la boca?

— La boca es pequeña y con los labios rojos.

— Conchita — exclama don Joaquín — eres una linda muchacha ... text translation

(Azorín “Los Pueblos”)

Vocablos

el	padrino	godfather
	ciego, -a	blind
	detenerse	to stop, to pause
el	umbral	threshold
	¡caramba!	damn!, Jeez! (exclamation of surprise, annoyance)
	hacer	to make; to do
el	tiempo	time
	ahora	now
	tampoco	neither, not ... either
	poder	to be able to, can
	acercarse	to approach, to move closer
la	escalera	staircase, stairs
	bajar	to go down, to come down
el	rumor	murmur, buzz; rumor
las	voces	voices
la	risa	laughter, laugh
	de repente	suddenly
la	aparición	apparition, vision
	mágico, -a	magic, magical
	hallarse	to be (located), to find oneself
la	entrada	entrance, entry
	serio, -a	serious
	derecho, -a	straight
	conocer	to know; to meet; to be familiar with
	callar	to be silent, to keep quiet
	acordarse	to remember
	afirmar	to affirm, to assert
	delante de	before, in front of
	saber	to know
	delgado, -a	thin, slim
el	pelo	hair
	rubio, -a	blond(e)
	largo, -a	long
	pequeño, -a	small, little
	entre	between
	exclamar	to exclaim

Notes & Explanations

The meaning of words and expressions

también and tampoco

Yo voy al cine.
I’m going to the cinema.

Yo también.
Me too.

Yo no voy al cine.
I’m not going to the cinema.

Yo tampoco.
Me neither. (lit.: also not)

In Spanish, also not or neither is expressed by the word tampoco, which gives the statement a negative meaning.

Remember:

¿qué color?

what colour?

¿de qué color?

of what colour?

Pronunciation rules

la vez

one time, that time

las veces

several times

la voz

the voice

las voces

the voices

The consonant z in combination with the vowel e changes to the consonant c, which corresponds to the vowel z [θ] in sound.

Learn the expressions:

¿Qué tal le va a usted?

How are you doing? (How is it going for you?)

hace tiempo

a long time ago; for a while

ahora tampoco

now neither

ahora también

now too

se oye

(can) be heard

las tres

all three, the three of them

sé — I know
¡sé! — be!
se — reflexive pronoun used with reflexive verbs

Grammar points

1. Personal Pronouns (continuation)

¿Quién habla? — Yo.

Who is talking? — I am.

¿A quién lo dices? — A ti.

Who are you saying it to? — To you.

No puedo verte.

I can’t see you.

Te digo que no quiero este libro.

I’m telling you that I don’t want this book.

In Spanish, there are two forms of personal pronouns:

The unstressed form, which is used with a verb usually without a preposition. In English it usually corresponds to the direct and indirect objects, for example:

Те veo.
I see you.

Le doy un lápiz.
I give him a pencil.
The prepositional (stressed) form, which is used with a preposition independently and corresponds to the object of a preposition in English, for example:
¿A quién da usted este libro?
To whom do you give this book?
A ti, a él, a todos.
To you, to him, to everyone.

Note:

Personal pronouns acting as the subject of a sentence are always stressed.

In Spanish, it is possible to use two forms of personal pronouns simultaneously, i.e. the prepositional (stressed) and unstressed forms. This happens in the following cases:

When the meaning of one of the used pronouns is emphasized, for example:

A ti no te lo doy.
To you I do not give it.

A mí no me conoce nadie.
Nobody knows me.
When the 3rd person singular unstressed pronoun le is used in a sentence, for example:

Yo le doy un libro a él.
I give a book to him. (specifically to him, not to her).

Since the unstressed personal pronoun le can refer to persons and objects of both genders, an additional form of the personal pronoun is used to clarify the person or object in question.

Tables of personal pronouns

Singular
Grammatical function	Base form — Nominative case
Grammatical function	yo I		tú you
Nom.	yo	I	tú	you
Gen.	de mí	of me	de ti	of you
Dat.	me (a mí)	to me	te (a ti)	to you
Acc.	me (a mí)	me (sees)	te (a ti)	you (sees)
Inst.	conmigo	with me	contigo	with you
Prep.	en mí	in me	en ti	in you
	él he		ella she
Nom.	él	he, it	ella	she
Gen.	de él	of him	de ella	of her
Dat.	le (a él)	to him	le (a ella)	to her
Acc.	le, lo (a él)	him	la (a ella)	her
Inst.	con él	with him	con ella	with her
Prep.	en él	in him	en ella	in her
Usted you (polite form for both masculine and feminine)
Nom.	usted		you
Gen.	de usted		of you
Dat.	le (a usted)		to you
Acc.	le, lo (a usted) (for a masculine person)		you; la (a usted) you (for a feminine person)
Inst.	con usted		with you
Prep.	en usted		in you

Note:

In the accusative case (direct object) for the masculine gender there are two pronoun forms: le (mostly in Spain) or lo (standard for Latin America, but correct everywhere).
le, lo are used for masculine persons.
lo is used for both objects and persons.
The pronoun la is used for both feminine persons and objects.
The preposition con before the first person pronoun mí and the second person pronoun ti forms special pronouns:
conmigo with me;
contigo with you
The preposition con doesn’t have special forms with the other pronouns.

2. Conjugation of verbs: poder, saber, acordarse, conocer

The verb poder to be able to, can is an irregular verb of individual conjugation. However, in the present tense and in Pretérito imperfecto poder conjugates as verbs of group II of deviating conjugation. The verb poder doesn’t have an imperative mood.

Presente

Poder — to be able to
singular			plural
1.	puedo	I am able to	podemos	we are able to
2.	puedes	you are able to	podéis	you are able to
3.	puede	he is able to	pueden	they are able to

The verb saber to know, can belongs to the individual conjugation of irregular verbs. Saber is used to talk about facts or learned skills. You can use it to talk about information you’ve memorized or to say you are able to swim, drive a car, speak a language, etc.

saber — to know, can
singular			plural
1.	sé	I know	sabemos	we know
2.	sabes	you know	sabéis	you know
3.	sabe	he knows	saben	they know

Imperativo
Imperative mood

¡sabe!

know!

¡sabed!

know!

The verb acordarse to remember belongs to group II of deviating conjugation (see lesson 15).

Presente

acordarse — to remember
singular			plural
1.	yo me acuerdo	I remember	nosotros nos acordamos	we remember
2.	tú te acuerdas	you remember	vosotros os acordáis	you remember
3.	él se acuerda	he remembers	ellos se acuerdan	they remember

Imperativo
Imperative mood

¡acuérdate!

remember!

¡acordaos!

remember!

Note:

Some deviations from the usual conjugation can be the same for verbs of different conjugations that keep all their features typical for the given conjugation except for these deviations.

Compare the verb poder — the verb of individual conjugation and the verb acordarse — the reflexive verb of conjugation I.

The verb conocer to know belongs to group III of deviating conjugation. Conocer is used to express familiarity (or lack thereof) with a person, place, or thing. For example, you can know, or be familiar with, a book, a movie, a country, or a certain person.

Presente

conocer — to know
singular			plural
1.	conozco	I know	conocemos	we know
2.	conoces	you know	conocéis	you know
3.	conoce	he knows	conocen	they know

In verbs ending in the infinitive in -acer, -ecer, -ocer, -ucir, the consonant z appears before the consonant c [k] when followed by the vowel a or o in the 1st person singular of the present tense, for example: conozco I know.

In the past tense and in the imperative mood, these verbs conjugate according to the rules of regular conjugation.

Imperativo
Imperative mood

¡conoce!

get to know!

¡conoced!

get to know!

⚠️ Pay attention to the verb preguntar!

In English we say ‘to ask (who?) her / him’ (direct object). Because of this, many mistakenly say in Spanish la pregunto / lo pregunto (in Spain this regional mistake even got its own name — laísmo / loísmo). However, in standard Spanish the verb preguntar requires an indirect object (To whom?), therefore the only correct option is: le pregunto (I ask her / him / you).

Exercises

I. Translate the personal pronouns given in brackets in the right form:

Veo a Conchita y (her) pregunto. ¿Quieres este lápiz? — Sí, (it) quiero. Entonces (you) doy el lápiz, pero da (me) tu fotografía. — ¿Dónde está Lola? No (her) veo. — Lola habla con su padrino. ¿No (him) ves? (Him) veo. Voy a dar (him) un cigarrillo. Entra José y pregunta: — ¿Dónde está Juan?, quiero decir (him) algo. — ¡Juan! — llama Conchita, José quiere hablar (with you) . ¿Quién quiere hablar (with me) ? Entra la mamá de María. José dice: — Señora, ¿puedo preguntar (you, p.f.) dónde está María? — ¿Por qué? — Porque quiero ir (with her) al cine. ¿Puede ir ella (with me) ? Sí. Entonces puede usted decir (to her) que (her) espero aquí.

II. Translate into English:

Miro a Conchita y pienso: ¡Qué linda es! — y después le pregunto: — ¿No quieres ir al teatro conmigo? — No, — dice Conchita, — no quiero ir contigo, voy con mi hermano. — ¿Dónde está tu hermano? — ¿No lo ves? — No le conozco. ¿Es tu hermano este hombre alto y delgado que habla con María? — Sí. — ¿De quién habla con ella, de mí o de ti? — Ni de mí, ni de ti. Él le dice, que quiere ir al teatro con ella. — ¿Y qué le dice ella? — Ella le mira, se ruboriza y no contesta.

III. Translate into Spanish:

He gives his photo to her. She says to him: — Give me the book, too. — I can’t, I’m reading it now. Do you want to go to the cinema with me? With you, yes. Where is Maria? I don’t see her. I want to see her and say to her that we are going to the cinema. — Give this pencil to her, it’s her pencil. Maria enters and he gives the pencil to her. She looks at the pencil and says: — This is not my pencil.

IV. Translate into Spanish:

His pencil is on the table. I give his pencil to him. Her lamp is on the window. I look at her lamp. This is his book. I see him. This is her book. I give the book to her. This is your (p.f.) pen. I see you (p.f.). I give your pen to you (p.f.).