Imperative Mood and the Verb querer in Spanish

La hora de pasear

Juana y sus hermanos están en casa. Juana escribe una carta a Juan. José el hermano de Juana lee un libro de Azorín . El padre de Juana habla con el abuelo. Entra la madre de Juana y pregunta:

— Mañana nos levantamos temprano con el sol y vamos todos a pasear.

— “Cómo expresar con palabras sencillas el encanto que las cosas — un palacio, una calle, un jardín — tienen a ciertas horas. Levantaos con el sol. A esta hora la luz refleja en las paredes con claridades desconocidas; los árboles poseen tonalidades de color y de líneas que no vemos en otras horas. Si estáis en Santander, si sois artista, pasead por la calle Blanca. La calle Blanca es una calle estrecha, torcida, formada por dos líneas de casas altas y viejas, llenas de tiendas en los pisos bajos ... pasead, pasead por la calle Blanca ...”

Vocablos

Notes & Explanations

The meaning of the word que

¿Qué — what? with the accent mark (acento) in the meaning of an interrogative pronoun is always used before a verb.

Que — that, who, which without the accent mark is a relative pronoun and it usually comes directly after a noun.

The word que without acento, functioning as a relative pronoun, doesn’t change in gender and number. For example:

Que without acento — in the meaning of the conjunction that — always comes after a verb, for example:

dice que va al cine he says that he is going to the cinema.

Learn the expressions:

Grammar points

1. Imperative Mood (modo imperativo)

In Spanish, the 2^nd person singular and plural forms of the imperative mood are formed from the stem of an infinitive verb with the help of the following endings:

-a and -ad for Conjugation I verbs
-e and -ed for Conjugation II verbs
-e and -id for Conjugation III verbs

2. Imperative Mood of Reflexive Verbs

When conjugating reflexive verbs in the imperative mood, the personal pronouns te and os, functioning as objects, always come after a verb and are written as one word with it, for example:

Reflexive verbs in the imperative mood drop the letter d in the plural — ¡lavaos!

Remember that the personal pronouns me, te, se are unstressed and are used with reflexive verbs as direct objects to convey the reflexive meaning of the conjugated verb.

3. Conjugation of the verb querer

The verb querer to want, to love is an irregular verb of individual conjugation. The deviation from the usual conjugation happens in the present tense and in the imperative mood. The vowel e from the stem of the verb querer changes to the diphthong ie when stressed, the same way as with the verb comenzar.

Exercises

I. Translate into English (sometimes use a dictionary if necessary):

— ¡Levántate, José! — dice Juana. El sol se levanta ya. — Hoy es domingo, ¿por qué levantarme con el sol? — Porque así aconseja el maestro Azorín. Pero José no se levanta ... Todos van a pasear y regresan a casa a las nueve, pero José está en la cama. — José no es artista — dice Juana. — ¿Por qué? — Porque no quiere ver los colores de las casas, de los árboles, de la calle donde vivimos ... — Mamá, Juana está loca. Yo quiero el desayuno. — Sobre la mesa hay manzanas. Come una manzana, bebe un vaso de té y espera. Esperad todos. El domingo el desayuno es a las diez.

II. Translate into Spanish:

I am waiting for the coffee — Jose says. Why don’t you drink the coffee that is on the table? What is there in the cups? In the cups that are on the table, there is milk. The colours that we see in the morning, we don’t see in the evening. The things that we see in the stores of White street are always good.

III. Translate into Spanish:

— Study at home today — Juana says to Jose — you are sick. — I want to go to the university. I have a lot of work. Mum, dad, talk to Jose. He is sick and wants to go to the university. — Jose, have breakfast. Today you are not going to the university. Call Maria and buy good wine on the way. Someone knocks at the door. Look who it is. It is Maria. Come in! Do you want coffee? Yes. I want (some).