what are the plurals of l, ella and usted and what do they mean exactly

Question

Within spanish I struggle remembering the plurals of él, ella and usted and also remembering how to change the verb endings depending on verbs and such, if anyone has any useful tips to help me remember then that would be useful. Also the plural us of usted's meaning is completely different from person to person who I've asked, so any meaning would be great.

thanks very much

Answer 1

ellas, ellos, nosotros(us), ustedes (you plural)

Answer 2

yo - I

tú - you

él - he

ella - she

Usted - you formal

nosotros - we (males and females or just males)

nosotras - we (just females in the group

vosotros - y'all

vosotras - y'all (same ending rules apply like nosotros)

ellos - they (males and females or just males)

ellas - they (all women in the group)

Ustedes - you (plural)

In verb endings, just think of who's in the group.

In the I group - yo. Simple

In the you group - tú. Simple

In the 3rd person - él, ella, usted (usted goes here because its formal and it shows a sign of respect by being in third person)

In the we group - nosotros, nosotras

In the y'all group - vosotros, vosotras

In the they group - Ustedes, ellas, ellos

The way I remember when to use what conjugation is by thinking who it really is. "My dog is tired. " dog - singular, 3rd person, "Mi perro está cansado."

I hope I helped.

Usted is 2nd person singular, formal, not 3rd person (the verb uses 3rd person endings to form the 2nd person singular,formal)) - 0074b507, OCT 1, 2009

Answer 3

yeah sorry, that was actually meant to say el!! and i think you're going onto more philosophical grounds that grammatical Spanish ones!!

Oh, my! I hope you did not think anything in my reply was written on a serious note. It's all whimsy and tom-foolery. It was meant to be a light-hearted joke only - Moe, OCT 5, 2009

I like philosophical, :lol: - 00b83c38, OCT 5, 2009

me too, taken it for A-level :P i wasn't be fully serious, i just have an over-ambitious use of explamation marks! - Becking-Tosh, OCT 11, 2009

Answer 4

What if there was a plural of "I"?

 

How nice it would be to let the one "I" go to work, wash the dishes, do the laundry, dig the garden, entertain the pesky visitors and do all the crap jobs while the other "I" slept, went to the movies or drank intoxicating fluids.

 

Would the one "I" and the other "I" be called clones, the one of the other?

 

But then, what if the one "I" was a cursing swearing foul mouthed person. Would that make the one "I" an obscene clone?? If the other "I" were to silence the obscene "I" say, by pushing the obscene one off a cliff, would that be called "making an obscene clone fall"??

   

Maybe it is best if we all have only one "I". (Notice that's one "I", not, one eye.)

I've had enough of this. How about you.??

"making an obscene clone fall"...that's pretty good. - webdunce, OCT 5, 2009

That I you are seeking for Moe, is the third eye. "The eye (singular) is the lamp of the body", as in the biblical text. - 00b83c38, OCT 5, 2009

Moe how do you think all this stuff up? :D - 00b83c38, OCT 5, 2009

Answer 5

thanks very much, i'm sure those will help me a lot!! :D

Answer 6

There really are no magic formulas for memorizing verb endings. My suggestion is that you start with the present tense (indicative) and learn the -ar, -er, and -ir endings for the regular verbs. Once you have mastered these, you can start to branch out and learn the other tenses and some irregular verbs.

An excellent book I use is "601 Spanish Verbs" by Berlitz. I like it because it gives tips for learning all of the different verb tenses and moods. It also points out verbs called "Must Know Verbs" (because they are used so often). This is nice to know so you can focus on the verbs that you will be likely to use in every day conversation.

Answer 7

My Spanish teachers always taught to think of ustedes as "ya'll." My old high school is in Georgia, so we never had a problem remembering the meaning of ustedes.

The only thing I can recommend for remembering verb endings is to practice! If you conjugate verbs everyday, you'll be surprised how fast you'll remember them.

Watch the following lessons: - Food and Regular -er Conjugations - http://www.spanishdict.com/learn/show/5 - Languages, Countries, and Regular -ar and -ir Conjugations - http://www.spanishdict.com/learn/show/6

Memorize the endings for regular verbs with -ar, -er, and -ir endings. When you learn regular endings, you'll know how to conjugate many other regular verbs. From there, you should conjugate irregular verbs and memorize them in blocks depending on why they're irregular (o to ue; i to ie; etc.).

Hope that helps.