Go to Book Club in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to go to book club in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• discuss stories in Spanish

• use the preterite, imperfect, and imperfect progressive tenses

• use common vocabulary related to fairy tales

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
adoptivo	adopted
atractivo	attractive
cariñoso	loving
cómico	funny
gigante	gigantic
lujoso	luxurious
misterioso	mysterious
sabroso	delicious
soleado	sunny

examples
Tenía dos hijos adoptivos. He had two adopted children.
Era atractivo y un apasionado de su trabajo. He was attractive and passionate about his work.
Era un padre cariñoso. He was a loving father.

Adverb

Spanish	English
excesivamente	excessively

examples
La mansión era excesivamente lujosa. The mansion was excessively luxurious.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el beso	kiss
el brócoli	broccoli
Buenos Aires	Buenos Aires
la calabaza	pumpkin
la colina	hill
el elfo	elf
la fantasía	fairy tale, fantasy
el hada	fairy
la mansión	mansion
la multinacional	multinational
la novela	novel
el propietario	owner
el sueño	dream
el tejado	roof

examples
Cuando entró, sus hijos le dieron un beso. When he got in, his kids gave him a kiss.
El tejado era de brócoli. The roof was made of broccoli.
Estaban comiendo un sabroso pastel de calabaza. They were eating a delicious pumpkin pie.

Noun Phrases

Spanish	English
el, la agente de bolsa	stockbroker
la ciencia ficción	science fiction

examples
A las nueve, se reunió con su agente de bolsa. At nine, he met with his stockbroker.
Todo parecía ciencia ficción. It all seemed like science fiction.

Prepositional Phrases

Spanish	English
de verdad	real
sin duda	without a doubt

examples
¡Necesito hacer un viaje de verdad! I need to take a real trip!
Sin duda, Juan Andrés estaba estresado en el trabajo. Without a doubt, Juan Andres was stressed at work.

Verbs in the Imperfect

In this skill, you learn the following verb in the imperfect tense!

Llamarse

Llamarse(to be named) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me llamaba	I was named
tú	te llamabas	you were named	informal singular you
vos	te llamabas	you were named	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se llamaba	he, she was named
usted	se llamaba	you were named	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos llamábamos	we were named
vosotros, vosotras	os llamabais	you were named	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se llamaban	they were named
ustedes	se llamaban	you were named	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verbs in the Imperfect Progressive

In this skill, you learn the following verbs in the imperfect progressive tense!

Spanish	English
estaban esperando	they were waiting
estaba soñando	he was dreaming

The formula for the imperfect progressive is estar in the imperfect indicative + present participle

How do we conjugate estar in the imperfect indicative? Let’s take a look!

Estar

Estar(to be) is an -ar verb that is regular in the imperfect.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	estaba	I was
tú	estabas	you were	informal singular you
vos	estabas	you were	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	estaba	he, she was
usted	estaba	you were	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	estábamos	we were
vosotros, vosotras	estabais	you were	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	estaban	they were
ustedes	estaban	you were	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Verbs in the Preterite

In this skill, you learn the following verbs in the preterite tense!

Despertarse

Despertarse(to wake up) is an -ar reflexive verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me desperté	I woke up
tú	te despertaste	you woke up	informal singular you
vos	te despertaste	you woke up	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se despertó	he, she woke up
usted	se despertó	you woke up	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos despertamos	we woke up
vosotros, vosotras	os despertasteis	you woke up	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se despertaron	they woke up
ustedes	se despertaron	you woke up	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Montarse

Montarse(to get into [a vehicle]) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me monté	I got into
tú	te montaste	you got into	informal singular you
vos	te montaste	you got into	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se montó	he, she got into
usted	se montó	you got into	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos montamos	we got into
vosotros, vosotras	os montasteis	you got into	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se montaron	they got into
ustedes	se montaron	you got into	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Preguntar

Preguntar(to ask) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	pregunté	I asked
tú	preguntaste	you asked	informal singular you
vos	preguntaste	you asked	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	preguntó	he, she asked
usted	preguntó	you asked	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	preguntamos	we asked
vosotros, vosotras	preguntasteis	you asked	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	preguntaron	they asked
ustedes	preguntaron	you asked	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Preterite vs. Imperfect

Many students have trouble knowing when to use the preterite tense or the imperfect tense, as they both refer to actions in the past.

The Preterite

Generally, the preterite is used for completed actions. These can be actions that can be viewed as single events, actions that were part of a chain of events, actions that were repeated a very specific number of times, or actions that specifically state the beginning and end of an action.

Useful Phrases that Trigger the Preterite

There are many helpful words and phrases that indicate specific time frames, therefore signaling that the preterite should be used. Here are a few:

a las + time

al volver a casa

de repente

durante + noun

The Imperfect

The imperfect tense is generally used for actions in the past that do not have a definite end. These can be actions that are not yet completed or refer to a time in general in the past.

It can also be used to talk about:

actions that were repeated habitually

actions that set the stage for another past tense event

time and dates

a person’s age in the past

characteristics

mental or physical states

to react to new information

The Imperfect Progressive

The imperfect progressive tense tells what a person was doing at a point in the past. It's especially useful when you want to emphasize the fact that an action in the past was interrupted.

Forming the Imperfect Progressive

The imperfect progressive tense is formed with the imperfect indicative of the verb estarand the present participle of the content verb, which tells you what was happening.

Preterite and Imperfect: Working Together

This pair of tenses is often used together to talk about an ongoing action or event that was interrupted in the past. In such case, the interrupted action is given in the imperfect tense, while the interrupting action is given in the preterite. You can also look at this as a cause-consequence relationship. For example, the cause is in the imperfect tense while the consequence is in the preterite.

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Paulina:

¿Leíste el libro para clase, Gonzalo? Yo no. ¿Qué pasa?

Did you read the book for class, Gonzalo? I didn’t. What happens?

Gonzalo:

Sí. Primero, el propietario de una multinacional se dirigía al trabajo. Se llamaba Juan Andrés Velasco. Era atractivo y un apasionado de su trabajo.

Yeah. First, the owner of a multinational was headed to work. His name was Juan Andres Velasco. He was attractive and passionate about his work.

Paulina:

¿Qué paso después?

What happened next?

Gonzalo:

A las nueve, se reunió con su agente de bolsa. Durante la reunión, recibió una videollamada misteriosa. Era su hada madrina.

At nine, he met with his stockbroker. During the meeting, he received a mysterious video call. It was his fairy godmother.

Paulina:

¡Qué situación tan cómica!

What a funny situation!

Gonzalo:

Sí. Al volver a casa, Juan Andrés se despertó. ¡Era un sueño!