The Day the Wolf Came to Town
There is a story that tells us about a silly boy in a faraway town in Europe, a boy who was tending sheep, but he was kind of bored and planning many pranks to play to his friends. Suddenly, this boy thought of the biggest prank ever. That afternoon as he left the sheep into their shed, the boy got back to town, running and crying out loud “the wolf is coming, the wolf is coming”. I think you know the rest of the story, but let me tell you that it did not end well for the boy whose lies put the town on the verge of a nervous breakdown, my recommendation? No mientas, do not lie.
Mentir, yet another member of the Irregular family
Well, this group of verbs, the irregulars, has the characteristic of being chameleons, they change their form sometimes in a drastic way in order to conjugate. Mentir is part of this group, and we are going to review these changes so prepare for the ride of your life, y no estoy mintiendo (I am not lying).
She has Lying Eyes Verbals
Verbals are words that decided to stop being verbs, and need other words in order to be used. No matter the person, tense, number, these words will remain the same (hooray!). The verb Mentir has three verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. Let’s move on to the examples:
| Verbal | Common use | Example | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | Mentir (to lie / lying) | Non conjugated | Mentir es el camino a la perdición | Lying is the way to your doom |
| Gerund | Mintiendo (lying) | Adverb | Ella me estuvo mintiendo todo el tiempo | She was lying to me all the time |
| Participle | Mentido (lied) | Adjective | Lied and robbed, a very bad experience | Mentido y robado, una muy mala experiencia |
Conjugate Mentir
One of the infallible and classic methods that exist to learn how to conjugate the verb Mentir is to memorize the ways in which it is conjugated, as there are several cases. However, native Spanish speakers don’t memorize these conjugations, they use them! Many Spanish teachers strongly recommend having practical exercises with real conversations to obtain “naturalness” in the way of speaking.
Mentir Conjugation: Indicative Mood
Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood
| Subject | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (lie) | (lied) | (lied) | (would lie) | (will lie) | |
| yo | miento | mentí | mentía | mentiría | mentiré |
| tú | mientes | mentiste | mentías | mentirías | mentirás |
| él/ella/ usted | miente | mintió | mentía | mentiría | mentirá |
| nosotros | mentimos | mentimos | mentíamos | mentiríamos | mentiremos |
| ellos/ella/ustedes | mienten | mintieron | mentían | mentirían | mentirán |
Some examples:
- Cada que la maestra preguntaba sobre nuestra tarea, mentíamos – Every time the teacher asked about the homework, we lied.
- Sarah miente cuando le preguntan su edad – Sarah lies when she is asked about her age.
Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood
| Subject | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (have/has lied) | (had lied) | (had lied) | (would have lied) | (will have lied) | |
| yo | he mentido | hube mentido | había mentido | habría mentido | habré mentido |
| tú | has mentido | hubiste mentido | habías mentido | habrías mentido | habrás mentido |
| él/ella/usted | ha mentido | hubo mentido | había mentido | habría mentido | habrá mentido |
| nosotros | hemos mentido | hubimos mentido | habíamos mentido | habríamos mentido | habremos mentido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | han mentido | hubieran mentido | habían mentido | habrían mentido | habrán mentido |
Mentir Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood
With this mood, we hypothesize or express our wishes. The number of verb tenses is reduced, being divided equally into simple and compound.
Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present | Imperfect | Imperfect 2 | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | mienta | mintiera | mintiese | mintiere |
| tú | mientas | mintieras | mintieses | mintieres |
| él/ella/usted | mienta | mintiera | mintiese | mintiere |
| nosotros | mintamos | mintiéramos | mintiésemos | mintiéremos |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | mientan | mintieran | mintiesen | mintieren |
More examples:
- No me gusta que los comerciales de TV mientan tanto – I do not like the TV commercials to lie that much.
- Si mintieses menos, sería mejor para nuestra relación – If you lied a little less, it would be better for our relationship
Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present | Imperfect | Imperfect 2 | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (have lied) | (had lied) | (had lied) | (would have lied) | |
| yo | haya mentido | hubiera mentido | hubiese mentido | hubiere mentido |
| tú | hayas mentido | hubieras mentido | hubieses mentido | hubieres mentido |
| él/ella/usted | haya mentido | hubiera mentido | hubiese mentido | hubiere mentido |
| nosotros | hayamos mentido | hubiéramos mentido | hubiésemos mentido | hubiéremos mentido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hayan mentido | hubieran mentido | hubiesen mentido | hubieren mentido |
Mentir Conjugation: Imperative Mood
We enter the last mood you are going to memorize, with fewer people to learn (fortunately): the bossy (or Imperative) mood. With this conjugation, you can express orders. And since you can’t order yourself or a third party, you will only learn 3 persons and 1 verb tense. Possible uses of the Imperative mood? Children, pets, or those workers who constantly arrive late to work.
Imperative Mood’s Conjugations
| Subject | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| (lie / let's lie) | (don't lie / let's not lie) | |
| tú | mientas | no mientas |
| nosotros | mintamos | no mintamos |
| ustedes | mientan | no mientan |
Examples:
- No mientas más, confiesa y el juez quizá te otorgue clemencia – Do not lie anymore, confess and the judge might grant you clemency.
- Ustedes mientan al ofrecer este producto, así venderemos más. – You lie when offering this product, so we can sell more.
Mentir – Quiz/Worksheet
Your best resource in mastering Spanish will be practicing, and since our goal is to help you, we will leave you some sentences to review what we have learned in this lesson. Fill in the correct conjugation in the spaces using the possible answers from the box below. Just pay attention, for there are two too many:
1. La próxima vez mejor ___________ y grites que el lobo está viniendo. (Next time, better not lie and do not shout that the wolf is coming)
2. No te _______________, no va a llegar el producto esta semana. (I will not lie to you, the product will not arrive this week)
3. Sr. González, usted nos ____________ en su declaración de impuestos y le pondremos una multa. (Mr. Gonzalez, you lied to us in your tax declaration, and thus you will receive a fine)
4. Si los dos alumnos no _____________ sobre lo sucedido, el director no las habría expulsado de la escuela. (If the two students had not lied about what happened, the principal would not have expelled them)
5. El hecho de que tú le _________________ a tu esposa para poder venir a ver el partido seguramente te causará problemas. (The fact that you lied to your wife to be able to come to see the match will surely cause you trouble)
6. Cuando el juez se dio cuenta que los testigos _____________, los sacó de la corte. (When the judge realized that the witnesses had lied, he ordered them out of court)
7. Cuando fuimos niños éramos muy traviesos, ______________mucho. (When we were children, we were very mischievous, we lied a lot)
8. Si tus amigos te __________ tanto es una señal de lo poco que valoran tu amistad. (If your Friends lie to you so much, that is a sign that they do not value your friendship)
9. El día que lo atraparon ya _____________ a cinco mujeres a quienes prometió casarse con ellas. (The day he was caught, he had already lied to five women to whom he promised to get married)
10. “No ___________ Obi Wan, ¡vine a matarte!” dijo Dart Vader. (“Let’s not lie Obi Wan, I am here to kill you” said Dart Vader)
Answers
Here you can confirm if you got the answers right, remember that it’s okay to make mistakes, don’t lose sleep over a few mistakes, keep practicing every day!
1. No mientas
2. Mentiré
3. Mintió
4. Hubiesen mentido
5. Hayas mentido
6. Habían mentido
7. Mentíamos
8. Mienten
9. Había mentido
10. Mintamos
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