Spanish Verb – Entender

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Julio Cesar Martinez – Spanish Tutor. “Spanish Verb – Entender.” Lingua Linkup, 08 Oct. 2022, lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-entender.

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Julio Cesar Martinez – Spanish Tutor. (2022, October 08). Spanish Verb – Entender. Lingua Linkup. https://lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-entender/

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Julio Cesar Martinez – Spanish Tutor. “Spanish Verb – Entender.” Lingua Linkup, October 08, 2022. https://lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-entender/.

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¿Es tan difícil de entender?

The verb ‘’entender’’ (to understand) is used to express that we have a certain level of comprehension of something. In the English language, this would mean understanding. For example; yo entendí el ejercicio de química (I understood the chemistry exercise).

Let’s learn together!

Before you continue reading, don’t forget the following statements.

• ‘’You’’ is only one pronoun which has different meanings; however, in Spanish we have 3 important pronouns: tu, usted, ustedes. ‘’Tú’’ is used when you have confidence with the person you are talking to, ‘’usted’’ is more formal and ‘’ustedes’’ is used to talk about more than one person we are directing to.
• In Spanish, we have unspoken subjects, so it is not needed to use a pronoun every time as we do in English.
• We use written accents in Spanish, be careful. If not, you will have miscommunication problems in your writing

Let’s read together the following examples:

• Yo entiendo lo que dices.
• Tú nunca entendiste.
• Ella entendió los ejercicios de química.
• Nosotros entenderemos el tema.
• Ellos entenderían la propuesta.

Some phrases in the Indicative Mood

Do you recognize these tenses?

Analyze the previous chart and let’s review some examples.

We use present tense to talk about a usual understanding. For example: ‘’yo entiendo lo que dices” (I understand what you say).

We use past perfect to talk mainly about an understanding in a precise time in the past. For example: ¿entendiste lo que dijo el profesor? (did you understand what the teacher said?).

We use the past imperfect to talk about past understandings for which we don’t know certainly if they were real or not and when they finished . For example: entendíamos su primera propuesta (we understood your first proposal).

We use future simple to talk about probable future understandings: pronto me entenderás (you will understand me soon).

We use the simple conditional tense to express that an understanding would probably occur: él lo entendería (he would understand it).

Let’s see some of the most used perfect tenses of the Indicative Mood

We build compounded tenses using the verb ‘’HABER’’ (HAVE) and the past participle of the main verb, in this case entender: entendido.

We use the past perfect compound to refer to an understanding that has occured since determinate time. For example; él ha entendido los temas desde que entró (he has understood the topics since he got into).

We use the pluperfect to talk about an understanding that had taken place before an action developed in the past: yo lo había entendido en la primera explicación (I had understood it at the first explanation).

We use the perfect future to talk about an understanding that will take place after a certain time. For example: después de escucharme, lo habrás entendido (after listening to me, you will understand it). However, this tense is more commonly used to talk about situations that probably could have happened or to make suppositions. For example: supongo que habrás entendido la propuesta (I guess you have understood the proposal).

We use perfect conditional to talk about the consequence of an action that could have happened: si me hubieras contado, lo habría entendido (if you had told me, I would have understood it).

As you already know, in Spanish we also have two other verbal modes: the subjunctive and the imperative mood.

Let’s see the common forms of the Subjunctive Mood

Subjunctive is usually used to express wishes, wants and hopes. And it is usually introduced by the words like: que, ojalá, espero (que), si…, cuando.

The present form is used to express we hope an understanding will occur in the present time or near future: Espero que me entienda.s (I hope you understand me.).

The past imperfect form is used to express our wish that an understanding could probably take place: Ojalá los políticos entendieran la importancia del cambio climático. (If only politicians understood the importance of climate change.)

The pluperfect is used to talk about an understanding that could probably have taken place if a certain situation had happened: Si le hubieras contado, él hubiera entendido. (If you had told him, he would have understood.).

The past perfect form is used to introduce the consequence when an understanding has taken place: Cuando lo hayan entendido, díganme. (When you have understood it, tell me.).

Let’s review a bit the Imperative Mood

We usually use the imperative mode to give some pieces of advice or mainly to give orders. Don’t forget this mode does not have tenses.

Let’s view some examples:

¡Entiéndeme! (Understand me!)

Entiéndalo de una vez por todas. (Understand it once and for all.)

Por favor, entendamos que no es posible. (Let’s understand that it is not possible.)

Entiendan mi posición, por favor. (Please, understand my position.)

Spanish Verb Entender – Quiz/Worksheet

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1. (tu) _______me, por favor. (imperative mode)
2. Yo ______ tu postura (indicative mode: presente simple)
3. Ella _______ el ejercicio de español (indicative mode: past perfect)
4. Ustedes _______ cuando estaban más jóvenes (indicative mode: past imperfect)
5. Ojalá (tú) me ________ (subjuntive mode: past imperfect)
6. Algún día (ustedes) lo ________ (indicative mode: future simple)
7. Si me explicaras mejor, lo _________ (indicative mode: conditional)
8. Cuando (nosotros) _________, te lo diremos (subjuntive mode: present)
9. Si me hubieras contado, claro que te _____ _______ (indicative: perfect conditional)
10. (yo) Ya lo _______ entendido antes que llegaras (indicative mode: pluperfect)

Answers:

1. Entiéndeme
2. Entiendo
3. Entendió
4. Entendían
5. Entendieras
6. Entenderán
7. Entendería
8. Hayamos entendido
9. Habría entendido
10. Había entendido

Note: among Spanish native speakers, the expression on today’s title is used when we want to tell someone that they are behaving in a way they have already been told not to do.

About the Author:

Specializations: Spanish Tutors on Skype

Bio: I am Julio Martinez, I have studied a bachelor’s degree in language teaching since 2019, and I am close to get graduated.  I have work as English teacher in some institutions in Colombia, I have also worked as tutor supporting some students to improve their Spanish levels and as tutor for personalized French classes. By the same way, I speak not only Spanish and English but also French and Portuguese, I have been participating in a research group of language teaching for people with difficulties. As well as, I have participated in different seminars of different institutions and Universities in the field of languages teaching.

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