Part I: Getting the Forms.

There are many verbs in Spanish as there are in English, and we're going to start with one of the most used, not necessarily the easiest. I'm not teaching you how to conjugate yet; no, we'll save that for later. Right now, I just want you to get yourself acquainted with the verb ser (meaning to be) and the idea that there are many different forms. This may hurt some, but just deal with it.

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
(Yo) soy	I am	(Nosotros) somos	We are
(Tu) eres	You are	(Vosotros) sois	You guys are
(�l/Ella/Udsted) es	He/She/It/You are	(Ellos/Ellas/Udstedes) son	They/You guys are

Also, one important thing to remember: notice the different forms for You and You guys. In Spanish, there are formal and informal terms for You as I discussed in a previous Lesson's Customs. Udsted and Udstedes are formal and used when talking to superiors. Tu and Vosotros are informal and used for friends and equals. Also in Spanish, different forms for singular and plural You's are used. Tu and Udsted are singular, and you are only talking to one person. Vosotros and Udstedes are plural and you are talking to more than one person. When I do the lessons, only rarely will I use Vosotros, and only rarely will I ask you to speak formally (unless I specify). Don't worry. Things are not as difficult as they may seem.

Part II: Practica (Practice).

Match the verbs with their appropriate subject.

Verb	Subject
eres	Ellos/Ellas/Udstedes
son	Nosotros
es	Yo
sois	El/Ella/Udsted
soy	Tu
somos	Vosotros

Part III: Costumbres (Customs).

In Spanish, it is very common to not use the subject at all and use only the verb. If you look closely, you'll see that none of the forms are the same (something that annoys English Speakers because almost all of ours are the same except for the he/she/it form). This distinction between subjects makes it easy to simply forget the subject altogether.

In some tenses, however, of which we'll get to later, the forms are very similar and a subject is needed. As a rule, drop the ones that aren't needed. If you're talking about yourself and use Yo soy... people start to think you have a puffed up image of yourself or that you think your overly important in the grand scheme of things. It is very important not to make yourself appear too egotistical, unless you have something to be very conceited about.