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Let’s keep working on Poner and Ponerse. We’ll practice the preterite (puse, puso, pusiste, etc.) as well as the subjunctive forms, imperatives, and contractions.
¡Ponte feliz!
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Today we’re going to learn more conjugations of Poner, the Spanish verb that means “put”. Let’s do a quick review of some of the forms we learned yesterday. How would you say:
He puts it in the house.
Lo pone en la casa.
You put your clothes on every day.
Te pones tu ropa todos los días.
They get happy when she is present.
Se ponen felices cuando ella está.
We have gotten sad.
Nos hemos puesto tristes.
Let’s learn the preterite forms of Poner. These are pretty irregular in a similar way to the preterite forms of Poder. So remember that in Poder, the preterite forms that we learned were pude for “I was able” and pudo for “he/she was able”. There’s an inexplicable letter U in the first syllable. Well, in Poner, something even stranger happens. The form for “I put”, in the preterite tense, is puse. And the form for “he/she/usted put” is puso. So not only is there a strange letter U, there’s also a letter S that randomly appears in these preterite forms.
Here’s an example:
He got sad when I said that.
Se puso triste cuando dije eso.
I didn’t get happy upon leaving.
No me puse feliz al irme.
Let’s practice these a bit.
I put those on the table.
Puse esos en the table.
Puse esos en la mesa.
He put it in the basket.
Lo puso en the basket.
Lo puso en la cesta.
She got sad with the book(m), which was about the war.
Se puso triste con the book, el cual era sobre the war.
Se puso triste con el libro, el cual era sobre la guerra.
I got happy when I found it out.
Me puse feliz cuando lo supe.
Many say that she got sad when she found that out.
Muchos dicen que se puso triste cuando supo eso.
I put(past) on a jacket, but it doesn’t look good on my body.
Me puse a jacket, pero no it looks good en mi cuerpo.
Me puse una chaqueta, pero no se ve bien en mi cuerpo.
Now of course, this begs the question — when would you translate something as se puso or me puse rather than estuvo or estuve? Check out this sentence, for example:
Afterwards I got sad.
This sentence could be translated as either después estuve triste or después me puse triste. But actually, me puse is a bit more likely, because it places more emphasis on getting into the state rather than being in it. So in general in our quizzing going forward, when we use the English verb “get” or “got” in situations like this, you can expect to use Ponerse.
Now let’s learn the rest of the preterite forms of Poner. They all start with p-u-s, with endings that rhyme with the preterite forms of Ir; so we have pusiste, pusieron, and pusimos. For example:
(preterite) We put it where they put it.
Lo pusimos donde ellos lo pusieron.
Did you get sad afterwards?
¿Te pusiste triste después?
Let’s practice these. In this first example, you can translate “which ones” simply as cuáles.
Which ones are the ones(m) that you put on the floor?
¿Cuáles son los que pusiste en the floor?
¿Cuáles son los que pusiste en el piso?
We got sad because you got sad.
Nos pusimos tristes porque tú te pusiste triste.
They put it there, for there wasn’t another place.
Lo pusieron ahí, pues no había otro lugar.
They got nervous before the exam(m).
Se pusieron nervous antes del exam.
Se pusieron nerviosos antes del examen.
Now let’s go to the subjunctive. All of these forms are based on ponga, which is similar to pongo, the first person singular. So the forms are ponga, pongas, pongan, and pongamos. Here’s an example:
I want them to put on their best clothes.
Quiero que se pongan su mejor ropa.
Let’s practice the subjunctive forms of Poner.
She wants us to put it in the trash can.
Quiere que lo pongamos en the trash can.
Quiere que lo pongamos en el basurero.
I‘m not sure(f) that my dear son will get sad.
No estoy segura de que mi querido hijo se ponga triste.
I want them to get happy with this.
Quiero que se pongan felices con esto.
She wants you(formal) to put this on.
Ella quiere que usted se ponga esto.
It might be that she’ll put that in her backpack.
Puede que ponga eso en su backpack.
Puede que ponga eso en su mochila.
I’m not sure(m) you’ll get sad.
No estoy seguro de que te pongas triste.
I don’t want you to put your mind in those people’s hands.
No quiero que pongas tu mente en manos de esa gente.
He gives me a lot of work so that I get anxious.
Me da mucho trabajo para que me ponga anxious.
Me da mucho trabajo para que me ponga nervioso.
Next, let’s work on imperatives. These are actually some of the most common forms. The basic informal imperative is a very short word, pon, spelled p-o-n. For example:
Put that here.
Pon eso aquí.
Let’s put this in a formal voice using ponga.
(formal) Put that here.
Ponga eso aquí.
The contraction ponlo is also common. For example:
Put it where he put it yesterday.
Ponlo donde él lo puso ayer.
And then we can turn Ponerse into an imperative using ponte. We’ll do this any time we’re telling someone how they should be or what they should wear. For example:
Get happy!
¡Ponte feliz!
(This is literally “put yourself happy”.)
To put this in a formal voice, we’ll use póngase. For example:
Please put on your best clothes.
Por favor póngase su mejor ropa.
Let’s also learn an idiom that involves Ponerse imperatives. In English, when we want someone to try to sympathize with someone else’s situation, sometimes we say “put yourself in their shoes”. In Spanish, you simply tell them to put themself in their “place”, or lugar. Here’s a simple example:
Put yourself in my shoes.
Ponte en mi lugar.
Let’s practice this and all our new imperatives.
Put it where I told you.
Ponlo donde te dije.
Please, put on this shirt(f), which I chose for you (formal).
Por favor, póngase esta shirt, la cual I chose para usted.
Por favor, póngase esta camisa, la cual elegí para usted.
Put those on the table, please.
Pon esos en the table, por favor.
Pon esos en la mesa, por favor.
In this next one, “for once” is por una vez.
Who are going to put themselves in my shoes for once?
¿Quiénes se van a poner en mi lugar por una vez?
Don’t put it there or it will break! (formal)
¡No lo ponga ahí o it will break!
¡No lo ponga ahí o se va a dañar!
Put that on and give me a hand with this!
¡Ponte eso y dame una mano con esto!
It’s also worth pointing out that there are a few contractions that are used all the time: ponerme, ponerte, and ponerse. Here are some examples:
You left without getting sad.
Te fuiste sin ponerte triste.
I did it in order to put myself in his shoes.
Lo hice para ponerme en su lugar.
Instead of putting themselves in my shoes, they ignored me.
En lugar de ponerse en mi lugar, no me hicieron caso.
Remember that you can dive more deeply into any of this using the free online flashcards here! Or if you’re ready, let’s get some more practice using today’s final quiz.
In this first one, to turn on music or to put on a song, you simply “put” the music or the song. See how much of the Spanish you can guess.
They are going to get happy when you put on that song.
Van a ponerse felices cuando pongas that song.
Van a ponerse felices cuando pongas esa canción.
You put that where nobody had put it before.
Pusiste eso donde nadie lo había puesto antes.
I have to put on my clothes for the party.
Tengo que ponerme la ropa para la fiesta.
(formal) Put this on, it’ll complement your face.
Póngase esto, it’ll complement su cara.
Póngase esto, complementará su cara.
Please, put yourself in my shoes.
Por favor, ponte en mi lugar.
My head says one thing, but my heart says another.
Mi cabeza dice una cosa, pero mi corazón dice otra.
She put the needle here to draw blood.
Puso the needle aquí para draw sangre.
Puso la aguja aquí para sacar sangre.
María and Ignacio are going to get sad.
María e Ignacio van a ponerse tristes.
We put drops in his eyes.
Le pusimos drops en los ojos.
Le pusimos gotas en los ojos.
(formal) Please, put that here now!
Por favor, ¡ponga eso aquí ahora!
Put this in the same place that she put it.
Pon esto en el mismo lugar que ella lo puso.
You don’t have to get sad.
No tienes que ponerte triste.
I don’t want the baby to put anything in his mouth.
No quiero que el bebé se ponga nada en la boca.
You’re putting a lot of things in this house.
Pones muchas cosas en esta casa.
He wants that man, who is his father, to put more effort.
Quiere que ese hombre, quien es su padre, ponga más effort.
Quiere que ese hombre, quien es su padre, ponga más esfuerzo.
You didn’t put your clothes on yet; you have to put them on now.
No te pusiste la ropa aún, te la tienes que poner ahora.
He wants me to put myself in his shoes and do something.
Quiere que me ponga en su lugar y haga algo.
These plates(m), which you have to put here, are very big.
Estos plates, los cuales tienes que poner aquí, son muy grandes.
Estos platos, los cuales tienes que poner aquí, son muy grandes.
We don’t put those things there.
No ponemos esas cosas ahí.
I’m going to get sad, even though I know he’s going to do it.
Voy a ponerme triste, aunque sé que lo va a hacer.
She can give me work or opportunities.
Me puede dar trabajo u oportunidades.
He wants me to put in more effort.
Quiere que yo ponga más effort.
Quiere que yo ponga más esfuerzo.
Please, put on these shoes, which are Italian. (formal)
Por favor, póngase estos shoes, los cuales son Italian.
Por favor, póngase estos zapatos, los cuales son italianos.
She wants them to put their things in boxes.
Quiere que pongan sus cosas en boxes.
Quiere que pongan sus cosas en cajas.
Put it in the kitchen while we cook.
Ponlo en the kitchen mientras we cook.
Ponlo en la cocina mientras cocinamos.
She doesn’t have to get sad because of this.
No tiene que ponerse triste por esto.
I want her to put them in the sink.
Quiero que los ponga en the sink.
Quiero que los ponga en el lavaplatos.
(preterite) I put in a lot of effort(m) with all my being.
Puse mucho effort con todo mi ser.
Puse mucho esfuerzo con todo mi ser.
Put on your clothes, we have to leave!
¡Ponte la ropa, tenemos que irnos!
My loved ones and I put(past) our things here.
Mis seres queridos y yo pusimos nuestras cosas aquí.
If I put(present) this here, it won’t be where I put(past) it before.
Si pongo esto aquí, no va a estar donde lo puse antes.
They are putting their hands in the fire, which isn’t a good idea.
Ponen las manos en the fire, lo cual no es una buena idea.
Ponen las manos en el fuego, lo cual no es una buena idea.
She wants us to put something to stop the blood.
Quiere que pongamos algo para stop la sangre.
Quiere que pongamos algo para detener la sangre.
They put a tree or another plant(f) there.
Pusieron un tree u otra plant ahí.
Pusieron un árbol u otra planta ahí.
Put that thing where they put it!
¡Pon esa cosa donde ellos la pusieron!
He puts the car in the garage.
Pone the car en the garage.
Pone el auto en el garaje.
To get more practice with these sentences, join the free course here and quiz yourself with them until you’re acing this.
In tomorrow’s episode, we’re going to work on some essential adverbs, including the words for “maybe”, “exactly”, and “almost”.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. Our music was provided by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today using our free course — join here.
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