📖LearnModule 2 · Lesson 1 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, completedUnit 1 · El presente — the full present tense
Ser — the whole present
Module 2 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 1 of 30: Module 1 gave you soy, eres, es. On this page: 10 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
nosotros somos
we are
noh-SOH-trohs SOH-mohs
ustedes son
you are (plural)
oos-TEH-dehs SOHN
ellos son
they are (m)
EH-yohs SOHN
ellas son
they are (f)
EH-yahs SOHN
nosotros
we
noh-SOH-trohs
nosotras
we (all female)
noh-SOH-trahs
ustedes
you (plural)
oos-TEH-dehs
ellos
they (m or mixed)
EH-yohs
ellas
they (all female)
EH-yahs
nosotros somos amigos
we are friends
noh-SOH-trohs SOH-mohs ah-MEE-gohs
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Module 1 gave you soy, eres, es. The other half: nosotros somos (we are), ustedes son (you all are), ellos son / ellas son (they are). Six forms, and the last two are the same word.
Y también · And also
Ustedes is the plural "you" of Latin America, for friends and strangers alike. Ellos is "they" for men or a mixed group; ellas is for women only. Nosotras, likewise, is a group of women saying we.
Ojo · Watch out
ustedes takes the same verb form as ellos: ustedes son, ellos son. And nosotras is what an all-female group says for we; nosotros covers everyone else.
ser, presente — the table
yo soy · tú eres · él/ella/usted es · nosotros somos · ustedes son · ellos/ellas son
Do it now — on paper
Say all 10 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with nosotros somos.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out ser, presente in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.