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# 1 Saying your name

To start this week, you will learn how to say your name using the verb ser (‘to be’).

## Verbs: ser (‘to be’)

Verbs in Spanish are conjugated; this means that they change according to which person they refer to. For most verbs, conjugating involves changing the verb ending, but ser and a few other commonly used verbs are irregular which means you need to learn the different forms individually.

## Table 1 Ser (‘to be’)

| ser |
--- | --- | ---
(yo) | soy | I am
(tú) | eres | you are
(usted) | es | you are
(él, ella) | es | he, she is
Soy Martín. |  | I’m Martín.
¿Eres Mónica? |  | Are you Mónica?
¿Usted es la señora Pérez? |  | Are you Mrs Pérez?
Es José María. |  | He is José María.

Note that in Spanish it is not always necessary to use the personal pronouns for ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’ or ‘she’.

## Activity 1

Listen to the audio, in which people are saying their names, and write down the word they all use before saying it.

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◄Contents►Next: 2 Formal and informal form of address

OpenLearn - Getting started with Spanish 1
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