What do these things mean on a camera?

i borrowing a camera from school and i don't know what the buttons mean. what does p, tv, av, m, b, fn, ae-l mean? it is a digital slr pentax 18-55, 52mm.

I am surprised that 1) they did not train you on how to use the camera and 2) that a manual was not included.

I am assuming you are not in photography class because if you were you would know all these things by this time in the semester.

P; probably means Programmed AE (Auto Exposure) Mode
Tv; probably means Shutter priority (T for Time)
Av; probably means Aperture priority
M; probably means Metered Manual
B; probably means bulb
AE-1 might mean Auto-exposure with hyper-program

Auto-exposure with hyper-program is a Pentax thing and I don't know what it means exactly

I am guessing that you have a Pentax ist D

b is the "bulb" setting which is used for long exposure times and special flash photograpy. AE is Auto-Exposure that automatically adjusts the exposure for the brightness of the scene. fn is the aperature setting in manual mode, I am not familiar with the other ones, since the last pentax slr I used wasn't digital.

So like where's the manual that goes with that camera?

You'll find that Pentax keeps manuals (even for long ago obsolete products) online. At the link below, select the appropriate manual for the particular SLR you're using. You'll get details on each mode and all of those other buttons!

http://www.pentaximaging.com/customer_ca...