Conjugación II: Regular verbs in the present tense
Posted 2007-09-19 08:54:46 | Comments (0)
Ok, my lovelies, you've had more than enough time to go crazy on the previous two entries to the point of having completely mastered the verbs Hacer, Ser and Estar in the present tense, right?
Well, now it's time to move on to something you'll find to be lots easier: regular verbs.
Spanish language verbs can have three different endings: -AR (as in cocinar, to cook), -ER (as in comer, to eat), or -IR (as in abrir, to open). Now, you'll see that regular verbs are fairly easy to conjugate, as the stem (the first part, or root) of the verb doesn't change: only the endings do. Additionally, -ER and -IR verbs are conjugated in a very similar way: the only termination that changes is the NOSOTROS one. You'll see this is a common pattern in the Spanish language.
-AR verbs
Model verb: Caminar (To walk)
Yo
|
camino
|
Tú
|
caminas |
Él
|
camina
|
Nosotros
|
caminamos |
Ustedes
|
caminan
|
Ellos
|
caminan
|
Notice what happens: You take the name of the verb (
caminar), you remove the -AR ending from it (
caminar), and add the termiation provided in the red letters (
tú caminas).
This works for all
regular -AR verbs.
Some examples of regular -AR verbs are
hablar (to talk or speak),
entrar (to enter, to go in),
llamar (to call),
tomar (to take, to drink),
lavar (to wash). More examples in a flashcard set to follow.
-ER and -IR verbs
Model verb I: Leer (To read)
Yo
|
leo
|
Tú
|
lees |
Él
|
lee
|
Nosotros
|
leemos |
Ustedes
|
leen |
Ellos
|
leen |
Model verb II: Escribir (To write)
Yo
|
escribo
|
Tú
|
escribes |
Él
|
escribe
|
Nosotros
|
escribimos |
Ustedes
|
escriben |
Ellos
|
escriben |
Notice the difference: Nosotros le
emos --> Nosotros escrib
imos.
Other than the different terminations, the -ER and -IR verbs work just the same way as the -AR verbs: You take the name of the verb (
leer), you remove the -ER or -IR ending from it (
leer), and add the termiation provided in the red letters (
tú lees).
This works for all
regular -ER and -IR verbs.
Some examples of regular -ER and -IR verbs are
responder (to answer),
beber (to drink),
recibir (to receive),
vivir (to live). Stay tuned for more examples and exercises.
This is as far as we'll go today. If you have any questions or would like to practice at all, don't hesitate to comment or contact me :D
infinitivo - the name of a verb, ending in -AR, -ER, or -IR