Irregular Spanish Verbs

How to Conjugate Spanish Verbs

It is important to fully understand exactly what a verb is and what it used for before moving on to learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs, so here is a brief explanation for those who require some clarity.

Verbs are probably the most important part of any sentence as they describe either an action, a state or an occurrence.

• Most commonly used as an action word, a verb will describe something that is being done, for example, I sing or they talk.
• Here are a couple of examples when a verb is used to express a state of being: My name is David, I am English.
• Finally, an occurrence or something that is happening: The rain bounced off the ground or the snow glistened.

So now we have covered, in the most basic of explanations, what a verb is we should turn our attention to understanding exactly what is meant by conjugation.

What is Conjugation?

Conjugation is when a verb changes its form to indicate when and by whom an action is undertaken. In English, verb conjugation is not as severe as in other languages, namely Spanish, and verb conjugation is not as much of an issue. There are exceptions, of course, like the verb ‘to be’; I am, you are, he is etc. but verbs are generally much easier to learn in English.

In Spanish, verbs have many different conjugations and each one indicates who performs the action and the tense (when it was performed!) and we will now take a look at how the simplest groups of verbs are conjugated.

Spanish Regular Verbs

In Spanish, the infinitive of a verb is a single word unlike in English where it is composed of two; the infinitive ‘to have‘ is ‘tener’ in Spanish.

However, the Spanish verb does break down into two parts called the stem and the ending. Let me explain. There are three groups of verbs in Spanish, these groups are called the ar,er and ir verb groups, they are so called because every Spanish verb ends in either ar, er or ir. These endings are preceded by, what is known as, the stem, which is basically the verb with the ending being the equivalent of the English ‘to‘.

In the majority of tenses, the ending is replaced, and the new ending will indicate who is performing an action and when it happens; these changes to the verb are collectively called conjugation.

Spanish has a high number of irregular verbs that are hard to learn because they have very difficult conjugations, often changing, not only the endings but, the stem as well. In order to to give yourself the best chance of learning these irregular verbs it is vitally important to know basic conjugation as used when working with regular verbs.

Here is an example of a regular verb from each of the three verb groups as conjugated in the present tense.

Bailar (to dance) a regular -ar verb

Singular

• bail-o I dance
• bail-as you dance
• bail-a he, she dances
• bail-a you dance (polite)

Plural

• bail-amos we dance
• bail-áis you dance
• bail-an they dance
• bail-an you dance (polite)

Vivir (to live) a regular -ir verb

Singular

• viv-o I live
• viv-es you live
• viv-e he, she lives
• viv-e you live (polite)

Plural

• viv-imos we live
• viv-ís you live
• viv-en they live
• viv-en you live (polite)

Comer (to eat) a regular -er verb

Singular

• com-o I eat
• com-es you eat
• com-e he, she eats
• com-e you eat (polite)

Plural

• com-emos we eat
• com-éis you eat
• com-en they eat
• com-en you eat (polite)

There are a number of similarities that you will notice here.

• Firstly, all first person singular conjugations end with ‘o’, irrespective of which verb group.
• Secondly, er and ir verb groups have the same endings apart from the 1st and 2nd person plural, we and you. This similarity between the ir and er verbs is consistent through many of the different tenses and does make conjugating them a little easier!

Unfortunately, the explanation above is just the first step down the road of mastering Spanish verb conjugation, there are many more tenses that need to be learnt and there are also, as mentioned, many irregular verbs too but the above is the foundation on which your verb studies will be based.

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If you are a little more advanced in your studies why not have a read of my previous post that covers the Spanish Past Tense. If you are finding mastering verbs and verb conjugation too difficult or would like help learning them then check out my Verbarrator Review. It’s a fantastic learning tool for quickly getting to grips with Spanish verbs and it is the only Spanish software program that I still use frequently!

Online Conjugator Spanish - The Verbarrator

The Spanish online conjugator is, undeniably, one of the most effective learning tools currently available that is capable of helping students learn Spanish quickly, in particular, the conjugation of Spanish verbs, which is so often the stumbling block for many of them.

For years linguists have been trying new methods and techniques that would aid in the learning of Spanish. Everything from image association and various other memorization techniques to subconscious study (listening to Spanish whilst sleeping!).

Some of these techniques were effective, whilst others were…well let’s just say, a little gimmicky! Many of the effective methods are still used today but they only really improved how Spanish was learnt and not the time taken to do so.

Also, the effective learning techniques were better suited for nouns, adjective and verb infinitives and not for learning the conjugation of verbs (I am referring to image association, by the way!).

Why an online conjugator, Spanish verb practice tool so effective?

Spanish verb conjugation is notoriously difficult to master and, because of this, it is one of the most time consuming areas of Spanish study.

The traditional method of learning Spanish verb conjugations has always been to use a verb conjugation book and recite, recite and recite some more until the necessary information had been completely memorized…hence why it took so long to learn conjugation.

However, the online conjugator has helped substantially and although the earliest offerings were basically online verb conjugation books, that did little, if anything at all, to improve the situation, the most recent additions have completely transformed how Spanish verbs are studied, specifically the ‘Verbarrator’.

Learning verb conjugation has always been tedious and time consuming, some have said it is like riding a bicycle with flat tyres up a hill, sure you’ll get there in the end but boy it’s hard work, and it is for this reason that so many people give up on learning Spanish beyond being able to order a coffee.

Now…imagine what it would be like if you actually started enjoying the study of verb conjugation and mastered them much quicker than you could have ever imagined!

This is what the current crop of online conjugators offer and why they are an invaluable Spanish verb practice and training tool for anyone serious about learning Spanish well and quickly.

For more information about the ‘Verbarrator’ verb conjugation software check out my review of it by clicking Verbarrator Review. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, why not check out my previous post on how to
Conjugate Ser in the preterite tense, it’s concise and very helpful!

How to Conjugate Ser in the Preterite Tense

Learning how to conjugate ser in the preterite tense can be a little confusing for students for two reasons. And they are that -

• the preterite conjugation of ser is highly irregular
• it shares the exact same conjugation as the Spanish verb ir, meaning ‘to go’.

The first reason shouldn’t come as a surprise to most students who have encountered ser when studying conjugations in other tenses as it is one of the most irregular verbs in Spanish, but the degree of irregularity in the preterite still surprises most of them.

The second reason is generally the most confusing aspect of ser in the preterite as the question that is often asked is whether it means ‘was’ or ‘went’?. Once explained however, the confusion is short lived. Although, before you are enlightened further, with the use of some examples, we should look at how ser in conjugated in the preterite first of all!

The Preterite Form of Ser (…and Ir!)

• fui - I was
• fuiste - you was
• fue - he was
• fuimos - we were
• fuisteis - you were
• fueron - they were

Now that you have been shown the conjugation above that is used for both ser and ir, I should perhaps explain how you can tell whether it is ‘was’ or ‘went’ that is being used.

All you need do is simply listen to, or read, the context in which the verb is being used!

For example:

• Ella fue una mal mujer – which means, she was a bad woman.
• Ella fue al mercado which means, she went to the market

As you can see both sentences begin with the same conjugation but the context defines which verb is being used. I mean, it would make no sense what so ever to say ’she went a bad woman’ or ’she was to the market’ now…would it?

If you would like a little more of an insight into how to conjugate in the Spanish preterite tense or better still, check out my review of a training tool that will help you master Spanish verbs QUICKLY, in all tenses, including the preterite, by reading my Verbarrator Review.

How to Conjugate in Spanish

Learning how to conjugate in Spanish is without doubt the most difficult part of learning the Spanish language. Spanish has an extremely high number of irregular verbs, some more irregular than others, and as well as having to learn new conjugations for all of the common tenses there is also the subjunctive to learn, which is rarely used in English but extremely common in Spanish.

When considering all of the factors spelled out above, it is little wonder that many students give up all because they fail to master Spanish verb conjugation.

However, there is a new software program that has been a resounding success in helping struggling students get past their personal stumbling blocks and it does it quickly too!

The name of that program is Verbarrator and it not only provides excellent verb training but it is enjoyable to use and speeds up the learning process! More about the Verbarrator later…back to learning to conjugate in Spanish!

The simplest way to explain how to conjugate in Spanish is to show Spanish conjugation in it’s simplest form which is a regular verb in the present tense. If you are not aware already, you need to know that there are three different verb groups in Spanish, and those groups are comprised of verbs that end in ar, er and ir.

Here is the basic present tense conjugation for a verb from each of the regular verb groups.

• Trabajar – to work
• I work – trabajo
• You work – trabajas
• he/she works – trabaja
• we work – trabajamos
• you all work – trabajaís
• they work – trabajan

• Abrir – to open
• I open – abro
• You open – abres
• he/she open – abre
• we open – abrimos
• you all open – abrís
• they open – abren

• Aprender – to learn
• I learn – aprendo
• You learn – aprendes
• he/she learn – aprende
• we learn – aprendemos
• you all learn – aprendéis
• they learn – aprenden

Please remember, these are just the basics, for more on verb conjugation why not visit our main site irregular spanish verbs and sign up for the free verb conjugation book that includes full conjugation sheets for 50 of the most commonly used regular verbs or check out our verbarrator review, the newest verb training software online.

Spanish verb conjugation is an extremely important part of learning Spanish, unfortunately it is also one of the most difficult aspects of studying the language and as such is disliked by most students. However, if the objective of the student is to become fluent then Spanish verb conjugation is one aspect of the Spanish language that requires the student to have a complete mastery of. .. continue reading ..