Tag: Spanish verb



4 Nov 10

What is the Best Spanish Verb App?

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

Best Spanish Verbs App?The best Spanish verb app?…A week ago I couldn’t have told you but if you are one of those, ‘up with the times’ kind of people, unlike myself, then you are probably into apps in a big way! So it is not surprising to find that there are a number of Spanish verb apps currently available. I will not even attempt to try and sound like an expert on apps as I would probably sound a bit foolish, but I will call upon an expert in apps that I know…my nephew!

I have been asked on many occasions if I know of the best Spanish verb app and I have to confess that in order to provide an acceptable answer I had to consult with my hi-tech nephew for an informed response. He provided me with a shortlist which I checked out but there was one thing that I would like to stress before going any further…if you want the best tool for learning Spanish verbs there is absolutely no comparison between any of the apps my nephew showed me and the ‘verbarrator‘ verb training software which you can check out a review of by clicking on the link.

But if it is the best Spanish verb app you are after then you wouldn’t go far wrong by downloading the FREE app Spanish Verbs Ultimate, it does have a few minor mistakes that are currently being corrected and the app is also being actively updated regularly.


Filed under: Spanish Verb Conjugation

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23 Apr 10

Spanish Past Tense – The Difference Between Imperfect and Preterite

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

Spanish Past Tense

Spanish Past Tense

The Spanish past tense throws up a problem for many students and that is whether they should use the imperfect or preterite?

In Spanish, the two simple past tenses that are predominantly used, are called the Imperfect and the Preterite and it is perfectly understandable for students, who are learning about past tenses for the first time, to be unsure as to which of these two tenses to use and when.

It goes without saying that both tenses are used to describe past actions or states but each is used differently and the following rules will hopefully clear up any confusion.

When to Use the Preterite

The preterite tense is used to express an action that was completed at some time in the past, listed here are some specific uses and examples:

  • When referring to a series of actions in the past:
    • Me desayuné, limpié la casa y me fui a la estación – I had breakfast, cleaned the house, and went to the station.
  • When referring to the beginning or the end of a past event:
    • La fiesta empezó a las diez – The party began at 10:00
  • When referring to things that are seen as being complete:
    • Dejó el trabajo hace un año – You left the job a year ago

When to Use the Imperfect
The imperfect tense expresses an action or state  that was ongoing during the past and if it is uncertain whether it has been completed. Specific uses and examples are listed below:

  • To explain an action that a person did in the past habitually:
    • Cuando estábamos en el colegio, jugábamos al fútbol todos los jueves. – When we were at school, we used to play football every Thursday
  • To refer to an action without making reference to an end or a beginning:
    • Mi mujer tenía dolores de cabeza frecuentes – My wife had frequent headaches
  • When referring to actions that were taking place simultaneously in the past:
    • Mi hijo miraba televisión y mi hija cantaba – My son was watching television and my daughter was singing
  • When describing physical, emotional or mental states or conditions:
    • Estaba tan feliz que quería llorar – I was so happy that I wanted to cry
  • When referring to a past time:
    • Eran las ocho y media de la tarde – It was 8:30 p.m.
    • Era la una de la mañana – It was 1:00 a.m.
  • When describing an action or state that happened at some point in the past and that lasted for a certain amount of time and that happened prior to another past action.
    • Hacía todo el día que esperando cuando mi mujer llegó – I had been waiting all day when my when arrived

Hopefully, these guidelines will provide the clarity you need.

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Why not check out my previous post about the benefits of an online conjugator Spanish verb trainer or if you would rather read about a spanish verb conjugator that will help you to learn Spanish verb conjugation better and quicker than any other method check out my Verbarrator Review


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15 Apr 10

Learning How to Conjugate in Spanish

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

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.


Filed under: Conjugate in Spanish

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7 Feb 10

How to Conjugate the Spanish Verb Querer

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

Learning the conjugation of irregular Spanish verbs is never easy and querer is one such verb that is both highly irregular and, at the same time, very widely used. This article explores the irregularities of the verb querer and provides specific conjugations of the most used irregular tenses.

The Spanish verb querer is a commonly used verb that is highly irregular, and as such will require special attention from the student. Querer is more commonly used as the Spanish equivalent to the English verb, to want but is also used as an alternative to amar, meaning, to love.

Querer is a stem changing verb which is a verb that is often referred to as a regular irregular verb because the verb endings are consistent to those of a regular verb, with the exception of the preterite. In the case of querer the e in the stem changes to ie when conjugated in some tenses and in other tenses the single r will change to a double rr. However, the most drastic change is when the verb is used in the past tenses, the stem quer- changing to quis- for no apparent reason!

I will start by highlighting the Present tense. The verb endings, as mentioned, follow the pattern of a regular -er verb, but the stem changes subtly. This specific change to the stem also occurs in the Subjunctive Present tense and the Imperative.

Present Tense Conjugation

  • yo quiero – I want
  • tú quieres – you want
  • usted/él/ella quiere – you, he or she wants
  • nosotros/as queremos – we want
  • vosotros/as queréis – you (all) want
  • ustedes/ellos/ellas quieren – you (all), they want

It is worth noting that the stem in the first and second person plural do not change, and this is also the case for the other tenses affected by this irregularity.

The preterite is a tense that is very often irregular for many verbs and querer is no exception, with the stem changing drastically as highlighted here and also the regular -er endings for yo and él/usted are replaced by -e and -o respectively:

Preterite Conjugation

  • yo quise – I wanted
  • tú quisiste – you wanted
  • usted/él/ella quiso – you, he or she wanted
  • nosotros/as quisimos – we wanted
  • vosotros/as quisisteis – you (all) wanted
  • ustedes/ellos/ellas quisieron – you (all), they wanted

Unlike the present tense the irregularity covers all persons. This specific irregularity is also experienced in the conjugations of the Subjunctive Imperfect and Future tenses and again applies to every form.

The final irregularity is encountered when using querer is when the -r changes to -rr and this happens when the verb is used in the Future and Conditional Tenses, again the irregularity covers all formations in both tenses.

Future Tense Conjugation

  • yo querré – I will want
  • tú querrás – you will want
  • usted/él/ella querrá – you, he or she will want
  • nosotros/as querremos – we will want
  • vosotros/as querréis – you (all) will want
  • ustedes/ellos/ellas querrán – you (all), they will want

So, as you can see, querer will take some getting to know but with the use of a Spanish verb conjugator for verb training there is no reason why Querer cannot be learned quickly and used confidently.

Are you having problems remembering the correct conjugations of Spanish verbs? Check out the internet’s newest and best Spanish Verb Conjugator that is designed to help you train and memorize Spanish verbs better than ever before! Click Here for more information.


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6 Feb 10

What’s the Best Way to Improve a Spanish Verb Conjugator Trainer?

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Spanish verb conjugators have been used for as long as languages have been taught. Question is how can traditional verb conjugation tables be improved upon to make the job of learning Spanish verb conjugation easier and quicker? .. continue reading ..


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1 Feb 10

Why is Preparation the Key to Successfully Learning Spanish?

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

When contemplating learning a new language such as Spanish most people will be eager to start and excited at the prospect and many believe that they will not find it difficult to do so, and for some that may well be the case. .. continue reading ..


Filed under: Learn Spanish,Spanish Verb Conjugator

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