How To Conjugate In Spanish

The conjugation of Spanish verbs has always been looked upon as one of the most difficult

areas of learning Spanish, especially when compared to verbs in English which are relatively easy in comparison. Unfortunately, irrespective of the difficulty, learning how to conjugate in Spanish is unavoidable but it can be made easier and much more enjoyable.

The easiest way to explain conjugation in Spanish is to use a Spanish verb in its simplest form and in its simplest tense, these would be a regular verb and the present tense. There is one other thing...there are three different verb groups in Spanish and each has it's own slightly different forms.

In Spanish, every verb will have one of three endings, these are -ar, -er and -ir. These endings are added onto, what is commonly referred to as, the 'stem' of the verb.

The stem is the equivalent of the verb in our English verb infinitive and the ending is, what many refer to as, the preceding 'to', eg; 'to have' would be 'tener', ten- being the stem and therefore the actual verb, and -er basically means 'to'.

To conjugate in Spanish you would normally drop the endings and replace with new endings, although there are tenses when this is not the case, in particular the future and the conditional. Here are examples of a regular verb from each of the three verb groups conjugated in the present tense.

Hablar - to speak

I speak - hablo

You speak - hablas

he/she speaks - habla

we speak - hablamos

you all speak - hablas

they speak - hablan

Vivir - to live

I live - vivo

You live - vives

he/she lives - vive

we live - vivimos

you all live - vivs

they live - viven

Comer - to eat

I eat - como

You eat - comes

he/she eats - come

we eat - comemos

you all eat - comis

they eat - comen

As stated this is the most basic way to conjugate in Spanish. There are many irregular verbs that do not follow these patterns and many different tenses that all have completely different endings.

In short, conjugation is a massive learning curve...However, there is a way to make learning Spanish conjugation a lot easier and more enjoyable and, at the same time, increase the speed at which you learn Spanish!

If you are struggling with learning how to conjugate verbs a Spanish verb conjugation software program is the answer.

by: Gen Wright

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