Nivel 1. Clase 19.

Los verbos en espaol!

Spanish verbs.

All verbs in Spanish can be classified in 3 groups (-ar, -er, -ir) depending on the ending of the infinitive. Some examples are:
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Ar: cantar (to sing), tomar (to take), bailar (to dance), saltar (to jump). Er: comer (to eat) saber (to know), tener (to have), coser (to sew) Ir: partir (to cut), sentir (to feel), medir (to measure).

All verbs belong to one of the mentioned categories but, at the same time, they can be divided in regular and irregular verbs.

Some example of regular verbs are: Hablar (to speak), comer (to eat), vivir (to live).

While some example of irregular verbs are: Ser (to be), ir (to go)

Furthermore a verb can be divided in Verb root and ending. The ending gives information about the person and the tense. For the present simple (Presente de indicativo) of the regular forms the endings are as follows: Verb in ar: Hablar (to speak): Yo T l/ella habl-o habl-as habl-a Nosotros Vosotros Ellos/ellas habl-amos habl-is habl-an

Verb in er: Comer (to eat): Yo T l/ela com-o com-es com-e Nosotros Vosotros Ellos/ellas com-emos com-is com-en

Verb in ir: partir (to cut) Yo T l/ella part-o part-es part-e Nosotros Vosotros Ellos/ellas part-imos part-s part-en

What is common among the 3 groups? Exactly! That the root is the infinitive without ar, -er or ir! Furthermore you can see that the ending for the 3 groups are quite similar and that the first person singular (yo) always is the same.

What about the irregular verbs? I am afraid you will have to memorize them! Furthermore Spanish has three verbal modes, indicativo, subjuntivo and imperativo, personal forms and impersonal forms (infinitivo, gerundio and participio) and simple and compound verbs. Dont worry! You dont need to learn all of that now. Right now we are going to focus on the present form of the indicative.

Presente de indicativo: When to use it? 1- To give or ask for general information. For example: Cmo te llamas? (What is your name?)

2- To talk about usual facts. Normalmente estudio dos horas (usually I study 2 hours).

3- To talk about an action that will be done in a very near future. Llego en un momento (I will be there in a minute).

4- To talk about universal facts: La vida es corta (life is short).

5- To give or ask for instructions: Voy a Paris de vacaciones? (Shall I spend my holidays in Paris?)
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Lo abres y lo cierras (you should open and close it). How to use it?

AR Yo T l/ella Nosotros Vosotros Ellos -o -as/-s -a -amos -is -an

ER -o -es/-s -e -emos -is -en

IR verbs. -o -es/-s -e -imos -s -en

Furthermore some verbs changes vowels (like IE instead E, UE instead O, UE instead U or I instead E), and some verbs change consonant. Pay attention to the new verbs to see if this is the case.