6. Expandamos nuestra habilidad de hablar: Conjugación de verbos

In addition to understanding the general meaning of what you read and being able to answer questions about location and phone, you may have noticed again verbs that were highlighted in “morado” from this dialogue and the previous one. This section will show you how to conjugate verbs—that means taking the infinitive or non-specific verb and breaking it down to correspond or agree with each subject you will encounter in Spanish.

As a review, you learned that verbs tell you the ___________ that someone is doing.

In Spanish, there are (hay) _______ types of verbs. These end in _____ _____ or _____.

Verbs ending in _____ _____ or ____ are known as ___________ because they are not yet conjugated (broken out specifically by subject.)

Think of Buzz Lightyear: to Infinity and Beyond

Infinity—unknown ending

Infinitive—unknown subject.

Each of the 3 verb types has its own endings by person.

• You will take off the infinitive ending à this gives you the ROOT or the STEM.
• Take the root and add the subject specific ending to get your conjugated verb.

When you have a verb such as “Necesitar”à to need, simply follow these steps:

1. Drop the infinitive ending (in this case, AR)
2. Take the root, “Necesit” ,and add the verb ending that corresponds to the subject.
3. If the subject is “yo”, add the yo ending for an AR verb per the chart below (o).
   • The result à necesito—I need.

This was a review of what you studied in the previous units. The verbs that follow the pattern above are known as regular verbs. They follow the 3 steps noted above and have no changes to them. Three of them were underlined in the conversation between Rosa y Raquel.

You may have noticed the verbs in morado in the dialogue above between Rosa y Raquel. Those verbs are referred to as irregular verbs because they do not follow the 3 steps above and require a bit more effort on the language learner’s part to master them.

So far you have learned a few irregular verbs such as:

SER—to be (soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son)

TENER—to have (tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen)

VENIR—to come (vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís, vienen)

DECIR—to say/tell (digo, dices, dice, decimos, decís, dicen)

IR—to go (voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van)

ESTAR—to be (estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están)

You also learned a few verbs that change in the “Yo” form only. We referred to these as the “go” verbs; for example poner–pongo; salir–salgo (Unit 3). There are a few others that have a change in the “Yo” form for you to practice.

Verbs such as Conducir—to drive; Traducir—to translate; Producir—to produce have a pattern. Other verbs such as Conocer—to know or be acquainted with a person, place or familiarity with a person or place also fit in this group of “Yo” changers although they change in a different way than the “go” group. We will learn more about conocer in the next unit but for now you will gain experience in forming the verb conjugations.

Did you notice anything that conducir, traducir and producir have in common?

It is noted in the chart below for the “YO” form only:

• If the inifinitive ends in ucir à then add a Z before the C in the root
• If the infinitive ends in cer * à then add a Z before the C in the root

Please learn the patterns of the verbs that have the “zc” changes.*Remember “hacer” is part of the “go” verb changers and the rule above does not apply to hacer.

Please answer the questions in Spanish:

1. ¿Conduces a Geneseo? __________________________________________
2. ¿Qué días conduces a Geneseo? _____________________________
3. ¿Traduces mucho en la clase de español? _________________
4. ¿Traducen de inglés a español los estudiantes? ____________________
5. ¿Qué produce Apple o Dell? ___________________________________
6. ¿Conoces bien Geneseo? ________________________________
7. ¿Reduces la cantidad de basura por reciclar las cosas plásticas? ________________________________________________________

Many verbs have their unique changes. The best way to learn them is to create flashcards with the verb infinitive on one side and the meaning and if the verb is regular o irregular.

Another way to master the many irregular verbs in their infinitive is noted for you in the chart below. Take the verb Acordar for example and provide all the conjugations for it in the present tense. Repeat until you have mastered the fact that Acordar is an irregular verb.

So how are these verbs irregular and exactly what are does that mean?

IRREGULAR VERBS in the PRESENT TENSE in the INDICATIVE MOOD:

In order to succeed in conjugating verbs you need to know the AR, ER and IR verb endings well. They apply to the irregular verbs as well as the regular verbs. One factor that makes an irregular verb “irregular” is that the “root” or “stem” changes but the endings are the same as they would be for AR, ER or IR verbs.

Let’s see an example:

Empezar (to begin) is an irregular verb. The root or stem is “empez” and the ending is “AR”.The endings for the “AR” verbs that you already know are:

Empezar is an irregular verb because it has a change in the root or stem: “EMPEZ” à the second “E” changes to “IE.”

The change in the root or stem applies to all forms except nosotros and vosotros. To provide you with a visual for this concept, think of this verb as a “boot verb”.

Notice that nosotros and vosotros forms are outside of the boot. This means all forms change in the stem EXCEPT nosotros and vosotros.

Remember that as you study the vocabulary after this section practice conjugating all forms several times to master the stem changing verbs. Hint: Many dictionaries indicate a verb is a stem changing verb by placing the vowel pattern in parenthesis after the word. This may prompt you to recall the correct conjugations.

Pensar (e à ie) —to think

Comenzar (e à ie) —to begin

Querer (e à ie) —to want, wish, love

(Notice that this is an “ER” verb so use the “ER” endings.)

The following irregulars change the “o” to ue” in the root. Again the endings are all the same as your regular AR, ER, IR endings. Let’s start with poder (to be able to.) You are already an expert on this verb in the “yo” form—yo puedo.

Poder (o à ue) —to be able/can

Practice with the following verbs; ACORDAR, VOLVER and DORMIR. As you do so, pay attention to the type of verb each of these represents and, of course, to their stem change.

ACORDAR DE (o à ue) —to remember

*Notice that “acordar” always is followed by the preposition de

VOLVER (o à ue) —to return

DORMIR (o à ue) —to sleep

JUGAR A (u à ue) —to play a game or sport.

*Notice that Jugar always is followed by the preposition a when speaking about a game or sport only; not when playing with a person.

SERVIR (eà i) —to serve

Practiquemos: Let’s practice

Use this list of verb related vocabulary for the unit on the next page. Print and fold the list in half and quiz yourself by writing and speaking the answers to the expressions. (A master list of the vocabulary in this format may be found at the end of each unit.) Unfold the list, to check your answers. Place a checkmark next to the ones you have mastered well and practice again those that you did not recall easily.

With a partner, you can ask the expressions and place a checkmark by the ones your partner has mastered on his or her practice sheet. This will help them identify the verbs they have mastered and those they need to practice more.

*Acordar de y jugar a always necesitan la preposición, deber de puede llevar o no la preposición dependiendo del uso.

Take this list one step further and practice the conjugations of each of the verbs. Say aloud all of the present tense conjugations for the verb. This means, say the yo form, tú form, etc through the ellos, ellas, ustedes form. This may seem redundant but it is the best way to recall the verbs that have stem changes in the present tense in the indicative mood.