| Series | Spanish pages |
|---|---|
| Español/Spanish Also known as Castellano  |
Syntax - Verbs |
| Script | Latin |
| Family | Indo-European |
| Sub-Family | Romance |
| Estimated native speakers | 329 million |
| Spoken in | Spain, Latin America, former Colonies of Spain, United Nations |
Spanish has a relatively complex system of verbs. There are very little in the way of unique exceptions and though there are alot that can be learnt with some simple rules. Though some irregular verbs will need to be learnt one at a time. To begin this page on verbs we will start with the most fundemental of the verb conjugations. The "Present Simple" however we first need to know the verb endings.
Verb Endings
Spanish can be generally categorized into three verb endings. These determine which conjugation you should use. These endings are attached to a stem which together forms the infinitive(infinitivo) form of the verb from which we form our tense. These three types are
- ar For example: Hablar (to speak)
- er For example: Comer (to eat)
- ir For example: Vivir (to live)
What will also determine your choice of ending is the pronoun used with a verb. There are six pronouns
- Please note that in Latin American Spanish Ustedes is used when speaking to more than one person and Vosotros is not(This is used rather more frequently in Spain). Also, in several Latin American countries, they replace the pronoun tú with the pronoun vos (which has a slightly different conjugation). Chile uses both tú and vos.
| Spanish pronoun | English pronoun |
|---|---|
| Yo | I |
| Tú | You(Informal) |
| Él/Ella/Usted | He/She/It/You(Formal) |
| Nosotros(as) | We |
| Vosotros(as) | You all(Formal) |
| Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas | They/You all (Informal) |
Present Simple
First is conjugation for the - ar type of verb. We will use hablar as an example. We remove the ar ending and replace is with another depending on the pronoun. The Yo/I form is the same for all verb endings.
- ar type
| Yo | Tú | Él/Ella/Usted | Nosotros(as) | Vosotros(as) | Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hablo | hablas | habla | hablamos | habláis | hablan |
- er type
The -er ending works the same way. Comer will be used as an example.
| Yo | Tú | Él/Ella/Usted | Nosotros(as) | Vosotros(as) | Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| como | comes | come | comemos | coméis | comen |
- ir type
Finally there is very little difference between the -er and -ir types in the non-plural forms. There are descrepencies though. Vivir will be used as an example.
| Yo | Tú | Él/Ella/Usted | Nosotros(as) | Vosotros(as) | Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vivo | vives | vive | vivimos | vivís | viven |
Sources
Originally written by me on WikiLang. I operate a shared content policy wherby anything I post there I also post here and vice-versa.
Credits to riptipe for the editations.
