Spanish: Regular Verbs
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Spanish regular verbs can be divided into three groups, those with the infinitive ending in -AR, those with the infinitive in -ER and those with the infinitive in -IR. Each of these verbs follows its own pattern of conjugation, very similar to that of the other groups. We will use an example verb of each category to illustrate this principle. To make things more clear, we seperate the verb stem from the verb ending by a space in the table below:
- hablar = to speak
- comer = to eat
- vivir = to live
Group I (AR) Group II (ER) Group III (IR)
infinitive habl ar com er viv ir
gerund habl ando com iendo viv iendo
participle habl ado com ido viv ido
PRESENT TENSE - PRESENT INDICATIVE (I speak)
1s (yo) habl o com o viv o 2s (tú) habl as com es viv es 3s (él/ella/ud) habl a com e viv e 1p (nos.) habl amos com emos viv imos 2p (vos.) habl áis com éis viv ís 3p (ellos) habl an com en viv en
PAST TENSE - PRETERITE INDICATIVE (I spoke)
1s habl é com í viv í 2s habl aste com iste viv iste 3s habl ó com ió viv ió 1p habl amos com imos viv imos 2p habl asteis com isteis viv isteis 3p habl aron com ieron viv ieron
PAST TENSE - IMPERFECT INDICATIVE (I spoke/I was speaking)
1s habl aba com ía viv ía 2s habl abas com ías viv ías 3s habl aba com ía viv ía 1p habl ábamos com íamos viv íamos 2p habl abais com íais viv íais 3p habl aban com ían viv ían
FUTURE TENSE - FUTURE INDICATIVE (I will speak)
1s habl aré com eré viv iré 2s habl arás com erás viv irás 3s habl ará com erá viv irá 1p habl aremos com eremos viv iremos 2p habl aréis com eréis viv iréis 3p habl arán com erán viv irán
CONDITIONAL TENSE/MOOD - CONDITIONAL INDICATIVE (I would speak)
1s habl aría com ería viv iría 2s habl arías com erías viv irías 3s habl aría com ería viv iría 1p habl aríamos com eríamos viv iríamos 2p habl aríais com eríais viv iríais 3p habl arían com erían viv irían
PRESENT TENSE - PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE (that I speak)
1s habl e com a viv a 2s habl es com as viv as 3s habl e com a viv a 1p habl emos com amos viv amos 2p habl éis com áis viv áis 3p habl en com an viv an
PAST TENSE - IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE (that I spoke)
1s habl ara/ase com iera/iese viv iera/iese 2s habl aras/ases com ieras/ieses viv ieras/ieses 3s habl ara/ase com iera/iese viv iera/iese 1p habl áramos/ásemos com iéramos/iésemos viv iéramos/iésemos 2p habl arais/aseis com ierais/ieseis viv ierais/ieseis 3p habl aran/asen com ieran/iesen viv ieran/iesen
IMPERATIVE TENSE (Speak!)
2s habl a, no habl es com e, no com as viv e, no viv as 3s habl e, no habl e com a, no com a viv a, no viv a 1p habl emos, no habl emos com amos, no ~ viv amos, no viv amos 2p habl ad, no habl éis com ed, no com áis viv id, no viv áis 3p habl en, no habl en com an, no com an viv an, no viv an
Note that the conjugation for second and third group are almost identical.
The use of the subjunctive mood will be explained later.
Notes of irregularity in group II (ER)
This group contains one exceptional case we have to mention, when the verb ends in ECER then the first person singular, present tense will get an extra Z. An example, let's take the verb: pertenecer, instead of "(yo) perteneco" we get "(yo) pertenezco". This only applies to first person singular in the present tense, and to all the forms of the present subjunctive: (yo) pertenezco -> (que yo) pertenezca.
Personal Pronouns and verbs
In Spanish, personal pronouns are often obsolete with verbs, since the inflection of the verb already tells us what the subject is, therefore the personal pronoun is omitted by default, except if it needs to be stressed:
- Hablo español - I speak spanish
- Comemos una manzana - We eat an apple
- Tú vives en Madrid - YOU live in madrid [with emphasis]
In some cases, a bit of of an ambigious situation can occur, but context usually makes clear what is meant:
- Come una manzana - He eats an apple / She eats an apple / You (formal) eats an apple.
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