Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

Chapter 7   --   The Spanish verbs

Verbs are action words, and tell what is being done.   In Spanish, verbs express three ideas, namely, who is doing the action, what the action is, and when the action was done.

All Spanish verbs are composed of two parts, a stem, and a group ending.   The verbs are separated into three groups, the - ar, - er, and - ir groups.

          Examples :    habl + ar     = hablar ( group 1)  

                             vend + er      = vender (group 2)

                             abr + ir       = abrir (group 3)

The stem plus a group ending is called an infinitive, that is the “to” form of a verb.   For example, hablar (to speak), vender (to sell), abrir (to open).  
When a dictionary is consulted, the infinitives will be listed.

In Spanish, the infinitive form is used in the following ways.

          1. when a verb is meant without an expression of time

                Joseph wants to learn Spanish.                            José quiere aprender el español.

          2. when an action is meant as the name of something

• Swimming is good exercise.     El nadar es buén ejercicio.

          3. after a preposition, Spanish uses only the infinitive

• upon entering                  al entrar
• for drinking                     para beber
• before leaving                 antes de salir
• after resting                     después de descansar
• instead of studying           en vez de estudiar
• without saying                 sin decir

Rule: After a preposition, ONLY the infinitive verb form is used.

Spanish verb structureThe following information shows the Spanish verb structure, and the endings of the regular verbs.
The reader will note that the only differences between the verbs of groups 2 and 3 occur in the present tense forms of "nosotros" and "vosotros".

Stem + group endings = infinitive
|                                               |__ + future endings = future tense
|                                               |__ + conditional endings = conditional tense
|
| ___ + imperfect endings = imperfect past tense
|
| ___ + past endings = past tense
|                                               |__stem of 3rd person singular + gerund endings = gerund
|                                               |__stem of 3rd person plural + past subjunctive endings = past subjunctive tense
|
| ___ + present endings = present tense
|                                               |__ stem of 1st person singular + present subjunctive endings = pres. subj. tense
|
| ___ + past participle endings = past participle
| ___                                        |__ active forms of estar, haber, and ser + past participle = compound forms

This book is available from lulu.com under item number 3352644. Books purchased from Lulu are accompanied by a complete list of irregular verbs and all of their forms.

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Index

To send an electronic message to the webmaster, click here: