Now that you know that the word conjugation refers to the changes that verbs experiment in their form, we are going to study what the specific changes in Spanish verb conjugation are.
[If you haven’t read the first lesson about verb conjugation, click here.]
The goal of the information we are about to see is to make it easier for you to memorize the different forms. The more details you can consciously think about when you start, the easier it will be for you to recall each form. Later, you will start to remember them without thinking about any of these data.
We are going to focus in a few simple tenses first, and will go on to explain other tenses in a different lesson.
Changing Parts
Which part of the verb changes?
You may have observed that all Spanish verbs in their basic form end in -ar, -er or -ir.
This is the part that normally changes when we conjugate a verb.
Take for example the verb preguntar [to ask a question]. When we conjugate it to say I ask, for example, we substitute the ar for o, and say pregunto [I ask]. When we conjugate it to say you asked, we substitute the ar for aste, and say preguntaste [you asked].
• The basic form of the verb (preguntar) is called infinitive.
• The part that doesn’t change (pregunt-) is called stem.
• The part that changes (-o or -aste) is called ending.
We are going to see how this happens in each tense.
Present Tense
This is the conjugation of preguntar [to ask] for the present tense:
| PRESENT TENSE - indicative | |
|---|---|
| yo | pregunt |
| tú | preguntas |
| él, ella / usted | pregunta |
| nosotros, nosotras | preguntamos |
| vosotros, vosotras | preguntáis |
| ellos, ellas / ustedes | preguntan |
You can see that the only part that changes is the ending (in blue)
Notice also that the endings in all forms, except for the yo form, contain the original vowel in the infinitive’s ending: -a.
We call this vowel the thematic vowel.
It is important to notice also the changes in stress position. The stressed syllable is underlined in the chart.
While in the nosotros and vosotros forms, the stress stays in the same place as in the infinitive, in the other five forms, it moves back one syllable.
And only the vosotros form has a graphic accent because, according to the accentuation rules, if we stress the last syllable of a word, and that word ends in a vowel (-a, -e, -i, -o, -u), -n or -s, we need to write an accent on the vowel in that last syllable.
Now compare this pattern, with the conjugation of a verb ending in -er, such as aprender [to learn]:
| PRESENT TENSE - indicative | |
|---|---|
| yo | aprend |
| tú | aprendes |
| él, ella / usted | aprende |
| nosotros, nosotras | aprendemos |
| vosotros, vosotras | aprendéis |
| ellos, ellas / ustedes | aprenden |
Here, the endings in all forms, except for the yo form, contain the thematic vowel: -e.
Stress and accentuation follow the same pattern as the -ar pattern.
And now compare this, with the conjugation of a verb ending in -ir, such as repartir [to distribute]:
| PRESENT TENSE - indicative | |
|---|---|
| yo | repart |
| tú | repartes |
| él, ella / usted | reparte |
| nosotros, nosotras | repartimos |
| vosotros, vosotras | repartís |
| ellos, ellas / ustedes | reparten |
Here, the ending of the yo form is -o, as in the previous patterns. The endings in the nosotros and vosotros forms contain the thematic vowel: -i. However, the tú, él and ellos forms contain the thematic vowel of verbs ending in -er: -e.
This introduces a difference with the other patterns that is worth mentioning:
In the -ar and -er patterns, the ending for the vosotros form contains two adjacent vowels: -áis and -éis respectively while in the -ir pattern it contains a single vowel: -ís.
Stress and accentuation follow the same pattern as the -ar and -er patterns.
You can now compare the three patterns:
| preguntar | aprender | repartir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | pregunt | aprendo | reparto |
| tú | preguntas | aprendes | repartes |
| él, ella / usted | pregunta | aprende | reparte |
| nosotros, nosotras | preguntamos | aprendemos | repartimos |
| vosotros, vosotras | preguntáis | aprendéis | repartis |
| ellos, ellas / ustedes | preguntan | aprenden | reparten |
Start Studying
Remember that the goal of these remarks is to make it easier for you to memorize the different forms. The more details you can consciously think about when you start, the easier it will be for you to recall each form. Later, you will start to remember them without thinking about any of these data.
Now you can start studying each pattern by observing the present tense conjugation of different regular verbs ending in -ar, -er and -ir.
Visit our Verb Conjugation Index to look for them.
Remember that, in the Verb Conjugation Index, verbs marked with a * are irregular.
You can read about the preterite tense regular conjugation patterns in the next lesson:
