All About Irregular And Regular Verbs In Spanish
Most learners (new and old) of Spanish will all agree that understanding irregular and regular verbs in Spanish is perhaps the most complicated thing to learn about Spanish grammar but also the most important.
To help you understand what a regular verb is and does it is important to also understand everything about irregular verbs. However, do not fret because this article will provide you with some excellent information about both regular verbs and irregular verbs. This information will help you to learn them efficiently and quickly. The key is not to become discouraged even if you are a complete beginner.
English Regular Verbs
Before you begin your Spanish language adventure, it is essential to examine the differences between irregular and regular verbs in relation to how they work in English. We can take a close look at this relationship by using a simple but proven pattern.
Let’s illustrate this point with the verb “to walk”. When you use the verb “to walk” in the present tense, it is simply a matter of putting a pronoun in front of the verb. For example, “you walk”, “we walk”, or “they walk”.The only exception to this rule is the third person singular which requires an “s” on the ending of the verb. For example, “he walks” or “she walks”.
Obviously, the above rules in English are quite simple. In fact, the other tenses are also just as easy. If you want to use the present continuous tense then you simply put an “ing” on the end of a verb while combining it with the present tense of the verb “to be”. For example, “they are walking” or “he is walking”. In the past tense, you add “ed” at the verb’s end. For example, “we walked” or “he walked”.
The English language has many other tenses, of course, but the key point is that there are consistent, simple patterns that can be equally applied to hundreds of verbs:
– Climb, climbs, climbed, climbing
– jump, jumps, jumped, jumping
– help, helps, helped, helping
English Irregular Verbs
However, in English there are irregular verbs that do not follow the above patterns such as the verbs speak, throw, or bought, just to name a few. These irregular verbs require unique conjugations such as seen in the past tense version of the verb speak. The past tense is not speak with an added “ed” but rather spoke.
Spanish Verbs
The Spanish language is similar. There are basic patterns that the majority of regular verbs follow. However, like English there are also irregular verbs. To communicate correctly in Spanish, you will need to learn both irregular and regular verbs. It will take time to learn which Spanish verbs are irregular and their particular irregularities.
Spanish Regular Verbs
Both Spanish irregular and regular verbs can be divided into 3 main categories. The categories will be based on the ending of the verb’s infinitive form. The 3 endings for Spanish verbs are “ar”, “er”, and “ir”.
Spanish Irregular Verbs
Unfortunately, many of the Spanish irregular verbs are found among the more common verbs such as “to be”, “to go”, “to have”, and “to know”. At first, it may seem difficult to learn Spanish but with a little bit of hard work and practice you will be writing and speaking fluently in no time.
