Conjugations

[AdamDavis14]

I find conjugations hard to remember for some reason. I am starting to learn the preterite tense so changing ar, er and ir verbs. But it seems to hard to remember.  How can I learn the rules more quickly. Once that part is down it will be pretty easy to learn spanish I think.

[MyDigitalpoint]

Learning Spanish conjugations is similar to your English conjugation learning; there are regular and irregular verbs, and usually is all about memorizing the irregular verbs first since the construction for the regular is often easier.

There are some websites that can help you with your conjugation problems and the regular use of these tools will improve your ability to memorize the construction of the different verb tenses:

http://www.studyspanish.com/verbs/

http://conjuguemos.com/list.php

http://www.verbix.com/languages/spanish.shtml

http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation

http://www.conjugation.org/

[SirTenenbaum]

I have to respectfully disagree with the previous poster, MyDigitalPoint. Spanish conjugations are much more complex than in English. In fact, they basically do not exist in English.

Compare: I went, you went, he/she went, we went, they went

            yo fui, tú fuiste, él/ella fue, nosotros fuimos, ellos/ellas fueron

You should focus on learning regular verbs first, and you will inevitably struggle with those (not to mention irregular verbs). Acquiring regular verbs generally comes before irregular verbs in the natural order of acquisition. However, common irregular verbs (such as "ir") are important to be familiar with. Mastering preterite conjugations in real-time in a conversation is a process that takes years (and I mean years) of lots of contact with the language, especially if Spanish is the first foreign language you're studying. Many people who have their bachelor's degrees in Spanish make mistakes with preterite conjugations, not to mention differentiating between the preterite and the imperfect.

My advice would be to study the verb endings as much as you like, but the best thing to do would be to do something that gives you immense exposure to the language. Reading for pleasure in Spanish is a great way to do that. (I love to read Harry Potter in French.) There will be many things you don't understand completely, but many things you will. Also try to review grammar explanations often in order to better understand what you encounter while you read. It's astounding how much you forget.

And remember, learning a language is a slow, gradual process. But it is really rewarding. 

[Bob]

              |

      yo    |  nosotros

              |

----------------------

    tú    / |vosotros /

        /      |      /

  /    ud.  |/    uds.

----------------------

      él      |    ellos

    ella    |    ellas

                |

This is a conjugation chart! It is an easy way to learn conjugations of verbs because it follows a coherent structure. You should definitely consider using this when studying the conjugations of verbs.

First, draw the three rows. Next, draw a vertical line through them. Then, draw diagonal lines on both sides of the middle row. Then, follow the order for conjugation in the pattern above.

This makes conjugation a whole lot easier to study. Above the chart, write down the verb and the tense so that you can refer back to it for future reference if it is in your notes. This is how I learned verb conjugations.

Conjugations are the hardest part of learning Spanish for most people. Personally, I love grammar rules, so they have not been that much of a problem for me. However, it is still very tricky to come up with the right verb conjugation when you are placed on the spot. Like SirTenenbaum said, it really does take years to master it. Immersion would probably be your best option if you truly want to be fluent in it.

I find conjugations hard to remember for some reason. I am starting to learn the preterite tense so changing ar, er and ir verbs. But it seems to hard to remember.  How can I learn the rules more quickly. Once that part is down it will be pretty easy to learn spanish I think.

What you say is true, once you learn the preterit tense, it will be a whole lot easier. The preterit is one of the hardest conjugations in the Spanish language. Much of the other conjugation types are based off of the present tense or the past tense. Of course, you will still have to learn others such as the imperfect, the affirmative/negative commands, the conditional, the subjunctive, etc.

Good luck to you! It will be a long but fun process, and it will be worth it!

[linguaholic]

Wow! That was a great post Bob! Thank you for taking the time to write all this useful things :grin:

By the way, your avatar is great! What kind of file is this. Is it a .gif file ?

[kurdapia]

I had been patient learning the conjugations and I just could not remember them all. I am only referring to the present tense and I think I got overwhelmed and gave up I need help as well. Are there tips or ways or apps or anything to make this easier for someone like me?

I can only envy those people who are so good at conjugations. I am curious though. do you use all of the forms and is it really necessary to memorize them all? Spanish is too challenging for me and I need to learn it

[tio de la vara]

I had been patient learning the conjugations and I just could not remember them all. I am only referring to the present tense and I think I got overwhelmed and gave up I need help as well. Are there tips or ways or apps or anything to make this easier for someone like me?

I can only envy those people who are so good at conjugations. I am curious though. do you use all of the forms and is it really necessary to memorize them all? Spanish is too challenging for me and I need to learn it

There is a pattern with the regular verbs. You just need to figure it out.

We use all the forms except the future subjunctive, which only appears in a written form in some legalistic/normative texts.

[Trellum]

This is a conjugation chart! It is an easy way to learn conjugations of verbs because it follows a coherent structure. You should definitely consider using this when studying the conjugations of verbs.

First, draw the three rows. Next, draw a vertical line through them. Then, draw diagonal lines on both sides of the middle row. Then, follow the order for conjugation in the pattern above.

This makes conjugation a whole lot easier to study. Above the chart, write down the verb and the tense so that you can refer back to it for future reference if it is in your notes. This is how I learned verb conjugations.

Conjugations are the hardest part of learning Spanish for most people. Personally, I love grammar rules, so they have not been that much of a problem for me. However, it is still very tricky to come up with the right verb conjugation when you are placed on the spot. Like SirTenenbaum said, it really does take years to master it. Immersion would probably be your best option if you truly want to be fluent in it.

What you say is true, once you learn the preterit tense, it will be a whole lot easier. The preterit is one of the hardest conjugations in the Spanish language. Much of the other conjugation types are based off of the present tense or the past tense. Of course, you will still have to learn others such as the imperfect, the affirmative/negative commands, the conditional, the subjunctive, etc.

Good luck to you! It will be a long but fun process, and it will be worth it!

Awesome post, am so going to use this trick with Dutch!  Dutch verb conjugation is not as complex as the Spanish one, but it still requires some  work to remember, specially when you are just learning the language.  For now I do need it.  I might apply this trick to other parts of the speech.