Los Verbos, verbs. We just finished pronouns in the previous lesson. And remember, I said pronouns tell you which form of the verb to use. So I would not say I walks to work. Walks is the form you use with he and she. He walks, she walks. Nor would I say I to walk to work. And that sentence we didn't even change the verb from the infinitive form at all into a conjugated form.
So to make the verb agree with the subject, we take it out of its infinitive form and we conjugate it into a form that does agree with the subject. So essentially, the infinitive form is the unchanged form. In English is the form that begins with to, as in to walk. To conjugate is just to change. We change it into the form that agrees. So we'd say I walk to work. Not I walks to work, not I to walk to work, but I walk to work. It would be you walk, but he walks, or she walks.
Now you'll instinctively know which is correct in English, but in Spanish you'll need to learn the forms. So in English, the infinitive form is the one that begins with to, as in, to speak, to eat to live, it's the unchanged form the, non-conjugated form. Is the form that you would see in a dictionary. It's also called the pure form of the verb.
In Spanish, the infinitive form is the one that ends in either AR, ER, or IR. Basically those three endings imply to. As in to speak, to eat, to live. They don't have a separate word that goes in front, they just end differently. So AR, ER, and IR, are the three kinds of endings for verbs in Spanish. So to speak is hablar.
Just like to speak has not been changed for a pronoun because I wouldn't say I to speak, you to speak, he to speak. Neither has hablar been changed for [SPANISH] That's the next step, but right now we're just learning the infinitives. To eat, the unchanged infinitive form is comer, and to live is vivir.
So we need to change those infinitives to make them agree with the pronouns just like I would need to say I walk to work, he walks to work. In order to do that, in Spanish we have to drop the ending. Take off your AR, or your er, or your IR and yo form ending is the letter O. You just attach the O instead. So all you need to do is remove the AR, ER, or IR and add O to the verb.
This is the case for all regular verbs. There are some that are irregular, but I'll always provide you the forms for those. So abler, which means to speak becomes I speak by removing the AR and attaching O. Now we have [SPANISH]. So I eat, the form of comer for yo would be como. I live the yo form of vivir would be vivo. You can still leave off the pronoun yo, and each means the same thing. This is because the verb ending all implies that I, yo and the subject.
The pronoun is simply implied. However, it's still important to know which pronoun you're using, so that you can change the verb appropriately for the pronoun. You just learned the first person form, the third person form of the verb is the verb form that agrees with other people. So we're going to learn the third person singular form. This is very important because it's going to be used with you, usted, when you're speaking directly to a patient, he, el, when speaking about a patient and she, ella, also when speaking about a patient.
This is also the form of the verb you use when talking about an object, a singular object. In English, we would use the word it. In Spanish, the word it is simply understood. This is because in English our objects don't have gender, but in Spanish all nouns have gender. So to say the medication is expensive. [SPANISH] Or just [SPANISH] is expensive.
To form the third person singular verb form, all you need to do is remove the old ending and tack on a new one. If you have a verb that ends in AR, you'll remove AR and just add an A. Or in Spanish E. If you have a verb that ends in either ER or IR you take those endings off and add an E or in Spanish A.
So in this chart, you'll see all three of the three person pronouns the singular pronouns and you'll see that the verb form is the same for each. He speaks, [SPANISH] she speaks, [SPANISH] , you speak [SPANISH]. [SPANISH] to eat the form for the third person singular is come. So have [SPANISH] and [SPANISH] And live, [SPANISH] you remove the IR, add on E or in Espanol, A and you get vive. [SPANISH].
The pronouns are optional. I'm using them here just to show you the verb forms that agree with them. By the way, this is also the form of the verb you would use when talking about a person by naming that person. In other words, we don't have to replace a person's name with L or aiya. I can say one speaks [SPANISH], [SPANISH] for one eats, and [SPANISH].
Or if I'm talking about a female, [SPANISH]. So it can be very specific and use the person's name. But once they've established that person I can substitute a pronoun or leave the pronoun off altogether. Regardless you do need to know which form of the verb to use. So I wanted to show this to you.
Pronouns, such as "he," tell you how to form your verbs.
EXAMPLE
You wouldn't say, " I walks to work." The word "walks" is the form that you would use with "he" or "she." You also wouldn't say, "I to walk to work." In that sentence, the verb has not even been conjugated (changed) at all. It is in its infinitive or pure form.To make the verb agree with the subject, you must conjugate, or change, it into a form that does agree with the subject. Therefore, the correct sentence is "I walk to work."
Infinitive | Conjugated Forms |
---|---|
to walk | I walk, you walk, he/she walks |
1a. Los Infinitivos (Infinitives)
Spanish has different endings for the different verb forms just like English does. All Spanish infinitives end in one of the following combinations of letters:
Infinitive | English Translation |
---|---|
hablar | to speak |
comer | to eat |
vivir | to live |
1b. La Primera Persona Singular (First Person Singular)
We must also learn the form of each verb that we can use with the pronoun "yo" (I). This is called the first person singular form of the verb. The verb forms that agree with "yo" almost always end in the letter "o." Simply take off the "ar," "er," or "ir," and attach an "o."
First Person Singular | English Translation |
---|---|
yo hablo | I speak |
yo como | I eat |
yo vivo | I live |
You can also leave off the pronoun "yo" and the meaning will remain the same (as if the pronoun were there). This is because the verb endings imply the pronouns with which they match; the pronoun is implied in the verb ending. It is still important to know which pronoun you’re using so that you choose the correct verb form.
1c. La Tercera Persona Singular (Third Person Singular)
Finally, we need to learn the third person singular form of the verb. This form is extremely important to learn because it is used with all of the following pronouns:
To create the third person singular verb form, simply take off the "ar" and add an "a," or take off the "er" or "ir" and add an "e." See the examples below, which use the same verbs with different pronouns.
Third Person Singular | English Translation |
---|---|
él habla | he speaks |
ella habla | she speaks |
usted habla | you speak |
él come | he eats |
ella come | she eats |
usted come | you eat |
él vive | he lives |
ella vive | she lives |
usted vive | you live |
This is also the verb form that you would use when talking about a single person when using his or her name instead of the pronouns "él" and "ella" (he and she).
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Source: This content has been adapted from "Spanish for Nurses" by Stephanie Langston.