Tell me more ×
Spanish Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Spanish language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite

When I was studying Latin, I would learn the conjugation of each verb by memorizing its principal parts (for example, "amo, amare, amavi, amatus"). In Spanish, are there any principal parts of a verb that can be memorized in order to conjugate every form of a regular verb? According to this Yahoo Answers post (which clearly isn't a reliable source), the principal parts of a Spanish verb correspond directly to those in Latin, but I'm not sure if this correct. Do Spanish verbs have principal parts that can be used to conjugate them, like Latin verbs?

share|improve this question
For example, in Latin, the principle parts of the verb "tenere" would be "teneo, tenere, tenui, tentus". Are there any equivalent principal parts in Spanish for the verb "tener" (and other regular verbs)? – Anderson Green Jan 27 at 17:34

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Spanish regular verbs have -ar, -er or -ir endings. If you drop those endings, you get a "principal" part or "stem" that you can conjugate.

Some of these principal parts change the stem in certain conjugate forms. For instance, tener has ten-go and ten-emos in the first person forms, but the stem changes to tien-es, tien-e and tien-en in the second and third person forms (the second person plural is teneis, and retains its stem).

share|improve this answer
Do you mean that it's possible to conjugate a verb (and determine whether it is a stem-changing verb) just by looking at the stem of the verb? – Anderson Green Jan 27 at 23:35
@AndersonGreen: That I don't know. I know certain conjugations, but not the rules behind them. – Tom Au Jan 27 at 23:36
Which forms of each verb will I need to memorize, then, in order to conjugate every other form of the verb? (i. e., what principal parts will I need to know for each verb in order to fully conjugate the verb?) – Anderson Green Jan 27 at 23:38
@AndersonGreen, yes in principle you should be able to use the stem to conjugate. The problem is there are lots irregular verbs, that are some of the ones ending in -ar, many in of the ones ending in -er and most of the ones ending in -ir. – DeStrangis Jan 28 at 11:39
up vote 2 down vote

Well, conjugations change depending on the category of the verb (AR, ER, IR verbs).

This is an example for the present tense:

Subject                       AM+AR     COM+ER    VIV+IR
I                             AMo       COMo      VIVo
You                           AMas      COMes     VIVes
He, She, It, You (formal)     AMa       COMe      VIVe
We                            AMamos    COMemos   VIVimos
You, They                     AMan      COMen     VIVen

However, there are irregular verbs!

share|improve this answer
2  
There are also stem changing verbs, as well as irregular verbs. – Anderson Green Jan 31 at 2:45
Great answer. like in many languages, there are also the exceptions, the irregular verbs. – eLRuLL Feb 3 at 18:10

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.