![]() ![]() Most verbs only change in the third person singular (see below) in English, but all verbs change to distinguish when something occurs. Though native speakers may not notice it, English verbs also change depending on when the action occurs. Note that the accents on tú and él are crucial, as they distinguish them from the possessive adjective tu (“your”) and the definite article el (“the”). Spanish Subject Pronouns Person English Spanish first person singular I yo second person singular you/you (formal) tú/usted third person singular he/she/it él/ella first person plural we nosotros second person plural you (plural) / you (plural +formal) vosotros/ustedes third person plural they (masc./fem.) ellos/ellas They’re mainly only included for emphasis, or perhaps to add extra clarification. In Spanish, because verbs change so dramatically to indicate the person, it’s not required to include a subject pronoun, and in fact it can sound odd. The pronoun that stands in for the subject of the sentence (the person responsible for the action) is called the subject pronoun. In English, it’s always required to include a subject before a verb. Note that the same conjugation is used for usted or ustedes as you would for él/ella or ellos/ellas respectively, so it often appears grouped together in conjugation charts. ![]() Spanish allows you to express respect or formality by using usted/ustedes instead of tú when speaking to someone older than you or in a higher social position. Spanish uses one extra person category ( vosotros) that corresponds to addressing “you all / you guys” in English. Some examples of mood in Spanish are indicative (used to express facts/declarative sentences), imperative (used to give commands), conditional (used to express possibility), and subjunctive (used to talk about opinions and desires). Rather than helping you express when something happened, mood allows a speaker to express their attitude toward a subject. Verbs can also change according to categorizations called “ moods,” which are similar to tenses. The form of a verb changes to show who performed the action (the “person”) and when it occurred (the “ tense”). So, while memorizing vocabulary is an extremely important exercise when learning a language, if you’re not aware of how to use the verbs you learn appropriately, you’ll be extremely limited in what you’re able to say. All that changed was one little constituent – the verb (from conditional tense to past tense, if you’re curious). For example, the difference between “I would like to eat some cake” and “I ate some cake” is striking. One little word can express so much about a situation, completely changing the meaning. ![]() The importance of verbs cannot be understated in the endeavor of fluency. In this guide, we will bring your attention to a few basic verb-related concepts which exist in both English and Spanish, as well as point out a few differences. To arrive at that point, you have to become aware of all the nitty-gritty grammatical features of your own language, so that you can begin to translate the meaning you wish to express into the available grammatical structures of your foreign language. The goal is to get you to the same level of fluency with your second (or third, etc.) language, where you avoid existential moments (Am I speaking? Who am I speaking to? Is it reciprocal? Did this action have a specific ending point in the past? Would it be considered habitual?) and simply speak Spanish without a second thought. You just use the form of the verb which communicates the specific information you wish to express. There are many similarities between English verbs and Spanish verbs, but, if you’re like most native speakers, you don’t usually consider what tense a verb is in, whether it has an irregular conjugation, is reflexive, is in its infinitive form, etc. Each of these verb categories has specific rules governing how it changes to express layers of crucial information about the situation. All Spanish verbs end in either -ar, -ir, or -er. ![]()
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