Spanish Writing and Grammar Lab
Beginning Grammar
Verb Conjugation
What is a verb?
In all or most languages, verbs express an action or a state of being of a given subject.
Examples in English: to run, to eat, to sleep, to be
Examples in Spanish: correr, comer, dormir, ser
NOTE how Christ is described in the Gospel of John (John 1: 1- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God) But in Spanish, the Greek translation is verbo (Juan 1:1 - En el principio era el Verbo, y el Verbo estaba con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios) Verbo is a synonym of palabra, word. But also, verbo is the action word, implying that Jesus Christ had an active role in the Plan of salvation from the very beginning.
What is a conjugation?
In Spanish, like verbs in most Indo-European languages, they undergo inflection (they change) according to different categories:
Tense: past, present, or future
Number: singular or plural
Person: first, second or third
Mood: indicative, subjunctive, or imperative
Aspect: perfective or imperfective (distinguished only in the past tense as preterite and imperfect)
Voice: active or passive
The modern Spanish verb paradigm (conjugation) has 16 distinct complete forms (tenses), i.e. sets of forms for each combination of tense, mood and aspect. However, two of the tenses, namely both subjunctive futures, are now obsolete for most practical purposes. We won’t study them but you will see them in old texts (for example, in the Scriptures: “y a los que digan: Tenemos bastante, les será quitado aun lo que tuvieren” 2 Nefi 28:30) and legal documents (quien hubiere robado el dinero).
There is also one incomplete tense (the imperative). It is incomplete because it doesn’t have all persons, as well as three non-temporal (or non-personal) forms: the infinitive, gerund, and past participle.
The conditional forms are considered a different mood (we’ll learn more of what that is) or a tense in the indicative mood. It will depend on the linguistic source that you refer to. It doesn’t make much of a difference for us. The main thing in our class is that you know how to use it, and we will practice that in due time.
Note that the pretérito perfecto o pretérito anterior (it is the same tense) is not very much used and most textbooks don’t teach it. The same happens with the future subjunctive (both simple and perfect).
The 16 "regular" forms (tenses) include 8 simple tenses and 8 compound tenses (perfecto). The compound tenses are formed with the auxiliary verb haber plus the past participle.
Example: Presente – Yo como, tú comes…. Presente perfecto – Yo he comido, tú has comido
Verbs can be used in other forms, such as the present progressive (yo estoy comiendo, tú estás comiendo…), but in grammar treatises they are not usually considered a part of the paradigm but rather periphrastic verbal constructions (same with voy a comer, etc.).
To study verb conjugations, they usually are divided in three groups according to the ending of their infinitive. Verbs ending in -ar (hablar, cantar, amar…), -er (comer, beber, crecer…), and -ir (ir, vivir, salir…)
Non-personal forms (can’t have a personal pronoun “yo, tú, …” in front):
Infinitivo: hablar, comer, dormir (to speak, to eat, to sleep)
Gerundio: hablando, comiendo, durmiendo (speaking, eating, sleeping)
Participio: hablado, comido, dormido (spoken, eaten, slept)
Accidents of the verb
Person, tense, mode, aspect… are called “accidents” of the verb
Person and number
Spanish verbs are conjugated in three persons (first, second, and third), each having a singular and a plural form (that’s called number). In some varieties of Spanish, such as that of the Río de la Plata Region, a special form of the second person is used (vos).
First person singular yo First person plural nosotros / nosotras
Second person singular tú Second person plural vosotros / vosotras
Third person singular él / ella Third person plural ellos / ellas
Voseo: vos tenés
The forms usted and ustedes are included in the third person on verb charts because they use the verb in third person (ustedes tienen) like it would be used by the third person plural (ellos tienen)
Tiempo = tense
The tense of a verb indicates the time when the action occurs. It may be in the past, present, or future. Tiempos perfectos (perfect tenses) are, as already mentioned, compound tenses are formed with the auxiliary verb haber plus the past participle.
NOTE this idea of perfection is called aspect and denotes if an action has been completed. So, in the tiempos perfectos (perfect tenses) the actions expressed have been finalized or completed. Compare these two Scriptures:
In the Bible, Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: Mateo 5:48 - Sed, pues, vosotros perfectos, así como vuestro Padre que está en los cielos es perfecto.
But in the Book of Mormon, 3 Nefi 12: Por tanto, quisiera que fueseis perfectos así como yo, o como vuestro Padre que está en los cielos es perfecto.
What is the difference? In the scripture in 3 Nephi Christ considers himself perfect. His work has been completed: he has atoned, died, and resurrected. He has completed the work His Father gave Him. We as well are called to complete the measure of our creation. Some time… somewhere. (See élder Holland General Conference talk Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually)
See how much we can learn from the grammar? ;)
Modo = mood
Grammatical mood signals modality, meaning if the actions are factual, desires, requests, etc. In Spanish, every verb has forms in three moods. For some grammarians there is a fourth mood, the conditional, with its two conditional tenses (simple and compound), but nowadays those tenses are included in the indicative mood. That’s why the previous table has them at the bottom of the indicative mood but still in a different color, in hopes to simplify the common tenses of the indicative and subjunctive modes for the students.
The indicative mood, or evidential mood, is used for factual statements and positive beliefs. The Spanish conditional, although semantically expressing the dependency of one action or proposition on another, is generally considered indicative in mood, because, syntactically, it can appear in an independent clause.
Subjunctive mood: The subjunctive mood expresses an imagined, possible, or desired action in the past, present, or future. True subjunctive equivalent has disappeared and is rare or very formal in modern English: “If I were rich”, “God save the Queen!”, or “I suggest that she refuse the offer”.
Imperative mood: The imperative mood expresses direct commands, requests, and prohibitions.
Source: El Mexicano - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18995743
Voice
The voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses, and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice (Picasso pintó el cuadro). When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, the verb is said to be in the passive voice (El cuadro fue pintado por Picasso).
There are many books and Internet sources that will give you a deeper explanation of this grammatical concept. Here is a couple of website suggestions. For more theoretical information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_verbs
To conjugate any verb, you can use: https://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=conjugation