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Regular verbs

Verbs are words that usually indicate action, such as to eat or to run. Sometimes they indicate a state of being or condition, such as to be or to appear.

In English, verbs are easy, at least in the present tense. For instance, to dance becomes I dance, you dance, he or she dances, we dance, you (all) dance, they dance.

In Spanish, it’s a little more involved. That’s why they call it a foreign language, after all!

The verb that means “to dance” in Spanish is bailar. It is what we call an –ar verb because of its last two letters. In addition to –ar verbs, there are also –er and –ir verbs. But let’s limit ourselves to –ar verbs to start with.

Verbs that end in –ar lose the –ar when we use them in their personal forms. Bailar itself means “to dance”, but if we wish to say “I dance” or “He dances” we have to make adjustments. We have to adapt bailar to its personal forms. To do this, we remove the –ar from bailar.

When we remove the –ar from bailar, we are left with bail-. Bail- is referred to as the stem.

We have to add letters to the stem to express the ideas of “I dance,” “He dances”, and so forth.

To say “I run” we add –o to the stem, and we end up with bailo.

To say “You dance” we add –as to the stem, and we end up with bailas.

To say “He dances” we add –a to the stem, and we end up with baila.

To say “She dances” we add –a to the stem, and we end up with baila.

To say “You dance” (formal) we add –a to the stem, and we end up with baila.

(You may notice that the latest three forms are identical. In order to be sure that we are communicating the idea that we wish to express, we may add “él” in front of baila (El baila) to say “He dances”. For “She dances” we may say “Ella baila,” and for “You dance,” we may say “Ud. baila.”)

To say “We dance” we add –amos to the stem, and we end up with bailamos.

To say “They dance” we add –an to the stem, and we end up with bailan.

To say “You (all) dance” we add –an to the stem, and we end up with bailan.

(The final two forms are also identical. For that reason, we may want to say “Ellos bailan” or “Ellas bailan” for “They dance,” and “Uds. bailan” for “You (all) dance.”

There are thousands of verbs in Spanish that work just like bailar. These are called regular verbs. Remember that this is just for the present tense. To express ideas in the future (“I will dance”) and the past (“I danced”), you will need other forms of these verbs.

The following chart illustrate another regular –ar verb:

CANTAR

I sing	Yo	canto
You sing	Tú	cantas
You sing	Ud.	canta
He sings	Él	canta
She sings	Ella	canta
We sing	Nosotros	cantamos
You (all) sing	Uds.	cantan
They sing	Ellos	cantan
They sing	Ellas	cantan

Verbs that end in –er lose the –er when we use them in their personal forms. Correr itself means “to run”, but if we wish to say “I run” or “He runs” we have to make adjustments. We have to adapt correr to its personal forms. To do this, we remove the –er from correr.

When we remove the –er from correr, we are left with corr-. Corr- is referred to as the stem.

We have to add letters to the stem to express the ideas of “I run,” “He runs”, and so forth.

To say “I run” we add –o to the stem, and we end up with corro.

To say “You run” we add –es to the stem, and we end up with corres.

To say “He runs” we add –e to the stem, and we end up with corre.

To say “She runs” we add –e to the stem, and we end up with corre.

To say “You run” (formal) we add –e to the stem, and we end up with corre.

(You may notice that the latest three forms are identical. In order to be sure that we are communicating the idea that we wish to express, we may add “él” in front of corre (El corre) to say “He runs”. For “She runs” we may say “Ella corre,” and for “You run,” we may say “Ud. corre.”)

To say “We run” we add –emos to the stem, and we end up with corremos.

To say “They run” we add –en to the stem, and we end up with corren.

To say “You (all) run” we add –en to the stem, and we end up with corren.

(The final two forms are also identical. For that reason, we may want to say “Ellos corren” or “Ellas corren” for “They run,” and “Uds. corren” for “You (all) run.”

There are thousands of verbs in Spanish that work just like correr. These are called regular verbs. Remember that this is just for the present tense. To express ideas in the future (“I will run”) and the past (“I ran”), you will need other forms of these verbs.

The following chart illustrates another –er verb:

COMER

I eat	Yo	como
You eat	Tú	comes
You eat	Ud.	come
He eats	Él	come
She eats	Ella	come
We eat	Nosotros	comemos
You (all) eat	Uds.	comen
They	Ellos	comen
They	Ellas	comen

The –ir verbs work just like the –er verbs, except that in the “nosotros” form we use –imos as the ending instead of –emos.

ABRIR

I open	Yo	abro
You open	Tú	abres
You open	Ud.	abre
He opens	Él	abre
She opens	Ella	abre
We open	Nosotros	abrimos
You (all) open	Uds.	abren
They)	Ellos	abren
They	Ellas	abren

Ó 2000 Bryan Rampey