The document discusses Spanish verbs and their conjugation. It explains that Spanish verbs change endings depending on the subject, with regular verbs ending in -ar, -er, or -ir. It provides examples of conjugating regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs for different subjects. The document emphasizes that Spanish adjectives come before nouns, unlike in English. It also covers uses of infinitives, subjects, objects, and other parts of Spanish sentences.

1. Native Language
When studying a second language one usually
refers back and compares it to ones own native
language. You will see me making references back
to the English language to help you with your study
of the Spanish language. You will be looking at the
similarities and differences between the two
languages as you learn Spanish.

2. English Sentences
• You will recall from your study of English that
sentences can be broken down into smaller
parts. Sentences have at least a subject (a
noun or pronoun) and a verb. In the sentence,
“María runs.”, María is the noun and the
subject of the sentence. “Runs” is the verb.
María runs.
↓ ↓
noun, subject verb

3. • Sentences may also have objects (nouns and pronouns), modifiers
(adjectives and adverbs), prepositions, conjunctions, and / or
articles. For example, in the sentence, “María is tall.”, tall is an
adjective. In the sentence,” María runs quickly.”, quickly is an
adverb.
María is tall.
↓
adjective
María runs quickly.
↓
adverb

4. María sees a beautiful house.
• In the sentence, “María sees a beautiful house.” The word “a” is an
indefinite article, “beautiful” is an adjective and “house” is a noun
and object in the sentence. Another example would be the
sentence,” María runs at the park.” The word “at” is a preposition,
“the” is a definite article and “park” is a noun and object of the
sentence.
María sees a beautiful house.
↓ ↓ ↓
indefinite article adjective noun, object
María runs at the park.
↓ ↓ ↓
Preposition indefinite article noun, object

5. She runs.
• An example of a sentence using a pronoun for the
subject would be, “She runs.”, she is both the subject
and a pronoun. “María and Juan run.”, is an example
of a sentence using a conjunction (and).
She runs.
↓
subject, pronoun
María and Juan run.
↓
Conjunction

6. Spanish uses the Adjective before the
Noun
• You will notice that the Spanish language places the
adjective before the noun, which is the opposite of what
occurs in the English language. You have heard many
questions and sentences in Spanish. Spanish sentences are
normally formed by using a subject, then the verb, and
then the object and/or description. For example, “Ernesto
tiene un coche grande.”, and “María es alta.” In the
example, “Ernesto tiene un coche grande.”, “Ernesto” is the
subject, “tiene” is the verb, and “coche” is the object and
“grande “is the adjective. In the example, “Maria es alta.”,
“Maria” is the subject, “es” is the verb and “alta“is the
adjective.

7. Spanish uses the Adjective before the
Noun
Ernesto has a big car.
↓ ↓
adjective noun, object
Ernesto tiene un coche grande.
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
subject verb noun, object adjective
María es alta.
↓ ↓ ↓
Subject verb adjective

8. Infinitives
• The most basic form of the Spanish verb is called an
infinitive. Infinitives are usually seen as the equivalent
of the “to” form of the verbs in English, such as “to
eat” and “to live.” Spanish infinitives always end in one
of three ways -ar, -er, or -ir, in this order of frequency.
Infinitives need to be conjugated in order to indicate
who is performing the action of the verb.
• Regular Verbs
Most verbs are conjugated regularly, which means that
if you know the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or –ir) you
can predict/determine its conjugation.

9. Regular –ar Verbs
The conjugation forms for a regular verb ending in
–ar are:
Spanish verb English
(yo) -o I
(tú) -as you (informal ,singular)
(usted, él, ella) -a you (polite, singular); he/she
(nosotros/nosotras) -amos we
(vosotros/vosotras) -áis you (informal, plural, Spain)
(ustedes, ellos/ellas) -an you (plural); they

10. For example, the regular –ar verb
hablar (to speak) would be
(yo) hablo I speak.
(tú) hablas You (informal, singular) You
speak.
Spanish
(usted, él, ella) Verb
habla English
you (polite, singular);
he/she
You speak; He/She speaks.
(nosotros/nosotras) hablamos We speak.
(vosotros/vosotras) habláis You (informal, plural, Spain)
You speak.

11. Regular –ar Verbs
• What we did was take the ending –ar off and replaced it with the
corresponding conjugated ending to indicate who is doing the
action in the sentence.
(Yo) Hablo español. I speak Spanish.
(Tú) Hablas español. You speak Spanish.
(Usted, él, ella) Habla español. He/She speaks Spanish.
(Nosotros) Hablamos español. We speak Spanish.
(Vosotros) Habláis español. You speak Spanish.
(Ustedes, ellos, ellas) Hablan español. You/They speak Spanish.

12. Regular –ar Verbs
• Remember that the Spanish verbs change
their endings according to the subject of the
sentence. The subject pronouns (yo, tú,
usted, él, ella, nosotros, etc.) are in
parenthesis because it is not always necessary
to use them. The verb itself or the context
usually tells you who the subject is.

13. Regular –er Verbs
The conjugation forms for a regular verb ending
in –er are:
(yo) -o I
(tú) -es you (informal ,singular)
(usted, él, ella) -e you (polite, singular);
he/she
(nosotros/nosotras) -emos we
(vosotros/vosotras) -éis you (informal, plural,
Spain)
(ustedes, ellos/ellas) -en you (plural); they

14. Regular –er Verbs
• An example of a regular verb ending in –er is leer
(to read) and it would be conjugated as follows:
Spanish Verb English
(yo) leo I read.
(tú) lees You (informal, singular)
read.
(usted, él, ella) lee You (polite, singular) read;
He/She reads.
(nosotros/nosotras) leemos We read.
(vosotros/vosotras) leéis You (informal, plural,
Spain) read.

15. Regular –er Verbs
• What we did was take the ending –er off and
replaced it with the corresponding conjugated
ending to indicate who is doing the action in the
sentence.
(Yo) leo. I read.
(Tú) lees. You read.
(Usted, él, ella) lee. He/She reads.
(Nosotros) leemos. We read.
(Vosotros) leéis. You read.
(Ustedes, ellos, ellas) leen. They read.

16. Regular –er Verbs
• Remember that the Spanish verbs change
their endings according to the subject of the
sentence. The subject pronouns (yo, tú,
usted, él, ella, nosotros, etc.) are in
parenthesis because it is not always necessary
to use them. The verb itself or the context
usually tells you who the subject is.

17. Regular –ir Verbs
• The conjugation forms for a regular verb
ending in –ir are:
Spanish verb English
(yo) -o I
(tú) -es you (informal ,singular)
(usted, él, ella) -e you (polite, singular);
he/she
(nosotros/nosotras) -imos we
(vosotros/vosotras) -ís you (informal, plural, Spain)

18. • An example of a regular verb ending in –ir is vivir
(to live) and it would be conjugated as follows:
Spanish verb English
(yo) vivo I live.
(tú) You (informal, singular) live.
vives
(usted, él, ella) vive You (polite, singular) live;
He/She lives.
(nosotros/nosotras) vivimos We live.
(vosotros/vosotras) vivís You (informal, plural, Spain)
live.
(ustedes, ellos/ellas) viven You (plural) live; They live.

19. Regular Verbs
• What we did was take the ending –ir off and
replaced it with the corresponding conjugated
ending to indicate who is doing the action in the
sentence.
(Yo) vivo. I live.
(Tú) vives. You live.
(Usted, él, ella) vive. He/She lives.
(Nosotros/as) vivimos. We live.
(Vosotros/as) vivís. You live.
(Ustedes, ellos, ellas) viven. They live.

20. Conjugation of Regular Verbs
• Remember that the Spanish verbs
change their endings according to the
subject of the sentence. The subject
pronouns (yo, tú, usted, él, ella,
nosotros, etc.) are in parenthesis
because it is not always necessary to use
them. The verb itself or the context
usually tells you who the subject is.

21. Conjugating Regular Verbs
• In the following chart you
will see the similarities
and differences between
the three verb endings
and their conjugation
forms.

22. Spanish -ar verb endings -er verb ending -ir verb endings English
(yo) -o -o -o I
(tú) -as -es -es You (informal
singular)
(usted, él, -a -e -e He/she
ella)
(nosotros/as) -amos -emos -imos We
(vosotros/as) -aís éis -ís You (informal
plural)

23. Verbs without a Subject
• Spanish verbs are commonly used without a
subject. Because conjugation indicates who is
performing the action, an explicit subject
often isn’t necessary. For example, it is clear
that “canto bien” means “I sing well,” and it is
not necessary to include “yo”, the word for “I.”
In other words, subject pronouns are
frequently omitted and that is why they are
shown above in parenthesis.