What is the best way to learn how to conjugate verbs in Spanish?

1 Answer
Apr 23, 2018

See explanation (I'm only doing present tense, not preterite tense, future tense, imperfect tense, present progressive, etc.)
I didn't cover all the irregular verbs

Explanation:

Regular verbs conjugated in the present tense in the order of yo (I), tú (you informal), él/ella/usted (he/she/you formal), nosotros/nosotras (we), vosotros/vosotras (you guys/you all), ustedes/ellos/ellas (you guys/you all/they/they):

Regular -ar verbs (ex. hablar, caminar, cocinar, necesitar, pasear, trabajar): -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an (replace the "ar" with one of these endings: ex. hablo would mean "I talk")

Regular -er verbs (ex. comer, comprender, aprender, beber, vender): -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en (replace the "er" with one of these endings: ex. coméis would mean "you guys eat")

Regular -ir verbs (ex. interrumpir, escribir, existir, vivir) conjugation endings: -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís, -en (replace the "ir" with one of these endings: ex. escribimos means "we write")

Not all verbs are regular. Some verbs are stem-changing (o to ue, e to ie, e to i, i to ie, u to ue), some verbs are -go verbs. Some verbs, such as decir* are both -go verbs and stem-changing verbs

For -go verbs, the yo form of the verb ends in -go instead of -o. (Ex. tengo means "I have," it is conjugated from tener)

For stem-changing verbs (I'll use o to ue), replace the "o" in the infinitive to "ue" for all conjugations except for the nosotros and vosotros forms and conjugate using the -ar, -er, or -ir endings. (Ex. almuerzo would be "I eat/have lunch," conjugated from almorzar)