Can you always convert a verb to a noun?

Question

Hoy, la palabra del día es "fracasar." Es un verbo. Pero, varias respuestas usan "un fracaso," que es un sustantivo. ¿Puede convertir siempre un verbo a un sustantivo con la primera persona del singular del presente de indicativo del verbo?

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Today, the word of the day is "fracasar." It is a verb. But, several answers use "un fracaso," which is a noun. Can you always convert a verb to a noun with the first person singular present indicative of the verb?

Answer 1

Good question, Juan! Empirically, I'd say yes:

Comer - "una comida"

Jugar - "un juego"

Bañar - "un baño"

I can't think of any counter-examples.

• "comida" is hardly the 1st person singular present indicative of "comer" - samdie Sep 9, 2010

Answer 2

I would say that you can´t always turn a verb into a noun using the 1st person conjugation. For instance

lamer - lamida

sentir - sentimiento

morir - muerte

flotar - flotación

I dare to say you can´t most of the times, although it works pretty often with verbs ending in -ar. almorzar - almuerzo (but cenar - ceno does not work so fine )

• Except for your final example, one of these is the 1st person singular form of the verb - samdie Sep 9, 2010
• But cenar - cena does work, no? - pesta Sep 10, 2010

Answer 3

Not with the 1st person singular, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a verb that doesn't have a noun associated. Cenar = la cena, correr = la corrida, etc.

• let´s try ´soliviantar´ (to uprise) - mediterrunio Sep 9, 2010
• Now, we're getting somewhere. - samdie Sep 9, 2010

Answer 4

But you can usually convert a verb to a noun.

You just add an article to the verb, for instance:

fumar - el fumar (es perjudicial para la salud)

Answer 5

Looking at Collins "Despertar" (vt) doesn´t even need converting as it´s a noun as well. I should imagine this applies to many other verbs.

El despertar religioso - The religious awakening.

El despertar da la primavera - The awakening of spring.

• Sorry mediterrunio, I didn´t see your post. - Eddy Sep 9, 2010

Answer 6

Thanks to those who answered. I guess the short answer to my question is "No. You can't always convert a verb to a noun with the 1st person singular." I was curious whether there was any rule or pattern for changing verbs to nouns. Apparently not.

Gracias.