Easy ways to remember conjugations

Question

Does anyone have any quick tips on how to remember the different conjunctive forms of different words? Like for the past tense, preterite, conditional, etc. Anything to help me out would be amazing!

Conjugations - not conjunctive forms amigo. - ian-hill, Apr 30, 2015

Welcome to the thread mate. Do not forget to give a vote for the post below you. Good luck. - ray76, May 1, 2015

Answer 1

Wow! the easy is to be born in Spain or some other Spanish-speaking country.

The only other way is "hard-nosed" memorization plus using the verbs in an easy context. I can expand on this if you wish. Memorization is not that hard. I can usually have my students performing flawlessly in 15 minutes or less per tense, except for those verbs that have stem changes or other irregularities. They take a little longer. Foreign language learning, as I have said hundreds of times to my students is like learning a musical instrument or a sport. You have to spend time at it. There are no shortcuts.

Answer 2

Hear hear, Dani.

That said, the verb forms, although initially daunting, do follow fairly standard patterns (subject to numerous important irregularities, but even these reveal a degree of regularity).

Personally, I began with the Michel Thomas audio course, which covers a vast swathe of grammar in its first 8 discs (& there are 4 or 5 advanced discs & numerous other follow-up courses). MT is very verb-focused & gives you all the major verb forms in a readily digestible manner.

Now I've moved on to Pimsleur (I'm just over halfway through level 3, & there are 5 levels). Pimsleur is much slower-paced & doesn't explain grammar so well, but it does allow you to practise the actual use of verbs in simulated real-life situations more so than MT (which is slightly more abstract).

I also suggest you invest in a decent book of verb conjugation tables, which you can buy second hand online for a couple of pounds / dollars / euros / whatever.

Try & identify the commonest verbs & verb forms & learn them best.

Also try & enjoy the language. There is beauty in its logic.

Don't be afraid of making mistakes. You'll make hundreds of them. This is a natural, inevitable part of the learning process. My kids are currently learning English & mess up their English verbs all the time (usually adopting more logical forms, e.g. 'I seed' for 'I saw' !!). They couldn't care less, & each day they get better & better.

Buena suerte

Hey, Falda,even if you buy the conjugation tables and such, ya still gotta memorize them. I have my students fill out 3x5 cards in case they forget what they learn in class. - Daniela2041, Apr 30, 2015

P.S there are over 245 irregular past participles in English. I had to memorize those ##$%% things. Boy! Spanish has eight of them. - Daniela2041, Apr 30, 2015

I never memorise anything. I never memorised English. It just stuck, & I still make mistakes ;-) - Faldaesque, Apr 30, 2015

For example, I never know whether to say I lay down or I lied down... Who cares ? Everyone knows what I mean !! :-) - Faldaesque, Apr 30, 2015

Answer 3

Welcome to SpanishDict. Please add your language details to your profile. This will help when a member is trying to answer your questions.

:) - ian-hill, Apr 30, 2015

Answer 4

Well, the other day i saw a coment that somene made and it said a easy way to remember is like this:

if there are two E's in a verb then it will be a stem changer like:

encender, entender etc

"Encontrar" will let you down mate and many more . - ray76, May 1, 2015

that was for the ie stem changer - Rey_Mysterio, May 1, 2015