New Favorite Thing: Playing with Irregular Verbs
My new favorite thing is conjugating irregular verbs with spanishdict.com
I was talking to a Spanish friend of mine over lunch, and we were discussing strategies for learning the various forms of irregular verbs. He told me that the verb for "conjugation" in Spanish is "conjugar." It literally means "to play with" your verbs.
We were all told to not play with our food as kids...
But, if we are going to be able to speak this language, we are going to have to learn to play with our verbs.
For those of you who may not know about the conjugation feature on spanishdict.com, go to the pull down menu along the top titled, "MORE."
Scroll down to "Conjugation." Then, plug in your verb. Presto, you've got the conjugation!
My question is...how do people really learn these things? What are the tips and tricks you're using.
I've been making lists, hoping that they begin to sink in. It's a little boring.
What other ideas do you have up your sleeve?
4 Answers
Spanish verbs in the preterito indefinido form are highly irregular. My mind was a blur in keeping them straight.
Yesterday I just learned a new technique...
My teacher pointed out that many highly used verbs that are irregular in the preteríto indefinido form are only irregular at the root. Once you get past their change in the root, the endings are regular.
What a relief!
What are some verbs that follow this path?
andar, the root changes to anduv-
estar, the root changes to estuv-
tener, the root changes to tuv-
poner, the root changes to pus-
poder, the root changes to pud-
saber, the root changes to sup-
vener, the root changes to vin-
The endings ALL follow the SAME format:
-e -iste -o -imos -isteis -eron
Here are seven roots and one format of endings to remember that will help us immensely to communicate.
What do you think?
One more thought to make you smile.
How are irregular Spanish verbs like subway stops? Read on to find out.
I grew up in a small town in the Midwest of the U.S. You could cross state lines a couple of times and not find a subway.
As an adult I moved to New York City and started to ride the subway. I was so nervous at first, everything was so new. I didn't know what was at each of the stops. I was afraid that the train was not going to stop at my stop and I had an irrational concern that I would be taken somewhere new not on the map, somewhere where I had no idea where I was.
I came to understand that while it is relatively easy to move a bus stop, the investment, planning and construction required in creating a subway stop means that they will almost never change the location of a subway stop. Grand Central Station is going to be there if you are trying to get to Midtown Manhattan. You can just count on it.
In December I moved to Madrid. I've been learning the Metro stops here, learning how to pronounce the names, gradually gaining confidence about where the different stops will take me.
At first, all of the names didn't mean anything to me. Now I know that "Opera" is where my friend lives and "Sol" is where my school is. "Anton Martin" is where I go to the market.
What does this have to do with irregular verbs?
When I started learning some of the irregular verbs it seemed overwhelming, like learning every subway stop in a network. Too much. I couldn't keep them straight.
Yesterday I was doing my homework and I had to use an irregular verb that I learned a month ago. I remembered it! In its correct form!
It reminded me of those subway stops that were new to me: difficult to learn what they mean (how to use them, when they will be useful), but familiar and really helpful once you do.
And, just like the subway stops, once you do learn them, they never change.
"Tuve" will be there every time I want to say that I had something...for the rest of my life. How comforting.
I like to learn patterns of irregularity, such as "poner" vs. "proponer", etc. It seems that many irregular verbs are models of a sort, followed by other similar verbs.
But now that you mention "conjugar" being related to "jugar", I find it weird that conjugar is irregular in very different ways compared to jugar.
Here are a couple of thoughts: 1, The most common verbs are also the most irregular. I've often heard it said this is typical of most languages, but certainly is true of Spanish. Think ir and ser. These you just have to learn, but on the bright side you get lots of practice, because, well, they are really common. 2, Lots of irregular verbs are stem changers, and these definitely fall into patterns you can recognize and learn. 3, What I did was make flash cards for myself, and then practice them. I had a collection of about 24 and I would practice them as I walked to work, etc. That combined with reading and speaking did the trick.
Buen' suerte!
J
