The Present Tense - For Babies? Exercise: baby level:P

Question

So you think you're doing pretty well, getting stuck into the subjunctive and figuring out the difference between the imperfect and the preterite etc etc - I guess by now you're thinking that conjugating in the present tense is for babies!

Think again my friends Have a go at this Present Tense Conjugation Exercise

¡No hagan trampas!

Glad this wasn't the preterite tense. - 0074b507, Jul 31, 2011

lol they have exercises for that too je je :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 31, 2011

Hi Kiwi , I met Bryan Dawe on Saturday the side kick of John Clark ( Fred Dag ) he gave me one of his CDs " Letters from Kalangadoo " they are hilarious. - ray76, Aug 1, 2011

Kewlness :) Hey you should try translating some of those into Spanish, now that would be kewl! Then you could record them and post them here for us all to enjoy - or actually even the English version sound recording would be fun :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 1

Honestly, Kiwi, I've started to feel like I'm 'memorizing' Spanish rather than learning it; so many conjugations and so many irregularities. So the infamous wall keeps on calling me.

Noooo!! Step away from the wall je je - actually if you stick with it you'll find that the irregularities start to make some sense, a lot of them have to do with preserving the original sound of the verb - don't worry you'll get there you're doing gr8 :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 31, 2011

I hope so. Thank you. - SpanishPal, Jul 31, 2011

The more familiar you become with the conjugations, even the irregulars follow regular patterns, I have just bounced off the infamous wall again too, ni modo, keep at it it will come ,really it will. - pacofinkler, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 2

Cool exercise!

I went through some of the verbs I have learned thus far (minus the vosotros conjugation) and did pretty good!

Thanks!

good on you, the 'yo' of caber got me je je - although as soon as I saw it I remembered lol - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 31, 2011

That one got me, too! - Tosh, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 3

Thanks, Kiwi. I just can't practice this enough. I hope it will stick someday. ¡Muchas gracias!

I'm sure it will - keep up the good work :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 4

I guess by now you're thinking that conjugating in the present tense is for babies!

Not at all!!!!! One of the best reasons I have for studying Spanish is because it will forever keep me humble.

Thanks for this great new challenge!!!

This is off topic, but since you posted the "arepa" thread, I wanted to tell you that tomorrow morning, we will be headed down the mountain from Jarabacoa to Santiago,where I have been promised, we will stop for some fresh arepa!!!!!! I am only sad tht I can't share with you Kiwi!!!!

aw, well thanks for thinking of me, i finally found somewhere to buy the precooked harina here in NZ so I've had a couple of attempts at making my own - not 100% happy with them yet but will persevere :) ¡Buen provecho! - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 31, 2011

Answer 5

Great link, Kiwi. Fortunately, I have learned many of these in school!

Bien hecho! :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 31, 2011

Answer 6

Great exercise Kiwi girl Many thanks for the challenge! lol I enjoyed it too ..at least when I got them right/correct. When I had a second go at doing the same verb that I had problems with found that I had learnt from my mistakes.

I had a go at doing this exercise and was generally pleased with my results: (I only decided not to attempt 6 verbs which I really didn;t know and needed to learn)

Most of the verbs I attempted I got right (about 95% of them)with no spelling mistakes or omitted accents eg ir hacer estar, ser and some more complex ones with stem changes like jugar

It confirmed my greatest area of weakness with verbs is generally with the 2nd person plural:,e.g: vais o os sentáis. This form is only used in Spain. I could be lazy and just get away with knowing 3rd person plural lol but no, I will take the trouble to learn the 2nd person plural, too,

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that this was a common area that other people struggled with... come on folks/everyone admit it ! I'm not on my own in this am I ?

Seriously, there are some verbs like oir and oler mentir and morir that I did not know how to conjugate even in the present (I look them up in my 501 verbs book lol) but I need to learn them.

Thank you very much Kiwi girl Great idea

Ah, my "601 Spanish Verbs" is always within reach of my computer. Every day I renew my promise to at least master the conjugation of the "75 most useful verbs." Sigh ... - territurtle, Aug 1, 2011

ah so it is 601 Spanish Verbs now, is it ? the book by Christopher Kendris published by Barrons - FELIZ77, Aug 1, 2011

Thanks for the vote, Terri:) - FELIZ77, Aug 1, 2011

You're welcome Feliz and good on you learning the 2nd person plural very conscientious :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Well, as you know MC it's a journey lol :) - FELIZ77, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 7

Nice one. I just did the 1st person, since most of the irregularity happens there, and in a few cases the vos when I was uncertain about the accent. The ones I messed up: Dar - Doy

Jugar - Juego

Oler - Huelo

Reírse - Me río

Ver - Veo

Glad you found it useful, it looks like you did a great job well done :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 8

This is a really challenging exercise. Even though I have studied them before, these are really easy to trip up on. And, helpful to review. I'll be back to this list until they consistently come easily to me.

Well done Joyce that's the spirit je je :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 9

The only thing I thing I trip up on is with the vosotros conjugation of reflexive verbs; I keep saying "vos" instead of "os" XD

You can add me to the list of those "tripers," too! - territurtle, Aug 1, 2011

Well that's pretty good going :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 10

Thank you for the bookmark Kiwi Girl. I use the present tense in my speech.

I even use the infinitive and simple gerunds. Hehe. I am a baby?

Nice headline MC

lol you're welcome, some of those verbs we might not use too often and they have a few tricky conjugations so they keep things interesting je je - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011