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Question

I am a tutor at me school teaching few different levels: 401, 402, 411, 412, 413, 415. The other day a 401 student came and asked me a few questions like "where does the GO come from venGO/tenGO." The usual questions a beginner woulud ask. I didnt know what to answer, so I said "I dont know." Can someone help me? 401 - beginnig spanish, 402 - intermediate, 411 - advanced, 412 - expert, 413/415 - spanish for native speakers. For example the person wanted to conjugate "venir" as "vieno"

What is a level 401? - comunacho, Oct 30, 2012

beginning spanish - Rey_Mysterio, Oct 30, 2012

So just tell them you'll see it on level 402. jaja - comunacho, Oct 30, 2012

Im getting paid to do this - Rey_Mysterio, Oct 30, 2012

Answer 1

Hello.

I'm not sure, but these verbs seem to be all irregular, and the "go" appears to be there to prevent a cacophony.

For instance, a model verb for "ir" termination is "partir", so "venir" in the first person, present would be "veno" (instead of "vengo") it "venir" were regular.

For "er" termination the model verb is "temer", so "tener" in the first person present indicative would be "teno" (instead of "tengo") .The same happens with "hacer" ("hao" instead of "hago"), "caer" ("cao" instead of "caigo") and "poner" ("pono" instead of "pongo"), etc.

Every time the "regular" form sounds aweful.

Here is more information about conjugation models http://lema.rae.es/dpd/apendices/apendice1.html

I'm so glad you're back, Comunacho! - rac1, Oct 30, 2012

whats a cacophony? - Rey_Mysterio, Oct 30, 2012

Answer 2

Ca·coph·o·ny (k-kf-n) / n. pl. ca·coph·o·nies

1. Jarring, discordant sound; dissonance: heard a cacophony of horns during the traffic jam.
2. The use of harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition, as for poetic effect.

Examples of cacophonies in Spanish:

La agua --- hence we change it to el agua to avoid pronouncing two stressed "a's" together. Other words include: la alba (el alba) / la ancla (el ancla), etc.

As Comunacho pointed out, when a "g" is added to veno, teno, hao, this helps avoid a cacophony (harsh sound) and makes it easier to pronounce words such as vengo, tengo and hago.

Excellent explanation - Sheily, Oct 30, 2012