"g" in irregular verb conjugations

Question

I've noticed that a "g" is added to many irregular conjugations, like with "tengo" and "oigo". Does anyone know where it came from?

Answer 1

Hi, B A Beder!

Yes, there is a strong tendency in Spanish to add occlusive, liquid and nasal sounds at the end of the words. Daniela's examples are great.

But not only at the end of words. Let's see:

Spanish "tener" comes from the Latin verb "tenere".

Spanish speakers have "a problem" at keeping long consonant sounds like "nn". The logical progression when the verb "ten[n]ere" is conjugated would be:

1) In 1st person singular present indicative:

• Yo ten[n]o una piedra, but it became "yo tengo una piedra".

2) In 1st person singular present subjunctive:

• Que yo ten[n]a una piedra..., but it became "Que yo tenga una piedra..."

3) In 1st person singular "condicional simple/pospretérito" indicative:

• Yo ten[n]ería una piedra, but it became "yo tendría una piedra

Besides, in all Western Romance languages (not only Spanish) the tendency is to add an occlusive (/g/, /k/, /d/...) or a nasal (ñ). That breaks apart the "uncomfortable" long N sound.

Let's take a quick look at the solutions given by the kin languages (Eng. I have):

• Portuguese: It's not eu ten[n]o, but eu tenho (voiced nasal ñ occurs).

• Catalan: It's not jo tin[n]o, but Jo tinc (voiceless occlusive /k/ occurs and the last vowel has been completely suppressed --extreme case).

• Galician: Not eu ten[n]o, but eu teño (voice nasal ñ)

I hope this helps, although there is much more on this interesting matter!

Answer 2

Anyone know??

Don't know for for sure, but I've got an opinion based on observation. See my post. - Daniela2041, Jun 8, 2017

Answer 3

En algunos verbos se añade una consonante a la raíz, particularmente en la primera persona de presente de indicativo y en todas las personas del subjuntivo (n, z, y, g): vengo, produzco, tengo, concluyo…

A este cambio se le conoce como consonantismo[más información aquí][1]

https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=POZ99_RsesUC&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=vengo tengo+ g + verbos irregulares&source=bl&ots=2dJafotI74&sig=iOu0xnEsCIgxR-gGIOeQKs4LwCw&hl=es-419&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKsq67ra_UAhUV4WMKHZ3qB1cQ6AEIRDAF#v=onepage&q=vengo tengo g verbos irregulares&f=false

Thank you, Luis. :) - rac1, Jun 8, 2017

Something is wrong with the link. - rac1, Jun 8, 2017

Pero yo he conocido como Consonantismo, tanto en espanol, como en gallego e italiano, al sistema de consonantes de una lengua - Raff75, Jun 9, 2017

Así es, Raff. Así, en español se añade la consonante g en tengo, vengo, pongo... - LuisCache, Jun 9, 2017

Answer 4

There is a tendency, as least in some dialects of Spanish to put a hard "g" sound following an "n" Such as "eng España" "¡Tomeng algo!" "Dímelo eng inglés", and hundereds of other similar combinations. This is heard in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and probably in southern Spain as well. I only partially remember. It was so long ago.

Anyhow these are my thoughts on the matter. To me that would explain "pongo" "tengo" "vengo" and others like this, but "Salgo??" Hago?? "Digo??" ¡Ni idea!

Muchas gracias :) - rac1, Jun 8, 2017

De nada. - Daniela2041, Jun 8, 2017

It's actually very interesting. Thanks for sharing. - Raff75, Jun 9, 2017