conjugation patterns

Question

I heard there were only about 15 conjugation patterns of Spanish verbs. This is to say, you can group verbs into those categories. Once you know these patterns you can conjugate any verbs. The question is: does anyone know these patterns?

P.S. I'll be looking for an answer, too. I'll post it once I find it.

Answer 1

Lazarus,

Thank you for sharing your insight. I guess it's just a matter of finding an individual way that works best.

Answer 2

Stepan said:

Lazarus, Just thinking out loud.

Group #1: -AR regular verbs in all tenses (like in your example)

Group #2: -ER regular verbs in all tenses

Group #3: -IR regular verbs in all tenses

Group#4: -AR regular verbs in present and irregular in preterit ...

Would you recommend to group them this way or there are other ways to do it?

Regular verbs are divided into three conjugations: -ar, -rr, -ir. On top of those there are regular phonetic changes, and irregular changes. The irregular ones are the ones that make these lists complex.

Verbs belonging to the -ar group are mostly regular, by the way.

Answer 3

Lazarus,

Just thinking out loud.

Group #1: -AR regular verbs in all tenses (like in your example)
Group #2: -ER regular verbs in all tenses
Group #3: -IR regular verbs in all tenses
Group#4: -AR regular verbs in present and irregular in preterit ...

Would you recommend to group them this way or there are other ways to do it'

Answer 4

Example: (Group 1) amar, abalanzar, abanicar, abarcar, abortar, abollar, abusar, acelerar...

Over half of the verbs in my database are practically unknown to the average speaker, just in case you're wondering (and the same goes for my Oxford Dictionary).

Answer 5

Lazarus 1907,

What you are saying is very interesting. Could you share some ideas on how the most commonly used verbs can be grouped together to make learning process a bit easier? Having a database with a ridiculous number of verbs certainly makes you an authority on that matter. What approach would you suggest'

Answer 6

15 conjugation patterns? It all depends on the criteria used to classify these patterns. I have created a database with a ridiculous number of verbs, and depending on the selection method used, you can get 10 or 80 different patterns. Taking into account small differences and orthographical variations, and including every single verb existing in the dictionary, you have as many as 74 different patterns, but if you are flexible and you use a bit of common sense, this number goes below 20, and over 90% of the verbs belong to the first 5 groups anyway.

I don't remember the exact figures, but I'd say that over 50% of the verbs follow one single pattern.