Let’s Play with VERBOS
By Os
Hola gente. As this is a two months issue I asked permission from the woman in charge to make this article bigger than usual. I hope you like it.
Prepare yourselves guys. VERBOS are here. Tranquil@s, it’s not the Armageddon, relax.
A verb is where the action is. A verb is a word that expresses an action. And there are two huge families of verbs: Functional and Dysfunctional.
Let’s talk about the Functional one….
There are three big types of “Functional Verbs”:
The verbos that end in “AR”, like HablAR;
The verbos that end in “ER”, like ComER;
The verbos that end in “IR”, like VivIR.
HablAR, ComER, VivIR are the names of the verbs, they are the names of the infinitives (just for the record the infinitive is the form of the verb that ends in AR, ER, IR.). Infinitives in English are expressed by TO: TO speak, TO eat, TO live.
You just have learned 3 important “action words” or verbs. Notice that they all end in –R and they all mean to do something:
HablAR=TO speak; ComER=TO eat; VivIR=TO live.
Look how I “play” with them (notice the bolded letter):
Gracias a Dios everyday; I eat three times per day. / Yo comO tres veces por día.
Nowadays I live in M.A. / Actualmente yo vivO in M.A.
Normally I speak/talk with my mother every Sunday. / Normalmente yo hablO con mi madre todos los domingos.
They eat gallo pinto every day. / Ellos comEN gallo pinto todos los días.
We live close to the soccer field. / Nosotros vivIMOS cerca de la plaza de fútbol.
She always speaks/talks with me on Sundays. / Ella siempre hablA conmigo los domingos.
¿Can you say in English something like?:
I speaks English. ¿Do she eat pizza? We lives in Quepos. He eat a lot. ¿Does they speak italiano? I to speak Spanish. You to eat chicken. They to live in Matapalo.
You can say it like that if you want and probably anybody that speaks enough English is gonna understand what you are trying to say. But there is a right way to say things and there is a wrong way to say things.
Well, in Spanish is the same. There is a right way and a wrong way to say things. You can speak “fair enough” or just throw out “verb bombs”. In order to say things in the right way we have to learn how to play with verbs, if we want to use the verbs to express our ideas, we must first know at least the name of the verbs, and what they do mean.
¿Do you know the meaning of these verbos?:
HablAR, ComER, VivIR.
Good. That’s a start. So now, let’s play with them. In order to play with them, we have to make some changes… For example:
If you are speaking of yourself and the verbo ends in -AR, -ER, -IR:
I speak = Yo hablO = hablO;
I eat = Yo comO = comO;
I live = Yo vivO = vivO.
Piece of cake, right? Just drop the -AR, -ER, -IR endings and add an “O”. And if you want to drop the “Yo” as well; it´s not a big deal…
If you are speaking of someone else (one person) or something else (one thing) and the verbo ending is -AR:
you speak, she speaks, he speaks, it speaks;
you hablA, she hablA, he hablA;
usted hablA, ella hablA, él hablA.
hablA, hablA, hablA, hablA.
Practically what you have to do is to drop the -AR and add an “A”.
And if you are talking about other people (more than one person) or other things (more than one thing) and the verb ends in -AR; add an extra “N”:
you guys speak, they speak;
ustedes hablAN, ell@s hablAN.
hablAN, hablAN.
Now breathe and take a look at what happens if the verbs endings are -ER, -IR:
If you are speaking of someone else (one person) or something else (one thing):
you eat, she eats, he eats, it eats;
you comE, she, comE, he comE;
usted comE, ella comE, él comE.
comE, comE, comE, comE.
you live, she lives, he lives, it lives;
you vivE, she, vivE, he vivE;
usted vivE, ella vivE, él vivE.
vivE, vivE, vivE, vivE.
Practically what you have to do is to drop the -ER, -IR and add an “E”.
And if you are talking about other people (more than one person) or other things (more than one thing) just add an extra “N”:
you guys eat, they eat;
ustedes comEN, ell@s comEN.
comEN, comEN.
you guys live, they live;
ustedes vivEN, ell@s vivEN.
vivEN, vivEN.
Now breathe again and take a look at what happens if you are talking of yourself and someone else together:
we speak = nosotros hablAMOS = hablAMOS;
we eat = nosotros comEMOS = comEMOS;
we live = nosotros vivIMOS = vivIMOS.
Practically what you have to do is to drop the –R and add an “MOS”.
Now breathe one more time, read all again and NOTICE and PAY ATTENTTION to letters that are capitalized and bolded.
Those letters are the endings that we need to use when we speak español about something that happens in present, when we want to talk about habitual actions that you normally do, that you always do, that you can do, that you like to do, etc, etc, etc. Whatever happens or is happening now, in this present time, TODAY. Anything that currently happens in your lives nowadays.
I’m not gonna write all the time the previous explanation, from now on when I refer to any Present Stuff, I’m gonna write in capital letters PRESENTE. Ok?
Hey guys. There are hundreds of “Functional Verbs” and ALL of them end in:
-AR, -ER, -IR. And ALL of them follow a regular pattern. You have to memorize 3 regular patterns (one for each ending). Do it now!
#1. –AR Pattern. PRESENTE
Drop the –AR ending of an infinitive, like hablAR, and add the following endings:
|
O |
AMOS |
|
A |
AN |
#2. –ER Pattern. PRESENTE
Drop the –ER ending of an infinitive, like comER, and add the following endings:
|
O |
EMOS |
|
E |
EN |
#3. –IR Pattern. PRESENTE
Drop the –IR ending of an infinitive, like vivlR, and add the following endings:
|
O |
IMOS |
|
E |
EN |
For this and future articles you will have to “match” the endings of the patterns that you want with the following subjects:
|
I |
we |
|
you, she, he |
you guys, they |
The subjects and the endings will be shown ALWAYS in that way, in that order. For example:
If you want to say something about yourself, you only need to combine the upper left box (I) with the upper left box of the endings of the pattern that you need. Got it?
Fill the blanks. It’s your time to “play” with verbs:
Yo com __ tres veces por día.
Actualmente yo viv __ in M.A.
Normalmente yo habl __ con mi madre todos los domingos.
Ellos com ___ gallo pinto todos los días.
Nosotros viv ______ cerca de la plaza de fútbol.
Ella siempre habl __ conmigo los domingos.
If your answers were O, O, O, EN, IMOS, A; (without copying them from top), you got it. If you don’t got it, ¡who cares!… Keep sending “verb bombs”… ¡Keep trying!
Keep trying guys, learn one or two names of verbos everyday, just one or two, memorize the meaning and play with them. Let’s get to work:
TrabajAR = TO work
|
I trabajO |
we trabajAMOS |
|
you, she, he trabajA |
you guys, they trabajAN |
Play with the verb:
Yo(I) trabajO.
Usted(you) trabajA.
Ella (she) trabajA.
Él (he) trabajA.
Nosotros (we) trabajAMOS.
Ustedes (you guys) trabajAN.
Ell@s (they) trabajAN.
Use real names and situations:
Yo (I) trabajO en mi casa.
Usted (you) trabajA en un hotel.
Pat (she) trabajA en la oficina.
Bill (he) trabajA en el gym.
Pat, Bill y yo (we) trabajAMOS en Quepos.
Ustedes (you guys) trabajAN en la playa.
Pat y Bill (they) trabajAN mucho.
Too much work, let’s go for a drink.
BebER = TO drink
|
I bebo |
we bebEMOS |
|
you, she, he bebE |
you guys, they bebEN |
Play with the verb:
Yo(I) bebO.
Usted(you) bebE.
Ella(she) bebE.
Él(he) bebE.
Nosotros(we) bebEMOS.
Ustedes(you guys) bebEN.
Ell@s(they) bebEN.
Use real names and situations:
Yo (I) bebO vino en mi casa.
Usted (you) bebE cerveza en un hotel.
Pat (she) bebE café en la oficina.
Bill (he) bebE agua en el gym.
Pat, Bill y yo (we) bebEMOS ron en Quepos.
Ustedes (you guys) bebEN agua de pipa en la playa.
Pat y Bill (they) bebEN mucho.
I do hope these 1.500 palabras have been enough. If not:
You can come to my casa and I will explain to you this stuff again, tranquilamente. We can play with verbos anytime, in any tense, (PRESENTE, PASADO, FUTURO…). Come for a FREE lesson to my house. “Mi casa, su casa”. “Mi casa, su escuela”.
OS is a certified and experienced Spanish teacher. Contact him… you can start to learn NOW.