While in English in Present Tense we have only 2 personal forms (work and works)
Spanish has 6! In this lesson we are going to learn 4 of them. First, note that
there are 3 types of Spanish verbs:
First conjugation: verbos en -ar:: trabajar,
hablar, estudiar, cuidar, ayudar....
Second conjugation: verbos en -er:: comer, correr,
volver...
Third conjugation: verbos en -ir: vivir, subir,
salir...
The endings of the verb depend on the type of conjugation:
YO (the same ending -o for all the conjugations): trabajar →
trabaj - ar → trabaj - o → trabajo
TÚ (ending -as for the first conjugation): trabajar → trabaj - ar → trabaj - as → trabajas
TÚ (ending -es for both second and third conjugations):
vivir → viv - ir → viv - es → vives
ÉL/ELLA (ending -a for the first conjugation): trabajar →
trabaj - ar → trabaj - a → trabaja
ÉL/ELLA (ending -e for both second and third conjugations):
vivir → viv - ir → viv - e → vive
ELLOS/ELLAS (ending -an for the first conjugation):
trabajar → trabaj - ar → trabaj - an →
trabajan
ELLOS/ELLAS (ending -en for both second and third
conjugations): vivir → viv - ir → viv - en → viven
| ending | trabajar | comer | vivir | |
| yo | -o | trabajo | como | vivo |
| tú | -as/-es | trabajas | comes | vives |
| él/ella | -a/-e | trabaja | come | vive |
| ellos/ellas | -an/-en | trabajan | comen | viven |
Once can notice easily that all the forms except the 1st Singular have two
parts: the vowel that marks the conjugation (-a- for verbs in -ar
and -e- for verbos in -er /-ir), and the proper ending:
-s for 2nd Singular
no ending for 3rd Singular
-n for 3rd Plural
As in Spanish the subject is frequently omitted, the only way to understand the
meaning is analyzing the ending of the verbs. So, it´s very very important to
study verb endings and to be able to recognize them during the listening.