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Spanish - verb conjugation tips

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14 messages over 2 pages: 1
Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4797 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 9 of 14
05 September 2014 at 8:38am | IP Logged 
Medulin wrote:

As is the case with Swedish, and Latin, don't memorize the verbs in their infinitive form only,you have to include the conjugated form, because 45 % of all Spanish verbs are irregular or semirregular (like the 1st three from the lower list):

cuento, contar = tell
siento, sentir = feel
defiendo, defender = defend
dependo, depender = depend

etc


That's true, many are irregular or semiirregular. But there are "rules" among the irregularities and many common verbs are irregular the same way as other common verbs so it is nearly a new regularity for practical use. Combination of learning the whole conjugations and lots of input should help you deal with any irregularities you are likely to encounter.
2 persons have voted this message useful



mitcht
Newbie
Australia
Joined 3529 days ago

32 posts - 36 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 10 of 14
06 September 2014 at 8:56am | IP Logged 
Thanks for all the advice I do think it's a case of just needing to put more time specifically into this area. For
instance, I don't really struggle with the present tense but once I start having to think through which tense and
indicative/subjunctive that it all slows down or, if i don't slow speech, can get muddled.

Hopefully the FSI, some one on one lessons and working through practice makes perfect will help take care
of it.
1 person has voted this message useful



luke
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6993 days ago

3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 11 of 14
06 September 2014 at 1:12pm | IP Logged 
With FSI Basic, I was getting some sincere compliments for my Spanish from the native Columbian teachers
in an informal class at work by the time I'd worked through unit 9 (of 55).

My confidence increased as I got through unit 15.

When I was studying units in the 20s, I was regularly mingling with monolingual Spanish speakers. I was
mostly listening and speaking a little. I also got several sincere compliments on my speaking, pronunciation,
and grammatical correctness. Now, of course, my vocabulary was still very limited, and my grammatical
knowledge, particularly of the subjunctive was incomplete to non-existant, but the native Spanish speakers
did have a genuine warmth in our interactions. My understanding was usually very incomplete.

I became very familiar with curse words, which were common in the groups I met with. I also had a couple of
super cool experiences with fellows who were carefully and considerately explaining various topics to me
such as, family life, their personal success philosophy, and their personal history.

When I was in FSI units in the 30s, I was having occasional one on one conversations with speakers who
were also learning English. Some of these were super cool experiences where they were trying out their
English on me, and I was speaking only Spanish to them. Both of us being in a somewhat rare opportunity
to have a real, meaningful, conversation. These conversations lasted about 10-15 minutes and were
basically fluent. That is, we weren't hunting for words. These were experiences where both of our "affective
filters" (nervousness) had disappeared and we were having "best I've ever spoken English/Spanish" events.

Getting into units in the 40s and 50s continued to increase my comfort level and also bring the occasional
complement like, "I've never met an English speaker who uses the subjunctive correctly, but you do", or
"wow, you speak great, where did you learn to speak Spanish?"

If you look in

my logbooks,
you can read a lot more about my experience and chronicles
while learning to speak Spanish.

Edited by luke on 06 September 2014 at 1:14pm

3 persons have voted this message useful



Rozzie
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3200 days ago

136 posts - 149 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 12 of 14
26 July 2015 at 9:05pm | IP Logged 
Medulin wrote:
You have to know all 101 conjugation types,
Spanish Verb Encyclopedia may help you:
.http://www.verbolog.com/paradig1.htm
http://www.verbolog.com/paradig2.htm


As is the case with Swedish, and Latin, don't memorize the verbs in their infinitive
form only,
you have to include the conjugated form, because 45 % of all Spanish verbs are
irregular or semirregular (like the 1st three from the lower list):

cuento, contar = tell
siento, sentir = feel
defiendo, defender = defend
dependo, depender = depend

etc


Thank you for the links just what I was looking for to help me with my Spanish :)
1 person has voted this message useful



Rozzie
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3200 days ago

136 posts - 149 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 13 of 14
26 July 2015 at 9:06pm | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
Most people who cannot use conjugations in a conversation need to
drill them better either as separate forms or in sentences or both. So:

1.make an SRS deck with the common conjugations, irregular ones and the ones you keep
having trouble with.something like front: hacer (present) back:
hago,haces,hace,hacemos,hacéin,hacen works pretty fine for me.

2.lots of input. hearing and seeing the correct conjugation in context many times
helps a lot both with creating the correct verb form and utilizing it in the proper
context

3.focus on conjugation during your practice of any kind. Make your own sentences,
speak to yourself, do exercises in your coursebook and so on. as long as you reinforce
your correct use of conjugations, you are moving forward. Just don't let mistakes slip
regularily "because this exercise is on something different"

4.when speaking Spanish, people will forgive you a lot of conjugation mutilations and
other mistakes as well, as long as you obviously understand and can be understood
without much trouble. Especially as even the Spaniards claiming to speak English
aren't usually too good at it. The trouble is that it tempts you not to study during
your stay as you have too little time for taking your verb conjugation book out of
your luggage. But you will progress much better if you remember just a few things you
are unsure about/don't know during the day and look them up in just a few minutes.

The FSI will take you pretty far but you should keep on mind it is an older course and
needs to be supplemented, just as any course, with lots of native input. Lots.


Thanks for the idea now I know how to do my flashcards for my verbs :)
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4797 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 14 of 14
27 July 2015 at 3:56am | IP Logged 
You are welcome.

There is another way as well. I am now totally excited by verb conjugation courses on memrise by edthird. They is extremely helpful, well done, complete, without mistakes. A true jewel! Three courses, verbs divided traditionally by endings -ar, -er, -ir, all the tenses you normally need, approxiamtely 70 model verbs total is my estimate.

The format is different from my old one but I am copying it for my own French conjugation deck:
front: yo CONOCER presente
back: conozco


1 person has voted this message useful



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