AR Verbs

Conjugating Regular Verbs

Group 1

Infinitives

• Infinitives are the words ‘to + verb’, such as :» To run, to play, to read, to study

• In Spanish, infinitives end in the letters AR, ER or IR.– Hablar to speak– Comer to eat– Escribir to write

What is Conjugation?

• In English or Spanish, Conjugation is the act of changing the verb from the infinitive, to having a subject perform the action:– Examples:

• To speak He speaks– Hablar Él habla.

Spanish Conjugation Step 1

• The first step in conjugating in Spanish is to find the Stem of the verb.

• In order to find the Stem, first remove the AR from the end of the infinitive:

– Hablar – Ar = Habl

Spanish Conjugation Step 2

• The second step is to bring the stem down to each pronoun:

• Yo habl• Tú habl• Él, Ella, Ud. habl• Nosotros habl• Vosotros habl• Ellos, Ellas, Uds. habl

Spanish Conjugation Step 3

• The third step is to add the correct endings to the Stem for each form:

• Yo hablo• Tú hablas• Él, Ella, Ud. habla• Nosotros hablamos• Vosotros habláis• Ellos, Ellas, Uds. hablan

Important points to remember

• In Spanish in the present tense, each verb means 3 things: to verb, verbing, and does verb.

• For example:•Ella habla.

– She speaks; She does speak; She is speaking.

Important Points to remember (continued)

• It is important to pay attention to the number of subjects that you have, in order to choose the right ending:– For example:

• Miguel y Enrique hablan español.– Miguel and Enrique speak Spanish.

(They/ellos…)

Important points to remember (continued)

• Whenever “Yo” is used with another subject in a sentence, the verb form used must always be the “nosotros” form:– Example:

• Teresa y yo visitamos la playa.– Teresa and I visit the beach.

Important points to remember (continued)

• When “Tú” is used with another subject in the sentence, the “Vosotros” ending must be used on the verb. (Vosotros is used mostly in Spain. Here in this hemisphere, Uds. is used for you all plural).

– Example:• Tú y los niños estudiáis. (vosotros)

– You and the boys study.

Using AR Verbs Negatively

• When we want to express that one is not performing an action, the word no is place between the subject and the verb:– Examples:

• Nosotros no hablamos francés.• We do not speak French.• La chica no trabaja en la tienda.• The girl does not work in the store.