The importance of
Spanish verbs cannot be overestimated. There are several good reasons for this:
- “Verbs are 75% of language”
- Each sentence requires the use of at least one... but often more of them
- Verbs can be converted into adjectives and also used as nouns.
Spanish verbs are problematic for English speakers as the Spanish verb system (unlike English) is highly inflected. Inflection is the changing of a word in order to change either its meaning or its relationship to another word or groups of words.
To give and example of inflection we can compare an English verb conjugation with a Spanish one:
I speak
You speak
She speaks
We speak
They speak
In English the verb to speak is only inflected in the third person singular form (she speaks). All other conjugations retain the ending of the infinitive: an infinitive verb is the verb in its “to” state (i.e. to speak, to run, to sleep). So we have I speak, you speak, she speaks, we speak and they speak.
In Spanish the verb is inflected according to the subject (i.e. the person who is carrying out the verb). So to use the verb to speak (hablar) as an example:
Hablo (I speak)
Hablas (You speak)
Habla (She speaks)
Hablamos (We speak)
Hablan (They speak)
The verb ending changes in each person! Confused? Well, I sympathise because it is tricky to get your head around.
The Spanish system of verb inflection offers Spanish speakers many advantages. For example, it allows far more flexibility with word order than English permits. It also allows the Spanish speaker to avoid having to use verbs and adverbs to help understanding of the sentence, as well as virtually eliminating the need for pronouns. The downside is that we English speakers have to memorise the inflected verb endings for each subject.
You can find a more detailed overview of Spanish verbs at the following links:
Spanish Verbs
Regular Spanish Verbs
Irregular Spanish Verbs