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Castilian Spanish Verbs:
Lesson 1: Five basic forms

The shortest, simplest form of the verb is the imperative singular. This is a command to one person:

¡Espera! 'Wait!'
¡Pregunta! 'Ask!'
¡Canta la canción! 'Sing the song!'
¡Bebe! 'Drink!'
¡Corre! 'Run!'
¡Aprende el verbo! 'Learn the verb!'

Verb groups:
These verbs have a root followed by a stem vowel.

The most common type of verb has the stem vowel a, such as esper-a 'wait', pregunt-a 'ask', cant-a 'sing'. I shall call these a-verbs.

Another common group has the stem vowel e, such as beb-e 'drink', corr-e 'run' and aprend-e 'learn'. I shall call these e-verbs.

The infintive means 'to do'. Add -r after the stem vowel:

esperar 'to wait'
preguntar 'to ask'
cantar 'to sing'
beber 'to drink'
correr 'to run'
aprender 'to learn'

There can be used with verbs like quiero 'I want': quiero esperar 'I want to wait', quiero aprender 'I want to learn'.

Pronunciation:
The imperative singular is usually accented on the last vowel but one: cánta, bébe. The infintive is usually accented on the last vowel: cantár, bebér.

Make sure that you pronounce the letter r at the end of the infinitive. Many speakers of English, especially from England and Australia, speak non-rhotically: they do not pronounce r after vowels. Such speakers might mispronounce cantar as cantaa, dropping the r and lengthening the vowel. This is wrong. Pronounce that r.

The present singular is formed like this:

'I do': replace the stem vowel with o:
espero 'I wait', pregunto 'I ask', canto 'I sing'
bebo 'I drink', corro 'I run', aprendo 'I learn'

'You (singular) do': add -s after the stem vowel:
esperas 'you wait', preguntas 'you ask', cantas 'you sing'
bebes 'you drink', corres 'you run', aprendes 'you learn'

'He/she/it does': this is the same as the imperative singular:
espera 'he/she/it waits', pregunta 'he/she/it asks', canta 'he/she/it sings'
bebe 'he/she/it drinks', corre 'he/she/it runs', aprende 'he/she/it learns'

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