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Castilian Spanish Verbs:
Revision after ten lessons

Regular verbs appear to have a large and daunting number of forms, but often these come from the same elements being added together in different ways.

Most tenses of the verb use the following endings:

'I' 'you (singular)' 'He/she/it' 'We' 'You (plural)' 'They'
(none) -s (none) -mos -is -n

Different tenses form their own stems to which these endings can be added. There are two main classes of verbs: the a-verbs and the e-verbs.

Tense a-verbs e-verbs
Present Present stem: root + -a-
'sing' cant-a-		 Present stem: root + -e-
'drink' beb-e-
Subjunctive Present stem: root + -e-
'sing' cant-e-		 Present stem: root + -a-
'drink' beb-a-
Imperfect Imperfect stem: root + -ába-
'sing' cant-ába-		 Imperfect stem: root + -ía-
'drink' beb-ía-

The personal andings (above) are added to these three stems to form the present, the imperfect and the subjunctive. There is one exception: in the present, the stem vowel is replaced by -o.

The infinitive is the present stem plus -r.

The future stem is the infinitive. It has its own endings, derived from the verb haber which once meant 'have'.

Person 'I' 'you (singular)' 'He/she/it' 'We' 'You (plural)' 'They'
Endings of future -é -és -á -emos -éis -án
Haber he has ha hemos habéis han

- The conditional stem is the future stem (the infinitive) with the imperfect element ía attached. The usual personal endings (as for the imperfect) are added.
- The imperative stem is the root form. The singular has nothing more, and the plural has the ending -d.

See how these forms build up. After the root, there are three 'building blocks' which can be added: the future/infinitive marker -r, then the imperfect marker -ába-/-ía-, then finally a person/number marker. None, some or all of these three elements may be added to generate the various final forms listed below.

root stem vowel infintive/future imperfect person/number final form
aprend-
root		 -e-
stem vowel


aprende
imperative singular 'learn!'
aprend-
root		 -e-
stem vowel

-d
imperative plural		 aprended
imperative plural 'learn (all of you)!'
aprend-
root		 -e-
stem vowel

-n
person: 3P		 aprenden
3P present 'they learn'
aprend-
root		 -a-
subjunctive stem vowel

-n
person: 3P		 aprendan
3P subjunctive 'they could learn'
aprend-
root

-ía
imperf		 -n
person: 3P		 aprendían
3P imperf 'they were learning'
aprend-
root		 -e-
stem vowel		 -r
infinitive

aprender
infinitive 'to learn'
aprend-
root		 -e-
stem vowel		 -r
future (infinitive)
-án
future person: 3P		 aprenderán
3P future 'they will learn'
aprend-
root		 -e-
stem vowel		 -r
future (infinitive)		 -ía
imperf		 -n
person: 3P		 aprenderían
3P conditional 'they would learn'

One tense has a different set of endings: the preterite. Add these endings directly to the root:

Person 'I' 'you (singular)' 'He/she/it' 'We' 'You (plural)' 'They'
a-verbs -é -aste -ó -amos -asteis -aron
e-verbs -í -iste -ió -imos -isteis -ieron

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