Spanish verbs are organized into three main classes or conjugations
depending on whether the infinitive form ends in -ar, -eror -ir. In the tables
below, the verbs hablar‘speak’, beber‘drink’ and subir‘climb’ are used to
illustrate the regular patterns of verb formation in the three conjugations,
while other verbs are used to illustrate irregularities. Each verb form can
be divided into a stem, which often remains the same, and an endingwhich
changes. Thus hablamos‘we speak’ can be split into the stem habl-and
the ending -amos. Changes to the ending express distinctions of tense (such
as past, present, future), person (1st, 2nd or 3rd), number (singular or
plural) and mood (indicative or subjunctive).
Our aim is not to list the correct forms for all Spanish verbs but to facili-
tate the understanding of Spanish verbs by discussing regular forms and
explaining how and in what ways irregularities occur, wherever possible
revealing underlying patterns common to some verbs. For the meanings
and uses of tenses, see Chapter 11.
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
12111
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
40
41111 97
Chapter 10 Verb forms
Verb forms – general features
1 Generally speaking, 2nd person singular verb forms end in -s,
2nd person plural forms end in -is/-ís, 1st person plural forms
end in -mos, and 3rd person plural forms end in -n.
2 In the most common pattern of usage, distinctive verb forms
exist for Latin American vos‘you’ onlyin the present indicative
and in the singular imperative. In the remaining tenses the verb
forms that go with vosare the same as for tú. See also 30.2.1.
