“Basic” Spanish Verb Tenses?

[Cainntear]

The only thing I would advise against is looking at conjugation tables willy-nilly.

Agreed. I've only seen one decent set of conjugation tables in my life, and that was in a book that has been out of print for almost a decade.

It was a pocket grammar, so verbs were given the least space possible, which meant that you'd get whole tenses summarised in the words "as regular ER verbs" or "as regular but starting with ..." It meant you were always thinking and never ended up memorising regular forms as though they were irregular.

[Cavesa]

Of course, I agree.

Most coursebooks present them in a good order. My list, which was quite the same as those offered by others, was simply focused on basic needs with a deadline.

For example, a learner already knowing another romance language preparing for a journey and not having that much time might like to find certain tenses in a grammar book instead.

But except for these specific needs, I can't really see why people avoid books so much, use the chaos of alternative sources instead, and than ask for lots of advice on how to handle that mess they've chosen instead of the simpler path.

[Kraut]

Very useful site:

https://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation

https://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb ... tion/salir

https://www.123teachme.com/translated_s ... s/sp/salir

[tarvos]

Of course, I agree.

Most coursebooks present them in a good order. My list, which was quite the same as those offered by others, was simply focused on basic needs with a deadline.

For example, a learner already knowing another romance language preparing for a journey and not having that much time might like to find certain tenses in a grammar book instead.

But except for these specific needs, I can't really see why people avoid books so much, use the chaos of alternative sources instead, and than ask for lots of advice on how to handle that mess they've chosen instead of the simpler path.

I've never really looked at tables, actually. I knew the basic ideas more or less, I studied some grammar with a textbook my (Argentine) teacher sent me while living in Spain, but this was more or less all of the more complex tenses (so imperfecto, subjuntivo de presente/imperfecto, plus-que-perfecto, etc.), and pretérito. This was at the beginning, when I didn't speak fluently yet.

Basically, because I was in Spain at the time, I never really bothered with loads of grammar. I have studied grammar later using the DELE books, but these were all more complex grammar points on usage, which to me is much more important, than the basic conjugation, which follows fairly predictable rules. But that was all C1/C2 level. I still couldn't really tell you which tense is used when exactly - I use them intuitively.

[James29]

Pick a short beginner resource and just go through it quickly. For example, Michel Thomas Foundations is only about 8 or 10 hours and will review all of the "important" verb conjugations for you. Other similar audio choices would be the Paul Noble course and the free Language Transfer course. Dover's Spanish Grammar would be a good/short written/book option as would Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish.

[Seneca]

The only thing I would advise against is looking at conjugation tables willy-nilly.

Agreed. I've only seen one decent set of conjugation tables in my life, and that was in a book that has been out of print for almost a decade.

It was a pocket grammar, so verbs were given the least space possible, which meant that you'd get whole tenses summarised in the words "as regular ER verbs" or "as regular but starting with ..." It meant you were always thinking and never ended up memorising regular forms as though they were irregular.

Which source was that?

I have heard nice things about Spanish Verb Manual : Correct Conjugation and Regional Use

[Cainntear]

Which source was that?

It was a book by John Butt. It was the same series as this one, but it was something like "Pocket Spanish Grammar" and was a lot smaller.

[Cavesa]

Of course, I agree.

Most coursebooks present them in a good order. My list, which was quite the same as those offered by others, was simply focused on basic needs with a deadline.

For example, a learner already knowing another romance language preparing for a journey and not having that much time might like to find certain tenses in a grammar book instead.

But except for these specific needs, I can't really see why people avoid books so much, use the chaos of alternative sources instead, and than ask for lots of advice on how to handle that mess they've chosen instead of the simpler path.

I've never really looked at tables, actually. I knew the basic ideas more or less, I studied some grammar with a textbook my (Argentine) teacher sent me while living in Spain, but this was more or less all of the more complex tenses (so imperfecto, subjuntivo de presente/imperfecto, plus-que-perfecto, etc.), and pretérito. This was at the beginning, when I didn't speak fluently yet.

Basically, because I was in Spain at the time, I never really bothered with loads of grammar. I have studied grammar later using the DELE books, but these were all more complex grammar points on usage, which to me is much more important, than the basic conjugation, which follows fairly predictable rules. But that was all C1/C2 level. I still couldn't really tell you which tense is used when exactly - I use them intuitively.

I was answering the question, not claiming the tables were necessary.

It is definitely possible to learn the stuff without explicit explanations and tables. And a lot of the stuff is intuitive. But not all of it, and fossilised mistakes are a problem. There is always something that doesn't stick, so memorisation can be helpful too, at least to a large part of learners. Better to memorise than to talk like a neanderthal.

I wouldn't tell people they must necessarily go through the tables, let alone memorise them. But the truth is that vast majority of all those eternal beginner/intermediate romance language learners struggling to move forward that I have met were stuck at the verbs. Not knowing the correct forms automatically was getting them stuck in almost every sentence. Simply SRSing the damn tables would have moved them a whole level up, as they could finally focus on other things, on correct usage of the grammar, there would talk with more fluidity, and they would gain more confidence. If only those people had enough self-reflection to realise they need to "study the boring grammar" and not just "talk and talk" and further fossilise their mistakes. They could run towards B2 and all the more interesting stuff. Getting stuck at the basic verb forms, they are likely to stay A2s or bad B1s forever.

[FyrsteSumarenINoreg]

In Spanish, make sure you learn the present tense with a conjugated form because 40% of verbs are irregular (stem changing).

How not to do it:
defender = defend
depender = depend


How to do it:
defender (defiendo) = defend
depender (dependo) = depend

and so on...