Verbs — Conjugation Defined

Verbs — Conjugation Defined

In many languages verbs fall into natural groups which help foreign language learners with the grammatical structure of the language. These verb groupings are called conjugations. In Spanish, all verbs fall into one of three conjugations. The three conjugations are: -ar verbs (1st conjugation), -er verbs (2nd conjugation), and -ir verbs (3rd conjugation). Verbs that do not follow the regular pattern are said to be irregular and must be committed to memory.

Though it may seem difficult at first to speak of First, Second, and Third Conjugations, these are simply short ways of saying that verbs belonging to these classes behave according to certain consistent rule which you can memorize.

The infinitive is the key word that is used to form all conjugations and tenses.

	Infinitive	Infinitive
1st Conjugation	to speak	hablar
2nd Conjugation	to eat	comer
3rd Conjugation	to live	vivir

Stem / Root

The part of the verb preceding the infinitive ending (hablar, comer, and vivir) is called the stem or root of the verb.