conjugations

[jonnie2005]

I am trying to understand conjugations and perhaps which ones I should focus on for now. I have studied a cd and learned alot of the basics (as well as many other sources) for almost 6 months. I know: puedo, puede, podamos and these three tenses with words such as: neccisito, tango, me gusto and such. When I watch subtitles during movies there are 8 million other forms that make it complicated. However I am endeavering to learn them. The following is a list of conjuctive options.Indicativopresentepretérito perfectoimperfectopluscuamperfectopretéritopretéri to anteriorfuturo simplefuturo perfectocondicional simplecondicional perfectoimperativoSubjuntivopresentepretérito perfectoimperfecto 1pluscuamperfecto 1imperfecto 2pluscuamperfecto 2futuro simplefuturo perfectothat I am practicing on "word champ". My question is: I would like a simple summary of all these terms and which ones I should focus on. I do appreciate the help.

[greytop]

Spanish verbs and simple don't often appear in the same sentence
For the conjugations try wordreference.com - put a Spanish verb in, select Spanish-English and you'll find "conjugate" as an option. The names of the tenses are in Spanish as you've listed.
For a bit more help try this site - spanish.about.com and it's worth spending some time finding your way round it as there are a lot of useful articles in there.
When reading concentrate on the stem of the verb (e.g. preguntar) for meaning, often the tense will be clear from the context or you can check on it later.
I've attached a verb memory aid I've used for several years that you may find useful. It should open in Excel / Open Office or similar spreadsheet after you de-ZIP it. Anyway it'll be good for you to check it for errors!

NOTE: I've just tried to open this .zip file and it didn't work (16 Nov 09)
Reposted here

[Beckett]

Jonnie2005,
Take it easy. It may seem like you're facing an insurmountable obstacle, but you've got to break your learning task into very small, bitesize pieces. To use the cliché, just one step at a time. You don't need to learn all of those conjugations in one shot or even in six months!

I'm afraid that it would be impossible to give you a meaningful explanation of ALL of those terms you mentioned in a forum like this.

Pick a handful of commonly-used verbs in Spanish and then just focus on memorizing the conjugations for the PRESENT tense (el presente indicativo). Get comfortable with how verbs (both regular and irregular verbs) are conjugated in the present tense and then gradually start adding the others (the past, the future, conditional, etc.).

In terms of some commonly-used verbs in Spanish, here's an extremely short list to start with:

ESTAR
HABLAR
IR
PODER
SER

In terms of reference guides, the conjugation verb tables at WordReference.com are clear and accurate. If you want to buy a book, I recommend "501 Spanish Verbs."

Good luck, and remember....keep it simple!

[delgado]

I would say that your best bet would be to learn these tenses first and learn them well......

present; hablo , hablas ...etc
past ; hablé , hablaste ...etc
conditional ; hablaría ,hablarías ...etc
and maybe the future tense too (although you could always just use "voy a , vas a....etc "i´m going to, you are going to") .......

Any native will understand you as long as you are using the correct verb regardless of weather the tense is 100% grammatically correct.

Eg.

I spoke to her yesterday = hablé con ella ayer

however , if you were to say ;hablo con ella ayer (I speak to her yesterday) or, he hablado con ella ayer(I have spoken to her yesterday) or , hablaba con ella ayer(I did / used to speak to her yesterday) or , había hablado con ella ayer ( I had spoken to her yesterday) , you would be perfectly understood (all be it grammatically incorrect)

Then , when you get more of a feel for the language you can start to employ some of the more complicated tense(leaving the subjuntive tenses untill last)

Eg.

que quieres que te diga = what do you want me to say to you (using the subjuntive)

however , if you were to say .... que quieres que te digo , it would be
grammatically incorrect but perfectly understandable.

I guess what I am trying to say is KEEP IT SIMPLE, and progress at a natural rate without overloading your brain with complicated tenses that you may not really need at this point in time.

Note* with the verb gustar the first pronoun is the person being pleased by it/who likes it ,and the verb is the thing pleasing them / that they like..

Eg.

me gusto = I like/please myself
me gusta= I like it / it pleases me
me gustan= I like them (me gustan los coches = I like the cars)
me gustas = I like you/ you please me
le gusto = he/she likes me
les gustamos= They like us

etc.......

I hope this helps and of course it is only my own personal oppinion (I'm sure that some of the others will have their own advice/ideas)

Keep up the good work

*obviously I was writing this at the same time as Beckett and Greytop*

[Margot]

Originally Posted by Beckett

Jonnie2005,
Take it easy. It may seem like you're facing an insurmountable obstacle, but you've got to break your learning task into very small, bitesize pieces. To use the cliché, just one step at a time. You don't need to learn all of those conjugations in one shot or even in six months!
Pick a handful of commonly-used verbs in Spanish and then just focus on memorizing the conjugations for the PRESENT tense (el presente indicativo). Get comfortable with how verbs (both regular and irregular verbs) are conjugated in the present tense and then gradually start adding the others (the past, the future, conditional, etc.).
In terms of reference guides, the conjugation verb tables at WordReference.com are clear and accurate. If you want to buy a book, I recommend "501 Spanish Verbs."
remember....keep it simple!

Beckett has given you great advice. There are a ton of web sites, the reference book "501 Spanish Verbs" will be useful forever and for an additional very basic, very well-organized verb book with lots of practice exercises (together with the correct answers ) I would really recommend (the very inexpensive) "Spanish Verb Tenses" by Dorothy Devney Richmond". In fact - you might want to order both books at the same time - and if the order comes to $25 - Amazon waives shipping cost.

http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Makes...5470882&sr=8-1

suerte and have fun !

[jonnie2005]

this site is great and all of you who responded with excellent information are also. Your information sets me on the road for quite awhile to progress and motivate.
Thankyou very much