#wanderlustlanguages

I thought I would make a post with some tips since this is something that I really struggeled with when I first started learning French. But this of course would work for every language out there that has conjugated verbs.

Things to do before you learn verb conjugations:

- learn the verb as a vocabulary: Basically learn the infinitve form & it’s meaning/translation. I would suggest you also look at common uses. Maybe even idomatic expressions at this point. With its proper propostion if there is one. I know these a’s and de’s (or whatever they are in your target language) are pesky but you really help yourself just learning them with the verb from the beginning on.

- be secure in terms of personal pronouns. Know what they mean, how they are used, and their equivalents in your base language. If you are saddle-fast here that will prevent you from having to focus on 2 things at the same time later on.

1. pick out (a) regular verb(s). When learning verb conjugations you always, ALWAYS want to start with learning regular verbs. Even if they aren’t the most common verbs (spoiler alert: the more common the verb the more likely it is to be irregular). But think about it this way: you wouldn’t learn the exception before you learnt the rule, right? Well, this is the exact same situation here.

2. Then start by looking up the conjugation of the regular verb(s). There’s many ways you can do this. Online dictionaries, grammar books, websites..whatever.

3. copy the conjugated forms of the regular verb(s) & pay attention to the pattern. For example in Spanish regular verbs ending in -ar have the endings -o,-as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an in the present simple.

Additional tips for this step: - make sure to accentuate the pattern that makes the verb regular in some way for example by underlining it.

- especially in the beginning I would recommend copying the verb conjugation with it’s respective personal pronoun.

- find one pattern of writing down verb conjuagtions that works for you. This sounds super silly but it might just help. For example I personally always write them down in a colon under each other. I’ve seen other people write them out as lists or in 2 colons. Whatever floats your boat.

4. Repeat this with several regular verbs to make the conjugation stick. Yawn, I know but i promise you that after the 4th verb you’ll feel like you are starting to remember it.

5.You can now start adding irregular verbs to the mix. Start out with some verbs that are super common & often irregular (at least in romance languages) like to be, to have, to be able to, etc. Basically repeat step zero to four except with your irregular verb.

6. Even irregular verbs are sometimes (actually often) not completely random. This is something you’ll start to notice as you learn/see more and more irregular verbs. Even irregular verbs can be put into groups of sorts. This is super helpful because you can just apply what you have learnt instead of having to start at zero. The trick here is to remember, which irregular verbs are similar to each other. Personaly, I get out coloured pens for this and I start colour coding the verbs that have the same conjugation pattern. Once you have done that. You will find that sometimes there are verbs where only one conjugation is irregular. I group these words together as well by colour coding. (You’ll be surprised how many verbs you can categorise by doing this!)

7. If you’ve made it this far, congrats because that was the most boring and tedious part! Now we want to practise all that in a more practical way, so it’s easier to keep in our heads.

So here are several ways to practice conjugated verb forms:

- write a short story or even just a few sentences about your day.

- watch videos, listen to music and pay special attention to the personal pronoun and it’s accordingly conjugated verb. The more often you hear a verb conjugation the more natural it’ll sound and become to you.

- use an online tool that let’s you practice verb conjugations

- make your own memory cards with verb conjugations or how about domino?

- read & just pay attention to verb conjugations

- when speaking make simple sentences so you can focus on getting the verb conjugation right. If you have no one to speak to just talk to yourself and make sure to note down when you don’t feel sure about something so you can look it up afterwards.

thank u :’)

1. i like my sense of humor

2. i like my hair

3. i like the color of my eyes

4. i like my personality in general

fair enough. i don’t watch any other crime shows right now haha. i am definitely gonna give another crime show a try soonish tho. probably once I am caught up with criminal minds. any recommendations?

JJ is my fave. but i honestly love the entire team. :) they are just such a family. i am so jealous. i wish i had friends like that haha

I keep tripping up on these so I am learning it now because it’s getting on my nerves

adjevtive - before the noun - after the noun

alto - top/high-class - tall

Es un alto coche. - It is a high-class car. Ella es alta. - She is tall

antiguo - old/former/ancient - antique

Es un museo antiguo. - It is an old museum. Es un antiguo vaso. - It’s an antique glass.

bajo - of low quality - short

Es un bajo coche. - It is a low quality car. El es bajo. - He is short.

bueno - simple/good - good/gentle/generous

El es un buen profesor. - He is a good professor. El es un profesor bueno. - He is a generous professor.

cierto - certain - true/right

Es una cierta situation. - It is a certain situation. Es una respuesta cierta. -  It is a right answer.

cualquier - any (of those available) - qny (type doesn’t matter)

El quiere cualquier reloj. - He wants any of those watches. El quiere reloj cualquier. - He wants any watch, at all.

diferente - various - different distinto - various - different

Ella tiene diferentes aficiones. - She has various hobbies Ella tiene un gusto differente. - She has another/ a different taste.

dulce - good/nice - sweet

Es una dulce chica. - She is a nice girl. Es una comida dulce. - It is a sweet food.

mismo - same - him/herself

El tiene la misma corbata. - He has the same tie. El tiene la tarea mismo. - He has the homwork himself.

nuevo - another/newly acquired - new/newly made

Ella tiene nuevos zapatos. - She has newly acquired shoes. Ella tiene los zapatos nuevos. - She has the new shoes.

pobre - unfortunate - poor

La pobre chica. - The unfortunate girl. El hombre que viva en la calle es pobre. - the man who lives in the street is poor.

propio - his/her own - especially for someone

Es su propio perro. - It is his own dog. Es el regalo propio de María. - It is the present for Maria.

puro - sheer/nothing but - pure

Es chantaje puro. - It is sheer blackmailing. La virgen es puro. - The virgin is pure.

raro - rare - strange

Que rara casualidad. - What a rare coincidence! La mujer es muy rara. - The woman is very strange.

simple - mere - simple/modest

Es un simple hombre, no un magico. - He is a mere man, not a magician. Vivo un vida simple. - I live a modest life

solo - one - lonely

Es un solo hombre. - He is one man. Es un hombre solo. - He is a lonely man.

triste - dreadful - sad

Que triste tarea! - What a dreadful task! El muerte de su madre es triste. - Her mother’s death is sad.

único - only - unique

Soy la única chica que toca la guitarra. - I am the only girl who plays guitar. Es un cuadro muy único. - It is a very unique painting.

varios - several - different

Tengo varias amigas. - I have serveral friends. Mi hermano tiene amigos varios. - My brother has different friends.

viejo - former/long-time - old/aged

Es una vieja amiga. - She is a long time friend. Es una mujer vieja. - She is an old woman.