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Wicked777
Times Writer

Spanish for the Clueless

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Okay, we've got the AR verbs down solid. ER verbs are no problem. But wait - can you handle . . . *drumroll* . . . THE IR VERBS?!

That was mostly dramatic effect. Just messin' with you - IR verbs are pretty similar to ER verbs (for the ER verbs, take a look at article 9752). Here are the different endings:

Yo - o
Tu (accent over u) - es
El (accent over e), Ella, Usted - e
Nosotros - imos
Vosotros - is (accent over i - pronounced EES)
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes - en

Vivir, meaning "to live," is an IR verb. How do we say, "I live in Whyville"?

1.) Find the verb. Here, it's "vivir," meaning "to live"
2.) Drop the IR. This leaves me with "viv"
3.) Add the proper ending. It says on the chart that the ending for "yo" (meaning "I") is "o." Viv + o = Vivo (bee-boh)
4.) Combine the pronoun and the conjugated verb. Here, it's "Yo vivo."

To say where it is that "yo vivo," just add "en (name of place)"

Yo vivo en Whyville = I live in Whyville

One of my favorite things to do is to escribir - to write. Here's how to say, "She writes to Carlos."

1.) Find the verb. Here, it's "escribir," meaning "to write".
2.) Drop the IR. This leaves me with "escrib".
3.) Add the proper ending. It says on the chart that the ending for "ella" (meaning "she") is "e." Escrib + e = Escribe (eh-scree-beh)
4.) Combine the pronoun and the conjugated verb. Here, it's "Ella escribe."

"A" is Spanish for "to." To say "She writes to Carlos," we use what we know. She writes (ella escribe) + to (a) + Carlos (Carlos) = Ella escribe a Carlos.

These are a few other IR verbs

Abrir (ah-breer) = to open
Describir (deh-scree-beer) = to describe
Recibir (reh-see-beer) = to receive

Here's an extra challenge - translate these sentences. The first person to y-mail me with the correct answer gets a free face part from the store Scavenger's at Akbar's Face Mall.

They (masculine) open the door. (the door = la puerta)
She receives the taco.
I describe Whyville to Juan.

That's it for the regular verbs - AR, ER, and IR. Now we're putting Spanish into action - literally!

Yo escribo en espanol (tilde over n).

-Wicked777

 

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