Verbs

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Open Self Study → Verbs to reach the verbs hub, the control centre for verb practice. The header at the top shows how many verbs your current selection gives you out of the whole catalogue. Its Help button explains the hub and what each drill asks of you, and a long press on any row (on the Mac, click and hold) explains that row.

If your verb groups select verbs but your level and topics remove all of them, a warning at the top of Practice says so: "No verbs match once your topic scope is applied." Widen your topics or clear the topic filter to get the verbs back.

The hub has three sections.

Theory

• Verb groups — the families the verbs fall into: the regular pattern, the stem changes, the yo irregulars, the spelling changes, the strong preterites and the verbs no pattern explains. Each group opens with its explanation, a worked example and a list of its verbs. Read this before choosing groups: Select verb groups is only as useful as your sense of what the groups are. The page ends with Beyond the groups — the compound families (contener is tener) and how the tables mark irregular forms — and To print, with Regular patterns and Irregular patterns.
• Tenses — an overview of how the three moods and the tenses divide the work and of where the irregular forms come from (five sources, which the other tenses inherit), then one card per tense in four groups: Indicativo, Subjuntivo, Imperativo and Formas no personales. Each card says how the tense is formed and which few patterns its irregular forms follow. The ⓘ beside a tense elsewhere in the app opens this page at that tense's card.

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Study

• Reference (Verb reference) — every verb in your selection, each with its translation; tap a verb for its conjugation, regularity and reference sheet. See Verb reference and Conjugation tables.

Practice

• Select groups (Select verb groups) — pick the conjugation patterns to drill, and so which verbs are in your pool. The badge shows how many of the 23 groups are ticked, e.g. "23 of 23", and turns red at zero. See Select verb groups.

• Select tenses — pick which of the sixteen tenses to study, e.g. "16 of 16". See Select tenses.

• Meaning — Recall what each verb means

• Produce the conjugation — Type or pick the correct verb form
• Recognise the conjugation — Identify verb, tense, and person from a conjugated form
• Past participle (Participio) — Recall the participio of irregular verbs
• Gerund (Gerundio) — Recall the gerundio / present progressive form
• Preterite (Indefinido) — Recall the simple past (indefinido) form
• Future stem (Futuro / Condicional) — Recall the stem the futuro and the condicional share
• Yo-form stem (Presente / Subjuntivo) — Build the subjunctive on the yo form: tengo → tenga
• Preterite stem (Indefinido / Imperfecto de subjuntivo) — Build the imperfect subjunctive on the indefinido: tuvieron → tuviera
• Short tú commands (Imperativo) — The eight short commands and their negatives: ten / no tengas
• -ir stem change (Indefinido / Gerundio / Subjuntivo) — The -ir stem change outside the presente: pidió, pidiendo, pidamos
• Spelling changes (Indefinido / Subjuntivo) — -car, -gar, -zar keep their sound: busqué, busque
• Stem changes (Presente) — The whole presente of a stem-changing verb: quiero … queremos
• Ser or estar — Choose the right verb for the sentence
• Gustar and verbs like it — Choose the form and the pronoun: me gusta, me gustan, les gusta
• Ir a, tener que, acabar de — Choose the construction the meaning needs
• Which past tense? (Perfecto / Indefinido) — Choose the past the sentence needs
• Preterite or imperfect (Indefinido / Imperfecto) — Choose which past tense the situation needs
• Indicative or subjunctive (Indicativo / Subjuntivo) — Choose the mood the sentence requires

Most have a section of their own further on; Gustar and verbs like it, Ir a, tener que, acabar de and Which past tense? are described under The choice drills.

Studying verbs goes in three steps

1. Choose what to study. In Select groups, tick the patterns you want — start with Regular and a stem change or two rather than all 23. In Select tenses, narrow to the tenses you are learning; the conjugation tables and the drills show only those. Level and topic come from Scheme and level (the chip with the flag) and from Self Study → Select word scope.
2. Study. Read Verb groups and Tenses under Theory, then open verbs in Reference to see their tables before you drill them.
3. Drill. Warm up with Meaning so you know what the verbs mean, then move to Produce the conjugation and Recognise the conjugation. Use Past participle, Gerund and Preterite for the forms where the irregulars concentrate, and the choice drills once the forms are secure.

The three verb families

Every Spanish verb belongs to one of three families, determined by the ending of its infinitive. The conjugation endings differ for each.

• -ar verbs (hablar, trabajar, estudiar) — by far the most common family.
• -er verbs (comer, beber, aprender) — the second family.
• -ir verbs (vivir, escribir, subir) — the third.

The stem is everything that remains after you remove the -ar/-er/-ir ending. Endings are added to the stem to produce each conjugated form. Regular -er and -ir verbs share most of their endings; in the present tense they differ only in the nosotros and vosotros forms (comemos, coméis against vivimos, vivís).

The infinitive type also determines the regular past participle: -ar verbs add -ado (hablado), -er and -ir verbs add -ido (comido, vivido). The gerundio follows the same split: -ar verbs add -ando (hablando), -er and -ir verbs add -iendo (comiendo, viviendo). Verbs such as escribir (escrito) and leer (leyendo) depart from this, and the conjugation tables mark them.

See Appendix A for the full Spanish verb-group taxonomy and Appendix B for the tense overview.