Important Verbs

Hi Guys, Hope your enjoying Easter. I wanted to ask a question in relation to which are the 3 most important verbs to master to be able to have an able conversation. Thanks for your help. Stephen

Hi Spanish has over 600 verbs. I don't think you will be able to have a conversation with 3 verbs. Make that 30 and you will be well on your way. Antonio

Thanks Antonio. Sorry when I meant verbs I meant as in Present, Preterite and Future for example, are you saying there are 600 different ones of these? Thanks Stephen

Hola Stephen. When you say Present, Future, etc., you're talking about TENSES. Present tense, future tense, etc. I'd say there are four tenses you'll probably use most: present, imperfect, simple past (pretérito), and future. To give one simple example using the verb hablar (to speak): hablo = I speak (present) yo hablaba = I was speaking or I used to speak (imperfect) hablé = I spoke (simple past) hablaré or voy a hablar = I will speak or I'm going to speak (future) I didn't use the "yo" pronoun except with hablaba. In general, Spanish speakers use pronouns with the verbs only to avoid confusion or to add emphasis. In the case of all the examples I used except hablaba, the ending tells a Spanish speaker that the subject is yo/I. With hablaba, the same word can be used to mean I/he/she/you (formal) speak. To indicate which one you mean, you'd add the pronoun. Hence, *yo* hablaba. I hope this helps.

Gracias por ayudarme Nohablo. (I hope this is right)