Regular Verbs

“ar”

The majority of verbs in Spanish end with the letters “ar.” A verb ends with the letters “ar” when it is in the infinitive form. Here is a list of several common “ar” verbs in their infinitive form:

andar –to walkinvitar –to invite

ayudar –to helplavar –to wash

bailar –to dancellevar –to bring

buscar –to look formirar –to look at

caminar –to walknadar –to swim

cantar –to singnecesitar –to need

cocinar –to cookpatinar –to skate

comprar –to buypintar –to paint

contestar –to answerpracticar –to practice

enseñar –to teachpreguntar –to ask

entrar –to enterpreparar –to prepare

escuchar –to listen toregresar –to return

esperar –to waitsacar –to take out

esquiar –to skiterminar –to end

estudiar –to studytocar –to play (an instrument/music)

explicar –to explaintrabajar –to work

ganar –to winusar –to use

hablar –to speakviajar –to travel

*Notice how each of the verbs ends with the letters “ar” and that in the infinitve form the verb simply states what the action is, but not who is doing the action.

Verbs have two parts; a stem and an ending. We just learned several “ar” ending verbs. The part of the verb in front of the “ar” is called the stem.

For example; the verb cantar, (to sing), can be broken into its two parts like this:

stem ending

cant ar

Practice this by breaking apart the following “ar” verbs into their stems and endings. One has been done for you to demonstrate.

verbstem ending

ayudar ayud ar

bailar______

cantar______

escuchar______

ganar______

hablar______

llevar______

nadar______

pintar______

sacar______

In Spanish, when we want to say who is performing an action using a verb, we have to separate the ending of that verb from, its stem, and change it according to what person is performing the action. This is called verb conjugation.

You have learned how to name people using the personal pronouns; yo, tú, usted, él, ella, nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas y ustedes. In order to conjugate verbs ending in “ar” we must drop the ending and change it according to the person doing the action. Follow the formula:

Formula

yo--o

tú--as

él, ella, usted a

nosotrosamos

vosotrosáis

ellos, ellas, ustedesan

Example: Caminar-to walk

I walk We walk

Yo camino Nosotros caminamos

You walk You (plural-informal) walk

Tú caminas Vosotros camináis

He walks They walk

Él camina Ellos caminan

Práctica

Now practice conjugating some of the “ar” verbs that you have learned. You may look back at the formula to help you. Follow the model.

Model: (Ella) tocar→Ellatoca la guitarra

Infinitive formConjugated form

  1. (yo) ayudar ______
  2. (tú) bailar______
  3. (usted) cantar______
  4. (él) escuchar______
  5. (nosotros) ganar______
  6. (ellos) hablar______
  7. (ella) llevar______
  8. (yo) nadar______
  9. (ellas) pintar______

10. (nosotros) sacar______