Question

How do you form the future and past tenses of -ar, -er, and/or -ir verbs?

Answer 1

Thank you for using the Jiskha Homework Help forum. You are actually talking of 3 modes (moods).

Future of -ar, -er and -ir verbs that regular. Take the entire infinitive and add the following endings: é, ás, á, emos, án. hablar = hablaré, hablarás, hablará, hablaremos, hablarán. Note where there MUST be accent marks. Now when you get to the irregular verbs, you have very different stems. Let us know when you are ready for that. (decir = diré, dirás, etc.)

In the past tense, there is the Preterit and the Imperfect. Any good textbook will have verbs in the Appendix.

Preterit of regular -ar verbs. (Again there are irregulars, so this only going to help you with regular verbs.) Drop the -ar and add: é, aste, ó, amos, aron. (hablé, hablaste, etc.)

Preterit of regular -er and -ir verbs. (even more irregulars here, with different endings. Yes, I am saying there are 3 different sets of endings. Two sets worry about accent marks and one does not.) Drop the -er, -ir and add the endings: í, iste, ió, imos, ieron. Yes, same set of endings for -er as -ir. (comer = comí, comiste and vivir = viví, viviste.)

Imperfect of -ar, -er, -ir has ONE set of endings for all regular verbs that are -ar, a different set for those ending in -er, -ir and only 3 verbs are irregular! Drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er or -ir) and add: for -ar verbs: aba, abas, aba, ábamos (only form with accent), aban. (hablar = hablaba, hablabas and yes 3rd person looks just like first = hablaba.) For -er/-ir = ía, ías, ía, íamos, ían = yes ALL have accent marks. (comía, comías, etc. and vivía, vivías.)

The 3 irregular verbs in the Imperfect are: ser = era, eras, era, éramos, eran / ir = iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, iban / ver = veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veían.

Sra

Answer 2

Thanks! :)
Or rather, (upside-down !) gracias!