When do you have to conjugate verbs in Spanish and when not to?

Emily B
#1. January 1st, 2010, at 2:59 PM.

you baisically conjugate a verb all the time when it is an action word.

if they aren’t doing it, going to do it, or already did it, then you don’t conjugate.
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Whitney S
#2. January 1st, 2010, at 3:05 PM.

I’m going to use the verb Hablar to explain this
Hablar means to talk

You wouldn’t conjugate hablar if you wanted to say
I am going TO TALK to you
or
Yo voy a hablar contigo

You would conjugate hablar if you wanted to say
I talk
or
Yo hablo

basically, never conjugate a verb if youre putting a "to" in front of it
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socalxbabe
#3. January 1st, 2010, at 3:40 PM.

okay i don’t know how to explain this but i’m going to try……you don’t conjugate if a verb is coming after another verb.

here’s an example.

if i say i want to dance

yo quiero bailar.

you’re saying i want (yo quiero) and you don’t conjugate to dance(bailar) beacuse it wouldnt make sence if you said

you quiero bailo….i want i dance…

you see???

the second verb has to be in its infinitive form.

hope i helped!
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quiguen
#4. January 1st, 2010, at 3:56 PM.

In general, if someone is "doing" the action of the verb, it must be conjugated. All independent clauses (complete sentences) have a conjugated verb.

EXAMPLE:
The student speaks with the teacher.
El alumno habla con el profesor.

Someone is doing the action ("the student" in this case), so the verb must be conjugated.

Verbs left in their infinitive (unconjugated) form in Spanish quite often match infinitives in English. Recall that infinitives in English are at least two words beginning with the word "to".

EXAMPLE:
The student needs to speak with the teacher.
El alumno necesita hablar con el profesor.

No one is actually "doing" the speaking in the above example, so there is no need to conjugate. Also notice that even in the English example, "speak" is in its infinitive form (to speak).

A pretty good rule is that only one verb per clause is conjugated, particularly as long as you are a lower level student.

¡Buena suerte!
References :
native English speaker
certified Spanish teacher
student of Portuguese

Sharmila
#5. January 1st, 2010, at 4:15 PM.

If the verb is following another verb, then don’t congugate it. It sounds pretty tricky, but it’s actually simple ovce you get the concept

For example, suppose you wanted to say "I want to eat an apple."

Querer is the verb meaning "to want" and comer means "to eat", right? First say it to yourself in English- the correct way, of course, would be, "I want to eat an apple." Notice how you conjugate "want", but not "to eat". Then, based on this model, try it in Spanish.

The correct way would be, "Yo quiero comer una manzana."

This is the foolproof rule- if one verb follows another, don’t conjugate the second. Try it out and see
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john
#6. January 1st, 2010, at 4:59 PM.

If the verb is not an infinitive, then you have to conjugate it.

good luck.
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