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<<Me gusta el pan>>,but <<Me llamo Pedro>>…so, what is going on?

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The 4 main verbal patterns of the Spanish language

Spanish features 4 main patters when it comes to verbal conjugation. What we deal with on this post is the nature of the subject, object—if any—and finally, particles.

  1. Transitive verbs

The easiest category! Verbs that follow the S + V + O pattern and conjugate according to the subject. Examples are <<Yo compro pan>> and <<Ella lee un libro>>. Note the colours to highlight the Subject-Verb agreement at grammatical level.

Note!

Whenever a transitive verbs allows a noun referring to a human to be its object, it is mandatory in educated Spanish to add a preposition. This is referred to as a Accusative-to-Dative variation and, oftentimes, it’s extrapolated to animals in colloquial Spanish. Examples are VER, ABRAZAR, MIRAR

VER

Ver la televisión –> Ver a Manuel

ABRAZAR

Abrazar un cojín –> Abrazar a Manuel

MIRAR

Mirar la televisión –> Mirar a Manuel

 

You can passivize most transitives by adding the <<se>> particle and conjugating the verb in the 3rd person singular. The meaning is equivalent to English ‘It is + adjective” as in “It is visible from here”

  1. Intransitive verbs

The second easiest category! Verbs that follow the S + V pattern and conjugate according to the subject. These verbs cannot be passivized without implying a change in meaning (passive of nuisance) which operates only to show that an action is detrimental to the speaker.  Usually, in this category we find verbs of movement, such as <<ir, venir, viajar, caminar>> and verbs that inform of an action performed at a place; for instance, <<trabajar, descansar>>

  1. Experiential verbs

Probably the trickiest category!  This comprises verbs whose actions are performed and experienced by the subject. The construction being similar to “”It pleases me..” however, Spanish does not offer many options to circumvent the construction!

The superstar within this category is <<Gustar>>  (to like) and the  trick is to use the S + V + O pattern while conjugating the verb with regards to the object. Then, how on earth are saying who’s performing the action? That is easy! We just grab a special pronoun called oblique pronoun, which is a reminiscence of Latin. Let’s look at the table below in which you’ll find pronouns and their oblique corresponding counterparts. (N=Normal; suitable for everyday conversation/ F=Formal; suitable for introductions and formal situations)

Pronoun English counterpart Oblique Level of formality
Yo I me N
Tú You (singular) te N
Usted You (singular) le F
Él He le N
Ella She le N
Nosotros We nos N
Nosotras We nos N
Vosotros You os N
Vosotras You os N
Ellos They les N
Ellas They les N
Ustedes You (plural) les N

Therefore, if I were to say “I like chocolates”, then I’d say <<Me gusta el chocolate>>.

However, when the object is a human, it is mandatory to employ a pronoun as complement and front it. Let’s start by discussing non-human objects! So, if I were to say “She likes me”;  we need to parse out sentence as follows:

YO LE GUSTO

if then I were to say “We like her”, then would say:

ELLA NOS GUSTA

Of course, you can forget about the fronting, but some native speakers prefer that option. That being said, YO LE GUSTO or LE GUSTO YO are both acceptable

 

 

  1. Reflexive verbs

This category will be discussed in detail later; however, one of the first verbs you learn belongs to this category: <<llamarse>>

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