LSFB Podcast 009 – Learn 5 Important verbs in Spanish

This is Podcast 9, you can listen to it using the player shown above these lines.

In this audio lesson we will learn 5 Important verbs in Spanish.

You can find the transcript of this lesson in the following lines:

Downloadable PDF Transcript:  Download here

Podcast Transcript (Text Version):

Hi, welcome to Learning Spanish for Beginners, the place to learn Mexico’s conversational Spanish.

Today we will review 5 important verbs in Spanish, as well as a few sentences that use them.

The first verb is “ser”, it means “to be” and it is used to refer to permanent or essential characteristics.

For example,

I am a man – Soy un hombre.

I am intelligent – Soy inteligente.

I am a human being – Soy un ser humano.

The second verb of today is “estar” which also means “to be”. It is used to refer to temporary or nonessential characteristics.

For example,

I am tired – Estoy cansado

I am at the office – Estoy en la oficina

I am happy – Estoy contento

The third verb of today is “tener”. It means “to have” in the sense of owning or possessing something.

A few examples are,

I have twenty dollars – tengo veinte dólares

I have a sister – Tengo una hermana

I have to go – Tengo que ir 

As a note,

“Tengo que + a verb in infinitive” is a useful phrase to talk about an obligation or a need to do something.

For example,

I have to eat more vegetables – Tengo que comer más vegetales  

I have to talk to my teacher – Tengo que hablar con mi maestro

I have to go to the bathroom – Tengo que ir al baño

The fourth verb we will look at is “haber”.

This verbs is often used as an auxiliary in phrases like:

I have found the keys – He encontrado las llaves

Or something like:

Have you looked for the keys? -  Has buscado las llaves?

“Haber” is also commonly used in Spanish to say “there is” or “there are”.

For example,

There is no problem – No hay problema

or something like:

There are many options – Hay muchas opciones

Another common use of “haber”, is in phrases that have the structure:

“Hay que” + “a verb in infinitive”

This phrase is used to express the need to do something.

 For example,

Hay que comer – It is necessary to eat

Hay que trabajar – It is necesssry to work

It is easy to remember the verb “haber” because it looks very similar to the verb “to have” in English.

All you have to do is change the letter “v” for a “b” and add the letter “r” at the end.

So you go from “have” to “haber”.

The last verb of today is “querer”, which means “to want”, and in some contexts, it also means “to love”.

Let’s look at a few examples,

I want water – Yo quiero agua

I want food – Yo quiero comida

I love my family – Yo quiero a mi familia

The verb “querer” +  “a verb in infinitive” are often used to express the desire or a need to do something as well.

For example,

I want to sleep – Quiero dormir

I want to eat – Quiero comer

I want to drink water – Quiero tomar agua

I want to drink beer – Quiero tomar cerveza

I want to go home – Quiero ir a casa

I want to go to my hotel – Quiero ir a mi hotel

That’s all for today.

 To learn more Spanish and to access a downloadable text version of this audio, you can visit the Podcast section at LearningSpanishForBeginners.com

 See you next time,