The verbs in
Spanish as a rule are classified into three categories. The last two
letters of verbs end in AR, ER, and IR. But of course there is always
the expression, EN CADA REGLA HAY SIEMPRE UNA EXCEPCION.
Let’s start
with the AR ending: AMAR, (to love) ESTUDIAR (to study), COMPRAR (to
buy), NEGAR (to deny, negate), LADRAR (to bark as in EL PERRO QUE
LADRA NO MUERDE, or barking dogs seldom bite), QUEBRAR (to break),
etc.
Exceptions to
the AR endings that are not verbs are the words MAR (sea), LUGAR (place),
HOGAR (home, residence, hearth, fireplace).
For the verbs
ending in ER, they are PODER (to be able); CONOCER (to know a person,
a place, a thing); SABER (to know a fact, direction, ability such
as SABER CANTAR or to know how to sing, SABER CONDUCIR EL AUTOBUS
or to know how to drive a bus); QUERER (to like, to love); BEBER (to
drink), et cetera.
The only exception
to the ER ending that is not a verb is the word MUJER (a woman).
The third classification
ending is IR as in VIVIR (to live); SENTIR (to think); DORMIR (to
sleep); RESISTIR (to resist or to be able to contain or take), etc.
The lone exception
here is the word MARTIR which is a noun. But many Spanish-speaking
people have also used it as a reflexive verb. Martir(se) means to
martyr oneself.
There are also
verbs in Spanish that are used as nouns, but they do not negate the
fact that they are verbs to start with. Examples are MI QUERER (my
love), DECIR(ES) de ESPANA (Spanish adages), etc, MI PODER (my power,
my authority), MI SENTIR (my sentiment, my judgment,etc).
Other languages
have their own classifications of verbs but they are not as unique
and concise as those of their Spanish counterpart.
The Spanish language
was originally a Germanic tongue. But the aftermath of the Roman conquest
made Spanish a Latin language.
The conquest of Spain, except the Basque region, by the Moors, who
originally came from Morocco, for more many centuries had made the
Spanish language even more interesting as the Moors introduced Arabic
words. The words ALGODON (cotton), ALMACEN (store), and many cities
of Spain such as VALLADOLID, ALHAMBRA, ALGECIRAS, ALCALA (de Henares),
the birth place of Don Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quijote
de la Mancha, ALCANTARA (it is also a town in Romblon), a name of
a castle such as ALCAZAR (de Segovia) to name a few are all Arabic
in origin. Even the common expression !OJALA! (which means God willing
or God grant!) was from the Arabic Words !O Allah! The word Moro which
we refer to our Muslim brethren in the south of the Philippines is
a direct Spanish name for the Muslim conquerors of Spain.
There are sentence
constructions in modern Spanish now that evidence the influence of
the Arabic tongue. But the Spanish language has retained its Latin
origin even more so when Spain regained its sovereignty from the Moors
by the early 1500's. Spain then imposed Christianity to the Moors
and the Jewish people, whose religion was tolerated by the Moors in
Spain, were given a choice of either becoming catholics or leaving
the country. This action witnessed the mass exodus of the Jewish people
to other countries and their ancestors have since preserved their
Spanish related idiom called now-a-days as LADINO. On the other hand
many of the Arab speaking Spaniards decided to stay and were therefore
forced to embrace the catholic religion.
The Spanish language
during the time of Magellan's journey to the Philippines was, at least
from the spelling side of it, different from modern Spanish like Shakespeare’s
English and its modern counterpart.
The Spanish spoken
and written by Dr. Jose P. Rizal was also different from that of its
modern counterpart, in that the former was flowery and long. Some
current Spanish literary figures call Rizal's Spanish old or outmoded.
This is also true with the English language in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The current Spanish language has witnessed a big transformation especially
in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking people of the USA.
Many Spanish words
spoken like those in New Mexico and others show the influx of English
words many educated Spanish-speaking people frown upon. For example
to apply the breaks on as in stopping a car is to use the verb FRENAR.
But in New Mexico, ordinary Spanish speakers will say EL PONE LA BRECA
or literally speaking he applies (on) or pumps the breaks. The word
furniture is also translated as FURNITURA (no such word in Spanish)
instead of MUEBLES.
As I already said
in Lesson 1 the word MEDICO (an MD) is always in the masculine gender,
but a FEMALE friend from Medellin, Colombia who I have known for many
years referred to a female MD as UNA MEDICA instead of UN MEDICO.
The list goes
on and on. This then shows that language is a dynamic phenomenom.
The English and the Philippine languages have their own transformation
also.
The next lesson
will be on the subjunctive mood. Well-learned Spanish speakers can
be determined by the way they speak Spanish especially in the subjunctive
mood. We call this mood PASAKALI in Tagalog.
Below are two
pictures. They themselves speak of the unbelievable hospitality of
Spanish-speaking peoples. One picture was taken in Guadalajara, Spain,
an hour train ride from Madrid, in May, 1970. I was heading towards
the Panteon de las Condesas (Pantheon of the Spanish Countesses) on
a solo unplanned tourist visit when three señoritas peeking
from their classroom windows in a prestigious and exclusive female
Catholic high school spotted me. They consequently asked their teacher’s
permission to be my tour guides.
The picture
was taken in front of the building that housed the mausoleum with
the two señoritas. The third teenage señorita
who took the picture lived in Madrid but stayed in a boarding house
in Guadalajara for the high school education. She volunteered to take
me on a tour of Madrid with her father during the week-end. But I
was on my way to Rome, Italy the next day. This was not only the most
unique and exhilarating experience I had while on my Spanish vacation.
The other one
was taken in September, 1968 with a Peruvian gentleman in an open
market in Chosica, Peru which is about 50 kilometres from Lima, the
nation’s capital. I met his daughter, a 21 year old receptionist
at the Asociacion Cristiana de Jovenes (YMCA) in Lima, who then invited
me to meet her family. The father then gave me a tour of Lima and
other areas as far as 100 kilometres the very next day. To top this
grand hospitality, the family had a despedida or send off party for
me the night before I left their country.
I also had
very pleasant experience with my Chilean journeys in 1968 and 1970
and other Latin American visits, and the Chilean hospitality was a
very unforgettable experience for me.
