Conjugate= put the verb in the correct form so that it 1) correctly expresses the tense (time  period- present, past, future, etc.), and 2) agrees with the subject.

Do we conjugate in English?  Of course we do, but we do it differently than it is done in many languages.  Think about this.  How many forms of the verb "to talk" are there?  Let's see.  There's "talk", "talks", "talked" and "talking".  Just 4.  So how do we make the verb express the correct tense?  We might use one of the forms (I talk or I talked).  But ususally we use an auxiliary, or helping, verb- I did talk.  I will talk.  I would talk, etc.  In terms of subject agreement, there is very little of this in English.  In fact it only happens with the third person singular (he, she, it) in the present tense.  I (you, we, they) talk; but he (she, it) talks.  It's really easy in English.

In Spanish, however, we find another situation entirely.  The actual verb changes to express the tense, and the endings also must agree with the subject.  As a result there are over 40 forms for each verb!! How will you ever learn them all?  Well, first you have to study for a long time- more than you can get in high school.  Secondly you have to use them- remember:

So each verb in Spanish has lots of forms.  Is there a pattern to follow?  Yes, there is.  Return to the "verbs" page to get started.