16 Auxiliary Verbs (Los verbos auxiliares)

An auxiliary verb combines with another verb to help form tense, mood, voice or condition of the verb it combines with. They are also called helping verbs. (Un verbo auxiliar se combina con otro verbo para ayudar a formar el tiempo, el humor, la voz o la condición del verbo con el que esto se combina.)

>> The verbs ‘to do’, ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ are the three most common auxiliary verbs. (Los verbos ‘to do’, ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ son los tres verbos auxiliares más comunes.)

For example, (por ejemplo,)
The old lady is traveling to Honduras. / La vieja señora esta viajando a Honduras.
The film was watched in Hollywood. / La película se miró en Hollywood.
I am living here. / Estoy viviendo aquí.
You are talking with Wendy. / Tú estas hablando con Wendy.
He is needing more time. / Él esta necesitando más tiempo.

-- When using ‘to do’ as an auxiliary verb, it is used with the base form (infinitive).
-- When using ‘to be’ (am, is, are, was, were, be, been) as an auxiliary verb use it with the present participle (-ing) or the past participle (-ed). (Cuando usa ‘to be’ como un verbo auxiliar, usa con –ing o –ed.)
-- When using ‘to have’ as an auxiliary verb, it is used with the past participle (-ed) to form the perfect tense.

Note. This lesson is just meant to give a basic introduction to auxiliary verbs. You may want to skip the rules for using auxiliary verbs here, or just go just present the idea and come back to them in greater detail later.

10 regular verbs (10 verbos regulares)
::use:: usar I used the car. / Yo usé el carro.
::die:: morir My grandfather died in September. / Mi abuelo se murió en septiembre.
::lie:: mentir He lies a lot. / Él mentía mucho.
::learn:: aprender I am learning English. / Estoy aprendiendo Inglés.
::move:: mover The house moved. / La casa se movió.
::need:: necesitar You need milk. / Tú necesitas leche.
::open:: abrir The door is opening. / La puerta esta abriendo.
::play:: jugar We played soccer. / Nosotros jugamos fútbol.
::shop:: ir de compras I am shopping tomorrow. / Voy a ir de compras mañana.
::travel:: viajar She traveled to England. / Ella viajó a Inglaterra.

Exercise (ejercicio)
Instructions: conjugate the following verbs in the correct form. (Instrucciones: conjugue los siguientes verbos en la forma correcta.)

+ to live, you / + to die, he / - to lie, they / - to hope, Luis / + to walk, she / - to travel, we / - to be, I / + to shop, Juan

Note. I like to make five columns: 1 for past tense, 1 for present tense, the third for future tense, the fourth for continuous tense and the last for the word translated in Spanish (I just write ‘español’.) Then the student can fill in the grid by writing the correct form of each verb in each tense across the table.