VAIS: Conjugation of verb IR in Spanish for Beginners

IF ALL LANGUAGES WERE  GRAMMATICALLY THE SAME, WE WOULDN’T HAVE SO MUCH  FUN LEARNING THEM!

One curious thing in English grammar is that there is no distinction between talking one-to-one with a person and asking “Are you going to the shop?” or talking to two or more people and asking the same question: “Are you going to the shop?”

In many languages there is a BIG DIFFERENCE in these two terms.

A conceptual difference.

But not in English…

I have taught  English as a foreign language  to people from differing linguistic backgrounds and some are quite confused by this unusual grammar point. But this is what makes language so interesting, all these little idiosyncracies!

So you think you are confused by Spanish grammar?

Guess what?

Spanish people are also very confused by ENGLISH grammar.

 

Take a moment to feel some sympathy for the poor Spaniards when they discover that, grammatically, there is no difference addressing one person in the intimacy of your own home or addressing a group of friends when you’re out on the town one evening.

“How can that be possible?” they ask.

But that’s why we love languages so much, right?

SKIP THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IN GREEN IF YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED IN THE GRAMMATICAL TERMINOLOGY OF IR = TO GO

It’s a funny old verb IR in Spanish. 

This post is looking into what is known grammatically as the SECOND PERSON PLURAL  of the verb TO GO = YOU GO or YOU ARE GOING or YOU’RE GOING..

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about addressing ONE person, THE SECOND PERSON SINGULAR   Spanish for Beginners: ¿A dónde vas?

Now it’s time to broaden our social network and address two, three or twenty and more. (THIS MEANS SECOND PERSON PLURAL) 

Now start looking at the verb itself

Click on the audio link and repeat all the sentences recorded. Get used to hearing yourself making ‘funny noises’; also known as “speaking another language”.

VAIS

 

VAIS is a bit like English ‘ice’ but with a soft ‘B’ in front (BICE). A soft ‘B’ sound for the ‘V‘ is Spanish.

VAIS means :

YOU GO

(speaking to more than ONE person)

or

YOU ARE GOING

(speaking to more than ONE person)

or

YOU’RE GOING

(speaking to more than ONE person)

or

Repeat the audio link again and as many times as you like/want/need. You choose. The more the merrier!

That was so easy!

Now for the questions.

For this you simply add an inquisitive intonation to the exact same word. This is so much easier than making questions in English.

Remember how lucky you are to be learning Spanish and NOT English as a foreign language!

¿VAIS?

With a ‘question’ voice, this now means, speaking to more than one person:

   DO YOU GO?  (e.g. …to work at nine?)

or

ARE YOU GOING? (e.g. to work tomorrow?)

How easy is that? VERY EASY!

TIME TO START SPEAKING SPANISH NOW

Listen now to a native Spanish speaker (my daughter!) using VAIS in real sentences. Repeat after the first sentence, wait to hear her again and then repeat again to accustom yourself and readjust.

See this post about the benefits of repeating ALOUD your new language: Repeat, repeat, repeat…

SPEAK OUT IN SPANISH NOW !

La tienda = the shop   A la tienda = to the shop

VAIS a la tienda 

You (people) go the shop

or

You (people) are going to the shop

---

La fiesta = the party      A la fiesta = to the party

VAIS a la fiesta

You (people) go the party

or

You (people) are going to the party

---

La playa = the beach     A la playa = to the beach

VAIS a la playa

You (people) go the beach

or

You (people) are going to the beach

---

La casa de Jane = The house of Jane (Jane’s house)

A la casa de Jane = to Jane’s house

VAIS  a la casa de Jane

You (people) go Jane’s house

or

You (people) are going to Jane’s house

---

La estación = the station    A la estación = to the station

VAIS  a la estación

You (people) go the station

or

You (people) are going to the station

---

La plaza = the square ( in town where people meet)

A la plaza = to the square

VAIS a la plaza

You (people) go the square

or

You (people) are going to the square

---

Now for a couple of examples using masculine nouns where A LA changes to AL 

For more about his see How to say ‘To The’ in Spanish: A la or Al ?

El aeropuerto = the airport    Al aeropuerto = to the airport

VAIS al aeropuerto

You (people) go the airport

or

You (people) are going to the airport

---

El campo = the countryside       Al campo = to the countryside

VAIS al campo

You (people) go the countryside

or

You (people) are going to the countryside

---

El supermercado= the supermarket

Al supermercado= to the supermarket

VAIS al supermercado

You (people) go the supermercado

or

You (people) are going to the supermercado

---

Remember by putting on an inquisitive tone, all the sentences above will translate to questions.

It couldn’t be more simple.