Verb Shock!

I had a student recently tell me that she gets nervous when trying to speak Spanish to someone. She is a beginning Spanish language learner and constantly worries about saying things correctly. She does this so much that moments pass by where she could have practiced her Spanish with someone in a real situation, but ended up not saying anything at all.

When communicating with her during our lesson, I did notice that she dropped verbs altogether. I asked her why she was doing that and her response was that the verb type and conjugation confused her so much that to keep the communication flowing, she bypassed any and all verbs. She was in verb shock!

Verbs are very important parts of speech. Without them, no action takes place. All you have left in the sentence is nouns, modifiers, adjectives and conjunctions. Your sentences are action-less without them. That's why it is important to keep them in your sentences. They bring your phrases to life!

When starting out learning a language, it is less important on saying things perfectly than it is to make the mistake. People learn through making mistakes. Children make tons of linguistic errors on a daily basis. As they get older and use the language more, those mistakes become fewer. Success comes out of those moments of failure. You cannot reach it without making a lot of them. The important difference is what you do with the mistake. Do you learn from it?

I remember early in my own Spanish learning development when I would say "Tengo que irme" to mean "I have to go." For some reason, I was hyper sensitive to tack on the reflexive pronoun "me" in that sentence. It wasn't until a complete stranger in a park who I was conversing with one day told me that I did not need to say that word in that specific sentence. It took me by surprise and forced me to make a mental note. It stayed with me to this day. I learned from my own mistake in the park that day.

Everyone goes through the anxiety of not communicating the right verb in the correct tense or mood. That's natural and it is expected of beginning language learners. You will never improve unless you stick those verbs in your sentences and make those errors.

Take a couple steps back. Focus on learning and getting comfortable with using one verb. Trying to get a handle on all verbs at once can make you go crazy and have moments of panic when communicating. Go through the Present Tense Indicative conjugations of that one verb so that you can sound nature saying them. If you're not certain whether or not you're pronouncing them properly, ask someone. Better yet, go online to find audio files of people saying the verb. Focus on hearing the verb used in sentences through watching television, radio or video clips online.

Next, speak sentences using that verb. Say what you know. Don't try to get all fancy in order to impress anyone. Take a deep breath and state a simple sentence using the verb. Even if it is a small sentence, get it out there. Don't hold onto it. You may want to start saying other sentences using other verbs, but stay the course and focus on what you know at that moment for that one verb. You will be nervous, but get that verb out. When you have done that to a point where you feel semi-comfortable with that verb, move onto another verb. This won't be an overnight process, but in time, it's the only way to your own linguistic success.

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith