Why Do Language Students Have The Wrong Mindset About Irregular Verbs?

By Author: Daniel Major
Total Articles: 24
Comment this article

Stop! headline news....Irregular Verbs are more often than not the most difficult part of any language to learn, but why?

The common belief amongst language students of all languages is that irregular verbs do not follow patterns like the regular verbs, therefore making them very difficult to learn and master.

The truth is, that when it comes down to it, the problem lies with a student's often misguided concerns regarding the potential difficulty of learning the irregularity of a verb, the actual task is actually no more difficult than learning the conjugations of a regular verb.

Strange statement to make I know but look at it this way.....

In Spanish there are three ‘regular' verb types, so called because they follow a regular set pattern. Each pattern relating to different verb endings,these endings are; -ar; -er; and -ir.

Now you've probably already learnt or memorized the endings for each conjugation for each of these verb groups and have been told that you will have no option but to memorize each irregular verb as they are all different.

This is misleading!

Nearly ...
... all Irregular verbs follow formations that other irregular verbs copy therefore enabling them to be put into groups.

In my opinion if these ‘irregular verbs' can be grouped they can and should be treated as regular verbs also.

Great! you are probably saying, I've now got more regular verb groups to learn !

But remember that I started this report by stating that the inherent fear students have is of the difficulty learning irregular verbs compared to regular verbs.

This simple declassification of irregular verbs into a regular type grouping should dismiss any anxieties once felt

You should remember this...

Learning is a state of mind, believing something is difficult often leads to to it being just that, so you need to get the right mindset, think positive and your learning experience will mirror that belief and as a result your studies will become easier.

Daniel Major is the author of www.irregularspanishverbs.com