So many new words!!!

[caliber1]

Estoy trabajando mucho con un amigo en el trabajo, y estoy aprendiendo muchas nuevas palabras de el.

Here is an example of a word and I was asking him how to say the different tenses for me, you, him, etc. . . It is a bit confusing. Are there any tips for learning the different tenses.

Colgar= to hang.

I then asked him if , "yo colgo el telefono" was correct. He told me I need to say "cuelgo" not "colgo". So that is my question. Are there any patterns that I can follow? Please let me know. Also please correct my first sentence if you see something wrong. Gracias a todos!

[Rusty]

There are many irregular verbs. There is no pattern. They all have to be learned as you go.
Colgar is classified as a stem-changing verb. The 'o' in the stem (colg-) changes to 'ue'. There are many verbs that change similarly (a few: poder, soñar). Verb conjugation charts are essential for Spanish students.
If you look at the conjugation chart here, you'll see all the conjugations for colgar.

[caliber1]

Gracias Rusty! Yo lo aprecio. Tengo mucho mas a aprender pero yo creo que puedo.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Gracias Rusty! (Yo) Te lo agradezco. Tengo mucho más que aprender pero yo creo que puedo.

¡No hay de qué!

[caliber1]

agradecer. Another new word! And that gets conjugated like conocer. yo conozco. Thanks again.

[Rusty]

Here is another site that has verb conjugation charts. (I just noticed a couple of errors in the one I posted earlier. )

[caliber1]

I was feeling pretty good but now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed again my friend. That list seems to go on forever and thats just ONE verb!!!!

¡Me asustado!

[Rusty]

All verbs, except the defective ones, have that many conjugations. That's where the fun begins!

Me asusta. = It scares me.

[wrholt]

Yes, there are patterns for the conjugations: for each tense there is a specific way to find the stem for that tense and a specific set of endings for each combination of person and number.

The majority of the irregular verbs have one or more irregular stems that are used some of the time, but always with the regular endings.

A smaller number of irregular verbs also have irregular endings in some of the tenses; most of those verbs are used quite frequently.

A very small number of verbs are extremely irregular, but they are also among the most commonly used verbs, so it's well worth the effort to learn them.

Most good Spanish/Spanish and English/Spanish dictionaries have charts of model irregular verbs for each pattern of irregularity, and the dictionary entries for all irregular verbs will identify which model that verb follows. If the entry doesn't specify a model verb, then it is a regular verb, and you use the ending that correspond to the ending of the infinitive, which may be -ar, -er, or -ir.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

A good conjugation manual will help you learn to conjugate without memorizing each and every verb. Larousse has a nice one called Conjugación Lengua Española. It's made to show patterns so you'll learn to recognize different kinds of irregular verbs.