Which Verb Conjugations To Learn First?

[RobDude16]

I'm a complete beginner, trying to learn Spanish. I can see from sites online that for any verb, there are *a lot* of conjugations. Many are irregular too.

For example - beber has ~100 different forms!

My question is, which should I focus on learning first? Indicative present seems pretty important, but now I'm starting to find some gerunds and indicative imperfect (in a children's book I'm stumbling my way through).

Is there a recommended order that these are normally taught to non-natives learning Spanish?

[Rusty]

Most learn to speak about the present first and then go on to learn to speak about things in the past. As you've probably already seen, there are two past tenses. Both are used and I think they should be learned at the same time.

There are a lot of irregular verbs in the present and preterit tenses, but the imperfect tense has only three.

What you called a gerund was most likely the Spanish gerundio, which is the English present participle.

[Suavemente]

De acuerdo con Rusty.... Lo único que añadirá es que si que Ud... yo aprendería unos verbos muy importantes sobre todo los que se utilizará con frecuencia. Haber es un verbo importante que se necesita conocer. También invístete en una copia del libro por Baron "501 Spanish Verbs." Le sirve bien mientras está aprendiendo.

I agree with Rusty. The only thing I would add is that if I were you, I would some very important verbs, especially the ones you'll use frequently. "Haber" is an important verb that you need to know. Also, invest in a copy of the book Baron's 501 Spanish Verbs. It'll serve you well while you're learning the language.

[Julvenzor]

De acuerdo con Rusty.... Lo único que añadiría es que si fuera/fuese Ud... yo aprendería algunos verbos muy importantes, sobre todo, los que () utilizará con frecuencia. Haber es un verbo importante que (se) necesita conocer. También invierta en un ejemplar del libro escrito por Baron "501 Spanish Verbs." Le servirá bien mientras está/esté aprendiendo.

I agree with Rusty. The only thing I would add is that if I were you, I would some very important verbs, especially the ones you'll use frequently. "Haber" is an important verb that you need to know. Also, invest in a copy of the book Baron's 501 Spanish Verbs. It'll serve you well while you're learning the language.

As the two users before me mentioned, I also recommend to start with the "presente indicativo". Then, you can continue to study "past" or, better (I think), "conditional" and "future", due to they are very regular.