Present, past, future indicative or subjunctive mood, preterits perfect and imperfect …
The tenses are complex, and to facilitate the students to learn properly, we suggest this collection of designed resources for students in primary, but it may also be of interest to the first levels of ESO.
Best Resources to Learn Tenses in Spanish
According to a detailed report from AnswerKeyFinder (a free tool to find answer keys), there are over 20+ resources to learn tenses in Spanish specially designed for students/parents across the US & Canada.
Different Resources to Study and Learn Spanish Verb Tenses:
1. Composite and no boyfriend
Available through the Educarex website, this proposal brings together different activities on verb tenses.
The first and second consist of completing some verbal series following the examples that appear on the screen, while the third is a crossword that students must complete, taking into account the subject of the sentence so that the agreement is correct.
There is also an exercise that consists of forming the participle of the verbs shown and another to find the verb forms of a text.
Another activity will be to link the verb form indicated with the time that corresponds to it; you must also complete a pyramid with the corresponding verb forms and answer a questionnaire.
Through the Educarex portal, you can also access the exercise Travel in Time, dedicated to the definition of the verbs present, past, and future.
2. Verb conjugations
A proposal from the Colegio Bretón de Los Herreros (Logroño) (made by Francisco J. Rodríguez San José for 6th grade of Primary) that consists of relating certain forms with their appropriate verb tenses: indicative mood, gerund, non-personal forms – each one of they, in turn, are broken down into different options – in addition to the imperative mood.
3. Phrasing
In this article, Marta García Fernández from Now ELE reveals a grammar game for students to practice the different verb tenses, which can be adapted to any stage or educational level.
The materials needed are colored sticks, a pen, and a pencil holder. Once collected, you have to choose a color for each tense, select a list of verbs, write them in each of the suits, and then mix them and put them in the pencil holder.
From here, and depending on the color of the stick that the students randomly draw, they will have one minute to make a sentence with that verb form. The student with the most clubs will win.
4. Board games with verbs for fun in class
Its authors are Ana Gómez and Daniel Hernández, and their purpose is to “work on verb tenses from a more entertaining, visual and playful perspective,” as they themselves explain in this article.
To do this, they propose games with dice, boards, candies … giving some tips that will always be useful. They even suggest an adaptation of the classic “Sink the Fleet.”
You can complete these resources with two more proposals by the same authors: Material to memorize verbs and pronouns in a playful way and the Verbolocura card game.
5. The study of the verb
This is material available for download in PDF through La Edutech, recommended for students in 2nd grade of Primary.
They will work on verb tenses as a grammatical concept, they will learn the correct use of the verb tense and the person, and they will discover that there are three types of conjugations… M. Muñoz developed it from CEIP JCP Lebrija.
6. Pass word
This link includes a special version of this well-known television program. For each of the letters of the ‘Rosco’ a question is formulated: for example, with the C, the second person singular of the present subjunctive of the verb cantar; with G, the second person plural of the future simple indicative of the verb gain.
7. The present, the past, and the future
Its contents are divided into four blocks. The first one explains what each of these verb forms is used for, while the second one shows a series of sentences in which the verb tense used must be indicated.
The third is a maze (you have to use the arrows on the computer keyboard to match each verb with its corresponding verb tense). In the last section, you have to read several sentences and change the verb tense that is indicated.
8. Correct Verb Tenses
The protagonists of this game are two children (Pablo and Ramón), whom the students have to help complete the verb tenses of several sentences so that they can both go on a balloon excursion. They will work with regular, irregular, and defective verbs.
9. Collection of 300 chips
The author of this material, available on the Orientación Andújar website, is Antonio Ciudad-Real Núñez, who proposes to teachers a collection of 300 worksheets to use in the classroom and at home.
Students have to indicate the infinitive, gerund, and participle of certain verb tenses or conjugate all the persons of a verb (I, you, he, we, you, and them) using the indicative and subjunctive modes.
They will practice the past, the future imperfect, the future perfect, the present or the past perfect, among others.
10. Game to conjugate
Available on the blog ‘ Nut of Pine, ‘it is a compilation of several cards, each of which has a verb and a personal form. The students, who can work individually or in groups, have to answer the questions asked by the teachers.
They can ask them to conjugate the verb with the person indicated on the card in multiple ways: formulating simple, compound, subjunctive, and past tenses.
11. Verb forms
This web platform proposes the resolution, by the student, of a crossword by filling in the blank with the verb in the appropriate time and number.
If one of the exercises is unknown, the program offers two options with hints (either a letter or a complete word) and the possibility of moving on to the next one and returning to it later.
12. Onoma
Conjugator of online verb tenses in which, through a search engine, you can access the complete conjugation of each term, as well as information regarding its characteristics and irregularities.
In the same way, it also has a section in which its morphological analysis is carried out and even a category in which to conjugate “invented” verbs in a few seconds.
13. Regular Conjugation
Starting from a low level, this game leads the student to fill in the empty gaps of different sentences with the correct conjugations of the verbs that are proposed automatically (both in simple and compound forms). The results obtained are collected in a file so that the teacher can study them.
14. VerbForm
Without the need to be connected to the Internet, it has a powerful search engine with which to access more than 7,000 verbs in Spanish. Each of them is made up of its conjugation table and information about its conjugation.
In addition, it includes a voice-over option that allows the user to listen to the different verb forms by simply touching the screen. To put the acquired knowledge into practice, you have several models of exercises from which statistics are obtained at the end. It is only suitable for iOS.
15. SpanishVerbs
Thanks to its search engine, students will have access to all verb tenses and their translations into languages such as English, French, or German in a few clicks and with a voice output option to know their pronunciation. It has a grammar section to know its practical application. It does not need the user to be connected to the Internet to use it. Available only on Android.
16. DRAE
The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy is a resource that helps us not only to check the meaning of the words in our language but also includes a conjugator of all the verbs that exist. It is as simple as ‘searching’ for the verb and clicking on the blue “conjugate” button; for example, here, you can enter the conjugation of the verb conjugate.
17. LearnTheVerbs
Accessible through the website El Abuelo Educa, it explains the theory related to verbs, person, time, number, aspect, mode, and voice and then proposes different exercises. There are seven games in which there is the option of choosing the correct verb form. At all times, it shows the attempts, successes, and errors and also allows you to download a PDF document to print the exercise.
18. Happy Learning Español
The YouTube channel Happy Learning Español stars the character of a virtual girl who explains the actions of the verb, its forms, or the person using a blackboard and images of real figures. This educational video works with complementary content through entertainment, fun, and illustration.
19. GrammarBoards
This board game has 11 pages with grammatical aspects (regular and irregular verbs, expressions, and tenses) and includes 10 boards to practice the theoretical part.
To use this resource, it is necessary to print and laminate each grammar board and play in a group with dice and pawns. It is similar to Parcheesi and ideal to work with in class or at home (be careful; it can also be a family game).
20. VerbalTense
Noemí, the main teacher in this YouTube video tutorial, gives a brief description of what verbs and tenses are. In addition to theoretical lessons, it includes different examples to understand what it is explaining. It focuses on the three main tenses: past, present, and future. Complement the information with a link to Drive with different activities that this teacher proposes in the description of the publication.
Hope you find what you are looking for in Spanish Tense learning resources.
