Last week, one of the verbs in my Spanish Verb Conjugation game‘s Learn New Verb list was the verb “traer“. “Traer” means “to bring”. I struggle with this verb, because it is irregular. When I say irregular, I mean it is as irregular as they come. It turns out that, in the Middle Ages, patterns in verb conjugation changed and some letters were added while others were dropped. This adding and dropping was not even consistent across the different tenses!
I know the rules. I remember that the first person singular present tense has an irregular form “traigo“, and the subjunctive present tense uses this as the stem: “traig-“. Thus, the subjunctive for the first person singular is “yo traiga“, and the second person singular is “tu traigas“, etc.
What I really struggle with is: remembering the conjugation of the simple past tense; also known as the “pretérito indefinido“. Again, during those turbulent times of the Middle Ages, a “j” was introduced instead of the “x” which was present in Latin. Why was that done? I don’t know.
What helps me get on top of this verb (and any verb that I struggle with) is to revise it regularly in our Spanish Verb Conjugation game. So, if you want to get on top of it too, download the game now from the Google Play Store.