The passive participle is formed from the infinitive, by changing its termination into ado, for the first conjugation, as, From am-ar, to love, is formed amado, loved. From habl-ar, to speak, is formed hablado, spoken, &c. The gerund of the first conjugation is formed from the infinitive also, by changing its termination into ando; as, From am-ar, to love, is formed amando, loving. From habl-ar, to speak, is formed hablando, speaking. The passive participle of the second and third conjugations, is formed from their infinitive, by changing its termination into ido; as, From beb-er, to drink, bebido, drunk. From sub-ir, to walk up, subido, walked up. The gerund of the second and third conjugations, is also formed from their infinitive, by changing its termination into iendo; as, From beb-er, to drink, bebiendo, drinking. From sub-ir, to walk up, subiendo, walking up. Observation. When the termination, in both numbers, of the third person of the perfect indefinite, in the second or third conjugation, is preceded by, a, e, or ü, the i is changed into y; as, caer, cayó, cayéron; leer, leyó, leyéron; argüir, arguyo, arguyéron. The same change takes place in all the persons of the first and third imperfects of the subjunctive, in the future of the same mood, and in the gerund; as, cayére, cayéres, &c. cayese, cayeses, &c. cayendo. When the last of the radical letters is a u, and the i of the termination belongs to the same syllable, the i is retained; as, seguir, siguió, siguiésen, &c. Some verbs require a change in their radical letters, in order that the final consonant may retain in all the tenses, the harsh or soft pronunciation which it has before the infinitive: this alteration cannot occur, unless the radicals end in c, in g, in gu, or in qu, and the changes, which then take place, are as follows: The first column shows in what manner the radicals must end, to require the alteration; the second, the letters substituted; the third, what letters must begin the termination to admit the change; and the fourth, the conjugations wherein these several deviations are found. |