Verb (Verbo)

The verbal system has three different conjugations:

1. verbs with conjugation-vowel (a vowel between the root and grammatical suffixes that indicates the conjugation to which the verb belongs) -a- (first conjugation),
2. verbs with conjugation-vowel -e- (second conjugation)
3. and verbs with conjugation-vowel -i- (third conjugation).

Most verbs belong to one of these three regular models of conjugation, but some have various exceptions.

Within each paradigm, there are personal and impersonal forms ( or non-finite forms: infinitive, gerund and participle).

Personal forms have all inflectional endings for person, number, mood and tense.

Impersonal forms do not have number nor person.

The infinitive is an exception, since it has a personal and an impersonal form, as in Portuguese:

• Para faceres [2nd person singular] iso, non precisabas tanto ruído.
  In order to [you] do that you did not have to do so much noise.
• Cómpre comermos [1st person plural] ben.
  It is necessary to [we] eat well, we must eat well.
• Queremos marchar [impersonal form] antes das cinco da tarde.
  We want to leave before 5.00 in the afternoon.

The morphological structure of Galician verbs is: root + conjugation-vowel + mood and tense suffix + number and person suffix.

For example: comeremos we will eat = com (root) + -e- (2nd conjugation) + -re (future and indicative suffix) + mos (1st person plural suffix).

There are two moods, namely indicative and subjunctive. The subjunctive mood includes the imperative.

The indicative includes 6 tenses:
 

1. Present indicates simultaneity:
   Hoxe non como na casa. Today I do not eat at home.
2. Future indicates future time:
   Mañá non comerei na casa. Tomorrow I will not eat at home.
3. Past simple indicates past time:
   Onte non comín na casa. Yesterday I did not eat at home.
4. Imperfect indicates that the action is simultaneous to another action that took place in the past:
   Eu comía cando el chegou. I was eating when he arrived.
5. Pluperfect indicates that the action took place before a past action:
   Eu comera cando el chegou. I had eaten when he arrived.
6. Future Perfect indicates that the action takes place after a past action:
   Eu comería cando el chegase. I would eat when he arrived.

In the subjunctive there are only two tenses. They both depend on another temporal reference:
 

Examples:

1. Present Subjunctive:
   Mándoche que o comas. I command you to eat it.
   Quizais hoxe coman polbo. Perhaps they will eat octopus today.
2. Past simple Subjunctive:
   Mandouche que o comeses. He told you to eat it.
   Se o comeses a modo non che facía mal. If you ate it slowly it would not do you any harm.

The imperative is included in the present subjunctive. It has forms of its own for the 2nd person sg. and pl., while for the other persons is expressed by means of the present subjunctive:

• ¡Come! Eat!
• ¡Que coman! They must eat!

Verbal periphrases express aspectual, modal or temporal meanings:

1. imperfective aspect:
   Agora está a chover or Agora está chovendo.
   Now it is raining.
2. reiterative perfective aspect (an action that is done more than once in the past):
   Teño feito moitas trasnadas cando era neno.
   I used to do many pranks when I was a child.
3. passive perphrases:
   O ladrón foi visto polos veciños.
   The thief was seen by the neighbours.
   As sardiñas foron pescadas ó mencer.
   The sardines were caught at dawn.
4. future time:
   Ha de saír cando el queira.
   He will go out when he wants to.

There are no compund tense forms in Galician.

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