Verb table books: A stress-free guide

A verb table book is one of the simplest and most useful tools for language learners. But they can look daunting at first. Here’s a quick guide to getting the most out of one, using the example of one of Grijben’s books for GCSE Spanish verbs.

1. Get your verb book

2. Find the verb you need

Verbs books list verbs in alphabetical order. Start by finding the infinite (the basic ‘to’ form) at the top of the page. In this example, we’ll use hacer  (‘to do’ or ‘to make’).

3. Choose the tense you want

Once you’ve found the verb, look for the tense you need. Let’s say you’re looking for ‘I do’. That’s the present tense.

4. Find the form you need

You’re looking for the ‘I’ form, which is first person singular, so it’s here: hago. OK, let’s break that down a bit. How do you know it’s hago? Well, for each tense, there are six verb forms in a pattern. The left column is singular: I, you, he/she (or yo, tú, él/ella/usted). The right column is plural: we, you, they (or nosotros, vosotros, ellos/ellas/ustedes). This example is Spanish, so the second person forms (tú, vosotros) are informal. In Spanish, for formal ‘you’, use the third-person forms (usted, ustedes), Other languages handle this differently, but the introduction will have a guide you can check, like this one in this book.

5. Not sure what tense you need?

No problem. If you aren’t sure what tense you’re looking for, take a look at the introduction for a quick overview of all the tenses and when to use them.

Practice makes perfect

Once you get used to the layout, a good verb table book becomes one of the fastest ways to check and learn verb forms. Instead of hunting through notes or guessing endings, you can jump straight to the exact form you need, see the pattern at a glance, and build confidence every time you use it. Before long, you’ll find yourself remembering forms automatically rather than looking them up.

Also available for GCSE French

The examples above are for GCSE Spanish, but if you’re doing GCSE French, Grijben has a book for that too: GCSE French Verb Tables: The Essential Conjugation Handbook.