Editing for Agreement & Verb Endings — I can edit a sentence to correct basic agreement or verb-ending errors in familiar structures.

Every language has a system for showing who is doing an action and when it happens. In English, we rely heavily on subject pronouns — "I run," "she runs" — and only change the verb slightly. Spanish, however, inherited a rich verb-ending system from Latin, the language spoken across the Roman Empire. Because each verb ending in Spanish already tells you who is performing the action, getting those endings right is essential for clear communication. A mismatched ending can confuse your reader just as much as saying "she run" in English — it signals a grammar glitch.

Understanding this history helps explain why Spanish has so many verb forms. The core question for you as a Spanish 1 writer is straightforward: Does the verb ending match the subject of my sentence? Learning to spot and fix mismatches is the editing skill we will build in this lesson.

Before you can edit for errors, you need a clear mental model of how Spanish verbs work. Three core principles govern every conjugation decision you make in Spanish 1. Once you internalize these, spotting mistakes becomes almost automatic.

The diagram below shows how the three verb families share a common structure: a stem plus a person-number ending. Notice how the endings differ by family but follow consistent patterns within each family. Study the color-coded chart to see the six forms for each conjugation group.

When you are editing your own writing, use this chart as a reference. Identify the subject, determine which verb family you are working with, and then check that the ending matches. If you see "Nosotros come," for example, you know the ending should be "-emos" (comemos), not the bare stem. This kind of systematic checking is exactly what strong editors do.

The mechanism behind subject-verb agreement in Spanish can be broken into a simple, repeatable process. Whether you are writing from scratch or editing a sentence someone else wrote, follow the same logical steps. Think of it as a decision tree that leads to the correct verb form every time.

The Agreement Decision Process

Let's walk through the mechanism with a concrete example. Suppose you are editing the sentence "Nosotros hablan español." Step 1: the subject is nosotros. Step 2: nosotros is first person plural. Step 3: hablar is an -ar verb. Step 4: the correct ending for first person plural -ar is -amos. Step 5: the sentence says "hablan" (third person plural), which does not match. You fix it to "Nosotros hablamos español."

Knowing the rules is one thing; spotting violations quickly is another. Certain agreement errors show up repeatedly in Spanish 1 writing. By studying the most common mistake patterns, you can develop an "error radar" that flags problems before you even consciously analyze the grammar. The table below catalogs the top errors, why they happen, and how to fix them.

Below is a short paragraph written by a fictional Spanish 1 student. It contains several agreement errors. We will walk through the editing process step by step, applying the flowchart from Section 4 to find and fix each mistake.

There are several approaches you can use when editing for agreement. Some work better in certain situations than others. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy helps you choose the right tool for the job.

The editing skills you are building now will serve you well beyond Spanish 1. As you advance, verb forms become more varied — but the fundamental principle of matching the ending to the subject never changes. Here is a preview of how this concept expands in future courses.

The good news is that every new tense follows the same stem + ending structure you are learning now. If you master the editing habit of checking subject-verb agreement in the present tense, you will have a reliable process that transfers directly to the preterite, the imperfect, and even the subjunctive. Build the habit now, and future verb forms will feel like variations on a theme rather than entirely new challenges.

Put your editing skills to the test. Each problem asks you to identify and correct agreement or verb-ending errors. The difficulty increases as you progress.