This is lesson 17 in Crashed Culture’s Spanish grammar series.

Volver a hacer & beyond

If you’ve been following along, you already know that we only conjugate the first verb when we have 2 verbs side-by-side. Let’s talk a little bit more about that. In particular, let’s talk about 3 verb pairings that the Spanish language uses a lot to express certain ideas.

The three verb pairings we’re going to talk about are volver a, acaber de, and ir a. They help us talk about a lot of things, including our very first chance talking about things in a tense other than the present one!

Volver a hacer

First: volver a. As you (hopefully) already know by now, volver means to return. However, stick that a at the end of it, and we have a phrase expressing that we’re doing something again.

Volver a hacer	to do again
Volver a estudiar	to study again
Volver a cargar	to load again (reload)

And remember: volver is a stem-changer! For example:

Vuelvo a comer	I eat again
Vuelven a hablar	They speak again
Vuelves a cantar	You sing again

So, as you can see, you can use volver a like we use otra vez - it’ll just sound a little smoother in some scenarios.

Acaber de

Next up we have acabar de. Acabar de is more exciting because it roughly translates to “to have just done” something. Not only does this word not really exist in English, but it’s also our first foray into speaking in the past tense!

Now, the past tense is difficult for us English speakers, which is why we should celebrate this baby step. We use acabar de to talk about things that happened in the recent past. For example:

Acabar de comer	to have just eaten
Acabar de votar	to have just voted
Acabar de llegar	to have just arrived

Just like in the case of volver a, we conjugate acabar, but not the verb that’s just been done. For example:

Acabo de notar	I just noticed
Acabas de caer	You just fell
Acaba de salir	She just left

I know - acabar de + infinitive is fun, amirite?

Ir a + infinitive

Lastly, and fitting the theme of tip-toeing to different verb tenses, we have ir a + infinitive. You’ve probably seen this one before; in fact, you’ve probably used it before. Of all three phrases, ir a + infinitive is most commonly used and taught.

So. You know how we use acaber de + infinitive to talk about things that happened in the very recent past? Well, we use ir a + infinitive to talk about things that are happening in the very near future. For example:

Ir a escribir	to be going to write
Ir a conducir	to be going to drive
Ir a cocinar	to be going to cook

5 points if you can tell me which part of that we conjugate. Yup - we conjugate ir! This is where things get a tad hairy. Sorry! The verb ir (to go) comes with some peculiar conjugations. Like so:

Yo	voy
Tú	vas
Él/ella/utd	va
Nosotros/as	vamos
Vosotros/as	vais
Ellos/ellas/utds	van

Now, this tends to be considered a beginner-intermediate concept. Why? Well, look below. Ir a + infinitive roughly translates to “to be going to/will”. Take a look at the examples below - these two phrases are pretty interchangeable, at least in the context where ir a + infinitive is used.

Voy al cine por la noche	I’m going to the movies for the night
¿Vas a la tienda hoy o mañana?	Are you going to the store today or tomorrow?
Va a perder su libro	She is going to forget her book
Vamos a un restaurante cada domingo	We go to a restaurant every Sunday
Vais a ver que es el problema	You will see what the problem is
Van a ganar el juego como siempre	They will win the game like always