How to express ideas and thoughts in Spanish. Head verbs

How are those ideas going? Today we are going to open our minds and talk about thoughts. 🧠

Are you a person who usually shows his opinion? Maybe yes, but you don't know how to do it in Spanish. 

You don't have to worry about this anymore because in this article we are going to teach you how to express ideas and thoughts in Spanish.

As? Well with the head verbs. 😏

Don't you know what they are? Stay with us, this is very important! 

Furthermore, this topic will serve to review the shape and the use of the subjunctive in Spanish.

How to express ideas and thoughts in Spanish

You already know that, in general, we Spaniards love to talk to people and converse. 

It is normal that in these conversations there are exchanges of opinions. What is an opinion? It's an idea that a person has about something or someone. 

In Hispania, Spanish school, we always encourage our students to talk in class and share thoughts, so the dynamic is much more fruitful and classmates connect more with each other.

Do you know the connectors to give opinion? These are some with examples of opinions:

• In my opinion

"In my opinion, winter clothes are more elegant than summer clothes."

• Low/According to my point of view

"In my point of view, cities with a river have more charm than those without."

• for me

"For me, the most delicious pizza is the one with barbecue sauce."

• In my opinion/understand

"In my opinion, living with pets is beneficial for humans, but you have to spend time with them and take good care of them."

• The way I see it

"In my opinion, that arrogant attitude is going to bring you a lot of problems."

In my opinion, from my point of view, in my opinion… With these phrases you already know how to start a personal opinion. Show your opinion With respect and kindness it will surely generate positive things for you.

But of course, some of these connectors to express opinions are very long. Is there no way to express our thoughts by making shorter sentences with verbs that express opinion?

Of course yes, using the head verbs. Next, let's look at them in detail.

Do you know that the subjunctive plays a very important role in these verbs?

Wait a minute… Don't you know when to use the subjunctive correctly? Do you have doubts about how it is formed?

No problem! Let's refresh it! 🙌

The subjunctive as a tool 

The subjunctive in Spanish It is a verbal mode. 

we have three modes: indicative, imperative and subjunctive. We will quickly summarize what each of them is used for:

• Indicative: we use it to express reality, present, past and future actions.
• Imperative: used to give orders, advice, instructions and directions.
• Subjunctive: serves to talk about our thoughts, feelings, desires, evaluations, objectives, probabilities...

As you can see, the subjunctive is very important in Spanish. Today we are going to focus on thethoughts.

Do you remember the form of the subjunctive? In our article on thesubjunctive in SpanishYou can see it in detail, both the regular and the irregular one.

We are also going to review it. Hepresent subjunctiveis combined with thevowel changes: AR – E, ER – A, IR – A.

Let's look at the subjunctive with examples of an infinitive of each conjugation:

Person	CARRY	SELL	WRITE
I	ledAND	sellTO	I wroteTO
You	ledIS	sellACE	I wroteACE
He/She/You	ledAND	sellTO	I wroteTO
We	ledEMOS	sellLOVES	I wroteLOVES
You	ledEIS	sellAIS	I wroteAIS
They/Them/You	ledIN	sellA.N.	I wroteA.N.

Do you see it? There is always a vowel change in the last vowel. Inirregular verbsThis rule continues to be fulfilled, although adding the irregularities of each verb.

If you need help with this, I recommend that you click on the article cited above, there we explain in detail all thetypes of irregulars inthe subjunctive moodwith examples.

The head verbs

Now that we have reviewed the present subjunctive form, we can finally talk about thehead verbs. 

What are head verbs?

Head verbs are verbs thatserve for express ideas or thoughts. 

They are also known asthought verbs.

Which Are the head verbs?

The main head verbs are: believe, think, imagine and suppose. 

Now that you know what they are, it is important to clarify which other verbs are not head verbs, because there is usually a lot of confusion in this.

They are NOT head verbs the following:

• verbs of perception. 

These are the ones that are perceived through our senses: notice, observe, listen, feel, perceive, realize...

• The verbs of speech or diction.

They are the verbs that designate communicative actions: indicate, insinuate, interpret, address...

• Verbs of language or verbs of opinion. 

They are verbs to express opinions: opine, seem, consider...

Are you clear? Head verbs are those that present an idea such as  think, believe, imagine,  assume...  and they mark that the idea is in the thought, it has no connection with the sensations or the moment of speech.

However, on some occasions these verbs of perception, language or diction repeat the verb structure and use of the head verbs. 

Therefore, it is possible to find all these verbs as a large group in some manuals.

 We prefer to separate them, because sometimes they do not comply with the same rule of use.

How are they used?

Head verbs have the following structure:

SUBJECT + HEAD VERB + WHAT + INFORMATION

Do you want to see some thought verb phrases with examples? Let's get to it!

• I I imagine that Today it will be less cold than yesterday.

• Nina think that He will have vacations in August.

• II guess In France people eat dinner a little earlier than the Spanish.

• you do you think Valencia is a very interesting city to live in.

Do you see it? In all these examples we have the structure above. 

We break down the first sentence so that you can detect each of its grammatical elements:

I (SUBJECT)

I imagine (HEAD VERB)

WHAT

Today it will be less cold than yesterday (INFORMATION)

Now, perhaps you are wondering: 

"Where is the subjunctive?"

"Didn't you tell me that head verbs had the subjunctive mood?"

“Have I studied its form at all?” 😭

Tranquility, the subjunctive has its role in head verbs, but only when they are in negative. 

If the verbs of thought in Spanish are in affirmative, They will always go in indicative mode.

Affirmative head verbs

We repeat, if the head verb is in the affirmative, the information that comes after the word "that" must be in indicative mood.

That's right, we can have different tenses, but in indicative.

The structure then would be like this:

SUBJECT + HEAD VERB in AFFIRMATIVE + THAT + INDICATIVE

I'll give you some examples of head verbs again, notice now that they are all in the affirmative.

• Michael I imagined that all Spaniards liked dance, but it's not like that.
• Joseph think what Lola prefer work at home because you don't like your co-workers.
• Maria yesterday believed that saw to Paco, but it can't be because Paco is abroad.
• I I imaginethat Lucia will go to Tania's party, she is her best friend.

In these examples of thinking verbs everyone is in affirmative, that's why the rest of the verbs are conjugate in indicative tenses.

It is not important how many people participate in the message, whether the action is more or less likely, whether it is a wish or a future time... The only insight to choose the indicative is that the head verb is in the affirmative.

Have you noticed the conjugation of the verb believe in example 3? The word is "believed."

It is an irregular verb of the past indefinite tense. The third person is conjugated by adding the letter "and": he/she believed, they/they believed.

Negative head verbs

Pay attention! The subjunctive is going to make its triumphant entry. 👏🥳

If he head verb is negative, the verb that continues the word "that" will be expressed in subjunctive. 

The structure is like this:

SUBJECT + NO + HEAD VERB + THAT + SUBJUNCTIVE

Let's look at some examples:

• she don't believe that go to say goodbye to Enrique.
• I I didn't think that the cat out to jump out the window.
• Robert don't imagine what Lola come today to the party.
• sheila does not think that the Spanish be so talkative

As you can see, in the head verbs We not only have the use of the present subjunctive in Spanish. We can also put the subjunctive in the past. 

In example 2, the head verb is in the imperfect tense. Therefore, the following verb is also in imperfect subjunctive: "out".  

An important thing to note is if the adverb "no" goes with the second verb, instead of the head verb, the verb will also be in the indicative.

Example:

• «Miguel think that should not change jobs because right now you have very good conditions in your company.

This sentence has the "not" in the second verb. The head verb is affirmative, that is why we use the indicative mood. Try not to get involved with this. 🙈

Exceptions

Now, do you know that not all negative head verbs are accompanied by a subjunctive? 

There are two exceptions:

• QUESTIONS WITH “NO”

When the head verb is formulated in a question with the word "no", the verb that accompanies it is in the indicative. This is the structure:

SUBJECT + NOT + HEAD VERB + WHAT + INDICATIVE?

Examples:

• «Do you you don't believe that Rebecca is very interesting? It seems that way to me."
• «Does she really does not think that Manuel has a strong addiction to social networks? I think so."

Although we think about it, these questions are not real questions, right? 

We are not really looking for an answer to something specific, we are conveying our opinion and seeking confirmation from the person listening to us.

We can convey the same idea with a head verb in the affirmative if we add the word «right?»  or  «right?» or «right?».

Examples:

• «Do you you don't believe that my boyfriend is very handsome?
• «I  I think that my boyfriend is very handsome, right?
• «I  I think that my boyfriend isvery handsome, right?
• «I  I think that my boyfriend is very handsome, right?

These examples all mean the same thing, but the first one has the word no before the head verb. It's curious, don't you think?

• NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE

When the head verb is in the negative imperative (order or advice), the verb that follows is in the indicative. Structure:

SUBJECT + NOT + HEAD VERB (NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE) + THAT + INDICATIVE

Examples:

• «You don't imagine that this movie is incredibly good... because it is not.
• «You don't think that after the change of city I will be sad "I'm sure I'll be fine."

With this structure we convey that the idea that another person has is wrong.  

Remember that, for conjugate the negative imperative, you just have to use the present subjunctive form in tú, siempre, tú, tú and tú. Don't forget to add the word "no"!

For example, the negative imperative of the verb think It's like this:

You don't think

we do not think

You do not think

You don't think

You don't think

Activities to practice

From now on you can express your opinion and your thoughts freely in Spanish with the head verbs. How wonderful! 🙌

How about we do a couple of activities to express opinions with these verbs? In this way we consolidate what we have learned.

Activity 1

In the following sentences, you have to write the verb in parentheses in the correct mode: indicative or subjunctive. They are all in present tense.

You have the solutions in the same exercise.

Activity 2

In this exercise, there are dialogues between different people. In all of them thoughts and opinions are exchanged with the head verbs.

Drag the phrases to their corresponding space.

How have your activities been? 

We are very happy with these educational articles because here we can explain Spanish grammar with the Hispania Method.

This is the method we follow in Hispania, Spanish school. 

Thanks to the Hispania Method More than four thousand students learn Spanish every year in our school with solid foundations and a totally practical approach.

If you attend our face-to-face Spanish courses or our online Spanish courses, you will be able to learn with our method in an environment where the most important thing is communication and joy.

You will see how in a few months your level of Spanish will rise through the roof!

Which option do you think is best for learning a language? The in-person or remote modality?

Show us that you already master head verbs and write your opinion on this question in the Comments. Give us good arguments!

See you soon! 😉

Article written by Carlos Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school. 

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