What is the secret to "tenses"

[teewinot]

My biggest problem so far, is knowing when to use the correct tense.

Escribe, escribe, escribo, etc.

Is there a secret, out side of simple memorization?

[nightshifted]

All the verbs you learn in the first few lessons are in present tense. They are conjugated with the subject (just as they are in english: I write, but he writes). In Spanish, however, every person (yo, tú, él/ella, nosotros, etc) has a distinct conjugation. There isn't really a secret to remembering which correlates with which, though you get a pretty good feel for them the more you practice them. It might help to look at some verb charts and memorize the endings of regular verbs. Check out this page: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/regverb1.htm

Some verbs (e.g. ser) are irregular and must be separately memorized. Also remember that usted/él/ella are conjugated the same, and ustedes/ellos/ellas are also conjugated the same.

What I find helps is to always write out the personal pronouns ("yo escribo" instead of just "escribo") until you become familiar with them and feel confident dropping them.

[teewinot]

Thanks so much for the quick reply! Also for the link. I'm just starting out, and I have a very mature (old) brain, LOL. I've been practicing very regularly, but tend to fail consistently on the correct version. I'll just ramp it up and study harder.

Thanks again!