Yiddish #4

Last lesson, we learned how to conjugate verbs in the present tense.

With this skill, you can easily form the future tense, which is formed by conjugating װעלן/veln/will (it’s not really a verb, more of a particle, but for explanation’s sake, let’s call it a verb) in the appropriate person in the present tense, then adding it to the infinitive of a verb. This may all sound complicated, but once we get around the complex lingo, it’s really quite simple. Be warned, though, that װעלן/veln is irregular in the third-person singular (װעט/vet), second-person singular (װעסט/vest), and second-person plural (װעט/vet). So let’s look at a few examples:
װעט ער קומען?|Vet er kumen?|Will he come?
איך װעל עסן װעטשערע|Ikh vel esn vetshere.|I will eat dinner.
צום באַדױערן, װעסטו (װעסט דו) נישט זײַן דאָ.|Tsum badoyrn, vestu (vest du) nisht zayn do.|Unfortunately, you won’t be here.
(We will learn in a later lesson why דו/du and װעסט/vest switched places in that sentence, I promise.)

Wasn't that easy?

Now let's look at some other ways you can use your knowledge of the present tense to put together some sentences. The verbs קענען/kenen/to be able to, װילן/viln/to want to (see bottom for a note on this verb's conjugation), and גײן/geyn/to go can be put directly before a verb to create a compound verb of sorts:
דו קענסט זינגען זײער שײן.|Du kenst zingen zeyer sheyn.|You can sing very beautifully.
איך גײ שלאָפֿן צו שפּעט.|Ikh gey shlofn tsu shpet.|I go to sleep too late. (Too true!)
ער װיל שרײַען אױף מיר!|Er vil shrayen oyf mir!|He wants to yell at me!

Be sure not to use the word צו/tsu in these phrases to say "to [verb]" - that is implied in the infinitive form; צו/tsu is used as a preposition (in the sense of "to") and an adverb (in the sense of "too" - hence צו שפּעט|tsu shpet|too late).

OK, I lied, צו/tsu is used in other situations, such as saying "to love/like to do something." In this case, the verb "to love/like" is ליב האָבן/lib hobn (literally, to have love). To say that you love something, you conjugate האָבן/hobn (it follows the same irregularity pattern as װעלן/veln/will - see above), put ליב/lib after that, then צו/tsu, then the infinitive of the verb.
Yup, that sounds pretty complicated, but again, it's simple once you get past the technical lingo:
דו האָסט ליב צו קוקן אױף טעלעװיזיע.|Du host lib tsu kukn oyf televizie.|You like to watch (literally, look at) TV.
איך האָב ליב צו טון מײַן הײמאַרבעט.|Ikh hob lib tsu tun mayn heymarbet.|I love to do my homework. (Ya rite!)
זײ האָבן ליב צו באַקן אַ טאָרט.|Zey hobn lib tsu bakn a tort.|They like to bake a cake.

*װילן/viln/to want is conjugated in the present tense normally except in the third-person singular, where it is װיל/vil, not װילט/vilt.

Let's go back to the basics and cover some of the more primary stuff.