Present Tense in Spanish: conjugations of regular and irregular verbs
In the previous lesson, some important concepts were explained which are related to Spanish verbs and their conjugations. You learned that a Spanish verb can have one of the three infinitive endings “-ar”, “-er” or –“ir”. This classification is a very good starting point for the topic of this lesson which is the conjugation of Spanish verbs in present tense.
There are rules which can be applied to conjugate a regular Spanish verb. These rules depend on whether the verb ends in “-ar”, “-er”, or “-“ir”.
Conjugation of regular verbs
1. Regular “–ar” verbs
To conjugate a regular “-ar” verb, drop the ending –ar and then add the following endings in agreement with the subject pronoun.
yo |
-o |
tú |
-as |
él/ella/usted |
-a |
nosotros/nosotras |
-amos |
vosotros/vosotras |
-áis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
-an |
Let’s see this in action. For example, we take the Spanish verb “hablar”, which means to speak. In present tense, it is conjugated as follows
yo |
hablo |
tú |
hablas |
él/ella/usted |
habla |
nosotros/nosotras |
hablamos |
vosotros/vosotras |
habláis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
hablan |
So,
yo hablo: I speak
tú hablas: you speak
él habla: he speaks
ella habla: she speaks
usted habla: you speak
nosotros/-as hablamos: we speak
vosotros/-as habláis: you speak
ellos/-as hablan: they speak
ustedes hablan: you speak
2. Regular “-er” verbs:
To conjugate a regular “-er” verb, drop the ending –er and then add the following endings in agreement with the subject pronoun.
yo |
-o |
tú |
-es |
él/ella/usted |
-e |
nosotros/nosotras |
-emos |
vosotros/vosotras |
- éis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
-en |
An example of regular “-er” verbs is comprender. It means to understand.
yo |
comprendo |
I understand |
tú |
comprendes |
you understand |
él/ella/usted |
comprende |
he/she understands, you understand |
nosotros/nosotras |
comprendemos |
we understand |
vosotros/vosotras |
comprendéis |
you understand |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
comprenden |
they/you understand |
3. Regular “-ir” verbs:
To conjugate a regular “-ir” verb, drop the ending –ir and then add the following endings in agreement with the subject pronoun.
yo |
-o |
tú |
-es |
él/ella/usted |
-e |
nosotros/nosotras |
- imos |
vosotros/vosotras |
- ís |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
-en |
An example of regular “-ir” verbs is escribir. It means to write.
yo |
escribo |
I write |
tú |
escribes |
you write |
él/ella/usted |
escribe |
he/she writes, you write |
nosotros/nosotras |
escribimos |
we write |
vosotros/vosotras |
escribís |
you write |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
escriben |
they/you write |
Note that the conjugation of “–ir” verbs is very similar to that of “-er” verbs. It is different only for nosotros and vosotros.
Note also that for all types of verbs, the conjugated verb ends in “–o” for “yo”.
Vocabulary
Hablar
One of the frequently used regular Spanish “ar” verbs is hablar, whose conjugation in present tense was given above. Learn some typical sentences which can be constructed with hablar.
¿Qué idiomas hablas? Which languages do you speak?
or
¿Qué lenguas hablas? Which languages do you speak?
Hablo italiano muy bien I speak Italian very well
Hablo un poco de español I speak a little bit Spanish
Hablo ingles porque es mi lengua materna I speak English because it’s my mother tongue
Conjugation of irregular verbs
In the previous lesson, the classification of the irregular verbs is given. If this sounds unfamiliar to you, please read that section first.
1. Conjugation of irregular verbs which are irregular only for the first person singular
Some Spanish verbs are irregular only for the subject pronoun “yo”. An example is salir, which means to leave.
yo |
salgo |
tú |
sales |
él/ella/usted |
sale |
nosotros/nosotras |
salimos |
vosotros/vosotras |
salís |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
salen |
2. Conjugation of stem changing irregular verbs
Stem-changing verbs change their stems when conjugated for all subject pronouns apart from nosotros/-as and vosotros/-as.
e->ie verbs: An example of this group is merendar, which means to have a snack.
yo |
meriendo |
tú |
meriendas |
él/ella/usted |
merienda |
nosotros/nosotras |
merendamos |
vosotros/vosotras |
merendáis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
merendan |
Examine the conjugation of merendar. The endings are exactly the same as the regular “-ar” verbs conjugations:-o, -as, -a, amos, áis, -an. But the stem “merend-“ changes to “meriend” for yo, tú, él, ella, usted, ellos/-as, ustedes.
o->ue verbs:
For example, the verb volver, which means to turn, falls into this group. It’s conjugated like above, only the “o” in the stem becomes “ue” after conjugation.
yo |
vuelvo |
tú |
vuelves |
él/ella/usted |
vuelve |
nosotros/nosotras |
volvemos |
vosotros/vosotras |
volvéis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
vuelven |
e->i: Just as above. Only “e” in the stem becomes “i”, after conjugation.
An example of this group is repetir
yo |
repito |
tú |
repites |
él/ella/usted |
repite |
nosotros/nosotras |
repetimos |
vosotros/vosotras |
repetís |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
repiten |
3. Conjugation of both stem changing and irregular (yo) type verbs
This type of verbs change their stem as in point 2 and they are also irregular for yo form as in point 1.
A well-known example of this group is tener, which means to have.
yo |
tengo |
tú |
tienes |
él/ella/usted |
tiene |
nosotros/nosotras |
tenemos |
vosotros/vosotras |
tenéis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
tienen |
4.Completely irregular verbs
You have to memorize the conjugations of these verbs. An example is “ir“ which means to go. Here is its conjugation
yo |
voy |
tú |
vas |
él/ella/usted |
va |
nosotros/nosotras |
vamos |
vosotros/vosotras |
vais |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
van |
Vocabulary
Tener
One of the most frequently used irregular Spanish verbs is tener, whose conjugation in present is given above. The primary meaning of tener is to have. On the other hand, it is used in many other cases where it loses its primary meaning.
- First of all, it is used just as we use “have or have got” in English:
¿ Tienes dinero ? Do you have money?
No tengo tiempo. I don’t have time
- It’s used to ask how old someone is
¿ Cuántos años tienes ? How old are you?
Tengo 24 años I am 24 years old
- It’s used to describe physically
tiene el pelo rubio he has got blond hair
More on this topic here
- When tener is used with que and an infinitive of another verb, it expresses obligations. Such as
tengo que trabajar I have to work
More on this topic here.
- It’s used in many fixed expressions. For instance
tener hambre: to be hungry
tener sed: to be thirsty
tener frío: to be cold
tener calor: to be hot