The present tense in Spanish is used to discuss habitual actions, actions in progress and actions that will occur in the near future or that have occurred in the very recent past and are still in progress.
Yo estudio portugués. I study Portuguese.
Te llamo mañana. I’ll call you tomorrow.
The subject pronouns for Spanish verbs are as follows.
| singular | plural |
| yo – I | nosotros – we |
| tú – you (informal) | vosotros – you (informal, Spain) |
| él – he ella – she usted – you (formal) | ellos – they (masculine or mixed group) ellas – they (feminine) ustedes – you |
Regular verbs – To conjugate present tense regular verbs, drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er or -ir) and add the following endings.
|
-ar |
-er |
-ir |
|||
| hablar – to speak | comer – to eat | vivir – to live | |||
| habl o | habl amos | com o | com emos | viv o | viv imos |
| habl as | habl áis | com es | com éis | viv es | viv ís |
| habl a | habl an | com e | com en | viv e | viv en |
Stem changing verbs – In addition to the endings seen above, the stems of these verbs also changes in the present tense when stressed. They DO NOT change in the nosotros and vosotros forms.
|
e > ie |
e > i |
o > ue |
|||
| querer – to want | repetir – to repeat | dormir – to sleep | |||
| quiero | queremos | repito | repetimos | duermo | dormimos |
| quieres | queréis | repites | repetís | duermes | dormís |
| quiere | quieren | repite | repiten | duerme | duermen |
– e > ie verbs – advertir (to warn), calentar (to warm), cerrar (to close), comenzar (to begin), convertir (to convert), defender (to defend), despertar (to awaken), divertir (to have fun), empezar (to begin/start), pensar (to think), perder (to lose), querer (to want), sentir (to feel)
– e > i verbs – competir (to compete), conseguir (to get), despedir (to fire/say goodbye), elegir (to elect), reír (to laugh), servir (to serve), seguir (to follow/continue), sonreír (to smile), repetir (to repeat), vestir (to dress)
– o > ue verbs – almorzar (to eat lunch), contar (to count/tell), costar (to cost), dormir (to sleep) encontrar (to find), morir (to die), mover (to move), poder (to be able to), probar (to try/prove), recordar (to remember), soñar (to dream), volar (to fly)
– the verb jugar (to play) is the only verb that changes from u > ue : juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan
Irregular ‘yo’ form verbs – These verbs have unique ‘yo’ forms while the remaining conjugations follow the normal patterns.
– “go” verbs
| caer – to fall | caigo, caes, cae, caemos, caéis, caen |
| *decir – to say/tell | digo, dices, dice, decimos, decís, dicen |
| hacer – to do/make | hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen |
| poner – to put | pongo, pones, pone, ponemos, ponéis, ponen |
| salir – to leave/go out | salgo, sales, sale, salimos, salís, salen |
| *tener – to have | tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen |
| traer – to bring | traigo, traes, trae, traemos, traéis, traen |
| *venir – to come | vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís, vienen |
*these verbs are also stem changers
– c > zc
| conocer – to know/meet | conozco, conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocéis, conocen |
– others
| caber – to fit | quepo, cabes, cabe, cabemos, cabéis, caben |
| dar – to give | doy, das, da, damos, dais, dan |
| saber – to know facts | sé, sabes, sabe, sabemos, sabéis, saben |
| ver – to see | veo, vas, va, vamos, vais, van |
Irregular present tense verbs in Spanish – the following verbs are irregular in the present tense and do not follow other patterns.
|
ser – to be |
estar – to be |
ir – to go |
|||
| soy | somos | estoy | estamos | voy | vamos |
| eres | sois | estás | estáis | vas | vais |
| es | son | está | están | va | van |
Spelling changes – These Spanish verbs have spelling changes in order to maintain the same pronunciation in all conjugations
|
g > j |
gu > g |
||
|
dirigir – to direct/guide |
seguir – to follow/continue |
||
| dirijo | dirigimos | sigo | seguimos |
| diriges | dirigís | sigues | seguís |
| dirige | dirigen | sigue | siguen |
– g > j verbs – corregir (to correct), dirigir (to direct), eligir (to elect), fingir (to pretend)
– gu > g verbs – conseguir (to get), distinguir (to distinguish), seguir (to follow/continue)