How to Form and Use the Spanish Present Tense

The Spanish present tense is typically the first tense you learn. It allows you to have basic conversations about who you are, where you’re from and what you do. It also can help when you’re asking for directions, ordering food or otherwise enjoying a Spanish-speaking country. 

So let’s learn what the present tense is and how to conjugate it.

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How to Form the Present Tense in Spanish

All Spanish verbs fall into one of just three categories when it comes to their endings in the infinitive:

• Verbs that end in -AR, like bailar  (to dance)
• Verbs that end in -ER, such as comer  (to eat)
• Verbs ending in -IR, as in vivir  (to live)

To make the present tense in Spanish, you take the verb stem and then add the appropriate ending. The ending depends on the pronoun (I/you/he/etc.) and verb type (-ar/-er/-ir).

The root or stem of the verb is the part before -ar/-er/-ir. Here are the stems of the three Spanish verbs we saw above:

• bailar → bail-
• vivir → viv-
• comer → com-

How to Conjugate Verbs the Present Tense

Conjugating -AR Verbs

-AR verb endings are as you see in the chart below:

Subject	Ending	Example (Bailar)
Yo	-o	Bailo
Tú	-as	Bailas
Él/Ella/Usted	-a	Baila
Nosotros	-amos	Bailamos
Vosotros	-áis	Bailáis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	-an	Bailan

Take a look at these example sentences:

Bailo todas las mañanas  (I dance every morning).

Bailas todas las mañanas (You dance every morning).

Baila todas las mañanas (He/she/it dances every morning/You (singular formal) dance every morning).

Bailamos todas las mañanas (We dance every morning).

Bailáis todas las mañanas (You (plural) dance every morning).

Bailan todas las mañanas  (They dance every morning).

Conjugating -ER Verbs

Here are the endings for -ER verbs:

Subject	Ending	Example (Comer)
Yo	-o	Como
Tú	-es	Comes
Él/Ella/Usted	-e	Come
Nosotros	-emos	Comemos
Vosotros	-éis	Coméis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	-en	Comen

You’ll notice that the endings for the -ER verbs are almost the same as the -AR verbs, except they use an “e” and not an “a.” The first person is the same.

Let’s look at a few example sentences:

Como una hamburguesa (I eat a hamburger).

Comes una hamburguesa (You eat a hamburger).

Come una hamburguesa (He/she/it eats a hamburger/You (singular formal) eat a hamburger).

Comemos una hamburguesa (We eat a hamburger).

Coméis una hamburguesa (You (plural) eat a hamburger).

Comen una hamburguesa (They eat a hamburger).

Conjugating -IR Verbs

The -IR endings are very similar to the -ER endings. The only differences are in the nosotros and vosotros forms of the verbs.

Subject	Ending	Example (Vivir)
Yo	-o	Vivo
Tú	-es	Vives
Él/Ella/Usted	-e	Vive
Nosotros	-imos	Vivimos
Vosotros	-ís	Vivís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	-en	Viven

Examples:

Vivo en Buenos Aires (I live in Buenos Aires).

Vives en Buenos Aires (You live in Buenos Aires).

Vive en Buenos Aires (He/she/it lives in Buenos Aires/You (singular formal) live in Buenos Aires).

Vivimos en Buenos Aires (We live in Buenos Aires).

Vivís en Buenos Aires (You (plural) live in Buenos Aires).

Viven en Buenos Aires  (They live in Buenos Aires).

The only way you’ll be able to master the present tense is through practice.

Do grammar exercises, make sentences in your head and recite the endings over and over again to yourself. Do whatever works until you can remember which ending is which and apply them appropriately.

It would be great if that were all there is to it, but the fun doesn’t end there.

Once you’ve got the regular verb endings down, it’s time to tackle irregular verbs.

Irregular Verbs in the Spanish Present Tense

Stem-changing Verbs

Some verbs change their stem in the present tense. They usually change in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

They’re also categorized by the type of change, for example, “o” → “ue” and  “e” → “ie.”

“o” → “ue” Stem-changing Verbs

Here are three common examples of “o” → “ue” stem-changing verbs.

Dormir (to sleep)

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Duermo
Tú	Duermes
Él/Ella/Usted	Duerme
Nosotros	Dormimos
Vosotros	Dormís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Duermen

Acostar  (to go to bed):

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Acuesto
Tú	Acuestas
Él/Ella/Usted	Acuesta
Nosotros	Acostamos
Vosotros	Acostáis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Acuestan

Volver  (to return):

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Vuelvo
Tú	Vuelves
Él/Ella/Usted	Vuelve
Nosotros	Volvemos
Vosotros	Volvéis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Vuelven

“e” → “ie” Stem-changing Verbs

Another group of stem-changing verbs change from “e” to “ie.” Examples include:

Empezar (to start)

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Empiezo
Tú	Empiezas
Él/Ella/Usted	Empieza
Nosotros	Empezamos
Vosotros	Empezáis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Empiezan

Querer (to want)

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Quiero
Tú	Quieres
Él/Ella/Usted	Quiere
Nosotros	Queremos
Vosotros	Queréis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Quieren

Sentir (to feel)

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Siento
Tú	Sientes
Él/Ella/Usted	Siente
Nosotros	Sentimos
Vosotros	Sentís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Sienten

If you’re feeling a little lost, don’t panic.

All Spanish learners felt this way at some point, but the good news is that learning all these verbs is possible.

Once you get used to the irregular verbs, they’ll come to you naturally and you’ll soon find your own ears wincing when listening to an improperly conjugated verb.

Irregular in the First Person

Other verbs are irregular in the first person, but regular in all other forms. These are relatively simple to learn.

One example is dar (to give).

The first person form is irregular: doy , as in doy un regalo  (I give a present), but the other forms are regular:

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Doy
Tú	Das
Él/Ella/Usted	Da
Nosotros	Damos
Vosotros	Dais
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Dan

The verbs poner (to put/place), traer (to bring) and salir (to leave/go out) are sometimes called the “go” or “yo-go” verbs because they end in “-go” in the first person.

Poner → pongo

Traer → traigo

Salir → salgo

All three verbs are regular in their other forms.

Here’s poner conjugated, for example:

Yo pongo

Tú pones

Él/Ella/Usted pone

Nosotros ponemos

Vosotros ponéis

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes ponen

Other similar verbs are:

• Hacer (to do/make) → hago
• Tener (to have) → tengo
• Decir (to say) → digo
• Venir (to come) → vengo

Other irregular verbs in the first person are:

• Ver (to see) → veo
• Saber (to know) → sé

Completely Irregular

There are three verbs that are so irregular they get their own special category: ser (to be), estar (to be), and ir (to go).

Ser (to be) 

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Soy
Tú	Eres
Él/Ella/Usted	Es
Nosotros	Somos
Vosotros	Sois
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Son

Estar (to be) seems almost normal, until you see the accents.

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Estoy
Tú	Estás
Él/Ella/Usted	Está
Nosotros	Estamos
Vosotros	Estáis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Están

And Ir  (to go) is almost unrecognizable:

Subject	Conjugation
Yo	Voy
Tú	Vas
Él/Ella/Usted	Va
Nosotros	Vamos
Vosotros	Vais
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	Van

Spelling Rules in the Spanish Present Tense

Just to confuse matters further, some verbs change their spelling in the present tense. Luckily, there are rules that dictate when this happens.

Verbs Ending in “-cer/-cir”

When the verb ends in a vowel + “cer” or “cir,” you need to change the “c” to “zc” in the first person.

For example, conocer (to know) becomes conozco  in the first person and is regular in all other forms:

Yo conozco

Tú conoces

Él/Ella/Ustedes conoce

Nosotros conocemos

Vosotros conocéis

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes conocen

Other verbs that also have this spelling change are:

Traducir (to translate) → Traduzco

Aparecer  (to appear) → Aparezco

Crecer  (to grow) → Crezco

Nacer  (to be born) → Nazco

Verbs Ending in “-ger/-gir”

Verbs that end in “-ger” or “-gir” change the “g” to a “j” in the first person.

For example:

Escoger (to choose) → Escojo

Exigir (to require/demand) → Exijo

Fingir (to pretend) → Finjo

Elegir (to choose) → Elijo (which is also a stem-changing verb)

Verbs Ending in “-guir”

Finally, when a verb ends in “-guir,” change “gu” to “g” in the first person.

Conseguir (to get/achieve) → Consigo .

Seguir (to follow) → Sigo  (another stem-changing verb).

Distinguir (to distinguish/tell apart) → Distingo .

Head hurt? Don’t worry.

Take a deep breath, make a cup of tea and then work through each of these sections again, taking time to study each part before moving on to the next.

Trust me, it will be worth your time.

Spanish Present Tense Conjugation Practice Quiz

Conjugate the verb in parentheses in the present tense according to the subject. Then, check your answers below.

1. Yo (comer) pizza los martes. (I eat pizza on Tuesdays.)

2. Tú (beber) agua con tu almuerzo. (You drink water with your lunch.)

3. Nosotros (vivir) en Lima, Perú. (We live in Lima, Peru.)

4. Yo (tener) veintiocho años. (I am 28 years old.)

5. Ella (cantar) su canción favorita. (She sings her favorite song.)

6. Yo (ser) una mujer de pelo castaño. (I am a woman with brown hair.)

7. Mi mamá me (dar) flores. (My mom gives me flowers.)

8. Él (querer) dormir todo el día. (He wants to sleep all day.)

9. Yo (escoger) el vestido negro. (I choose the black dress.)

10. Ustedes (ir) a la escuela a las nueve. (You go to school at nine.)

 

Answer key:

1. Como

2. Bebes

3. Vivimos

4. Tengo

5. Canta

6. Soy

7. Da

8. Quiere

9. Escojo

10. Van

 

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it right away.

With the right combination of study, practice and immersion, you’ll understand the Spanish present tense in no time.

¡Puedes hacerlo! — You can do it!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)