Conjugating Regular Present Tense Verbs

Conjugating regular present tense verbs

·  All Spanish verbs end with either –ar, -er or –ir in their infinitive forms. The infinitive form is the verb without a subject or tense. In English it translates as “to + verb”. EXAMPLE: “hablar” means “to talk/speak”

·  You conjugate an infinitive verb to make it match the subject.

·  To conjugate a regular present tense verb you:

1.  Drop the –ar, -er or –ir ending of the verb. That will leave you with the stem of the verb. EXAMPLE: hablar, drop –ar ending, left with habl

2.  Add the ending that matches the subject. EXAMPLE: I speak, subject is I (1st person singular), add –o to stem, Yo hablo

The following charts have the endings for –ar, -er and –ir present tense verbs.

Regular –AR verbs

Subject (singular) / Verb ending / Subject (plural) / Verb ending
yo
(1st person) / o / nosotros/nosotras
_____ y yo
(1st person) / amos
tú
(2nd person) / as / vosotros/vosotras
(2nd person, Spain) / áis
él/ella/usted
a name or sing. noun
(3rd person) / a / ellos/ellas/ustedes
2+ names or plural noun
(3rd person) / an

Regular –ER verbs

Subject (singular) / Verb ending / Subject (plural) / Verb ending
yo
(1st person) / o / nosotros/nosotras
_____ y yo
(1st person) / emos
tú
(2nd person) / es / vosotros/vosotras
(2nd person, Spain) / éis
él/ella/usted
a name or sing. noun
(3rd person) / e / ellos/ellas/ustedes
2+ names or plural noun
(3rd person) / en

Regular –IR verbs

Subject (singular) / Verb ending / Subject (plural) / Verb ending
yo
(1st person) / o / nosotros/nosotras
_____ y yo
(1st person) / imos
tú
(2nd person) / es / vosotros/vosotras
(2nd person, Spain) / ís
él/ella/usted
a name or sing. noun
(3rd person) / e / ellos/ellas/ustedes
2+ names or plural noun
(3rd person) / en