Present tense verbs

Each subject pronoun has its own verb ending in Spanish. The verb ending indicates who is carrying out the action. Subject pronouns are not always needed with verbs in Spanish.

Put 'no' in front of a verb to make it a negative. Use 'nada', 'nadie', 'nunca' and 'ninguno/a/os/as' with 'no' to form other negatives like 'no one' and 'never'.

Use 'usted' and 'ustedes' instead of 'tú' and 'vosotros' to address people in a polite way. 'Usted' can be shortened to 'Ud' and 'ustedes' can be shortened to 'Uds'.

Irregular verbs don’t follow the usual pattern in the present tense. Radical-changing verbs take the same endings as regular verbs but the stem also changes.

Ser' and 'estar' both mean 'to be'. 'Ser' is used with permanent things. 'Estar' is used with temporary things. Some adjectives change meaning depending on which is used.

An example of an impersonal verb in English is 'one has' or 'one goes'. Use the pronoun 'se' and the he/she form of a verb to form an impersonal verb.

Reflexive verbs are used to describe actions you do to yourself. They are formed in the same way as regular verbs but use a reflexive pronoun such as 'me', 'te', 'se'.

Use 'desde hace' with the present tense to say how long something has been happening for. 'Desde hace' is used after the verb in the present tense.

Use the present continuous tense to say that you're doing something now which is ongoing, eg he is reading. In English, the present participle ends in ‘ing’, eg saying, listening.

The verb 'tener' means 'to have'. 'Tener' is an irregular verb. There are some common expressions in Spanish that use 'tener' where in English the verb 'to be' would be used.