Present tense regular verbs in Spanish

• Each subject pronoun has its own verb ending in Spanish.

• The ending of the verb indicates who is carrying out the action.

• Subject pronouns are not always needed when using verbs in Spanish.

Watch this video to revise how to use verbs in the present tense in Spanish.

All Spanish verbs end in either ar, er or ir. This form of the verb is called the  infinitive.

For example:

hablar - to talk

comer - to eat

vivir - to live

When using verbs, you will need to be able to conjugate them. Conjugating a verb means changing the infinitive ending to match the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, ella etc).

In Spanish there is a unique verb ending for each subject pronoun, so the verb ending tells you who is doing the action. For this reason, you don’t always need to use subject pronouns in Spanish.

To conjugate regular verbs that end in ar, remove the ar ending from the infinitive and add the unique ending that goes with each subject pronoun to the stem.

This is how to conjugate the verb escuchar (to listen) in Spanish:

For example:

Yo escucho música pop pero él escucha música soul. - I listen to pop music but he listens to soul music.

Other common regular ar verbs include:

hablar - to speak

Hablo español. - I speak Spanish.

cocinar - to cook

¿Cocinas para tu familia? - Do you cook for your family?

odiar - to hate

María odia las verduras. - María hates vegetables.

To conjugate regular verbs that end in er, remove the er ending from the infinitive and add the unique ending that goes with each subject pronoun to the stem.

This is how to conjugate the verb comer (to eat) in Spanish:

For example:

Ella come cereales y tú comes tostadas. - She eats cereal and you eat toast.

Other common regular er verbs include:

beber - to drink

Bebes limonada. - You drink lemonade.

leer - to read

Leo un libro. - I read a book.

ver - to see/watch

Veo la television. - I watch television.

To conjugate regular verbs that end in ir, remove the ir ending from the infinitive and add the unique ending that goes with each subject pronoun to the stem.

This is how to conjugate the verb vivir (to live) in Spanish:

For example:

Yo vivo en Mánchester pero tú vives en Birmingham. - I live in Manchester but you live in Birmingham.

Other common regular ir verbs include:

escribir - to write

Escribes un e-mail. - You write an email.

recibir - to receive

Recibo un mensaje. - I receive a message.

The present tense is used to:

• say what we do regularly

• say what is happening now

• describe what things are like

For example:

Toco la guitarra todos los días. - I play the guitar every day.

Estudio inglés y español. - I study English and Spanish.

Mi uniforme es muy feo. - My uniform is very ugly.

Watch this video about how to use verbs in the present tense.

Practise what you've learned about present tense regular verbs in Spanish with this quiz.

Now you have learned about present tense regular verbs in Spanish why not explore desde hace and the present tense in Spanish?