The Spanish present tense: regular endings, irregular verbs and uses

Regular endings: -ar, -er and -ir

Every Spanish infinitive ends in -ar, -er or -ir. Take off those two letters to find the stem (habl-, com-, viv-), then add the ending for the person.

1. -er and -ir differ in two forms only. comemos / vivimos and coméis / vivís. Everything else is identical.
2. The yo form always ends in -o in regular verbs, whatever the group.
3. Usted and ustedes take the third person. ¿Usted habla inglés? Ustedes viven aquí.
4. Subject pronouns are usually dropped. The ending already shows the person: Hablo español is the normal way to say “I speak Spanish”. Yo hablo adds emphasis or contrast: Yo hablo español, pero él no.
5. Stress falls on the stem, except for nosotros and vosotros. HA-blo, HA-blan, but ha-BLA-mos, ha-BLÁIS. The vosotros forms carry a written accent; vivís does too.

In Latin America, vosotros is not used: ustedes is the only plural “you” (ustedes hablan). In Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Central America, vos replaces tú: vos hablás, vos comés, vos vivís. Teach the Spain model and let pupils recognise the others.

The irregular verbs that matter

A small group of verbs does most of the work in the classroom and at GCSE. Learn these in full.

1. Boot verbs. The stem vowel changes in every form except nosotros and vosotros: e → ie (quiero, pienso, empiezo), o → ue (puedo, duermo, vuelvo), u → ue (juego, the only one), e → i (pido, repito, sirvo).
2. Irregular yo only. hago, pongo, salgo, traigo (-go verbs); conozco, conduzco (-zco verbs); sé, doy, veo. The other five forms are regular.
3. Spelling changes to keep the sound. escoger → escojo; seguir → sigo; construir → construyo, construyes, construye, construimos, construís, construyen.
4. Accent shifts. enviar → envío, envías, envía, enviamos, enviáis, envían.

Two verbs pupils meet on day one

Llamarse is reflexive: the pronoun changes with the person. me llamo, te llamas, se llama, nos llamamos, os llamáis, se llaman.

Gustar agrees with the thing liked, not with the person: me gusta el fútbol, me gustan los perros; te gusta, le gusta, nos gusta, os gusta, les gusta.

What the Spanish present means

One Spanish form covers three English ones: como is “I eat”, “I am eating” and “I do eat”.

1. Habits and routines. Los sábados juego al fútbol.
2. Facts and descriptions. Madrid está en el centro de España.
3. Now. ¿Qué haces? — Leo. For an action in progress, estar + gerund is also common: Estoy leyendo.
4. The near future. With a time marker: Mañana voy al cine.
5. Offers and suggestions. ¿Abro la ventana? (Shall I open the window?)
6. An action still going on. With desde hace: Estudio español desde hace dos años (I have been learning Spanish for two years).

Questions and negatives: no “do”

Spanish has no auxiliary like “do”. A question is shown by intonation and by the opening ¿; the subject may move after the verb. The negative is no before the verb.

¿Hablas francés?Do you speak French?

¿Dónde vive tu hermano?Where does your brother live?

No como carne.I don’t eat meat.

No juego nunca al tenis.I never play tennis.

The double negative is normal: No veo nada (I can’t see anything). If nunca or nada comes first, no disappears: Nunca juego al tenis.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Translating “do”: “¿Haces hablas…?” for ¿Hablas…?; “No hago comer” for No como.
• Translating “I am + -ing” with ser: “Soy comiendo” for Como or Estoy comiendo.
• “Yo” everywhere: correct but heavy. Encourage dropping it.
• Mixing the -er and -ir endings: “vivemos” for vivimos, “comís” for coméis.
• Boots in the wrong place: “puedemos” for podemos.
• Regularising the yo form: “teno”, “hazo”, “sabo” for tengo, hago, sé.
• Age with ser: “Soy doce” for Tengo doce años.
• Gustar with the wrong ending: “me gusta los perros” for me gustan los perros.
• Stress: hablo (I speak) and habló (he spoke) differ only by stress. Model it early; it matters when the preterite arrives.

In class: the daily conjugation wheel

Five minutes at the start of the lesson are enough to keep the present tense alive all year.

1. Draw a verb: today, vivir. The class says whether it is -ar, -er or -ir.
2. Point to a person on a pronoun grid; the class answers in chorus: vivo, vives, vive…
3. Reveal each form after the class has said it. Pupils note the ones they missed.
4. Ask for one real sentence with the hardest form: ¿Dónde vivís vosotros?
5. Recycle yesterday’s verb in one person only, and turn it into a question or a negative.

This is exactly what a daily conjugation routine does: one verb drawn, conjugated person by person, corrected on the spot.

Adapting to your class

• A1Regular -ar verbs and ser, tener, ir; singular persons first, then nosotros.
• A2All three groups, boot verbs, -go verbs, questions and negatives.
• B1The present in contrast with the preterite: Normalmente como en casa, pero ayer comí en un restaurante.
• B2Present versus present subjunctive: Creo que viene / No creo que venga.

At KS2, a few chunks (me llamo, tengo, vivo en) are enough. At KS3, build the three groups and the key irregulars. For GCSE, pupils need the present fluently in every person, questions included, before the past tenses make sense.

Frequently asked questions