Welcome to our grammar lesson about the Spanish Present Tense (“Presente de Indicativo”).
The Present Tense is the first one we learn in any Spanish course.
We use it mainly to state facts and also to talk about habitual actions and events.
This lesson will teach you everything about the Present Tense: how to conjugate verbs and how to use it, providing example sentences.
At the end you’ll find a Quiz and Exercises for practice.
Conjugation of verbs in Present Tense
About regular and irregular verbs
There are 3 types of verbs in Spanish, looking at their ending:
- Verbs in “-ar”, such as “hablar”.
- Verbs in “-er”, such as “comer”.
- Verbs in “-ir”, such as “vivir”.
Unfortunately, the ending doesn’t tell us anything about a verb being regular or irregular.
Every time we learn a new verb, we need to also learn whether it is regular or irregular.
Regular verbs
This is how we conjugate regular verbs:
- Remove the “-ar”, “-er,” “-ir” at the end of the Infinitive, leaving only the stem.
- Attach an ending to that stem. The endings are different for verbs in “-ar”, “-er” and “-ir”. These endings are highlighted in the following table:
| hablar to speak | beber to drink | partir to depart |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablo | bebo | parto |
| tú | hablas | bebes | partes |
| él, ella, usted | habla | bebe | parte |
| nosotros, nosotras | hablamos | bebemos | partimos |
| vosotros, vosotras | habláis | bebéis | partís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | hablan | beben | parten |
Notice that… the endings for verbs in “-er” and “-ir” are the same, except for the persons “nosotros” and “vosotros”.
Irregular verbs
There are many irregular verbs in Present Tense.
The good news is, the endings above still apply for almost all irregular verbs.
We will divide irregulars into 4 types:
Type 1 – Verbs with a special “yo” form
For these verbs, the “yo” form has some irregularity, but the other persons are completely regular.
Examples:
| conducir to drive | conduzco, conduces, conduce, conducimos, conducís, conducen |
| conocer to know | conozco, conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocéis, conocen |
| dar to give | doy, das, da, damos, dais, dan |
| hacer to do | hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen |
| salir to go out | salgo, sales, sale, salimos, salís, salen |
| traer to bring | traigo, traes, trae, traemos, traéis, traen |
| ver to see | veo, ves, ve, vemos, veis, ven |
Type 2 – Verbs with a change in the stem for all persons (except “nosotros” and “vosotros”)
The change can be one of the following:
“e” or “i” becomes “ie”
Examples:
| cerrar to close | cierro, cierras, cierra, cerramos, cerráis, cierran |
| pensar to think | pienso, piensas, piensa, pensamos, pensáis, piensan |
| querer to want | quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, queréis, quieren |
| adquirir to acquire | adquiero, adquieres, adquiere, adquirimos, adquirís, adquieren |
“o” or “u” becomes “ue”
Examples:
| contar to tell | cuento, cuentas, cuenta, contamos, contáis, cuentan |
| poder can | puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden |
| soñar to dream | sueño, sueñas, sueña, soñamos, soñáis, sueñan |
| jugar to play | juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan |
“e” becomes “i”
Examples:
| pedir to request | pido, pides, pide, pedimos, pedís, piden |
| repetir to repeat | repito, repites, repite, repetimos, repetís, repiten |
| servir to serve | sirvo, sirves, sirve, servimos, servís, sirven |
Verbs ending in “uir” → letter “y” appears
Examples:
| construir to build | construyo, construyes, construye, construimos, construís, construyen |
| incluir to include | incluyo, incluyes, incluye, incluimos, incluís, incluyen |
Type 3 – Verbs with a special “yo” form AND a change in the stem for the other persons (except “nosotros” and vosotros”)
This third type is a like mix of types 1 and 2.
Examples:
| decir to say | digo, dices, dice, decimos, decís, dicen |
| tener to have | tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen |
| venir to come | vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís, vienen |
Type 4 – A few very irregular verbs
Here we include “ser” and “ir”, which don’t belong to any of the previous types.
Also “estar”, a peculiar verb because it has many accent marks.
Finally, “oler”. It follows the “o → ue” pattern, but also a letter “h” appears at the beginning for most of the persons.
| ser to be | soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son |
| estar to be | estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están |
| ir to go | voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van |
| oler to smell | huelo, hueles, huele, olemos, oléis, huelen |
Uses of the Present Tense
Stating facts
We use the Present Tense to state all kinds of facts: facts of life, nature, people, culture…:
La Tierra gira alrededor del Sol.
The Earth rotates around the Sun.Los argentinos hablan español.
Argentinians speak Spanish.Los pájaros vuelan.
Birds fly.Laura es profesora.
Laura is a teacher.La mesa está en el salón.
The table is in the living room.
Habitual actions or events
We use the Present Tense to talk about things that happen usually, habitually…:
Yo juego al fútbol dos veces por semana.
I play soccer twice a week.Mis amigos trabajan en una oficina.
My friends work in an office.Nosotros viajamos a México todos los veranos.
We travel to Mexico every summer.
Things happening at the moment
There is another tense called Present Progressive that is generally better for expressing what’s happening at the moment.
But we can also use the Present Tense:
¿Qué haces?
What are you doing?Lavo los platos.
I’m washing the dishes.¿Qué hace Ana?
What is Ana doing?Ella baila con un chico.
She dances with a boy.
Things that will happen in the near future
There are other tenses for this, such as the Future Tense or the Future with “ir a” + infinitive.
But sometimes we use the Present, specially if the action takes place in the near future:
Mañana como en casa de mi abuela.
Tomorrow I eat at my grandmother’s house.Nosotros empezamos un curso de español el mes que viene.
We will start a Spanish course next month.
Ordering / Asking for
It is common in restaurants to order in the form of a question in Present Tense.
For example, to express “I’d have a beer, please”, we tend to say the equivalent of: “Do you put me a beer, please”?:
¿Me pone una cerveza, por favor?
I’d have a beer, please. (Do you put me a beer, please?)¿Nos trae la carta, por favor?
Could you bring us the menu, please?¿Me enseña ese reloj, por favor?
Could you show me that watch, please?
Conditional statements (“if X happens…”)
We can express a condition in Present Tense, introduced by si (if).
Si quieres, podemos jugar al tenis.
If you want, we can play tennis.Voy al museo si tengo tiempo.
I go to the museum if I have time.
Practice
Let’s now practice the Spanish Present Tense, with a Quiz and several Exercises!
Quiz
Exercise 1
We will begin our practice by conjugating regular verbs.
Conjugate the following verbs in Present Tense:
yo ___ 1.(nadar)
tú ___ 2.(beber)
él ___ 3.(vivir)
nosotros ___ 4.(salir)
vosotros ___ 5.(entrar)
ellos ___ 6.(comprender)
Solutions:
1) nado
2) bebes
3) vive
4) salimos
5) entráis
6) comprenden
Exercise 2
Now let’s conjugate some irregular verbs in Present Tense:
yo ___ 1.(hacer)
tú ___ 2.(tener)
él ___ 3.(poder)
nosotros ___ 4.(ser)
vosotros ___ 5.(ir)
ellos ___ 6.(influir)
Solutions:
1) hago
2) tienes
3) puede
4) somos
5) vais
6) influyen
Exercise 3
In this exercise, we state facts.
Fill the gaps in the following sentences, conjugating the verbs in brackets in Present Tense:
El Cairo ___ 1.(estar) en Egipto.
Cairo is in Egypt.
Los árboles ___ 2.(ser) altos.
Trees are tall.
Las plantas ___ 3.(hacer) la fotosíntesis.
Plants do photosynthesis.
La velocidad de la luz ___ 4.(ser) de 300 000 kilómetros por segundo.
The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second.
España ___ 5.(tener) 45 millones de habitantes.
Spain has 45 million inhabitants.
La tienda ___ 6.(vender) ropa barata.
The store sells cheap clothes.
Nosotros ___ 7.(ser) personas.
We are people.
Solutions:
1) está
2) son
3) hacen
4) es
5) tiene
6) venden
7) somos
Exercise 4
This exercise is about habitual actions and events.
Fill the gaps conjugating the verbs in brackets in Present Tense:
¿Qué ___ 1.(hacer) estas personas los viernes?
What do these people do on Fridays?El niño ___ 2.(estudiar) para los exámenes de la escuela.
The child studies for school exams.
El joven ___ 3.(jugar) al tenis con un amigo.
The young man plays tennis with a friend.
La mujer morena ___ 4.(trabajar) en una oficina.
The brunette woman works in an office.
La chica rubia ___ 5.(ir) al gimnasio y ___ 6.(hacer) ejercicio.
The blonde girl goes to the gym and exercises.
Los dos jóvenes ___ 7.(bailar) salsa.
The two young people dance salsa.
Solutions:
1) hacen
2) estudia
3) juega
4) trabaja
5) va
6) hace
7) bailan