Present
TenseThis tense is for the present time; right now.
I eat. He sleeps. We talk. They walk. You read. I have a
dog.
Those are all examples of the present tense.
Use this chart for the -ar verbs. Take away the -ar and add:
| Singular |
Ending |
Plural |
Ending |
| Yo- |
o |
Nosotros- |
amos |
| Tú- |
as |
X |
|
| él, ella, ud.- |
a |
ustedes, ellos- |
an |
*note All my verb charts with follow this format.
Let's try hablar [to speak] "I speak."
hablar -ar
habl + ending "Yo form" so add
"o"
Hablo. That's it! Now how about they speak..... hablan.
Here's there -ir verb chart.
Here's the -er verb chart.
So, let's conjugate the verb comer[to eat] to say "Paul eats."
comer - er .....com add appropriate ending.
"Paul" would be third person singular so we use the "el, ella, udsted"
form.
Paul come. Ta da! Magnifico, ¿no?
There are many verbs that are stem-chaning and irregulars that don't follow these
patterns.
Irregulars are usually indicated in
dictionaries. For instance, pensar[ie](to think), contar[ue](to tell), pedir[i](to ask
for). It occurs with the vowels. These are stem changing verbs, often called
boot verbs because the nosotros form does not change. The stem part is the body of the
verb minus its two letter ending. Let's try pensar, which its vowel e changes to ie.
e->ie
Contar
o->ue
| pienso |
pensamos |
| piensas |
X |
| piensa |
piensan |
| cuento |
contamos |
| cuentas |
X |
| cuenta |
cuentan |
Present Progressive
This is to talk about what is happening right
now. It equates with the -ing ending in English.
I am writing. You are talking. We are reading.
They are listening. All have one thing in common- the verb to be. Estar
+ present participle (-ando/iendo form of verb)
with the ing ending to the second verb - AR
ando, ER/IR iendo.
I am talking to you. Yo estoy
hablando contigo. Tú estás hablando conmigo. -You are talking to me.
¿Qué estás haciendo? What are you
doing?
To ask "What were you doing?"
use the imperfect tense of the verb estar.
¿Qué estabas haciendo?
