Regular verbs in the present — three endings and you are done
Spanish infinitives end in -ar, -er or -ir. Drop the ending and add the set for that group: hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, hablan. The -er and -ir sets are identical except in the nosotros form, so there are really only two patterns to learn.
Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.
Three groups, two patterns
Every Spanish infinitive ends in -ar, -er or -ir. That ending is the only thing that decides which set of endings a regular verb takes.
| -ar hablar | -er comer | -ir vivir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablo | como | vivo |
| tú | hablas | comes | vives |
| usted / él / ella | habla | come | vive |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablamos | comemos | vivimos |
| ustedes / ellos / ellas | hablan | comen | viven |
Look at the -er and -ir columns. They are identical except for comemos and vivimos. So there are two patterns to learn, not three, and the -ar group is the biggest by a long way.
Five rows, not six — Latin America has no vosotros, so the sixth row every course book prints is one you will never use here. See Spanish personal pronouns.
The ten verbs to drill first
Frequency beats completeness. Learn these ten and you can say most of what a beginner needs to say.
-ar: hablar (speak), trabajar (work), estudiar (study), necesitar (need), comprar (buy) -er: comer (eat), beber (drink), aprender (learn) -ir: vivir (live), escribir (write)
Trabajo en Lima. Estudio español. Necesito un taxi. Vivo en Barranco.
Notice none of those sentences has a pronoun. The ending already says who, so the pronoun is optional and leaving it in every time sounds heavy.
Stem changes: the same endings, a different stem
A large group of very common verbs takes the regular endings but changes the vowel in the stem — and only in the forms where that vowel is stressed. That means nosotros keeps the original vowel, which is the whole shape of the pattern.
e → ie (querer, to want)
quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, quieren
o → ue (poder, to be able)
puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, pueden
e → i (pedir, to ask for)
pido, pides, pide, pedimos, piden
The nosotros form is the odd one out in all three. Once you see that, the change stops feeling random: it happens exactly where the stress lands on that vowel, and in queremos the stress has moved off it.
Other verbs in each group: pensar, empezar, entender, preferir (e→ie); dormir, volver, costar, encontrar (o→ue); servir, repetir, seguir (e→i).
The yo-form irregulars
Several everyday verbs are regular in every form except yo. Worth knowing as a list because they come up constantly.
| Verb | yo | the rest |
|---|---|---|
| hacer (do, make) | hago | haces, hace, hacemos, hacen |
| poner (put) | pongo | pones, pone, ponemos, ponen |
| salir (go out) | salgo | sales, sale, salimos, salen |
| traer (bring) | traigo | traes, trae, traemos, traen |
| conocer (know a person) | conozco | conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocen |
| dar (give) | doy | das, da, damos, dan |
| ver (see) | veo | ves, ve, vemos, ven |
| saber (know a fact) | sé | sabes, sabe, sabemos, saben |
And two that are irregular throughout and unavoidable: tener (tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tienen) and ir (voy, vas, va, vamos, van). Both get their own lessons — tener and ir + a — because both do more jobs than their translation suggests.
What the present tense covers
More than English’s present, which is why this tense takes you further than you would expect.
- Now. Trabajo. — I work / I am working.
- Habits. Estudio todos los días.
- General truths. Lima no tiene invierno de verdad.
- The near future. Mañana voy al mercado. — no future tense needed.
That last one matters: Spanish uses the plain present for scheduled future far more than English does, so you can talk about tomorrow before you have learned a future tense at all.
Practise
Conjugate for the person in brackets:
- hablar (yo) · 2. comer (nosotros) · 3. vivir (tú) ·
- querer (ella) · 5. poder (nosotros) · 6. hacer (yo)
→ 1 hablo · 2 comemos · 3 vives · 4 quiere · 5 podemos · 6 hago.
Number 5 is the test. Podemos, not puedemos — the stem change skips nosotros.
Next
→ Tener: to have, to be, and to feel like it
Topics The present
Three endings, two patterns
The regular endings, the stem change that skips nosotros, and the yo forms that break on their own.
-
1*Nosotros ___ en Barranco.* (vivir)
Answer
vivimos — *Vivimos* — the -ir group is the only place the nosotros ending differs from -er. *Comemos* but *vivimos*.
-
2*___ (nosotros, poder) salir a las siete.*
Answer
Podemos — *Podemos*. The o → ue change only happens where the stress lands on that vowel, and in *podemos* it has moved off, so the stem goes back to normal.
-
3*Yo ___ la tarea todas las noches.* (hacer)
Answer
hago — *Hago* — one of the verbs that is irregular in *yo* only. *Haces, hace, hacemos, hacen* are all regular.
-
4*Ella ___ estudiar medicina.* (querer)
Answer
quiere — *Quiere* — e → ie in the stressed forms. *Quere* is what you get from applying the regular endings without the stem change.
-
5Which of these is a complete, natural way to say “I work in Lima”?
Answer
Trabajo en Lima. — The ending already says who, so the pronoun is optional — and putting *yo* in front of every verb sounds heavy in Spanish.
-
6*¿Qué ___ (tú, hacer) mañana?*
Answer
haces — *Haces* — only the yo form of *hacer* is irregular. And note the plain present is doing the future here: Spanish uses it for anything scheduled.
-
7*¿Tú ___ español?* (aprender)
Answer
aprendes — *Aprendes* — the tú ending for -er and -ir verbs is *-es*. Only -ar verbs take *-as* here, as in *hablas*.