Regular Present Tense Verbs in Spanish Profesora: Señora Urquiza

ANTE TODO In order to talk about activities, you need to use verbs. Verbs express actions or states of being. In English and Spanish, the infinitive is the base form of the verb. In English, the infinitive is preceded by the word to: to study, to be. The infinitive in Spanish is a one-word form and can be recognized by its endings: –ar, –er, or –ir.

Let’s talk about English verbs before discussing Spanish verbs. In both English and Spanish, there are six persons: I we ( you & I, Juan & I ) you you all ( you & your friend ) he, she, it they ( Juan & Maria ) ( Juan, Maria, the book )

All persons have their own verb form: I amwe are you areyou all are he, she, it isthey are It would be incorrect to say “I are” or “you is” or “we am.” You have to use a particular verb form with a particular subject.

Here are the Spanish pronouns that correspond to the English pronouns: I yo we nosotros(as) you tú you all ustedes,vosotros he, she, it él, ella they ellos (as)

Let’s look at how we get all those verb forms: yo hablonosotros hablamos tú hablasvosotros habláis él, ella hablaellos, ustedes hablan What you do is take off the –ar and add the following endings: -o-amos -as-áis -a-an

-o-amos -as-áis -a-an That’s how you conjugate any verb that ends with –ar: nadar (to swim)llegar (to arrive) nadonadamosllegollegamos nadasnadáisllegasllegáis nadanadanllegallegan

Here you have the verb “to talk” with the English subject pronouns: I talk we talk you talk you all talk he, she, it talks they talk Now look at the Spanish verb “hablar,” which means “to talk”: yo hablonosotros hablamos tú hablasvosotros habláis él, ella hablaellos, ustedes hablan

To make a sentence negative in Spanish, the word no is placed before the conjugated verb. In this case, no means not. Ellos no miran la televisión. They don’t watch television. Alicia no desea bailar ahora. Alicia doesn’t want to dance now.

Common –ar verbs bailar to dance usar to use trabajar to work nadar to swim caminar to walk desear (+ inf.) to desire; to wish cantar to sing dibujar to draw cocinar to cook enseñar to teach patinar to skate escuchar to listen (to) contestar to answer esperar (+ inf.) to wait (for); to hope conversar to converse, to chat estudiar to study

Common –ar verbs explicar to explain preguntar to ask (a question) hablar to talk; to speak preparar to prepare manejar to drive viajar to travel pescar to fish terminar to end; to finish necesitar to need levantar pesas to lift weights necesitar (+ inf.) to need + inf. practicar to practice

Now look how “Ud.” and “Uds.” fit into the verb paradigm: yo hablonosotros hablamos tú hablasvosotros habláis él, ella, Ud. hablaellos, Uds. Hablan In spite of the fact that Ud., like tú, means “you,” it doesn’t get the same verb that tú gets. It gets the verb that él gets.

Spanish speakers often omit subject pronouns because the verb endings indicate who the subject is. In Spanish, subject pronouns are used for emphasis, clarification, or contrast. Clarification / Contrast —¿Qué enseñan ellos? —Ella enseña arte y él enseña física. What do they teach? She teaches art, and he teaches physics. Emphasis —¿Quién desea trabajar hoy? —Yo no deseo trabajar hoy. Who wants to work today? I don’t want to work today.

¡INTÉNTALO! Provide the present tense forms of these verbs. (hablar) 1. Yo ____ español. 2. Ellos ____ español. 3. Inés ____ español. 4. Nosotras ____ español. 5. Tú ____ español. 6. Los estudiantes ____ español. 7. Usted ____ español. 8. Javier y yo ____ español.

¡INTÉNTALO! Provide the present tense forms of these verbs. (trabajar) 1. Ustedes ____ mucho. 2. Juanita y yo ____ mucho. 3. Nuestra profesora ____ mucho. 4. Tú ____ mucho. 5. Yo ____ mucho. 6. Las chicas ____ mucho. 7. Él ____ mucho. 8. Tú y Álex ____ mucho.

¡INTÉNTALO! Provide the present tense forms of these verbs. (desear) 1. Usted ___ viajar. 2. Yo ___ viajar. 3. Nosotros ___ viajar. 4. Lourdes y Luz ___ viajar. 5. Tú ___ viajar. 6. Ella ___ viajar. 7. Marco y yo ___ viajar. 8. Ustedes ___ viajar.

There are two other types of regular verbs in Spanish: verbs that end in –er and verbs that end in –ir. Take off the –er and then add the following endings: comer (to eat) -o-emoscomocomemos -es-éiscomescoméis -e-encomecomen Notice that the only difference between –er verbs and – ar verbs is that you use e’s instead of a’s: -o-amos-o-emos -as-áis-es-éis -a-an-e-en-a-an-e-en

Now for –ir verbs. Drop the –ir and add the following endings: abrir (to open) -o-imosabroabrimos -es-ísabresabrís -e-enabreabren Do you see what the difference is between –er and –ir verbs? They’re just alike except for the nosotros and vosotros forms: -o-emos-o-imos -es-éis-es-ís -e-en-e-en

So the only difference between –ar verbs and –er verbs is that you use e’s instead of a’s in the –er verbs. And the only difference between –er verbs and –ir verbs is the nosotros and vosotros forms.