Present Tense in Spanish Grammar
What is the present tense in Spanish?
The present indicative (el presente/el presente de indicativo) is similar to the simple present tense in English grammar. We use this to tense to speak about actions in the present and near future. It describes routines or repeated actions as well as permanent situations.
Learn how to use the present indicative and the conjugation patterns for regular and irregular verbs. In the exercises, you can test your knowledge. See subjunctive tenses for information on the conjugation and usage of the present subjunctive. In tense comparison, you will find an overview of all the tenses in Spanish grammar.
Contents
Este es Jaime.
Trabaja en una pastelería desde hace cinco años. Se levanta todos los días a las 5 h para hornear pan.
La pastelería abre a las 10 h y cierra a las 18 h de martes a domingo. Los lunes, Jaime descansa.
El negocio marcha muy bien y mañana comienza a trabajar una nueva pastelera con él.
A Jaime le encanta su trabajo.
How to use the Spanish present tense
The Spanish present tense expresses:
- facts
- Examples:
- Este es Jaime. This is Jaime.
- El negocio marcha muy bien. Business is going very well.
- routines and schedules
- Examples:
- Jaime se levanta todos los días a las 5 h para hornear pan. Jaime gets up at 5 a.m. every day to bake bread.
- La pastelería abre a las 10 h y cierra a las 18 h de martes a domingo. The bakery opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday.
- duration of an action that started in the past and is still ongoing in the present (signal words: desde/desde hace)
- Example:
- Trabaja en una pastelería desde hace cinco años. He’s been working at a bakery for five years.
- actions with a future time marker
- Example:
- Mañana comienza a trabajar una nueva pastelera con él. Tomorrow, a new pastry chef will start working with him.
How to conjugate the present tense in Spanish
To conjugate the Spanish present tense, we remove the infinitive endings -ar, -er or -ir and add the following endings to the word stem. The table below provides an overview of present indicative endings for regualr -ar, -er and -ir verbs in Spanish:
| Person | -ar | -er | -ir | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endings | hablar | Endings | aprender | Endings | vivir | |
| yo | -o | hablo | -o | aprendo | -o | vivo |
| tú | -as | hablas | -es | aprendes | -es | vives |
| él/ella/usted | -a | habla | -e | aprende | -e | vive |
| nosotros/-as | -amos | hablamos | -emos | aprendemos | -imos | vivimos |
| vosotros/-as | -áis | habláis | -éis | aprendéis | -is | vivis |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | -an | hablan | -en | aprenden | -en | viven |
Reflexive Verbs
Spanish reflexive verbs are conjugated with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os, se).
Choosing which reflexive pronoun depends on the subject; we need to know which person (1st, 2nd or 3rd) and whether it is singular or plural.
The reflexive pronoun always comes before the verb.
- Example:
- levantarse → Jaime se levanta todos los días a las 5 h.Jaime gets up every day at 5 a.m.
- Jaime = 3rd person singular → reflexive pronoun se
Irregular verbs in the Spanish present tense
Some of the most common Spanish verbs are irregular.
| Person | ser | estar | ir | oír | oler |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | soy | estoy | voy | oigo | huelo |
| tú | eres | estás | vas | oyes | hueles |
| él/ella/usted | es | está | va | oye | huele |
| nosotros/-as | somos | estamos | vamos | oímos | olemos |
| vosotros/-as | sois | estáis | vais | oís | oléis |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | son | están | van | oyen | huelen |
Exceptions
Exceptions in the 1st person singular
The following verbs are only irregular in the 1st person singular form. They are conjugated like regular verbs in all other persons.
- Some verbs add a -g before the ending in the 1st person singular and some change their word stems when this happens.
| Infinitive | 1st person singular | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| asir | asgo | grab, grasp |
| caer | caigo | fall |
| dar | doy | give |
| decir | digo | say |
| hacer | hago | do |
| poner | pongo | set, place |
| saber | sé | know |
| salir | salgo | go out, leave |
| tener | tengo | have, possess |
| traer | traigo | bring |
| valer | valgo | to be worth |
| venir | vengo | come |
| ver | veo | see |
- To preserve the pronunciation, we have to change the last consonant of the word stem for some -er/-ir verbs in the 1st person singular.
- Examples:
- c becomes z → mecercradle, rock - mezo
- g becomes j → cogertake, lift - cojo
- gu becomes g → distinguirdistinguish - distingo
- qu becomes c → delinquircommit (a crime) - delinco
-
For verbs that end in -ducir or with a vowel + cer, we add a -z before the -c in the 1st person singular. The exceptions to this are the verbs hacer, mecer, and cocer.
- Examples:
- traducirtranslate - traduzco
- conocerknow - conozco
- but:
- hacermake - hago
- mecercradle, rock - mezo
- cocercook - cuezo
Verbs with vowel changes
- For some verbs, the root vowel changes (-e → -i/-ie, -o → -ue) in the singular forms and in the 3rd person plural.
- Examples:
- e becomes i → servirserve - sirvo, sirves, sirve, servimos, servís, sirven
- e becomes ie → cerrarclose - cierro, cierras, cierra, cerramos, cerráis, cierran
- o becomes ue → recordarremember - recuerdo, recuerdas, recuerda, recordamos, recordáis, recuerdan
- For many verbs that end in -iar or -uar, as well as prohibir and reunir, we add an accent to the -i or -u in the singular forms and in the 3rd person plural.
- Examples:
- espiarspy - espío, espías, espía, espiamos, espiáis, espían
- actuaract - actúo, actúas, actúa, actuamos, actuáis, actúan
- prohibirforbid - prohíbo, prohíbes, prohíbe, prohibimos, prohibís, prohíben
- reunirgather - reúno, reúnes, reúne, reunimos, reunís, reúnen
- For verbs ending in -uir, we add a -y before endings that don’t start with -i.
- Example:
- sustituirsubstitute - sustituyo, sustituyes, sustituye, sustituimos, sustituís, sustituyen
