Presentation
Now that you know the general concept behind conjugating verbs, it’s time to practice with traditional first verb tense, the present tense. As you would expect, we use the present tense to describe a present action or how things currently are. In Spanish we can even use it to express actions in progress:
They live in Guatemala.
I speak Spanish.
We are eating dinner.
Here’s what you need to know about conjugating and using the present tense:
The Present Tense in Spanish
To conjugate a verb in the present tense, drop the “-ar,” “-er,” or “-ir” from the infinitive and add the appropriate ending to the stem:
Notice how similar the “-er” and “-ir” endings are. Also note the accent mark in every vosotros ending.
Here are some examples for the verbs vivir , hablar , and comer :
Viven en Guatemala.
Yo hablo español.
Comemos la cena.
Let’s practice! Conjugate regular present tense verbs on ¡Practiquemos!
It would be nice if that were all there was to it, but the Spanish present tense is actually fairly complicated compared to other tenses. One of the first issues to discuss is a class of verbs known as “stem changing” verbs which do not follow the normal conjugation rules. As the name implies, the stems of these verbs change when they are conjugated.
One common stem changer is the verb dormir (to sleep). Normally, you would expect the stem to be “dorm” after removing the “-ir” ending. However, dormir is what’s known as an “o to ue” stem changer. That means we change the “o” to a “ue” whenever we conjugate in the present tense, and the stem becomes “duerm”. Check out the present tense conjugations of dormir :