How to Conjugate… Spanish VerbsVerbs in the present tense.Los verbos en el tiempo presente.

First, let’s review the subject pronouns.

Person Singular Plural

1st Yo- I Nosotros- We

2nd Tú- You Vosotros- You all (Used only in Spain)

3rd Usted/él/ella- You, he, she

Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas- Y’all, they

Note: Él and Ellos are masculine while Ella and Ellas are feminine.

Conjugate

0 Grammar: to inflect a verb in its forms for distinctions such as number, person, voice, mood, and tense.0 Otherwise known as: to change the verb

0 I run.0We are.0 You have.0 She walks.0They speak.

Examples of Conjugation:

The Infinitive

0The infinitive: the basic unconjugated form, the one that corresponds to the English “to do” (something). For example: to speak, to work, to sing, etc.0 Otherwise known as: the verb in its original form.

0The Spanish infinitive always ends in –r.Hablar salir comerconocerEscribir cantar correr

nadarAprender leer escucharbailar

The fundamental parts of the Spanish verb.

0The ending: The last two letters of the infinitive. The ending always consists of two letters.

Hablar- ar salir-ir comer-erconocer-er

Escribir- ir cantar-ar correr-ernadar-ar

aprender-er leer-er escuchar-arbailar-ar

The fundamental parts of the Spanish verb.

0The stem or root: Whatever is left after removing the ending from the infinitive. The stem can consist of a variable number of letters, depending on the length of the verb in question.

0The infinitive- the ending = the stem:Habl sal com conoc

escrib cantCorr nad aprend le

escuch bail

¡No te olvides! (Don’t forget)

0The infinitive: the basic, unconjugated, form of the verb. estudiar

0The ending: The last two letters of the infinitive. ar

0The stem: What is left after taking the ending from the infinitive. Estudi

Verb Conjugation

0To conjugate: to put a verb in its correct person and number so that we know who is doing the action.

When we conjugate any verb we always begin with its stem.

There are 3 types of verbs in Spanish.

Types of verbs

ARER

IR

-AR verbs are verbs that end in –ar. Hablar, nadar, escuchar

-ER verbs end in –er. Comer, correr, leer

-IR verbs end in –ir. Salir, vivir

Regular –AR VerbsThe following verbs are regular –ar verbs and are conjugated according to the pattern we are about to learn!

Hablar- to speak llegar- to arrive ayudar- to helpMirar- to look at bailar- to dance nadar- to swimBuscar- to look for necesitar- to need caminar- to walkComprar- to buy regresar- to return preparar- to prepareEscuchar- to listen trabajar- to work estudiar- to studyViajar- to travel tomar- to take or to drinkConversar- to converse

Let’s get started conjugating!

0To conjugate a regular AR verb, one must first remove the AR from the infinitive. This will leave you with the stem.

Use the infinitive hablar:hablar-ar= habl

Habl is your stem…

These endings correspond with your subject pronouns!

Person Singular Plural

1st Yo: -o Nosotros: -amos

2nd Tú: -as Vosotros: -áis

3rd Ud./él/ella: -a Uds./ellos/ellas: -an

With regular AR verbs you’ll replace the –ar ending with the corresponding endings above.

Hablar

0 I speak: Yo hablo.0You speak: Tú hablas.0He/She speaks: Él/ella habla.0We speak: Nosotros hablamos.0They speak: Ellos hablan.

Confused? Memorization is key to conjugating regular verbs in Spanish. Just follow the pattern. Once you have learned to conjugate one regular –ar verb, you can conjugate all regular –ar verbs!!!

Now you try…Nadar

Remember: Infinitive – ar = base

nad nad

nad nad

nad nad

Now you try…Nadar

Remember: Infinitive – ar = base

 nado nadamos

nadas nadáis

nada nadan

Caminar

camino caminamos

caminas camináis

camina caminan

Trabajar

trabajo trabajamos

trabajas trabajáis

trabaja trabajan

Escuchar

escucho escuchamos

escuchas escucháis

escucha escuchan

Bailar

bailo bailamos

bailas bailáis

baila bailan

Good job!!

0Now that we’ve gone over our AR verbs, we have two more types of verbs. ER and IR.

0Don’t worry though… we still use the same pattern!

0 Infinitive – ending = base

0Now all you need are new endings… ER verbs are like AR verbs. The only difference is the “A” and the “E”.

Conjugating ER Verbs

Remember: everything stays the same except for the A and E.

Comer: to eatComer- er = com

Yo como.Nosotros comemos.

Tú comes.Vosotros coméis.

Ud./Él/Ella come.Uds./Ellos/Ellas comen.

Correr

corro corremos

corres corréis

corre corren

Aprender

aprendo aprendemos

aprendes aprendéis

aprende aprenden

We’re almost there!Conjugating IR verbs

0 IR verbs are sister verbs to the ER verbs. They share four of the same endings!

0Vivir: to liveVivir-ir = viv

Yo vivo. Nosotros vivimos.Tú vives. Vosotros vivís.Ud./Él/Ella vive. Uds./Ellos/Ellas viven.

Abrir

abro abrimos

abres abrís

abre abren

Escribir

escribo escribimos

escribes escribís

escribe escriben

Here are the regular verb endings…

Person Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

1st -o -amos -o -emos -o -imos

2nd -as -áis -es -éis -es -ís

3rd -a -an -e -en -e -en

-AR -ER -IR

Write these down and keep them safe!! You will need to conjugate all the time!!