Just like in English, there are rules for tenses and verbs in Spanish. The present tense itself has three major conjugation moods: the indicative, the subjunctive and the imperative mode. This lesson will teach you how to conjugate regular verbs in Spanish in the indicative, which is one of the simplest and the most commonly used in the language. This lesson includes a video with interesting examples and explanations, as well as many other resources like pictures and interactive quizzes. Let’s begin…
Introductory video: Conjugating Regular Verbs in Spanish
Regular verbs in Spanish are very common and useful in everyday interactions. We will begin the lesson with a short video explaining how they work and how to conjugate these verbs in the present tense. Remember, you can activate the subtitles if you need to translate or check how something is written in the language, and please make sure to stick until the end of the video to understand the rest of the lesson more easily.
The difference between Regular and Irregular Verbs in Spanish
All Spanish verbs have something called RAÍZ or a stem at the beginning, just like AM- in AMAR. The majority of verbs in the language will not suffer any stem change when conjugated, which is why they are considered regular verbs. For these type of verbs, the ending or last part of the word will always be modified depending on the subject that the action is targeting. Take a look at the picture below. It explains some differences between regular and irregular verbs in Spanish, as well as how to conjugate the verbs “AMAR” (to love) and “SER” (to be).
Conjugating -AR regular verbs in Spanish
Words like AMAR (to love), BESAR (to kiss) and PLANEAR (to plan) are common examples of -AR regular verbs in Spanish. All the letters, except for the AR ending, are part of the verb’s stem or “raíz del verbo”. To conjugate AR ending verbs, we will replace the -AR suffix for a specific group of letters following specific rules. For example, AMAR will be conjugated as AMO for the subject pronoun “YO”, which is why we will say “Yo amo” but not “Yo amar“, replacing the -AR ending for the vowel -O.
Basically, you just need to replace the AR ending for a form that suits the subject in the sentence. There is no need to use a pronoun all the time, and actually they could be omitted in most sentences and the meaning would not be affected. However, it is important to use the right conjugation for the subject we are referring to, even if we do not mention it. Here is a short list of regular verbs in Spanish with AR ending:
CAMINAR (to walk), CANTAR (to sing), LUCHAR (to fight), ABRAZAR (to hug), BAILAR (to dance), TOMAR (to take/to drink), BAÑAR (to bathe) and CUIDAR (to take care).
Sentences with Regular verbs in Spanish with AR endings
Here are some examples of sentences applying the conjugation rules for regular verbs in Spanish with AR endings. Pay attention to the way the ending must be modified based on the pronoun (subject) in the sentence. Click on the PLAY to listen to the examples
Yo amo la poesía I love poetry |
Tú amas la música You love music |
Vos amás tocar guitarra You love playing guitar |
Ella ama a su marido She loves her husband |
Nosotros amamos ver películas We love watching movies |
Vosotros amáis el clima You love the weather |
Ellos aman a su país They love their country |
Conjugating -ER ending regular verbs in Spanish
The rules are quite similar for ER ending regular verbs like COMER (to eat). For instance, the conjugation for the pronoun YO would be formed by replacing ER for the vowel –O, just like this: “Yo como”. As you can see, all AR, ER and IR ending regular verbs in Spanish will be conjugated the same way for the pronoun YO, so all you have to memorize are those endings that are different for each type of verb. It is possible to substitute the pronoun for a name or an object that agrees with it, for example: Ana (Ella), La flauta (ella), El perro (Él) and so on. Other common ER ending regular verbs in Spanish are:
BEBER (to drink), LEER (to read), CORRER (to run), DEPENDER (to depend), TEMER (to fear), COSER(to sew), APRENDER (to learn), VENDER (to sell).
Sentences in Spanish with ER ending verbs in the present tense
Here are some more sentences applying the rules for ER ending regular verbs in Spanish to COMER (to eat).
Yo como bastantes verduras I eat a lot of vegetables |
¿Tú comes carne de cerdo? Do you eat pork? |
Vos comés demasiado You eat too much |
El perro come todo tipo de comida The dog eats all type of food |
Nosotros comemos juntos todos los días We eat together every day |
Vosotros coméis cosas deliciosas You eat delicious food |
Las aves (Ellas) comen varias veces al día Birds eat several times a day |
Conjugating -IR ending regular verbs in Spanish
Finally, the last group of regular verbs will be formed by regular verbs in Spanish ending in IR like VIVIR (to live). Again, we will replace the IR ending depending on the subject of the sentence. Make sure to compare these endings with the ones above so that you can see how similar the three different conjugations are (with the variation of a vowel or a tilde). Being aware of these similarities may help you apply these rules more easily.
Some important regular verbs in Spanish with IR ending are:
ABRIR (to open), PARTIR (to divide/to chop), PERMITIR (to allow/to permit), DECIDIR (to decide), SUBIR (to go up/to raise) and RECIBIR (to get/to obtain).
Sentences with regular verbs ending in IR in Spanish
Vivo en un pueblo cercano I live in a town nearby |
¿Vives en la misma ciudad? Do you live in the same city? |
Vos vivís en un lugar muy bonito You live in a very nice place |
Carlos vive con su mamá Carlos lives with her mother |
Nosotros vivimos en otro país We live in another country |
Vosotros vivís en buenas condiciones You live in good conditions |
¿Quiénes viven contigo? Who lives with you? |
Related Spanish Worksheets:
- Basic Sentence Structure in Spanish – PDF Worksheet
- Conjugating -AR Regular Verbs in Spanish (Present) – PDF Worksheet
- Conjugating -ER Regular Verbs in Spanish (Present) – PDF Worksheet
- Conjugating -IR Regular Verbs in Spanish (Present) – PDF Worksheet
This was fun!! Your explanations are very easy to understand, plus I don’t feel intimidated by them.
Gracias! I am glad you liked this lesson!!!
I am a brazilian girl and I can speak english as well so I am enjoying a lot this website, I am able to practice my english and study spanish at the same time, thank you!
We are happy to hear that Marina 🙂 Creo que el portugués y el español son muy similares.
Keep up the good work. Thank-you for the help.