Present tense: regular verbs

Spanish verbs fall into three groups by their infinitive ending: -ar, -er, -ir. Remove the ending and add the present endings.

Uses

• Habits and facts: Trabajo en un banco.
• Actions happening now (often): ¿Qué haces? Leo un libro.
• Near future with a time word: Mañana salgo a las ocho.

Examples

• Hablo inglés y un poco de español.I speak English and a little Spanish.
• ¿Dónde vives?Where do you live?
• Nosotros comemos a las dos.We eat at two.
• Mis padres trabajan mucho.My parents work a lot.
• Compro el pan todas las mañanas.I buy bread every morning.

Common mistakes

• ✗ Ellos habla español.✓ Ellos hablan español.Every person has its own ending. English only changes the verb for he, she and it, so plurals are often left unmarked.
• ✗ Yo come mucho.✓ Yo como mucho.The yo form ends in -o. English “I eat” and “he eats” differ only by -s, so the personal endings are easy to mix up.
• ✗ ¿Haces hablas español?✓ ¿Hablas español?Spanish has no helper verb like “do”. The question is made with the same verb form and the opening ¿.
• ✗ Nosotros vive en Londres.✓ Nosotros vivimos en Londres.The nosotros ending for -ir verbs is -imos. English never changes the verb for “we”.
• ✗ Ella vivir en Madrid.✓ Ella vive en Madrid.The verb must be conjugated. English speakers sometimes leave it in the infinitive, as in “she to live”.