The Present Tense
hablo = I speak juego = I play llego = I arrive In Spanish, the words for ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘we’, ‘they’ are not used very often with verbs. Instead, the ending of the verb tells you who ‘is doing’ the verb. hablo = I speak juego = I play llego = I arrive If you look up ‘speak’ in the dictionary, you will probably not find ‘hablo = I speak’, you will find the basic verb, THE INFINITIVE hablar = to speak From this basic verb, you need to know how to change it to say ‘I speak’, ‘you speak’ ‘he speaks’ etc…
Most infinitives end in –ar. Some end in –ir or –er. These are the 3 main groups and each group has its own set of endings. ar verbs: e.g. hablar – to speak (yo) hablo – I speak (tú) hablas – you speak (él/ella) habla – he/she speaks (nosotros) hablamos – we speak (vosotros) habláis – you speak (pl) (ellos/ellas) hablan – they speak
er verbs: e.g. comer – to eat (yo) como – I eat (tú) comes – you eat (él/ella) come – he/she eats (nosotros) comemos – we eat (vosotros) coméis – you eat (pl) (ellos/ellas) comen – they eat
ir verbs: e.g. vivir – to live (yo) vivo – I live (tú) vives – you live (él/ella) vive – he/she lives (nosotros) vivimos – we live (vosotros) vivís – you live (pl) (ellos/ellas) viven – they live
There are some verbs, which change slightly in the middle of the word sometimes. These are called Radically Changing Verbs Jugar – to play Notice, that every time except with ‘we’ and ‘you plural’, an extra ‘e’ creeps in… Juego – I play Juegas – You play Juega – he/she plays Jugamos – we play Jugáis – you play (pl) Juegan – they play volver = ‘to return’ is also radically changing: vuelvo – I return
Some verbs are simply ‘irregular’ and have to be learnt by heart. ‘tener = to have’ and ‘ser = to be’ belong to this group. hacer – to do hago – I do haces – you do hace – he/she does hacemos – we do hacéis – you do (pl) hacen – they do ir – to go voy – I go vas – you go va – he/she goes vamos – we go vais – you go (pl) van – they go Make a note of these IN THE BACK OF YOUR BOOK