1. The Present Tense
Year 12

2. What are the present tenses?
The present tenses are the verb forms that are used to talk about what is true at the moment, what happens regularly and what is happening now.

3. The present simple tense.
In English, there are two tenses you can use to talk about the present:
The present simple tense.
I live here.
They get up early
The present continuous tense.
He is eating an apple.
You aren’t working very hard.

4. Things that are generally true
In Spanish, there is also a present simple and a present continuous tense. As in English, the present simple in Spanish is used to talk about:
Things that are generally true
En invierno hace frio.
It’s cold in the winter.
Things that are true at the moment.
Carlos no come carne.
Carlos doesn’t eat meat.
Things that happen at intervals.
A menudo vamos al cine.
We often go to the cinema.

5. The present continuous tense in Spanish is used to talk about things that are happening right now or at the time of writing: - Marta esta viendo la television - Marta is watching the television.
However, there are times where the use of the present tense in the two languages is not exactly the same.

6. The Present Simple Tense
Regular verbs form their present tense stem by losing either: ar
-er
-ir

7. The present tense endings for regular verbs are:
- ir yo -o tú
-as
-es
él/ella -a -e
nosotros
-amos
-emos
-imos
vosotros
-áis
-éis
-ís
ellos/ellas
-an
-en

8. You usually don’t need to give a pronoun in Spanish as the ending of the verb makes it clear who or what is doing the action.

9. Forming the present simple tense of less regular verbs
Many Spanish verbs do not follow the regular patterns. There are lots of verbs that change their stem in the present tense when the stress is on the stem. This means that all forms are affected in the present simple APART FROM the nosotros/vosotros forms. Such verbs are often called radical changing verbs, meaning root changing verbs.

10. For example, some verbs containing an –o in the stem change it –ue in the present simple for all forms APART FROM the nosotros/vosotros forms.
encontrar
To find
recordar
To remember
dormir
To sleep yo
encuentro
recuerdo
duermo tú
encuentras
recuerdas
duermes
él/ella
encuentra
recuerda
duerme
nosotros
encontramos
recordamos
dormimos
vosotros
encontráis
recordáis
dormis
ellos/ellas
encuentran
recuerdan
duermen

11. Other verbs containing an –e in the stem change it to –ie for all forms APART FROM the nosotros/vosotros forms
cerrar
To close
pensar
To think
entender
To understand
perder
To lose yo
cierro
pienso
entiendo
pierdo tú
cierras
piensas
entiendes
pierdes
él/ella
cierra
piensa
entiende
pierde
nosotros
cerramos
pensamos
entendemos
perdemos
vosotros
cerráis
pensáis
entendéis
perdéis
ellos/ellas
cierran
piensan
entienden
pierden

12. A few –ir verbs containing –e in the stem change this to –I in the present simple for all forms APART FROM the nosotros/vosotros forms
Pedir
To ask
Servir
To serve yo
pido
sirvo tú
pides
sirves
él/ella
pide
sirve
nosotros
pedimos
servimos
vosotros
pedis
servís
ellos/ellas
piden
sirven

13. There are many other verbs that do not follow the usual patterns in Spanish. These include some very common and important verbs such as tener, hacer and ir

14. How to use the present simple tense in Spanish

15. things that are generally true
The present simple tense is often used in Spanish in the same way as it is in English, although there are some differences.
things that are generally true
En verano hace calor
It’s hot in the summer
things that are true now
Viven en Francia
They live in france
things that happen all the time or at certain intervals or that you do as a habit
Marta lleva gafas
Marta wears glasses
things that you are planning to do
El domingo jugamos en Jerez
On Sunday we play in Jerez

16. There are some instances when you would use the present simple in Spanish, but you wouldn’t use it in English:
To talk about current projects and activities that may not actually be going on right at this very minute
Construye una casa
He’s building a house.
When you use certain time expressions in Spanish, especially desde (meaning since) and desde hace (meaning for) to talk about activities and states that started in the past and are still going on now.
Llevo horas esperando aqui
I’ve been waiting here for hours

17. The Present Continuous Tense

18. In Spanish, the present continuous tense is used to talk about something that is happening at this very moment
The Spanish present continuous is formed from the present tense of estar and the gerund of the verb. The gerund is the form of the verb that ends in –ando (for –ar verbs) or –iendo (for –er and –ir verbs) and is the same as the –ing form of the verb in English.
Estoy trabajando
I’m working
No estamos comiendo
We aren’t eating

19. To form the gerund of a verb take off the ending of the infinitive and add the appropriate ending
meaning
stem
gerund
-ar
hablar
To speak
habl-
hablando
Speaking
-er
comer
To eat
com-
comiendo
eating
-ir
escribir
To write
escrib-
escribiendo
writing

20. Key points
Only use the present continuous in Spanish for actions that are happening right now
To form the present continuous tense in Spanish, take the present tense of estar and add the gerund of the main verb