Explanation

The Spanish simple present tense ( el presente or el presente del indicativo ) can be used to talk about habitual actions, routines, things happening now or in the near future, universal truths, facts, hypotheticals, lapses of time, and for ordering in restaurants and stores.

Regular Present Indicative Forms

Below you'll find instructions for forming regular verbs in the present tense, including the endings you need to know for -ar , -er , and -ir verbs.

Verbs that End in -ar

To conjugate an -ar verb, remove the infinitive ending ( -ar ) and add the ending that matches the subject. You can find these endings in the table below.

Present Tense Endings for -ar Verbs

Verbs that End in -er

To conjugate an -er verb, remove the infinitive ending ( -er ) and add the ending that matches the subject. You can find these endings in the table below.

Present Tense Endings for -er Verbs

Verbs that End in -ir

To conjugate an -ir verb, remove the infinitive ending ( -ir ) and add the ending that matches the subject. You can find these endings in the table below.

Present Tense Endings for -ir Verbs

Copy Cats

Notice that most of the present tense endings for -er and -ir verbs are the same. Only the nosotros and vosotros endings are different.

Irregular Yo Forms

Some present tense yo conjugations undergo spelling changes or are irregular.

Verbs with Spelling Changes in the Yo Form

Verbs that end in -guir , -ger , or -gir undergo a spelling change in their present tense yo forms.

Verbs with Irregular Yo Forms

The following verbs have irregular yo forms. The other present tense forms of these verbs follow the patterns for regular -ar , -er , and -ir verbs.

Most verbs that end in -cer or -ucir have irregular present tense yo forms. Click here for more on irregular present tense verbs.

Here are a few examples of the above verbs in action.

Stem-changing Verbs

Many present tense verbs undergo what is called a stem change. The present tense endings for these verbs are regular, but there is a vowel change in the verb stem (the part of the verb that comes before -ar , -er , or -ir ). Click here to read our article on stem-changing verbs.

Present Indicative Uses

The Spanish present tense can be used to talk about habitual actions, routines, things happening now or in the near future, universal truths, facts, hypotheticals, lapses of time, and for ordering in restaurants and stores. Read on for more on each of these uses.

Dropping Subject Pronouns

Because the endings of Spanish verbs indicate who the subject of an action is, you can often drop the subject pronoun ( yo , tú , nosotros , etc.). Many Spanish speakers rarely use personal pronouns, although this varies from country to country.

For example, in the sentence Hablo español. (I speak Spanish.), the pronoun yo isn't really necessary. The -o ending tells you who the subject of the verb is.

1. Habitual Actions

Habitual actions are activities that a person does every day (or very often). Daily routines, responsibilities, hobbies, and jobs can be talked about using the present tense.