The present tense of regular verbs

The basic form of a verb, like “to speak”, is the “infinitive”. Spanish infinitives end in -ar, -er or -ir: hablar (to speak), comer (to eat), vivir (to live).

To make the present tense, take off the -ar, -er or -ir and add the ending for the person. This is called “conjugating” the verb. Regular verbs all follow these patterns.

The -er and -ir endings are the same except for nosotros and vosotros. The stressed syllable is the same in every form except nosotros and vosotros: HA-blo, ha-BLA-mos.

The Spanish present covers the English “I speak”, “I'm speaking” and often “I'm going to speak”. Use it for habits, facts, what is happening now, and fixed plans for the near future.

Many very common verbs are irregular, for example ser, estar, tener and ir. Others change a vowel in the stem, like pensar → pienso and poder → puedo. Look them up in the verb tables.

In Latin America, ustedes replaces vosotros, so the -áis, -éis, -ís forms are not used there.

To stress that something is happening at this very moment, use estar + “gerund” (the -ing form): -ar verbs take -ando (hablar → hablando), -er and -ir verbs take -iendo (comer → comiendo, vivir → viviendo). A few are irregular: leer → leyendo, dormir → durmiendo.

Unlike English, Spanish doesn't use this form for future plans: “I'm working tomorrow” is Mañana trabajo.