How to conjugate verbs in Spanish

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Here we share a brief guide on how to conjugate verbs in the Spanish language. We know that it can be confusing sometimes, but once you understand it, you will realize that it is not that complicated. Verbs with words that indicate action, existence, condition or state of a subject.

If you are a student of the Spanish language, you probably already know that the verb is formed by the root (also called in Spanish as "lexema") that does not vary, and by the ending (also called in Spanish as "morpheme ending") that indicates the "person, number, tense and mode" of the verb conjugation.

The most common set of verbs in Spanish and perhaps the most important to learn first is the "present indicative". The Indicative Present, in Spanish, indicates that the action expressed by the verb occurs at the same moment in which it is said. Although there are conjugations that are easier to learn, the present indicative is the most used.

Native English speakers conjugate regular verbs all the time without even thinking about it, for the past tense just add "d" or "ed" to the end of a verb and for the present tense, you add an "s" or "es" to indicate that a person or thing is performing an action. But the conjugation of verbs in the Spanish language is a bit more complicated than in English. You should consider various tenses, modes and gender according to what needs to be conveyed in the sentence. Spanish verb endings can indicate when the action occurs and also give the listener a better idea of who or what is doing the action.

To conjugate a verb, we have to list and understand the different forms that denote its different persons, number, tenses, modes, voice and other concepts.

Persons

Persons indicate who performs the action of the verb. There are three singular persons:

 

• 1st the one who speaks
• 2nd the one who listens
• 3rd none of the above; and three other plural.

 

Personal pronouns are used to determine persons.

yo

Tú

Ella / Él

Nosotros /as

Ellas /os

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Times

Times refer to when the action is executed.

Presente (Present)	The action is performed at the current time.
Pretérito (Preterite)	The action was done in the past. If the action is finished, it is called "Perfect Mode" and if it does not indicate that it is finished, it is called "Imperfect Mode"
Futuro (Future)	The action will take place in the future.
Condicional (Conditional)	Express the action of the verb as a possibility.

Modes

The modes form describes the relationship of the verb with the reality to which it refers.

Indicativo (Indicative)	When talking about real facts or that are taken for certain.
Subjuntivo (Subjunctive)	It is used to talk about something virtual that refers to possible, probable, desired or feared actions.
Imperativo (Imperative)	It is used to give orders, requests or wishes directly.

Voice

Verbs can be conjugated in Active Voice or Passive Voice. They are in Active Voice when the subject performs the action of the verb. They are in Passive Voice when the subject receives the action of the verb. The passive voice in Spanish is rarely used, active constructions are preferred in most Spanish-speaking countries.

Example for Active Voice : John rompió sus lentes de sol (John broke his sunglasses). The subject "John" is the one who performs the "break" action.

Example for Passive Voice : Las gafas de sol se rompieron por culpa de John (The sunglasses got broken because of John). In this case the subject "sunglasses" receives the action of "break".

Non-personal forms of verbs

Infinitivo (Infinitive)	Usual way of naming a verb. These end in AR, ER or IR.
Participio (Participle)	It is used to form compound tenses. It can also function as an adjective. Ends in ADO or IDO
Gerundio (Gerund)	Form of the verb that indicates an action but without specifying the time, the mode, the number or the person. Ends in ANDO or IENDO

Regular Vebs

Regular Verbs are those that in all their tenses and people keep the root (radical letters) and take the normal endings (endings) of the conjugations to which they belong. In the Spanish language there are three conjugations.

Conjugation 1	All verbs ending in AR.
Conjugation 2	All verbs ending in ER.
Conjugation 3	All verbs ending in IR.

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Basic Concepts for Verb Conjugation in Spanish language

The present tense means that the action is happening now. The indicative mode means that the sentence is a statement of fact. To conjugate a verb in the present indicative, remove the infinitive ending from the regular verb, in this case -ar , -er or -ir, and replace it with an ending indicating "the person" who performs the action of the verb.

For example, the word "caminar" (walk) is the infinitive of a common regular verb that ends in -ar. To form the present indicative, drop the -ar, which leaves the root of the verb camin-. If the person who "camina" (walks) in the sentence is in the first person singular, that would mean that the sentence would be conjugated as "Yo Camino" (I walk). In Spanish, when conjugating or changing the root to a verb in the first person, take the root and add -o, making the word “camino”. "Yo Camino".

To say "tu caminas" (you walk), which is the second person singular, informal, add -as to the root, making the word walk "Tú Caminas". There are other forms for subjects such as "él, ella o eso (he, she or it)", "nosotros (we)" and "ellos (they)".

The endings are slightly different for verbs that end in -er and -ir , but the principle is the same compared to -ar that we have just explained. Drop the infinitive ending like we just did the previous example, then add the appropriate ending to the remaining root.

Conjugation of regular verbs in Spanish

The following tables will be presented in Spanish for better understanding when studing Spanish

Conjugation of regular verbs -ar in present indicative tense

Person	-ar ending	Example: caminar	Result
yo	-o	camino	yo camino
tú	-as	caminas	tú (informal) caminas
él, ella, usted	-a	camina	é / ella camina, usted camina
nosotras, nosotros	-amos	caminamos	nosotros(as) caminamos
ellas, ellos, ustedes	-an	caminan	ellas, ellos, ustedes caminan

Conjugation of regular verbs -Er in present indicative

Person	-er ending	Example: aprender	Result
yo	-o	aprendo	yo aprendo
tú	-es	aprendes	tú (informal) aprendes
él, ella, usted	-e	aprende	é / ella aprende, usted (formal) aprende
nosotras, nosotros	-emos	aprendemos	nosotros(as) aprendemos
ellas, ellos, ustedes	-en	aprenden	ellas, ellos, ustedes aprenden

Conjugación de verbos regulares -Ir en presente indicativo

Person	-ir ending	Example: compartir	Result
yo	-o	comparto	yo comparto
tú	-es	compartes	tú (informal) compartes
él, ella, usted	-e	comparte	é / ella comparte, usted (formal) comparte
nosotras, nosotros	-imos	compartimos	nosotros(as) compartimos
ellas, ellos, ustedes	-en	comparten	ellas, ellos, ustedes comparten

Conjugation of irregular verbs in Spanish

Although most verbs are conjugated regularly, the most common verbs in Spanish generally do not. In some cases, not only the endings change, but also the main part of the verb, known as the root. This is similar to English, where the more common verbs like "to be" and "to go" are also very irregular verbs.

Indicative Present Conjugations of Common Irregular Verbs

Infinitive	Result	Conjugation
dar	dar	yo doy, tú das, usted / él / ella da, nosotros / nosotras damos / ustedes / ellos / ellas dan
estar	ser -estar	yo estoy, tú estás, usted / él / ella está, nosotros / nosotras estamos / ustedes / ellos / ellas están
hacer	para hacer	yo hago, tú haces, usted / él / ella hace, nosotros / nosotras hacemos, vosotros / vosotras hacéis, ustedes / ellos / ellas hacen
ir	ir	yo voy, tú vas, usted / él / ella va, nosotros / nosotras vamos / ustedes / ellos / ellas van
poder	ser capaz de	yo puedo, tú puedes, usted / él / ella puede, nosotros / nosotras podemos / ustedes / ellos / ellas pueden
ser	ser -estar	yo soy, tú eres, usted / él / ella es, nosotros / nosotras somos / ustedes / ellos / ellas son
tener	tener	yo tengo, tú tienes, usted / él / ella tiene, nosotros / nosotras tenemos / ustedes / ellos / ellas tienen

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Key Conclusions

The conjugation of regular verbs in Spanish in the indicative present tense only involves removing the ending in the infinitive ( -ar , -er or -ir ) as we have explained and changing it to another. But the conjugation of verbs in Spanish is much more extensive than in English, so it provides more information about the action of the verb since it establishes the tenses and modes more precisely.

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