Spanish present tense: how to conjugate -ar, -er and -ir verbs

To put a regular Spanish verb in the present tense, drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er or -ir) to get the stem, then add the ending that matches the subject. Hablar (to speak) becomes hablo (I speak), hablas (you speak), habla (he/she speaks), and so on. There are three ending sets — one per verb family — and the good news is that -er and -ir verbs share almost all of them.

Spanish also lets you drop the subject pronoun, because the ending already tells you who is acting: hablo on its own means “I speak”. The tables below give the three families with hablar, comer and vivir, then the sections explain the one place -er and -ir differ, how the present covers English “I speak” and “I am speaking”, and the mistakes to avoid.

The three ending sets

Here are the endings for a regular -ar verb, using hablar (to speak):

-er verbs like comer (to eat) and -ir verbs like vivir (to live) take the same endings as each other except in two forms:

Yo hablo español y como paella.
I speak Spanish and I eat paella.

Vivimos en Madrid.
We live in Madrid.

Where -er and -ir differ

Look closely at the two columns above: comer and vivir are identical in four of the six forms. They split only in nosotros (comemos vs vivimos) and vosotros (coméis vs vivís). Everywhere else — yo, tú, él, ellos — the endings are the same -o, -es, -e, -en. So in practice you only have to remember that -ir verbs keep the i in the “we” and “you all” forms.

Comemos a las dos y vivimos cerca.
We eat at two and we live nearby.

One present tense for “I speak” and “I am speaking”

English has two present forms — “I work” and “I am working” — but the Spanish simple present covers both. Trabajo can mean “I work” (in general) or “I am working” (right now).

¿Qué haces? — Trabajo.
What are you doing? — I’m working.

Spanish does have a separate present progressive with estar + gerund (estoy trabajando), but you use it far less than in English — only to stress that something is in progress at this very moment. For habits, schedules and general truths, the simple present is enough.

The present for the near future and questions

Spanish often uses the simple present where English reaches for another tense. For timetabled or clearly planned events it works as a near future: el tren sale a las ocho means “the train leaves / is leaving at eight”, and mañana trabajo is “tomorrow I work”. You do not need a special form for arrangements like these.

The present is also how you ask everyday questions. Spanish has no auxiliary like English “do”, so you just raise your intonation and add the question marks around the conjugated verb: ¿Hablas inglés? (“Do you speak English?”), ¿Comemos ahora? (“Shall we eat now?”). There is no do or does to translate — the ending already carries the meaning.

¿Estudias español? — Sí, estudio todos los días.
Do you study Spanish? — Yes, I study every day.

Making a verb negative is just as simple: put no directly in front of it. No hablo francés means “I don’t speak French”, and no comemos carne is “we don’t eat meat”. Again there is no helper like English “don’t” or “doesn’t” to translate — the single word no before the conjugated verb does the whole job, whichever subject you are using.

Common mistakes

Leaving the verb in the infinitive

A sentence needs a conjugated verb. Do not use the dictionary form after a subject.

Yo hablar español. → Yo hablo español.
I speak Spanish.

Mixing up -er and -ir in “we”

The nosotros form is the one place these families differ: -er gives -emos, -ir gives -imos.

Nosotros vivemos aquí. → Nosotros vivimos aquí.
We live here.

Adding a pronoun that English needs but Spanish does not

Because the ending already shows the subject, a pronoun like yo is optional and often left out; forcing “it” as a subject word is wrong.

Ello funciona. → Funciona.
It works.

Once the endings are automatic, the Spanish present unlocks most of what you say day to day — routines, opinions, plans. In Fluera you drill these verbs inside real sentences like hablo español and vivimos en Madrid, so the endings stick through use rather than memorized charts. Build your daily routine in Spanish when you practice Spanish.

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