{"id":5009,"date":"2023-08-04T05:15:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T05:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escuela-hablamos.com\/?p=5009"},"modified":"2023-07-27T09:00:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T09:00:26","slug":"present-tense-forms-and-uses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escuela-hablamos.com\/ja\/present-tense-forms-and-uses\/","title":{"rendered":"Present Tense \u2013 Forms and Uses"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, when you come to study Spanish here in Madrid, you\u2019ll be able to say vivo en Madrid (I live in Madrid)! Well, you can if you know how to form the presente de indicativo (present tense) in Spanish. Read on to find out how to use this important basic structure and to see some examples of when things don\u2019t quite follow the rules<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
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Verb Types and Pronouns<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
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As you may or may not know, in Spanish there are three endings of the infinitivo <\/b>(<\/i>infinitive<\/i><\/b>)<\/i>. These are \u2013ar, -er <\/b>and \u2013ir<\/b>. For example, the verb hablar<\/b> means to talk\/speak<\/i><\/b>, comer<\/b> means to eat<\/i><\/b> <\/i>and vivir <\/b>means to live<\/i><\/b>. Why is this important? Well, the structure of all Spanish tenses revolves around the idea of changing the endings<\/b> of the verbs and this is different depending on which type of verb it is. You\u2019ll also need to know the pronombres personales <\/b>(<\/i>personal\/subject pronouns<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> too. Here they are in Spanish and English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Spanish<\/td>\nEnglish<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yo<\/td>\nI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T\u00fa<\/td>\nYou (singular\/informal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c9l\/Ella\/Usted<\/td>\nHe\/She\/You (singular\/formal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nosotros<\/td>\nWe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vosotros<\/td>\nYou (plural\/informal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellos\/Ellas\/Ustedes<\/td>\nThey (male plural)\/They (female plural)\/You (plural\/formal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Presente de indicativo – -ar\/-er\/-ir<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
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Now we have all that sorted, let\u2019s look at the basic structure of the presente de indicativo <\/b>(<\/i>present simple<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> in Spanish. You simply take whichever verb you want, for example hablar<\/b>, remove the ending<\/b> so we are left with the stem<\/b> which in this case would be habl-<\/b> and then add on the correct person ending<\/b>. Simple! Here\u2019s a table to show you how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Person<\/td>\n-AR verbs
\n(Hablar > Habl)<\/td>\n		-ER verbs
\n(Comer > Com)<\/td>\n		-IR verbs
\n(Vivir > Viv)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yo<\/td>\n-o<\/td>\n-o<\/td>\n-o<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T\u00fa<\/td>\n-as<\/td>\n-es<\/td>\n-es<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c9l\/Ella\/Usted<\/td>\n-a<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n-e<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nosotros<\/td>\n-amos<\/td>\n-emos<\/td>\n-imos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vosotros<\/td>\n-\u00e1is<\/td>\n-\u00e9is<\/td>\n-\u00eds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellos\/Ellas\/Ustedes<\/td>\n-an<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n-en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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If we want to say He eats<\/i><\/b> we can go to the Comer<\/b> (<\/i>to eat<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> column, look down at the \u00e9l\/ella\/usted<\/b> line and see that we need to add \u2013e<\/b> to the stem Com-<\/b> which becomes come<\/b>. There you go – you\u2019ve just conjugado <\/b>(<\/i>conjugated<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> your first verb in Spanish! One thing we should say here is that in Spanish we often omit the personal pronouns<\/b> as they are not really necessary unless we want to emphasise something. For instance, I live<\/i><\/b> looks like it should be Yo vivo<\/b> but really we would only say Vivo<\/b> as the ending \u2013o <\/b>tells us who we are talking about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The table above applies for all regular \u2013ar\/-er\/-ir<\/b> verbs, so you can very easily make lots of phrases simply by using it and thinking about which person you want to talk about.<\/p>\n

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When the rules don\u2019t apply<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
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Like with any language, Spanish verbs don\u2019t all follow the same rules, and many have either spelling changes or are stem-changing<\/b>. What does that mean? Ok, so we said that the stem of hablar <\/b>(<\/i>to live<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> is habl-<\/b>, so the verb comenzar <\/b>(<\/i>to start<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> should be comenz-<\/b> for all forms of the present, right? Wrong! When we want to say I start<\/i><\/b> we need to say Com<\/b>i<\/b><\/span>enzo<\/b>, not comenzo<\/b><\/span>. This is an example of the sorts of changes we have to be careful with in the presente de indicativo <\/b>(<\/i>present simple<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> in Spanish. Let\u2019s look at them in more detail.<\/p>\n

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Spelling Changes in the presente de indicativo<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
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For some verbs (which you\u2019ll just have to learn as you go along), in the Yo <\/b>(<\/i>I<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>form, the spelling changes so that we can preserve the right pronunciation<\/b>. Here are the main groups of verbs which do this and an example for each one.<\/p>\n