Present Tense — regular -ar, -er, -ir verbs

Spanish verbs belong to three families (-ar, -er, -ir). Drop the ending to get the stem, then add a new ending for each subject. One present tense covers both 'I speak' and 'I am speaking'.

Every Spanish verb in the dictionary ends in -ar, -er or -ir. This ending decides which set of endings you'll add. To conjugate, you chop off the last two letters to get the 'stem', then attach the ending that matches your subject.

Good news for English speakers: the Spanish present tense does the work of several English structures. 'Hablo' can mean 'I speak', 'I am speaking', and 'I do speak'. You don't need a separate continuous form for most situations.

The -er and -ir endings are almost identical — they only differ in the nosotros and vosotros forms — so once you learn -ar and -er, -ir is nearly free.

Structure: stem + ending (the ending shows who acts and replaces the need for a pronoun)

-ar verbs: hablar (to speak)

yo hablo · tú hablas · él/ella/usted habla
nosotros hablamos · vosotros habláis · ellos/ustedes hablan

Hablo dos idiomas. I speak two languages. hablar → hablo (yo)
Mis padres trabajan mucho. My parents work a lot. trabajar → trabajan (ellos)

-er verbs: comer (to eat)

yo como · tú comes · él/ella/usted come
nosotros comemos · vosotros coméis · ellos/ustedes comen

¿Comes carne? Do you eat meat? comer → comes (tú)
Bebemos agua todos los días. We drink water every day. beber → bebemos (nosotros)

-ir verbs: vivir (to live)

Notice these match -er endings everywhere except nosotros (-imos) and vosotros (-ís).

yo vivo · tú vives · él/ella/usted vive
nosotros vivimos · vosotros vivís · ellos/ustedes viven

¿Dónde vives? Where do you live? vivir → vives (tú)
Escribimos correos cada mañana. We write emails every morning. escribir → escribimos (nosotros)

What the present tense expresses

This single tense stretches across several English meanings.

Habitual actions: Estudio español los lunes. (I study Spanish on Mondays.)
Current/ongoing actions: ¿Qué haces? — Leo un libro. (What are you doing? — I'm reading a book.)
General truths: El sol sale por el este. (The sun rises in the east.)
Near-future plans (with a time marker): Mañana viajo a Madrid. (Tomorrow I travel to Madrid.)

Todos los días corro en el parque. Every day I run in the park. habit
Este fin de semana visito a mi abuela. This weekend I'm visiting my grandmother. present used for a near-future plan

A quick note on common irregular verbs

A few very frequent verbs don't follow the pattern. You'll meet them constantly, so it helps to recognise them now — several have their own lessons.

ser (to be): soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son
estar (to be): estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están
ir (to go): voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van
tener (to have): tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen

Voy al trabajo y estoy cansado. I go to work and I'm tired. ir (voy) and estar (estoy) are irregular

Common mistakes

✗ Yo soy hablo español. ✓ Hablo español. Don't add ser — hablo already means 'I speak'.
✗ Nosotros comen juntos. ✓ Comemos juntos. Match the ending to the subject: nosotros → comemos.
✗ Estoy hablando español ahora... (when you just mean 'I speak') ✓ Hablo español. The simple present already covers ongoing actions; reserve estar + -ando for emphasising 'right now'.