Spanish Verb Conjugation: Endings, Tenses, and Key Verbs
Spanish verbs change their ending to show who is doing the action and when. Every verb belongs to one of three families based on its infinitive ending: -ar, -er, or -ir. Learn those three sets of endings, add a short list of irregular verbs you will use constantly, and you can conjugate the great majority of Spanish. This guide covers the tables, the top irregulars, the present, past and future, and sentences to say out loud.
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How conjugation works: the three groups
Every Spanish verb has an infinitive ending in -ar, -er, or -ir. To conjugate a regular verb in the present, drop that ending to get the stem, then add the ending that matches the subject. That single move covers thousands of verbs.
- -ar verbs. The largest group, including hablar (to speak), trabajar (to work), and estudiar (to study).
- -er verbs. Verbs like comer (to eat) and beber (to drink).
- -ir verbs. Verbs like vivir (to live) and escribir (to write). Their endings are almost identical to -er verbs.
En español, los verbos se conjugan según tres grupos: -ar, -er, e -ir. La conjugación en presente se forma cambiando la terminación del verbo según la persona. Por ejemplo, el verbo 'hablar' se conjuga como 'hablo' y 'hablamos'.
Because the ending already tells you who the subject is, Spanish normally leaves the pronoun out. Hablo means "I speak" with no need for yo, and hablamos means "we speak." You add the pronoun only for emphasis or to clear up who you mean.
The present tense, three regular models
Here are the three regular patterns together. The endings are in bold. Notice how close the -er and -ir columns are; they differ only in the nosotros and vosotros forms.
| Subject | hablar (-ar) | comer (-er) | vivir (-ir) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablo | como | vivo |
| tú | hablas | comes | vives |
| él/ella/usted | habla | come | vive |
| nosotros | hablamos | comemos | vivimos |
| vosotros | habláis | coméis | vivís |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hablan | comen | viven |
Present tense of hablar (to speak), comer (to eat), and vivir (to live). Vosotros is used mainly in Spain; Latin America uses ustedes for a group.
The irregular verbs you cannot avoid
A handful of irregular verbs carry an enormous share of everyday Spanish, so learn these before the rest. Two of them, ser and estar, both translate as "to be" but are used differently.
| Subject | ser (be) | estar (be) | tener (have) | ir (go) | hacer (do/make) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | soy | estoy | tengo | voy | hago |
| tú | eres | estás | tienes | vas | haces |
| él/ella/usted | es | está | tiene | va | hace |
| nosotros | somos | estamos | tenemos | vamos | hacemos |
| vosotros | sois | estáis | tenéis | vais | hacéis |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | son | están | tienen | van | hacen |
Ser vs estar: use ser for permanent or defining facts, like identity and origin (soy de México, I'm from Mexico), and estar for states, feelings, and location (estoy cansado, I'm tired; está en casa, he's at home). This split trips up every learner, so drill the two in real sentences rather than as a rule.
Examples you can say out loud
Talking about the past: the preterite
The preterite (pretérito) is the past tense for completed, one-time actions: what happened. Regular -ar verbs and regular -er/-ir verbs each take their own endings.
| Subject | hablar, past | comer, past | English (hablar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablé | comí | I spoke |
| tú | hablaste | comiste | you spoke |
| él/ella/usted | habló | comió | he/she spoke |
| nosotros | hablamos | comimos | we spoke |
| vosotros | hablasteis | comisteis | you all spoke |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hablaron | comieron | they spoke |
Note the accent marks on hablé and habló. They fall on the last syllable and are the difference between "I speak" (hablo) and "he spoke" (habló), so they matter for meaning, not just spelling.
Talking about the future
The easiest future is ir a plus an infinitive, the mirror of English "going to." Take ir in the present, add a, then the verb: voy a hablar (I'm going to speak), vamos a comer (we're going to eat). You can use this from your first week, long before the full future tense.
More sentences to practice
Do not conjugate irregular verbs with the regular endings (Confundir las terminaciones de los verbos regulares con los irregulares). "I have" is tengo, not "teno," and "I am" is soy or estoy, never "ero." Learn the irregular forms as whole words.
Practice by subject rather than by verb (Practica la conjugación de verbos en presente diariamente). Say the "yo" form of five verbs in a row, then the "tú" form, and so on. The endings repeat across every regular verb in a group, so this trains the pattern into your ear instead of memorizing each verb from scratch.
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Frequently asked questions
¿Por qué es importante la conjugación de verbos?
Es importante porque permite expresar correctamente quién realiza la acción y en qué tiempo. Como el verbo indica la persona, en español a menudo se omite el pronombre: hablo ya significa 'yo hablo'.
What are the three types of Spanish verbs?
Spanish verbs are grouped by their infinitive ending: -ar verbs like hablar, -er verbs like comer, and -ir verbs like vivir. Each group has its own set of endings, and once you know the three patterns you can conjugate most regular verbs.
Which Spanish verbs should I learn first?
Learn the high-frequency irregular verbs early: ser and estar (two verbs for 'to be'), tener (to have), ir (to go), and hacer (to do or make). They come up in almost every conversation and several are used to build other tenses.
What is the difference between ser and estar?
Both mean 'to be.' Ser is for permanent or defining traits: identity, origin, and what something fundamentally is (soy profesor). Estar is for states, feelings, and location: how or where something is right now (estoy cansado, estoy en casa).
Do I need to use the pronoun with a Spanish verb?
Usually not. Because the verb ending already shows who the subject is, Spanish drops the pronoun most of the time. Hablas means 'you speak' on its own, and you add tú only for emphasis or contrast.