Presente -ar

¿Hablas español?

All three lessons in this unit are dedicated to the Spanish Present tense. As there are three groups of verbs that have different endings (ar, er, ir), they have slightly different forms in Presente. We will start by the first group with the -ar ending.

The Present Simple tense in Spanish is called Presente Simple or Presente de Indicativo. We can just call it Presente.

You are already familiar with the verbs ser and estar, which were conjugated in Presente, as well. But these two verbs are irregular. You needed to memorize each form individually.

The verbs we are going to work with are regular and all personal endings have the same pattern. If you know all the forms of hablar, you will be able to use trabajar, escuchar, comprar, etc. in each person.

hablar

yo hablo – I speak

tú hablas – you speak

él habla – he speaks

ella habla – she speaks

usted habla – you speak

nosotros hablamos – we speak

vosotros habláis – you speak

ellos hablan – they speak

ellas hablan – they speak

ustedes hablan – you speak

Yo hablo español – I speak Spanish

Tú hablas inglés – You speak English

Nosotros hablamos mucho – We speak a lot

Let’s have a look at how these forms are produced. To conjugate the verb we need to cut the -ar ending off and replace it with the right personal ending.

Learn the personal endings for the verbs of the first group:

yo: o

tú: as

él, ella, usted: a

nosotros: amos

vosotros: áis

ellos, ellas, ustedes: an

Try it yourself:

trabajar

yo trabaj — …

tú — …

él, ella, usted — …

nosotros — …

vosotros — …

ellos, ellas, ustedes — …

Conjugate the following verbs yourself:

comprar (to buy)

escuchar (to listen)

estudiar (to study, to learn)

Pablo trabaja mucho — Pablo works a lot

Nosotros compramos comida en esta tienda — We buy food in this shop

¿Dónde estudias? — Where do you study?

No escucho música en coche — I don’t listen to music in the car

As all Spanish verbs are very independent, you can say the same sentences without personal pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc.)

Yo trabajo en la fábrica = Trabajo en la fábrica

Nosotros estudiamos español = Estudiamos español

As for the Spanish speakers themselves, they don’t like adding personal pronouns to every phrase. So the short options are more likely to be used.

Try it yourself:

Maria works at school

Do you study or work?

You learn Spanish (vosotros)

Where do your parents buy food?

You already know that direct questions can have different types of word order.

The negative sentences with any verb are also very simple. You just grab “no” and put it in front of the verb.

Yo trabajo en esta empresa

Yo no trabajo en esta empresa

Estudiamos inglés

No estudiamos inglés

Try it yourself:

She doesn’t listen to music

I don’t buy a new car

You don’t study at school (usted)

Let’s add some new verbs, for a change.

cantar – to sing

bailar – to dance

preparar – to prepare, to cook

descansar – to rest

Build your own sentences with each verb.

Try it yourself:

What do the children sing?

I dance well

Do you cook food at home? (vosotros)

When do you take a rest?

Preposition a

There is a basic and very important rule in Spanish, that you have to learn once and for all. If an action is directed towards a person, you should use the “a” preposition before the person.

Escucho a Carlos – I listen to Carlos

Daniel llama a su padre – Daniel calls his father

Esperamos a nuestros amigos – We wait for our friends

The “a” preposition is omitted when the same actions are directed to objects.

Compare these sentences:

María escucha música — Maria listens to music

María escucha a Ricardo — Maria listens to Ricardo

Los niños cantan una canción — The children sing a song

Los niños cantan a sus padres — The children sing to their parents

As you see, the Spanish preposition “a” sometimes resembles the English “to”.

Try it yourself:

I call Ana

Carlos buys flowers to his mother

They wait for their teacher

As you saw earlier, the preposition “de” is merged with the article “el” (del). The same happens to the “a” preposition.

a + el = al

Los alumnos escuchan al profesor — The pupils listen to the teacher

Esperamos al señor Gómez — We wait for Sr. Gómez

Llamo al médico – I call the doctor

Make up your own sentences with the following verbs:

preguntar – to ask

contestar – to answer

ayudar – to help

explicar – to explain

Try it yourself:

What do the pupils ask the teacher?

The teacher answers the pupils

We help our granny

The boss explains the job to his secretary

When you need to ask a question with “quién” (who) and there is an action directed to this person, use “a” before “quién”.

¿A quién? – literally, “to whom?”

¿A quién llamas? – Who do you call?

¿A quién preguntan ellos? – Who do they ask?

Try it yourself:

Who do you help?

Who does the teacher answer?

Who does the boss explain to?

And finally, try to stick to the right spelling of the Spanish verbs in Presente. All forms, but nosotros and vosotros, don’t have accents above the ending. The endings of yo, tú, él and ellos shouldn’t be emphasized with an accent.

Don’t say: yo escuchó, él hablá or ellos preparán.