Spanish, differently from English, has a lot of verb conjugations.
In a table below there are 50 most useful Spanish verbs covered in our Basic Course.
Table 1. Spanish most important verbs
| Irregular | Regular -AR | Regular -ER | Regular -IR |
|---|---|---|---|
| ser | olvidar | entender | repetir |
| estar | ayudar | obtener | vivir |
| haber | hablar | comer | abrir |
| tener | llamar | beber | venir |
| hacer | amar | deber | |
| ir | dar | ||
| decir | buscar | ||
| ver | desear | ||
| querer | gustar | ||
| saber | vjahar | ||
| llegar | necesitar | ||
| creer | regresar | ||
| encontrar | trabajar | ||
| conocer | comprar | ||
| dormir | bailar | ||
| cerrar | |||
| sentar | |||
| tocar | |||
| abrazar | |||
| costar | |||
| estudiar | |||
| quedar | |||
| igualar | |||
| descansar | |||
| dejar | |||
| esperar | |||
| escuchar | |||
| mirar |
Each of them has main or infinitive form
which we see in the table and 203 different forms more. 204 forms for each verb(!WTF). So, for 50 verbs we have
more than 10,000 (ten thousands) forms.
But do we need to memorize every one of them? No.
How many of them? Lets decide.
One of the factors that defines our decision is how much time we have. If we have ticket to Colombia next week,
we don't have time for any conjugations.
We just learn the form provided in the basic course plus infinitive. We still will be able to express ourselves,
though we will sound a bit ridiculous. But we do not care.
Now, if we have one month before travel we will learn Indicative Present Tense forms for regular and irregular words.
For irregular those forms should be simply memorized. We have them in the table below.
You can open them in our dictionary. (Open dictionary app in another browser tab and search for verb.)
Table 2. Indicative Present Tense irregular verbs
| yo | tú | él/ella/Ud. | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/Uds. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ser | soy | eres | es | somos | sois | son |
| estar | estoy | estás | está | estamos | estáis | están |
| haber | he | has | ha,hay | hemos | habéis | han |
| tener | tengo | tienes | tiene | tenemos | tenéis | tienen |
| hacer | hago | haces | hace | hacemos | hacéis | hacen |
| ir | voi | vas | va | vamos | vais | van |
| decir | digo | dices | dice | decimos | decis | dicen |
| ver | veo | ves | ve | vemos | veis | ven |
| querer | quiero | quieres | quiere | queremos | queréis | quieren |
| saber | sé | sabes | sabe | sabemos | sabéis | saben |
| encontrar | encuentro | encuentras | encuentra | encontramos | encontráis | encuentran |
| conocer | conozco | conoces | conoce | conocemos | conocéis | conocen |
| dormir | duermo | duermes | duerme | dormimos | dormís | duermen |
For regular verbs we don't need to memorize forms, we just need to remember several simple rules.
Look at table below.
Lets take for example one regular verb from each group: bailar, comer and abrir.
Table 3. Indicative Present Tense regular verbs examples
| yo | tú | él/ella/Ud. | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/Uds. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailar | bailo | bailas | baila | bailamos | bailáis | bailan |
| comer | como | comes | come | comemos | coméis | comen |
| abrir | abro | abres | abre | abrimos | abrís | abren |
Rule 1: For singular first person (yo) we remove infinitive suffix (ar, er, ir) and add "o" instead.
Rule 2: For singular second person (tu) we remove last letter (r) and add "s" instead. Also for IR verbs we change penultimative letter "i" to "e".
Rule 3: For singular third person (él/ella/Ud.) we just remove last letter (r). Also for IR verbs we change last letter "i" to "e".
Rule 4: For plural first person (nosotros) we remove last letter (r) and add "mos" instead.
Rule 5: For plural second person (vosotros) we remove last letter (r) and add "is" instead. Stress goes to last syllable.
In IR verbs second "i" dropped: instead of abriis we got abris.
Rule 6: For plural second person (ellos/ellas/Uds.) we remove last letter (r) and add "n" instead. Also for IR verbs we change penultimative letter "i" to "e".
Ok, we finished with Present Tense.
Now, what about Past and Future?
We will use Present Perfect for the past tense and Future Perfect for the future tense.
Future Perfect for the future sounds perfect, but why Present Perfect for the past?
Actually, in Spanish, Present Perfect used for actions that started in the past or happened in the recent past.
So, it is not a mistake at all.
Present Perfect formed by next formula:
present of haber + past participle of the verb
Look at examples in the table below.
Table 4. Present Perfect for the past examples
| yo | tú | él/ella/Ud. | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/Uds. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailar | he bailado | has bailado | ha bailado | hemos bailado | habéis bailado | han bailado |
| comer | he comido | has comido | ha comido | hemos comido | habéis comido | han comido |
| vivir | he vivido | has vivido | ha vivido | hemos vivido | habéis vivido | han vivido |
Another rule: To create past participle form from indefinite form, we remove last letter "r" and add "do" instead. In ER verbs we also change "e" to "i", so intead of "comedo" we got "comido".
Future Perfect formed by next formula:
future of haber + past participle of the verb
Table 5. Future Perfect examples
| yo | tú | él/ella/Ud. | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/Uds. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bailar | habré bailado | habrás bailado | habrá bailado | habremos bailado | habréis bailado | habrán bailado |
| comer | habré comido | habrás comido | habrá comido | habremos comido | habréis comido | habrán comido |
| vivir | habré vivido | habrás vivido | habrá vivido | habremos vivido | habréis vivido | habrán vivido |