Present tense
verbs
Por Amanda Ewoldt
What is a verb?
A verb is a word
that shows action
or existence.
They are action words!
Nadar Tirar
Correr
To swim
To run
To throw
A verb expresses feelings
and emotions…
Estar bravo
To be mad
Estar triste
To be sad
Estar enamorado
To be in love
and other non movement words
like
thinking
believing
having an idea…
and being!
Ser-to be
A verb is what
you do, think and are!
In English, you can tell a word is a verb
if you can insert the word “to”
in front of it.
He walks to the office. to walk
He sings in the boat.
to sing
He runs with the ball.
to run
In Spanish, a verb ends in either
“ar”, “er” or “ir”
Montar en bicicleta
Leer un libro bueno
Recibir un diploma.
When the verb ends in “r”
it is called the infinitive.
When looking up a verb in the
dictionary you would look it up
in the infinitive form.
With the infinitive form you
know what the action is but
you don’t know who is doing
the action.
Esquiar
To ski
Hablar
To talk
Nadar
To swim
In order to tell who (the person)
is doing the action, and
when (the tense) someone
is doing the action you
must conjugate the verb.
When the verb is conjugated
you know…
1.What Is being done (the verb)
2. Who is doing it
(the conjugation ending)
3. And when (the tense).
To conjugate the verb
you change the ending.
To walk → He walk s
To talk → She talks
In English, conjugations in the
present tense only change by
adding an “s”
To walk
I walk
We walk
You walk
You all walk
He or she walks they walk
In English, you must use the
subject pronoun
I, We, You, He, She, They
in order to tell who is doing
the action.
In Spanish, there is a
different verb ending
for every person.
See the different endings….
Caminar
To Walk
Camino
I walk
Caminamos
We walk
Caminas
You walk (Familiar)
Camináis
You all walk (Familiar)
Camina
He or she walks
Caminan
They walk
¿Camina usted?
¿Caminan ustedes?
Do you walk? (formal) Do you all walk? (formal)
Preguntas
1. What is a verb?
A word that shows
action or existence.
2. What is the infinitive form
of a verb?
The verb ending in “r” in Spanish.
The verb before it is conjugated.
3. What is a subject pronoun?
The word before the verb that
says who is doing the action.
I, We, He, She, They, You
4. What is one thing you would
use the infinitive to do?
Look up the verb in the dictionary.
5. Are subject pronouns used
more in English or Spanish?
English
6. What are the subject
pronouns in English?
I, we, you, he, she, they
7. What does it mean to
conjugate a verb?
To change the verb from the
infinitive form to show who is
doing the action and when.
8. What is the tense of the
verb?
It tells when the action is
being done.
9. What three pieces of
information does the conjugated
verb give you?
1. What is being done.
2. Who is doing it.
3. When it is being done.
10. What are the 3 possible verb
endings in Spanish in the
infinitive form?
ar, er and ir
Talking About What People
Are Doing
When conjugating any verb, you start
with the verb in the infinitive. In other
words, the verb when it’s ending in “r”.
caminar
You will drop the ending of the
verb and leave the stem.
caminar
stem
The last thing you do is add the
appropriate verb ending.
camin
stem
In Spanish to talk about yourself
or “I” the verb will end in o or oy.
Yo camin o
If you take away the word “yo”
you still know “I” am the one
talking because the verb ends in “o”.
YoCcamin o
Yo corro
Yo pinto
Yo soy
Nosotros/Nosotras
To say “we” are doing the
action the verb ends in
mos
Nosotros/Nosotras
To say “we” are doing the
action the verb ends in
montar
el bus
amos
Nosotros nadamos
Nosotras patinamos
Nosotros miramos
Él and Ella
To say “he” or “she” is doing the
action the verb ends in “e” or “a”.
Él leer
Ella hablar
Él pint a
ar
Ellos /Ellas
To say “they” are doing the action
the verb ends in “n”.
an or en
Ellos /Ellas
To say “they” are doing the action
the verb ends in “n”.
Ellos ver
en
una película.
Ellos nadar
an.
Ellas bailan.
ar
Usually…
you use the words for “you”
tú and vosotros
usted and ustedes for
asking personal questions
Did you know there were TWO
ways to say You in Spanish?
There is a formal way.
And an informal way.
Tú
To ask a friend or someone
you know well a question using “tú”
the verb ends in “s” Hola ¿Cómo
estás José?
¿Estudias tú en la biblioteca?
¿Escribes tú con la pluma?
Vosotros/Vosotras
When asking a group of friends a
question you use the vosotros form.
Here the the verb ends in
áis, éis, or ís.
Hola amigas
¿Cómo estáis
Vosotras??
¿Camináis mucho vosotros?
¿Miráis vosotros el partido?
When you are asking a person a
question formally, using
“usted” the verb ends in
“e” or “a”
(as in the “él and ella” form)
Mucho gusto
¿Cómo está
usted?
¿Lee usted mucho?
¿Toma usted café?
¿Tiene usted buena idea?
Ustedes
When you are asking more than
one person a question formally,
using “ustedes” the verb ends in
“n” (as in the “ellos and ellas” form)
¿Comen ustedes
en un restaurante?
¿Tienen ustedes
calor?
¿Trabajan ustedes
en una oficina?
Preguntas
1. What letter or letters would a
verb end in when talking about
yourself in Spanish?
o or oy
2. What letters would a verb
end in when talking about
yourself and your friends in
Spanish?
mos
3. What letter would a verb end
in when talking about “Maria” in
Spanish?
e or a
4. What letter would a verb end
in when talking about a man you
know in Spanish?
e or a
5. What letter would a verb end
in when asking the friend you
are talking to a personal
question in Spanish?
s
6. What letters would a verb
end in when asking a personal
question to your group of friends
in Spanish?
áis, éis or ís
7. What letter would a verb end
in when asking your friend’s
mother a question about herself
in Spanish?
e or a
8. What letter would a verb end
in when talking about Juan and
María in Spanish?
n
9. What letters would a verb end
in when talking about you and
your classmates in Spanish?
mos
Tienes 5 segundos
Yo
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Él
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Tú
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Ud.
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Nosotros
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Ellos
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Ella 14352
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Uds.
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Vosotros
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
Ellas
5
2
1
43
o or oy
mos
s
áis, éis, ís
e or a
n
¡Muy bien!
¡Adiós!