Unit 13 · The Present Tense

Picture a menu board at a taquería with a sign that says "Aquí puedes comer bien" (Here you can eat well). The word comer (to eat) is an infinitive. An infinitive is the base form of a verb, the form you find in a dictionary. In English, infinitives usually start with "to": to eat, to speak, to live.

Spanish infinitives do not need a separate word like "to." Instead, they end in one of three pairs of letters: -ar, -er or -ir. Hablar (to speak) ends in -ar. Comer (to eat) ends in -er. Vivir (to live) ends in -ir. These three groups are called the three verb families, and each family has its own set of endings.

When you learn a new verb, look at the last two letters first. They tell you which family the verb belongs to, and the family tells you which endings to use. Trabajar (to work) is an -ar verb. Beber (to drink) is an -er verb. Escribir (to write) is an -ir verb. Knowing the family is the first step to using any verb correctly.

Marisol writes on the kitchen whiteboard: "Yo cocino hoy" (I cook today). She started with cocinar (to cook). To get cocino, she took off the last two letters, -ar, and kept cocin-. That front part is called the stem. The stem carries the meaning of the verb: cocin- means cooking, no matter who does it.

Every regular verb works the same way. Hablar drops -ar and leaves habl-. Comer drops -er and leaves com-. Vivir drops -ir and leaves viv-. Then you add a new ending that matches the person doing the action. This process, changing the verb to match its subject, is called to conjugate a verb.

A common mistake is to keep the whole infinitive and add an ending, as in "hablaro." That form does not exist. Another mistake is to cut off too much, as in "hablo" becoming "hab-o." Cut only the last two letters. Then check: the stem plus the ending should sound like a real word, such as habl + o = hablo (I speak).

At the taquería counter, Marisol talks to many kinds of people. To her brother she says tú (you, informal). To an older customer like Don Ernesto she says usted (you, formal). These words are subject pronouns, the words that stand for the person doing the action. English has one "you," but Spanish has several.

Here is the full set. Yo (I). Tú (you, informal). Él (he), ella (she), usted (you, formal). Nosotros or nosotras (we). Vosotros or vosotras (you all, informal, used mainly in Spain). Ellos or ellas (they), and ustedes (you all). Notice that él has an accent mark. Without it, el means "the."

In Latin America, including Mexico and most Spanish-speaking families in Chicago, ustedes is used for any group of "you all," friendly or formal. In most of Spain, people use vosotros for friends and family and ustedes for formal groups. You should recognize vosotros, but you can use ustedes with anyone and be understood everywhere.

Marisol’s father makes a schedule for who works the counter. "Yo trabajo el lunes, tú trabajas el martes, mamá trabaja el miércoles" (I work Monday, you work Tuesday, Mom works Wednesday). All three forms come from trabajar (to work). The stem trabaj- stays the same, and the ending changes: -o, -as, -a.

Here is hablar (to speak) in all six forms. Yo hablo. Tú hablas. Él, ella or usted habla. Nosotros hablamos. Vosotros habláis. Ellos, ellas or ustedes hablan. The endings are -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. Notice that the vosotros ending, -áis, has an accent mark. The others do not.

English speakers often forget the -s on the tú form and say "tú habla." In English, "you speak" has no special ending, so the -s feels strange. But in Spanish, -s is a strong signal for tú in the present tense. Another mistake is using -o for everyone: "ella hablo." Remember that -o belongs only to yo.

At lunch, Tomás come (eats) a quesadilla while his sister bebe (drinks) agua de horchata. Both verbs are -er verbs: comer (to eat) and beber (to drink). Look at the endings. Come ends in -e, and bebe ends in -e. In -er verbs, the vowel a from the -ar endings switches to e.

Here is comer in all six forms. Yo como. Tú comes. Él, ella or usted come. Nosotros comemos. Vosotros coméis. Ellos, ellas or ustedes comen. The endings are -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. The yo form still ends in -o, just like -ar verbs. That part never changes in regular verbs.

A helpful trick is to think of the -er endings as the -ar endings with e in place of a. Hablas becomes comes. Hablamos becomes comemos. Hablan becomes comen. Learners sometimes mix the families and say "comas" or "coman" for the present. Those are real words, but they belong to a different verb form, so they are wrong here.

Marisol’s family vive (lives) above the taquería. Her aunt’s family lives across town. "Nosotros vivimos aquí, y ellos viven en Pilsen" (We live here, and they live in Pilsen), Marisol explains. Vivir (to live) is an -ir verb, and its endings look almost exactly like the endings for comer.

Here is vivir in all six forms. Yo vivo. Tú vives. Él, ella or usted vive. Nosotros vivimos. Vosotros vivís. Ellos, ellas or ustedes viven. Compare it with comer: como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen. Only two forms are different. Nosotros uses -imos, and vosotros uses -ís.

The most common mistake is saying "vivemos" because comemos sounds so similar. Remember that the nosotros ending keeps the vowel of the infinitive: hablar gives hablamos, comer gives comemos, vivir gives vivimos. The same is true for vosotros: habláis, coméis, vivís. Other common -ir verbs are escribir (to write) and abrir (to open).

A customer asks, "¿Ustedes venden aguas frescas?" (Do you all sell fruit drinks?). To answer, Marisol makes two quick decisions. First, who is the sujeto (subject)? She is answering for the family, so the subject is nosotros. Second, which family is the verb? Vender is an -er verb. So the answer is "Sí, vendemos aguas frescas."

You can use this two-step check on any regular verb. Step one: find the subject and its person. Step two: find the verb family from the infinitive. The ending sits where the two meet. For ellas plus escribir, you get escriben. For tú plus cocinar, you get cocinas. For yo plus any regular verb, you get -o.

Remember that usted and ustedes use the third-person endings, the same as él and ellos, even though they mean "you." So you say "Usted habla muy bien" (You speak very well), not "usted hablas." This surprises many English speakers, because in English "you" never sounds like "he." In Spanish, usted borrows the él form of the verb.

When Marisol’s father unlocks the door, he says, "Abro a las siete," not "Yo abro a las siete." The -o ending on abro already means "I." Saying yo is not wrong, but most of the time native speakers leave it out. Spanish is sometimes called a pro-drop language because it can drop the subject pronoun.

English cannot do this. "Open at seven" sounds like a command, not a statement about yourself. That is why English speakers learning Spanish tend to put yo or tú in every sentence. It is correct grammar, but it can sound stiff or even a little pushy, as if you were stressing "I, and not someone else."

Speakers do keep the pronoun in three situations. They keep it for contrast: "Yo cocino y tú lavas" (I cook and you wash). They keep it for emphasis. And they keep it when the verb form could mean more than one person, since habla can mean he, she or you (usted). In that case, saying ella habla or usted habla makes it clear.

Don Ernesto says, "Como aquí todos los días" (I eat here every day). That is a habit. A minute later his phone rings, and he says, "No puedo hablar, como ahora" (I can’t talk, I’m eating now). Both times he uses como. The same Spanish presente (present tense) covers "I eat" and "I am eating."

English has two present forms, the simple present (I eat) and the progressive (I am eating). Spanish often uses just one. That is why "¿Qué haces?" can mean "What do you do?" or "What are you doing?" Context tells you which. Words like ahora (now) point to right now, and todos los días (every day) points to a habit.

A very common mistake is to translate "I am eating" word for word as "Yo soy comiendo" or "Yo estoy como." Neither is correct. For most everyday sentences, the simple present is enough: "Como." Spanish does have a progressive form, estoy comiendo, but you will learn that later. For now, trust the simple present.

Marisol takes orders and notices patterns. "Don Ernesto siempre pide pastor" (Don Ernesto always orders pastor). "Las enfermeras a veces comen aquí" (The nurses sometimes eat here). "Mi hermano nunca lava los platos sin quejarse" (My brother never washes the dishes without complaining). These words tell how often something happens.

Siempre (always) and a veces (sometimes) are flexible. They can go before the verb, after it, or at the end: "A veces trabajo," "Trabajo a veces." Other useful ones are todos los días (every day), los lunes (on Mondays) and casi nunca (almost never). Notice that "los lunes" with los means every Monday, a repeated habit.

Nunca (never) usually goes right before the verb: "Nunca como carne" (I never eat meat). If you put it after the verb, Spanish needs no in front: "No como carne nunca." English speakers often say "Como nunca carne," following English word order. That sounds wrong. Put nunca first, or use no plus the verb plus nunca.

Daniel’s mom says, "Yo hago las maletas" (I pack the suitcases, literally I make the suitcases). If hacer (to do, to make) were regular, the yo form would be "haco." But it is hago. Hacer belongs to a small group called the yo-go verbs, because the yo form ends in -go.

Four of the most useful yo-go verbs are hacer, poner (to put), salir (to leave, go out) and traer (to bring). Their yo forms are hago, pongo, salgo and traigo. Here is the good news: in the other forms, they are regular. Hacer goes hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen. Salir goes salgo, sales, sale, salimos, salís, salen.

A common mistake is to keep the g in every form: "tú hagas" or "ella pongue." Only yo gets the g. Another mistake is to make yo regular: "yo salo" or "yo trao." Those forms sound natural to a learner, but no native speaker says them. Memorize the yo form and use regular endings everywhere else.

Ana asks her brother, "¿Tienes el pasaporte?" (Do you have the passport?). Daniel checks his backpack. "Sí, tengo el pasaporte" (Yes, I have the passport). Tener (to have) is a yo-go verb, but it has an extra twist. In some forms, the e in the stem becomes ie: tienes, tiene, tienen.

Here is tener in full: tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen. Venir (to come) follows the same shape: vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís, vienen. Notice that nosotros and vosotros keep the plain stem. You will learn more about this stem change, called the boot pattern, in the next unit.

Decir (to say, to tell) is similar but changes e to i: digo, dices, dice, decimos, decís, dicen. English speakers often say "yo teno" or "tú tenes" because they expect a regular pattern. Practice these three verbs out loud until tengo, vengo and digo sound automatic, because you will use them every day.

Daniel says, "No conozco a los primos" (I don’t know the cousins). Conocer (to know, to be familiar with) is regular in every form except yo, where it adds a z: conozco. Many verbs ending in -cer or -cir after a vowel do the same, like parecer (parezco) and traducir (traduzco).

Dar (to give) has the yo form doy, and the rest is simple: das, da, damos, dais, dan. Notice that dais has no accent because it is only one syllable. Ver (to see) has the yo form veo, and then ves, ve, vemos, veis, ven. These verbs are short, so the irregular yo form stands out.

Saber (to know a fact) has the most surprising yo form of all: sé. It has an accent mark to tell it apart from se, a different little word. The rest of saber is regular: sabes, sabe, sabemos, sabéis, saben. Learners often write "yo sabo," which follows the pattern but is wrong. Say "No sé" (I don’t know) every time you want to practice.

Kevin asks Daniel, "¿Sabes cuándo sales?" (Do you know when you leave?). Daniel answers, "Sí, sé la fecha: el quince" (Yes, I know the date: the fifteenth). A date is a fact, a piece of information. When you know information, Spanish uses saber. English uses one verb, know, for many things. Spanish splits it into two.

Saber is also used before an infinitive to mean "to know how to." "Sé nadar" means "I know how to swim." "Mi abuela sabe cocinar birria" means "My grandmother knows how to cook birria." Notice that Spanish does not need a word for "how" in this meaning. English speakers often add cómo, but "sé cómo nadar" is not the usual way to say it.

Saber often comes before question words or si (whether, if). "No sé dónde está el pasaporte" (I don’t know where the passport is). "¿Sabes si llueve en Guadalajara?" (Do you know if it rains in Guadalajara?). If the thing you know could be written down as an información (piece of information), saber is usually the right choice.

Ana asks, "¿Conoces a los primos?" (Do you know the cousins?). You cannot write a person down as a fact, so this is conocer. Conocer means to know in the sense of being acquainted or familiar. You conocer a person, a city, a restaurant or a song. "Conozco Chicago muy bien" (I know Chicago very well).

When the thing you know is a person, Spanish adds a small word, a, before the person. This is called the a personal. "Conozco a tu mamá" (I know your mom). "No conocemos a los primos" (We don’t know the cousins). There is no English word for it, so English speakers often leave it out. With places, you do not use it: "Conozco Guadalajara."

Conocer can also mean to meet someone for the first time. "El lunes vamos a conocer a los primos" means "On Monday we are going to meet the cousins." So a quick test helps: if you mean acquainted with or meet, use conocer. If you mean information or how to do something, use saber.

Daniel’s grandmother calls on video. "¿Sabes mi dirección?" (Do you know my address?). "Sí, abuela, la sé" (Yes, Grandma, I know it). "¿Y conoces mi barrio?" (And do you know my neighborhood?). "No, no lo conozco" (No, I don’t know it). One conversation, both verbs, and each has its own job.

Here is a quick prueba (test) you can run in your head. Can you finish the sentence with a fact, a question word or an infinitive? Then use saber: sé que, sé dónde, sé nadar. Is the thing a person, a place or something you have experienced, like a book or a song? Then use conocer: conozco a Ana, conozco Pilsen, conozco esa canción.

Heritage speakers usually choose correctly by ear, but it helps to name the rule when writing. New learners often choose saber for everything because it feels closer to "know." A good habit is to picture the object. If you can shake hands with it or walk around in it, you probably need conocer.

Daniel tells his friend, "Voy a Guadalajara" (I’m going to Guadalajara). Voy comes from the infinitive ir (to go). Ir is so irregular that none of its present forms look like the infinitive. You cannot find a stem to drop. You just memorize it: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van.

The good news is that once you learn voy, the rest follows an -ar pattern with the letter v: v-as, v-a, v-amos, v-ais, v-an. The vosotros form, vais, has no accent because it is one syllable. Ir is almost always followed by a (to) and a place. When a meets el, they join into al: "Vamos al centro" (We’re going downtown).

Learners sometimes say "yo vo" or "nosotros imos," trying to build forms from ir. Others forget the contraction and say "a el parque." Spanish always writes al for a + el. But a + la stays two words: "Voy a la playa" (I’m going to the beach). Only el combines.

Kevin texts, "¿Qué vas a hacer allá?" (What are you going to do there?). Daniel answers, "Voy a comer mucho" (I’m going to eat a lot). This pattern is called ir a + infinitive. It works just like "going to" in English, which makes it one of the easiest ways to talk about the futuro (future).

The formula has three parts. First, conjugate ir for the subject: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van. Second, add a. Third, add the verb in its infinitive form, with no changes. "Ana va a visitar a la abuela." "Nosotros vamos a salir el viernes." "Ustedes van a conocer a los primos." Only ir changes; the second verb never does.

The two most common mistakes are forgetting a and conjugating the second verb. "Voy comer" is missing a. "Voy a como" conjugates the second verb, which is wrong. Check both parts each time. You can also add time words to show when: mañana (tomorrow), el fin de semana (the weekend), esta noche (tonight).

Before the trip, Daniel’s friends plan a weekend in Chicago. Kevin says, "El sábado voy a jugar fútbol en el parque. ¿Vienes?" (On Saturday I’m going to play soccer in the park. Are you coming?). Daniel says, "No puedo. Tengo que hacer la maleta" (I can’t. I have to pack). Tener que plus an infinitive means "to have to."

Plans often mix the present and ir a. The present can describe a fixed schedule: "El vuelo sale el viernes" (The flight leaves on Friday). Ir a describes what you intend: "Voy a dormir en el avión" (I’m going to sleep on the plane). Both are correct, and native speakers use them side by side in the same conversation.

Days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo. Use el for one day (el sábado, this Saturday) and los for a habit (los sábados, on Saturdays). Put it all together and you can say a lot: "El fin de semana salgo con mi familia y vamos a comer en casa de mi tía."

On the plane, Daniel writes a short message to post when he lands. "Hoy voy a Guadalajara. Traigo regalos para mi abuela. No conozco a mis primos, pero voy a conocerlos mañana. No sé qué vamos a hacer, pero sé que vamos a comer bien." Every verb from this chapter is in those few lines.

Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco and one of the largest cities in Mexico. Jalisco is widely known as the home of mariachi music and of tequila, which is named after a town in the state. People from Guadalajara are often called tapatíos (people from Guadalajara). Many families in Chicago have roots in Jalisco and visit relatives there.

When you describe a trip, start with where you are going (voy a…), then what you bring or do (traigo, hago), then who or what you know (conozco, sé), and finish with plans (voy a + infinitive). This simple order helps you write a clear paragraph. It also lets you check each verb against the rule you learned for it.