The present tense is the engine of Spanish — you will use it in every theme, every paper. This lesson builds it from the ground up: regular verbs, the stem-changers, the core irregulars, the crucial ser vs estar split, and the present continuous.
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right form, some ask you to produce it by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
A single Spanish present-tense verb can be translated three ways in English. There is no separate word for "am/do":
Why this matters: beginners often try to translate "am" with a word (soy) and write soy estudio. Don't — the ending -o already carries "I". The verb does the whole job.
Every verb has six "persons". You'll rarely write the pronoun (the ending shows who), but you must know them to pick the right ending:
| yo | I |
| tú | you (one friend) |
| él / ella / usted | he / she / you (formal) |
| nosotros / nosotras | we |
| vosotros / vosotras | you all (Spain, informal) |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | they / you all (formal) |
Key: usted and ustedes mean "you" but take the él/ellos endings — a polite quirk. Spanish normally drops the pronoun: just hablo, not yo hablo, unless you want emphasis or to avoid confusion.
Take the infinitive hablar (to speak), chop off -ar, and add the endings:
| person | form |
|---|---|
| yo | hablo |
| tú | hablas |
| él / ella / usted | habla |
| nosotros | hablamos |
| vosotros | habláis |
| ellos / ustedes | hablan |
Same endings for every regular -ar verb: trabajar (work), estudiar (study), escuchar (listen), visitar (visit).
These two families share all their endings except nosotros and vosotros:
| como |
| comes |
| come |
| comemos |
| coméis |
| comen |
| vivo |
| vives |
| vive |
| vivimos |
| vivís |
| viven |
Spot the difference: -er takes -emos / -éis; -ir takes -imos / -ís. Everywhere else they are identical (o, es, e, en).
Choose the correct present-tense ending for each verb.
Some verbs keep regular endings but change the vowel inside the stem — in every form except nosotros and vosotros. Shade the forms that change and you get a boot shape:
| pienso |
| piensas |
| piensa |
| pensamos |
| pensáis |
| piensan |
| puedo |
| puedes |
| puede |
| podemos |
| podéis |
| pueden |
| pido |
| pides |
| pide |
| pedimos |
| pedís |
| piden |
Same-family verbs: querer, empezar, preferir (e→ie); dormir, volver, encontrar, jugar (o→ue, and jugar u→ue); servir, repetir (e→i). The nosotros/vosotros forms never change — that's the top of the boot.
A big group of common verbs is completely regular except for a surprise yo form. Learn the "I" form and the rest fall into place:
| infinitive | yo form |
|---|---|
| hacer (to do/make) | hago |
| poner (to put) | pongo |
| salir (to go out) | salgo |
| conocer (to know a person) | conozco |
| dar (to give) | doy |
| ver (to see) | veo |
Careful: after the yo form, hacer is ordinary — haces, hace, hacemos… Only "I" is odd.
Tap an infinitive on the left, then tap its "I" form on the right.
Five verbs are so common — and so irregular — that AQA expects the full present tense of each. Learn them cold:
| soy |
| eres |
| es |
| somos |
| sois |
| son |
| estoy |
| estás |
| está |
| estamos |
| estáis |
| están |
| voy |
| vas |
| va |
| vamos |
| vais |
| van |
| tengo |
| tienes |
| tiene |
| tenemos |
| tenéis |
| tienen |
| hago |
| haces |
| hace |
| hacemos |
| hacéis |
| hacen |
Notice: tener is a "yo" oddity (tengo) and a boot verb (tienes, tiene, tienen) — two patterns at once.
Spanish has two verbs meaning "to be", and choosing wrongly changes your meaning. The rule of thumb:
Permanent / defining facts: identity, origin, nationality, job, what something is, physical & character description, time & date.
Changeable / where: location, moods & feelings, health, temporary conditions, and the present continuous.
Meaning changes: ser aburrido = to be boring; estar aburrido = to be bored. ser listo = to be clever; estar listo = to be ready. Same adjective, different verb, different meaning.
Choose the verb that fits each gap.
When you want to stress that something is happening at this very moment, use estar + the gerund (the "-ing" form):
Don't overuse it. For habits and general truths, plain present is better: Estudio español ("I study / am studying Spanish" in general), not estoy estudiando unless you mean at this exact second. A few gerunds are irregular: leer → leyendo, dormir → durmiendo, pedir → pidiendo.
Three high-frequency patterns use the present tense where English does something different:
Watch out: never translate "I am hungry" word-for-word as soy/estoy hambre. Feelings like hunger, thirst, fear, cold and age use tener.
Regular: chop -ar/-er/-ir, add endings (o, as/es, a/e, amos/emos/imos, áis/éis/ís, an/en).
Boot verbs: stem vowel changes (e→ie, o→ue, e→i) in all forms except nosotros/vosotros.
"Yo" oddities: hago, pongo, salgo, conozco, doy, veo.
Big five: ser, estar, ir, tener, hacer — learn whole.
ser vs estar: essence & identity vs state & location.
Present continuous: estar + -ando/-iendo for right now.
Idioms: tener for feelings/age, hay = there is/are, hace for weather.
This is the tense every other cluster builds on. Press Finish to see your score.
You've built the present-tense system for AQA GCSE Spanish. 🎉
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Next in the spine: Talking about people — pronouns, negation and questions. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.