Spanish Verb Forms
Spanish verbs are classified into three forms based on whether the infinitive form ends in ‘-ar’, ‘-er’, or ‘-ir’.

What is an infinitive from?
The infinitive is the most basic form in Spanish verbs. Verbs in this form does not show who is doing the action or when does it happen.

Infinitive verbs in English are indicated by the word ‘to’: cantar ‘to sing’, escoger ‘to choose’, escribir ‘to write’.
Infinitive verbs in Spanish are only one word, which are indicated by the verb itself, with the ending ‘-ar’, ‘-er’, or ‘-ir’.

We can say that the verb form can be divided into a ‘stem’, which often remains the same, and an ending which changes.


Present Indicative and Present Subjunctive
The ending for the present subjunctive comes from the present indicative. The reason is that the stem of the present subjunctive verbs is indicated by the 1st person singular form ‘yo’ of present indicative.

Present Subjunctive Forms
Rule
Subjunctive forms are created by changing the vowel in the indicative verb ending. Attach the present subjunctive ending to the ‘stem’ to form the subjunctive verbs.
Tips
Stem = ‘yo’ form of present indicative removing the ‘o’ at the end.

• canto = cant-
• escojo = escoj-
• escribo = escrib-

Regular Present Subjunctive Endings

PERSON	SUBJECT	VERB ENDINGS
		- ar	- er and - ir
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	e	a
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	es	as
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	e	a
Plural
1st person	nosotros (we)	emos	amos
2nd person	vosotros (you)	éis	áis
3rd person	ustedes, ellos, ellas (they)	en	an

Regular Present Indicative and Present Subjunctive Verb Forms
Example Words

• cantar (to sing)
• escoger (to choose)
• escribir (to write)

Regular Present Indicative

PERSON	SUBJECT	CANTAR	ESCOGER	ESCRIBIR
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	canto	escojo	escribo
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	cantas	escoges	escribes
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	canta	escoge	escribe
Plural
1st person	yo (I)	cantamos	escogemos	escribimos
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	cantáis	escogéis	escribís
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	cantan	escogen	escriben

Regular Present Subjunctive

PERSON	SUBJECT	CANTAR	ESCOGER	ESCRIBIR
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	cante	escoja	escriba
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	cantes	escojas	escribas
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	cante	escoja	escriba
Plural
1st person	yo (I)	cantemos	escojamos	escribamos
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	cantéis	escojáis	escribáis
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	canten	escojan	escriban

Irregular Present Indicative and Present Subjunctive Verb Forms
Radical Changing Verbs
In some cases, there are different vowels that present in verb’s ‘stem’, for example quiera ‘I want’ but queramos ‘we want’.

A. The -ar and -er Conjugations
In ‘-ar’ and ‘-er’ conjugations, spoken stress falls on the stem rather than the ending.

Rule
The final stem vowel is changed in the 1st, 2nd, excluding the ‘vos’ form and 3rd persons singular, and in the 3rd person plural.

• ‘e’ is changed to ‘ie’
• ‘o’ is changed to ‘ue’

Example Words

• empezar (to begin)
• contar (to count)
• descender (to fall)
• doler (to hurt)

Regular Present Indicative

PERSON	SUBJECT	EMPEZAR	CONTAR	DESCENDER	DOLER
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	empiezo	cuento	desciendo	duelo
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	empiezas	cuentas	desciendes	dueles
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	empieza	cuenta	desciende	duele
Plural
1st person	yo (I)	empezamos	contamos	descendemos	dolemos
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	empezáis	contáis	descendéis	doléis
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	empiezan	cuentan	descienden	duelen

B. The –ir Conjugations
There are 2 types of situations in the ‘-ir’ conjugation.

Rule
1. Works same as the ‘-ar’ and ‘-er’ conjugations.

• ‘e’ is changed to ‘ie’
• ‘o’ is changed to ‘ue’

2. The final stem vowel changed in ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’ form.

• ‘e’ is changed to ‘ie’
• ‘o’ is changed to ‘ue’

Example Words

• mentir (to lie)
• preferir (to prefer)
• impedir (to prevent)
• dormir (to sleep)

d>

PERSON	SUBJECT	MENTIR	PREFIRIR	IMPEDIR	DORMIR
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	miento	prefiero	impido	duermo
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	mientes	prefieres	impides	duermes
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	miente	prefiere	impide	duerme
Plural
1st person	yo (I)	mentimos	preferimos	impedimos	dormimos
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	mentís	preferís	impedís	dormís
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	mienten	prefieren	impiden	duermen

Tips
Radical changing verbs never occur in the 1st or 2nd persons plural of the present indicative.

Orthography Changing Verbs
In Spanish orthography, there might be changes of spelling required depending on the vowel after a ‘stem’. This happens to prevent wrong pronunciations in Spanish.

A. ‘-ar’ Verbs
The present subjunctive is changed when the following vowel is ‘e’.

• ‘g’ to ‘gu’ : pagar ‘to pay’
• ‘z’ to ‘c’ : empezar ‘to start’
• ‘c’ to ‘qu’ : buscar ‘to look for’

PERSON	SUBJECT	PAGAR	EMPEZAR	BUSCAR
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	pague	empiece	busque
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	pagues	empieces	busques
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	pague	empiece	busque
Plural
1st person	yo (I)	paguemos	empecemos	busquemos
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	paguéis	empecéis	busquéis
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	paguen	empiecen	busquen

B. ‘-er’ and ‘-ir’ Verbs
The present subjunctive is changed for ‘gu’, 'g', 'c'.

‘gu’ to ‘g’ : seguir to siga ‘g’ to ‘j’ : escoger to escoja ‘c’ to ‘z’ : vencer to venzo

PERSON	SUBJECT	SEGUIR	ESCOGER	VENCER
Singular
1st person	yo (I)	siga	escoja	venza
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	sigas	escojas	venzas
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	siga	escoja	venza
Plural
1st person	yo (I)	sigamos	escojamos	venzamos
2nd person	tú, vos (you)	sigáis	escojáis	venzáis
3rd person	usted, él, ella (he/ she)	sigan	escojan	venzan

Regular Imperative Forms
Rule
The imperative singular forms are usually similar to the 3rd person singular present indicative forms.
While the plural imperative forms are formed by replacing the infinitive's final ‘r' with a ‘d.'

Verbs with Idiosyncratic Irregularities (Indicative Forms)

SER ‘be’	ESTAR ‘be’	IR ‘go’	DAR ‘give’	VER ‘see’	HABER (aux.)	SABER ‘know’
soy	estoy	voy	doy	veo	he	sé
eres	estás	vas	das	ves	has	sabes
es	está	va	da	ve	ha	sabe
somos	estamos	vamos	damos	vemos	hemos	sabemos
sois	estáis	vais	dais	veis	habéis	sabéis
son	están	van	dan	ven	han	saben

Tips
Apart from ser ‘vos sos’ and saber ‘vos sabés’, these verbs do not have distinct ‘vos’ forms.

SER ‘be’	ESTAR ‘be’	IR ‘go’	DAR ‘give’	VER ‘see’	HABER (aux.)	SABER ‘know’
sea	esté	vaya	dé	vea	haya	sepa
seas	estés	vayas	dés	veas	hayas	sepas
sea	esté	vaya	dé	vea	haya	sepa
seamos	estemos	vayamos	demos	veamos	hayamos	sepamos
seáis	estéis	vayáis	deis	veáis	hayáis	sepáis
sean	estén	vayan	den	vean	hayan	sepan