Spanish/How To Conjugate Verbs

Present Indicative
The Present Indicative is the most basic (though not the easiest) and essential tense in Spanish. There are more than few dozen irregular verbs with varying degrees of irregularities. It should be noted that all the second person informal conjugations end with s.

-AR Verbs
-AR verbs are conjugated by removing the "-ar" from the infinitive and adding the endings.

Yo             -o     Nosotros                  -amos Tú            -as    Vosotros                 -áis Usted,él,ella  -a     Ustedes,ellos,ellas       -an

Hablar (to speak)
hablo  hablamos hablas habláis habla  hablan

-ER Verbs
Like the -AR verbs, -ER verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending "-er" and adding the endings.

-o    -emos -es   -éis -e    -en

Beber (to drink)
bebo  bebemos bebes bebéis bebe  beben

Hacer (to make)
hago  hacemos haces haceis hace  hacen

-IR Verbs
-IR verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending "-ir" and adding the endings.

-o    -imos -es   -ís -e    -en

Vivir (to live)
vivo  vivimos vives vivís vive  viven

Ser (to be)
soy   somos eres  sois es    son

Estar (to be)
estoy estamos estás estáis está  están

Ir (to go)
voy   vamos vas   vais va    van

Haber (to have)
he    hemos has   habéis ha/hay han/hay

First Person Singular Irregularity
Some verbs only have irregularity in the first person singular forms.

Verbs with a -cir and -cer endings also replace the c in -cir and -cer with 'zc' in the first person singular form.
 * conocer (to know) - conozco
 * traducir (to translate) - traduzco
 * conducir (to drive) - conduzco

Some verbs end in -go instead of the regular -o for the first person singular form, these are completely irregular.
 * poner (to put) - pongo
 * salir (to leave) - salgo

Also, some verbs end in -jo instead of -o for the first person singular.
 * escoger (to choose) - escojo
 * corregir (to correct) - correjo

Four verbs are uniquely irregular only in the first person singular forms:
 * saber (to know) - sé
 * caber (to fit) - quepo
 * dar (to give) - doy
 * ver (to see) - veo

Stem Changes
Some verbs change their stems when conjugated in these forms: yo, tú, él, ella, usted, ellos, ellas, and ustedes. There are four stem changes in the present tense o to ue, u to ue, e to ie, and e to i. The e to i change only occurs in -IR verbs. The easy way to memorize the change in which forms is called "The Boot." It must be pointed out, however, that using memory techniques to learn a language can prevent one from ever learning the language fluently. Children don't use "tricks" to learn a language (did you?). The way to learn a language is to socially interact with those who speak the language you wish to learn. And remember, never, ever, translate, as it will irreparably impair your ability to learn a new language.

O to Ue - Dormir (to sleep)
duermo   dormimos duermes  dormís duerme   duermen

U to Ue - Jugar (to play)
juego    jugamos juegas   jugáis juega    juegan

E to Ie - Empezar (to begin)
empiezo  empezamos empiezas empezáis empieza  empiezan

E to I - Pedir (to ask/TO ORDER)
pido     pedimos pides    pedís pide     piden

Imperfect
The Imperfect is the easiest tense to learn in Spanish because the conjugations are almost completely regular: there are 3 irregular verbs! In all conjugations of the Imperfect, the first person singular forms (yo) and the third person singular/second person polite forms are same. For example, "caminaba" can mean "he used to walk" or "I was walking."

-AR Verbs
-AR verbs are conjugated by removing the "-ar" and adding the following endings (note accent on nosotros form!):

-aba   -ábamos -abas  -abais -aba   -aban

Estudiar (to study)
estudiaba   estudiábamos estudiabas  estudiabais estudiaba   estudiaban

-ER and -IR Verbs
-ER and -IR Verbs are conjugated identically by removing the "-er" or "-ir" and adding the following endings (note accents on all forms!):

-ía   -íamos -ías  -íais -ía   -ían

Beber (to drink)
bebía   bebíamos bebías  bebíais bebía   bebían

Salir (to leave)
salía  salíamos salías  salíais salía   salían

Irregular Verbs
There are only 3 irregular verbs in the Imperfect tense: Ser, Ir, and Ver.

Ser (to be)
era   éramos eras  erais era   eran

Ir (to go)
iba   íbamos ibas  ibais iba   iban

Ver (to see)
veía   veíamos veías  veíais veía   veían

-AR Verbs
-AR verbs are conjugated by removing the "-ar" from the infinitive and adding the endings.

-é    -amos -aste   -asteis -ó    -aron

Comprar (to buy)
compré    compramos compraste comprasteis compró    compraron

-ER & IR Verbs
Like the -AR verbs, -ER & -IR verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending "-er" or "-ir" and adding the endings.

-í    -imos -iste   -isteis -ió    -ieron

Comer (to eat)
comí      comimos comiste   comisteis comió    comieron

Vivir (to live)
viví  vivimos viviste vivisteis vivío  vivieron

Irregular Verbs
Note: Ir and Ser are identical in the Preterite

Ir (to go) and Ser (to be)
fui  fuimos fuiste  fuisteis fue fueron

Tener (to have)
tuve  tuvimos tuviste  tuvisteis tuvo  tuvieron

Haber (to have auxiliary)
hube  hubimos hubiste  hubisteis hubo  hubieron

Future
In Spanish, especially in Latin American countries, it is more usual to utilise the ir + infinitive verb form (like going to) than the future conjugation.

Example
Yo "Voy a comer" instead of "Comeré" Tu "Vas a comer" instead of "Comerás" El "Va a comer" instead of "Comerá" Nosotros "Vamos a comer" instead of "Comeremos" Vosotros "Vais a comer" instead of "Comeréis" Ellos "Van a comer" instead of "Comerán"

Still it is easy: Remember the present tense of verb "Haber" minus "h" and add to the infinitive form of the verb

The verb "Haber": he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han

For future = é, ás, á, emos, éis, án

Example:Amar
Yo amaré Tu amarás El amará Nosotros amaremos Vosotros amaréis Ellos amarán

Temer
Yo temeré Tú temerás Él temerá Nosotros temeremos Vosotros temeréis Ellos temerán

Partir
Yo partiré .. partirás, partirá, partiremos, partiréis, partirán

An so on in many many verbs. There are exceptions but easy ones

Salir (exception it changes to saldr) Yo saldré, saldrás, saldrá, saldremos, saldréis, saldrán

Venir (exception it changes to vendr) Yo vendré, vendrás, vendrá, vendremos, vendréis, vendrán

Conditional
In this tense, the action is conditioned to something to happen. Use conditional for asking in polite form like in English with would. Or use it to form conditional expressions.

¿Vendrías a casa? = Would you like to come home? ¿Tomarías café? = Would you like to drink coffee? Comería si tubiera hambre = I would eat if I was hungry.

-ar, -er and -ir verbs
ía  iamos ías íais ía  ían

Amar amaría amaríamos amarías amaríais amaría amarían

Temer temería temeríamos temerías temeríais temería temerían

Partir partiría partiríamos partirías partiríais partiría partirían

These changes in the conditional tense apply even to the verbs Ser, Estar and Ir!

Exceptions

Tener (changes to tendr): tendría, tendrías, tendríamos, tendríais, tendrían Salir (changes to sald): saldría, saldrías, saldríamos, saldríais, saldrían and so on

Preterite Perfect
The meaning is not the same as in English: Something that has been done in the past but still important in the present or continue by the moment.

Format Haber verb + past participle of the verb

Examples that home (and still living today) Viví en esa casa = I lived in that home (not now) He tomado mucho = I had drunk a lot (now I'm full) Tomé mucho = I drank a lot (may be yesterday) Viví mucho tiempo = wrong tense unless it was a ghost talking Well usually in Latin America they almost never use this tense and mix the past perfect and simple past you have to adapt the meaning. Usually people from Spain use the tense properly but in Latin American to use this tense could show some fancy - elevated studies language that is not the normal rule or can be comic to some one from there.

Amar (to love) he amado hemos amado has amado habéis amado ha amado han amado

Tomar (to drink) he tomado hemos tomado has tomado habéis tomado ha tomado han tomado

and so on. There are no exceptions.

Conditional Perfect
same as formal commands

Commands
Commands are one of the easiest tenses to learn in Spanish because it has only few irregularities and there are only four forms (tú, usted, vosotros, and ustedes) instead of the regular six and relies on other conjugated forms.

-AR, -ER, and -IR verbs
For any type of verb, simply change the form of the verb to the él/ella/Ud. form. For vosotros commands, add a "d".

Cerrar (to close)
cierra cerrad

Traer (to bring)
trae traed

Irregular Tú Commands
There are eight irregular commands. They are as follows:

Ir (to go) - ve                       Venir (to come) - ven Ser (to be) - sé                      Tener (to have) - ten Hacer (to do/make) - haz              Decir (to say/tell) - di   Poner (to put/place) - pon             Salir (to get out) - sal

-AR verbs
For the -AR verbs, take the first person singular form (yo) and take off the -o and add the command endings to the stem.

-e   -en

Nadar (to swim)
I swim - Nado // You swim - Nades // He/she swims - Nade // we swim - nademos // they swim - naden //

-ER & -IR verbs
For the -ER and -IR verbs, take the first person singular form (yo) and take off the -o and add the command endings to the stem.

-a   -an

caber (to fit) - Irregular yo form quepo
quepa quepan

pedir (to ask for) - Stem change e to i
pida pidan

Double Changes
Verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar which changes their endings to -que, -gue, and -ce, respectively

secar (to dry)
Seque Sequen

jugar (to play) - Stem change u to ue
Juegue Jueguen

Ser (to be)
Sea   Sean

Estar (to be)
Esté  Estén

Ir (to go)
Vaya Vayan

Dar (to give)
Dé    Den

Saber (to know)
Sepa  Sepan