Spanish 2 - The present tense in -ar 1

Spanish verbs end in -ar, -er or -ir. In this lesson we will learn to conjugate verbs ending in -ar in the present tense. The present tense is used to speak both about things that are happening right now and about things that happen frequently.

Some examples of verbs ending in -ar:

hablar
to speak, to talk
llegar
to arrive
preguntar
to ask
trabajar
to work
estudiar
to study

In the present tense, we replace the ending -ar by a different ending, depending on the person who is performing the action.

Replace -ar withEndingExample
First person (I)-o(yo) hablo
I speak
Second person (you)-as(tú) hablas, (usted) habla
you speak
Third person (he, she)-a(él) habla, (ella) habla
he speaks, she speaks

Note that the polite form usted uses the third instead of the second person conjugation. Spanish subject pronouns are often omitted, since the verb ending already gives information about who the subject is.

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