The Verb Map

Spanish Grammar 2

Course 2 · Chapter 1 · The Verb: Present Tense, Ser and Estar, Pronouns and Sentence Building

🗺️ The Verb Map — El mapa del verbo

Spanish Grammar 1 was about the noun phrase. This course is about the verb, the word that carries the most information in a Spanish sentence: who is acting (person), how many (number) and when (tense), all in one ending. This first chapter is a map: how a verb is built, how verbs are grouped, which forms exist, and which ones the next eleven chapters fill in. It assumes you have already met the present tense of a few common verbs in Spanish Basic Conversation 1 to 3; here we organise it.

The rule in one box A Spanish verb = stem + ending. The dictionary form is the infinitive, which ends in -ar, -er or -ir. Remove those two letters to get the stem: habl-ar, com-er, viv-ir. In the present tense the ending shows the person and number (hablo, hablas, habla…), so the subject pronoun is usually dropped.

Stem and ending

Infinitive	Stem	Ending	Group	English
hablar	habl-	-ar	1st group	to speak
comer	com-	-er	2nd group	to eat
vivir	viv-	-ir	3rd group	to live

The group number is only a label (some books number them the other way); what matters is the vowel, because each group has its own set of endings. -ar verbs are by far the commonest, and most new verbs coined in Spanish are -ar verbs (chatear, googlear, formatear).

Person and number

A verb has six present-tense forms: three persons, singular and plural. Here they are with the regular endings of the three groups (the full treatment, with the spelling changes, is Spanish Grammar 2 2).

Person	Pronoun	-ar	-er	-ir
1st singular	yo	hablo	como	vivo
2nd singular (familiar)	tú	hablas	comes	vives
3rd singular	él, ella, usted	habla	come	vive
1st plural	nosotros, nosotras	hablamos	comemos	vivimos
2nd plural (familiar, Spain)	vosotros, vosotras	habláis	coméis	vivís
3rd plural	ellos, ellas, ustedes	hablan	comen	viven

Watch out: usted takes the 3rd-person verb usted (formal "you") shares the verb form of él / ella, and ustedes shares the form of ellos / ellas. In Latin America ustedes also replaces vosotros completely, so the -áis / -éis / -ís column is not used there. See Spanish Grammar 1 9 for the whole pronoun system, including vos.

Subject pronouns: when to drop them

Because the ending tells you the person, the pronoun is normally left out. You add it only for emphasis, contrast or to clear up an ambiguous form.

Situation	Example	English
normal: pronoun dropped	Vivo en Edimburgo. · Trabajamos en informática.	I live in Edinburgh. We work in IT.
contrast	Yo hablo español; ella habla alemán.	I speak Spanish; she speaks German.
emphasis	¿Quién vive aquí? — Yo.	Who lives here? — I do.
ambiguous form	¿Quién habla? ¿Él o ella? (habla could be él, ella or usted)	he or she?
politeness with usted	¿Usted vive aquí?	Do you live here? (formal, a little more courteous)

English needs "I", "you", "she" every time; Spanish does not, and a learner who keeps the pronoun everywhere sounds stiff.

The forms this course builds

A verb has more than one family of forms. This course covers the present indicative, plus the two forms you need to build verb phrases, and the chapters below fill in each part of the map.

Form	Example (hablar)	Where
infinitive	hablar	dictionary form; after other verbs (quiero hablar); Spanish Grammar 2 11
present, regular	hablo, hablas, habla…	Spanish Grammar 2 2
present, ser and estar	soy, eres, es · estoy, estás, está	Spanish Grammar 2 3
present, irregular yo and common irregulars	tengo, voy, hago, digo	Spanish Grammar 2 4
present, stem-changing	pienso, puedo, pido	Spanish Grammar 2 5
reflexive verbs	me levanto, te llamas	Spanish Grammar 2 6
gustar-type verbs	me gusta, me duelen	Spanish Grammar 2 7
gerund (-ando / -iendo)	hablando (estoy hablando)	Spanish Grammar 2 11

Not in this course The past participle (hablado) and all the past and future tenses (preterite, imperfect, future, conditional) belong to Spanish Grammar 3, and the subjunctive to Spanish Grammar 4. This course stays in the present, which is the tense you will use most.

Types of verb: a first sort

Every Spanish verb falls into one of a handful of types. Spotting which type you have is the first step in conjugating it.

Type	What happens	Examples	Chapter
regular	stem never changes; regular endings	hablar, comer, vivir	2
regular with spelling changes	only the spelling shifts to keep the sound	coger → cojo (not cogo) · seguir → sigo (not siguo)	2
stem-changing ("boot") verbs	a stem vowel changes in 4 of the 6 forms	pensar → pienso, pensamos · poder → puedo, podemos	5
irregular yo	only the yo form is odd	hacer → hago · salir → salgo	4
fully irregular	most or all forms are individual	ser, estar, ir, haber	3 and 4
reflexive	takes me, te, se…; infinitive ends in -se	levantarse, llamarse	6

Latin America note The vosotros forms (habláis, coméis, vivís) are used only in Spain. In Latin America the plural "you" is always ustedes with the 3rd-person plural verb (ustedes hablan), and in some regions (Argentina, Uruguay, parts of Central America) the singular familiar "you" is vos, with its own stressed endings (vos hablás, comés, vivís). Everything else in this course is shared.

🗣️ In Use — En situación

Notice how often the pronoun is missing, and which verb type each form belongs to.

① Meeting

A:¿Dónde vives?Where do you live?

B:Vivo en Edimburgo. Trabajo en soporte técnico.I live in Edinburgh. I work in technical support.

② Contrast

A:Mi hermana habla alemán y yo hablo español.My sister speaks German and I speak Spanish.

B:¿Y vosotros habláis inglés en casa?And do you (both) speak English at home?

③ Formal

A:Perdone, ¿usted trabaja aquí?Excuse me, do you work here?

B:Sí, trabajo en la recepción. ¿Busca a alguien?Yes, I work at reception. Are you looking for someone?

📋 Quick Reference — Resumen

Concept	Summary
structure	verb = stem + ending; infinitive in -ar, -er, -ir
person and number	6 forms: yo, tú, él / ella / usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos / ellas / ustedes
pronoun	drop it normally; use it for emphasis, contrast or clarity
usted / ustedes	3rd-person verb forms
this course	present tense in all its types, ser / estar, gustar, negation and questions, object pronouns, por / para, verb phrases
next	Spanish Grammar 2 2: the regular endings in full

✏️ Try It Yourself — Ejercicios

Say the answer first, then click to check.

1. Give the stem and the group of: cantar, beber, escribir, trabajar, aprender.

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cant- (-ar) · beb- (-er) · escrib- (-ir) · trabaj- (-ar) · aprend- (-er).

2. Which person and number is each? hablamos · comes · viven · vivo · habláis · habla

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1st plural · 2nd singular · 3rd plural · 1st singular · 2nd plural (vosotros) · 3rd singular.

3. Say in Spanish: "I live in Edinburgh." (no pronoun)

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Vivo en Edimburgo.

4. Say in Spanish: "She speaks German and I speak Spanish." (contrast)

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Ella habla alemán y yo hablo español. (pronouns kept for the contrast)

5. Fill in with the present of comer: "Nosotros ___ en casa." · "Ellos ___ tarde." · "Tú ___ mucho."

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comemos · comen · comes.

6. Which verb form goes with usted: hablas, habla, habláis?

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habla (3rd singular, like él and ella).

7. You are in Mexico speaking to two friends. Do you say habláis or hablan?

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hablan (with ustedes); vosotros habláis is Spain only.

8. Sort by type: hablar, pensar, hacer, ser, levantarse.

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hablar: regular · pensar: stem-changing · hacer: irregular yo (hago) · ser: fully irregular · levantarse: reflexive.

9. Is the pronoun needed? "(Yo) vivo en Madrid." · "Yo vivo en Madrid, no tú."

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First: no, drop it (Vivo en Madrid.). Second: yes, for the contrast.

10. Name the six present-tense forms of vivir in order.

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vivo · vives · vive · vivimos · vivís · viven.

Coming up in Chapter 2: Regular Verbs: -ar, -er, -ir. The endings in all six persons in full, the spelling changes (-car, -gar, -zar), the nosotros and vosotros forms of the -ir verbs, and verbs in -uir and -iar / -uar.