Spanish grammar AS - The Present Tense

• Used to convery an action taking place currently and can be translated in 2 ways: "he eats" or "he is eating"

a) Describing what's going on at the moment:  

Javier habla con sus amigos - Javier is talking to his friends

b) Describing something that happens regularly, or something which is true at the moment:

Júlia habla francés y inglés - Júlia speaks French and English

c) Something happening in the immediate future:

Mamá llegá en el tren a las 14 horas - Mum is arriving on the train at 2 o'clock

d) Describing actions in the past dramatically to give added immediacy (historic present):

Voy a casa de mi amigo y le digo que no salgo con él - I go (went) to my friend's house and tell (told) him that I am (was) not going out with him

e) To indicate how long you've been doing something:

Llevo 2 horas trabajando - I've been working for 2 hours

• To form the regular endings, take off the -AR, -ER or -IR ending and replace it with on of the endings in red
• The order of the pronouns is Yo, Tú, Él/Ella/Usted, Nosotros, Vosotros, Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes

-AR (hablar): Hablo, Hablas, Habla, Hablamos, Habláis, Hablan
 

-ER (comer): Como, Comes, Come, Comemos, Coméis, Comen

-IR (vivir):  Vivo, Vives, Vive, Vivimos, Vivís, Viven

a) In some irregular verbs only the first person form changes and ends in -oy:

Dar - Doy   Estar - Estoy    

b) In other irregular verbs only the first person form changes and is spelt with a -g-:

Caer - Caigo   Hacer - Hago   Poner - Pongo   Salir - Salgo   Traer - Traigo   Valer - Valgo

c) In certain irregular verbs only the first person form changes and is spelt with -zc-:

Conocer - Conozco   Parecer - Parezco

d) Other verbs which only change in the first person:

Saber - Sé   Ver - Veo

e) Verbs ending in -uir take a -y- in forms 1, 2, 3 and 6:

Huir - Huyo, Huyes, Huye, Huimos, Huís, Huyen

f) Certain verbs need an accent on a weak -i- or -u- in the 1, 2, 3 and 6 forms:

Criar: Crío, Crías, Cría, Criamos, Criáis, Crían

Continuar: Continúo, Continúas, Continúa, Continuamos, Continuais, Continúan

g) Some verbs are totally irregular:

Ir: Voy, Vas, Va, Vamos, Vais, Van

Ser: Soy, Eres, Es, Somos, Sois, Son

Haber: He*, Has, Ha, Habemos, Habéis, Han

[* 'Hay' to mean there is/there are]