The Present Tense - Regular AR verbs

Verbs whose infinitives end in AR are, logically enough, called AR verbs.  Here are a few:

andar - to walk
bailar - to dance
cantar - to sing
doblar - to fold, to turn
estudiar - to study
gritar - to yell
hablar - to speak, to talk
lograr - to achieve
manejar - to drive, to handle
nadar - to swim
patinar - to skate
tirar - to throw, to pull

Today we'll learn how to conjugate these verbs into the present indicative.  The word present indicates the tense, and the word indicative tells us the mood.  The tense establishes the time frame for our verb, and the mood indicates the purpose behind the communication.  Verbs in the indicative mood are real or factual in nature, and students of Spanish like to study them first before moving on to other moods.  Ok, let's learn how to conjugate AR verbs into the present indicative.

You remember from the posting on subject pronouns that these pronouns are arranged into a 3X2 grid:

                yo                                   nosotros / nosotras

                tú                                    vosotros / vosotras

                usted                               ustedes
                él                                     ellos
                ella                                  ellas

Each of pronoun groupings has its own ending for AR verbs.  Here they are:


                yo  -  o                             nosotros / nosotras  -  amos

                tú  -  as                           vosotros / vosotras  -  áis

                usted                                 ustedes
                él         - a                        ellos  -  an
                ella                                   ellas

So let's conjugate our first AR verb.  I will start with bailar (to dance).  We drop the ending and we are left with the stem (bail).  To the stem we add the endings from above:

              yo bailo                              nosotros / nosotras bailamos

              tú bailas                             vosotros / vosotras bailáis

              usted                                  ustedes
              él        baila                       ellos        bailan
              ella                                    ellas

From this point forward, I will assume you know the pronouns.  I will write out the verb inflections whenever we conjugate as follows:

              bailo                bailamos
              bailas               bailáis
              baila                bailan

So now we can create simple sentences with our AR verbs:

Yo bailo.   I dance.
Ellas bailan bien.   They dance well.
Nosotros bailamos todos los días.   We dance every day.

So now you can pick any regular AR you like and conjugate it to the present tense:

Yo estudio en la biblioteca.   I study at the library.
Usted habla español.  You speak Spanish.
Nosotros nadamos los domingos.  We swim on Sundays.
Ustedes cantan muy bien.   You (all) sing very well.

The possibilities are endless.  Once you get to the point where you can conjugate well, your ability to communicate smoothly will greatly increase.  Now there is one other thing I need to mention.  In English, our verbs don't change a lot when we conjugate, so we use subject pronouns all the time to assure we know who the subject is.  In Spanish, however, the verb endings change frequently, so we don't always need to use the subject pronouns.  So I can say...

                             Hablo español. (I speak Spanish.)

... and I don't need to use the subject pronoun yo.  The same could be said for nosotros, tú, and vosotros:

                            Bailas bien.   You dance well.
                            Hablamos ruso por teléfono.   We speak Russian on the phone.
                            Cantáis a menudo.  You (all) sing often.

The 2nd person formal / 3rd person forms on the bottom of our grid (eg. - habla, hablan) have three possible subjects each, so you are more likely to use subject pronouns with them:

                           Usted baila bien.    You dance well.
                           Ellas cantan mañana.  The sing tomorrow.

So does that mean that you never have to use the first and second person pronouns (yo, tú, nosotros / as, vosotros / as)?  Not at all.  There are times when you will want to use them for either emphasis or clarity:

 - Jorge, en la función mañana, ¿quién canta y quién baila?
 - Pues, yo canto y tú bailas.

(Jorge, at the show tomorrow, who is singing and who is dancing?
Well, I am singing and you are dancing.)

Congratulations.  Now you know how to form the present indicative of regular AR verbs in Spanish.  Next posting we will discuss the present indicative of ER and IR verbs.  ¡Hasta la próxima!