Spanish Verb Conjugation: The Only Cheat Sheet You Need

Spanish has three verb families: -ar, -er, and -ir. The good news? -ar verbs make up the vast majority, and they're the most predictable of the bunch.

Present Tense: Your Workhorse

This is the tense you'll use 80% of the time — current actions, habits, and casual future plans.

Pronoun	hablar (-ar)	comer (-er)	vivir (-ir)
yo	hablo	como	vivo
tú	hablas	comes	vives
él/ella/usted	habla	come	vive
nosotros/as	hablamos	comemos	vivimos
vosotros/as	habláis	coméis	vivís
ellos/ustedes	hablan	comen	viven

The shortcut: The yo form always ends in -o. The -er and -ir groups share every ending except nosotros and vosotros. That's two fewer sets to memorize.

Preterite: The "Done and Dusted" Tense

Completed actions. Something happened, it's over.

Pronoun	hablar (-ar)	comer (-er)	vivir (-ir)
yo	hablé	comí	viví
tú	hablaste	comiste	viviste
él/ella/usted	habló	comió	vivió
nosotros/as	hablamos	comimos	vivimos
ellos/ustedes	hablaron	comieron	vivieron

-er and -ir verbs share identical preterite endings. Learn one, get the other free.

Quick reference card showing the top 10 irregular Spanish verbs with conjugations — The irregular verbs that cover ~70% of everyday Spanish conversation

Preterite vs. Imperfect: The One Distinction That Matters

This trips up everyone. It's not about when — it's about how you frame it.

Preterite = snapshot: Ayer comí paella. (Yesterday I ate paella — done.)
Imperfect = video: Cuando era niño, comía paella todos los domingos. (As a kid, I used to eat paella every Sunday — ongoing.)

When both appear together, the imperfect sets the scene and the preterite interrupts it: Llovía cuando salí de casa. (It was raining when I left.)

The Big Five Irregulars

These break the rules but show up constantly. You'll internalize them through sheer repetition.

Verb	Present (yo)	Preterite (yo)	Meaning
ser	soy	fui	to be (permanent)
estar	estoy	estuve	to be (temporary)
ir	voy	fui	to go
tener	tengo	tuve	to have
hacer	hago	hice	to do/make

Fun fact: ser and ir share identical preterite forms. Fui means both "I was" and "I went." Context always makes it obvious.

Cultural tip card explaining the difference between vosotros and ustedes in Spain vs Latin America — Understanding the vosotros/ustedes divide between Spain and Latin America

Vosotros vs. Ustedes

Spain uses vosotros (informal plural "you") constantly among friends. Latin America skips it entirely — everyone uses ustedes for both formal and informal.

Starting out? Learn ustedes first. It works everywhere, including Spain.

Building Conjugation Instinct

Tables get you started, but pattern recognition gets you fluent. The fastest path is seeing conjugated verbs in real sentences — over and over — until your brain stops calculating and just knows. That's exactly what Belugaro does: it weaves Spanish vocabulary into the web pages you already read, turning passive browsing into active learning.