Spanish AR verbs: presente tense – Episode 58

Spanish AR verbs: presente tense

Podcast episode 58 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Today I bring an easy verb lesson with listening and speaking drills.

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

Today I bring you another lesson from my Spanish course.

In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to build the six forms of the regular -AR verbs in the present tense.

Regular -AR verbs are the most common verbs in Spanish. Being able to build those six verb forms is the easiest way to start putting together your own sentences in Spanish.

I’m going to use the verb HABLAR (to speak), hablar, as a pattern for all other regular -AR verbs.

This is what the six forms of its present tense look and sound like:

hablo – I speak
hablas – you (singular) speak
habla – he/she/it speaks
hablamos – we speak
habláis – you (plural) speak
hablan – they speak

Let’s say them once more. Say them after me:

hablo – I speak
hablas – you (singular) speak
habla – he/she/it speaks
hablamos – we speak
habláis – you (plural) speak
hablan – they speak

Once you know these six forms well, you’ll be able to build the forms of many common Spanish verbs.

So, how do you build the present tense of regular –AR verbs?

This is how you build the present tense of regular verbs ending in AR.

First, you remove the ‘ar’ from the infinitive. The infinitive is: hablar (to speak) hablar.

What remains is what’s called ‘the root’ or ‘stem’. In this case: h-a-b-l

To build the present tense forms, you add the following endings to the root h-a-b-l:

o – hablo (I speak)
a-s – hablas (you [tú] speak)
a – habla (he/she/it speaks)
a-m-o-s – hablamos (we speak)
á-i-s – habláis (you [vosotros] speak)
a-n – hablan (they speak)

To help you master the six present tense forms of the verb HABLAR, we’re going to do a listening and a speaking drill.

Listening drill. Can you tell me what these 6 forms mean in English?

hablamos – we speaks
hablo – I speak
habláis – you (plural) speak
hablas – you (singular) speak
hablan – they speak
habla – he/she/it speaks

Repeat this listening drill until you can understand the six forms without trouble.

Speaking drill

And now, let’s do a speaking drill. Can you tell me these 6 forms in Spanish?

you (plural) speak – habláis
they spea – hablan
he/she/it speaks – habla
I speak – hablo
we speak – hablamos
you (singular) speak – hablas

To recap, we’re going to say the 6 forms one last time:

hablo – I speak
hablas – you (singular) speak
habla – he/she/it speaks
hablamos – we speak
habláis – you (plural) speak
hablan – they speak

Knowing the present tense forms well allows you to master all other tenses much faster. It also helps you master the irregular verbs more easily.

Before you move on to other verbs, make sure you’re familiar with the forms you’ve seen today.

Every now and then, review the drills in this audio lesson, and say the six forms out loud. In other lessons, we’ll practise building the present tense forms of some common regular verbs.

That’s it for today. In my Spanish verb course you can watch the video with the verb forms and drills we’ve seen today. Join today.

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