One of the first things I got to study as a beginner was some common Spanish verbs. After all, they’re an essential part of Spanish grammar and your overall vocabulary.
But while English verbs are relatively easy, Spanish verbs get more complex and fast. That’s due to each verb having dozens of conjugation possibilities.
In this article, I’m not going to overwhelm you with advanced verb conjugations. But I will share some beginner verbs to start with.
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Overview of Spanish Verbs
Like in English, Spanish verbs tell you what someone is doing. In both languages, some verbs are more common than others and are more important to learn early on.
Think about how you speak English. You might know a lot of verbs, but you probably only use a small group of them on a daily basis.
This article will focus on some of the most common Spanish verbs.
25 Common Spanish Verbs (With Their Present Tense Conjugations)
Here are some of the most common verbs you’ll encounter in Spanish. I’ve also included how to conjugate each of them in the present tense.
1. SER – to be
When speaking about inherent characteristics, you’ll use the verb SER. It’s one way to say “to be” in Spanish.
Here’s how to conjugate it:
| (yo) soy | (nosotros) somos |
| (tú) eres | (vosotros) sois |
| (él/ella/usted) es | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) son |
One way you’d use this verb is to say where you’re from, such as: soy de los estados unidos.
2. ESTAR – to be
Yes, Spanish has two verbs that can translate to “to be” when speaking English. While “ser” is used for more permanent things, “estar” tends to be everchanging.
You’ll conjugate it like:
| (yo) estoy | (nosotros) estamos |
| (tú) estás | (vosotros) estáis |
| (él/ella/usted) está | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) están |
You would use this verb to speak about where you currently are: yo estoy en casa.
3. TENER – to have
Another verb I know I use a lot is the verb “to have” and that’s in both English and Spanish. In Spanish, though, tener is used in more contexts, including to show your age.
Here’s how you’d conjugate it in the present:
| (yo) tengo | (nosotros) tenemos |
| (tú) tienes | (vosotros) tenéis |
| (él/ella/usted) tiene | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) tienen |
If you want to say you have a job, you might say: yo tengo un trabajo.
4. HACER – to do/to make
When you talk about doing or making something in Spanish, the verb is the same. For this reason, Spanish speakers learning English may mix up the two.
To conjugate this verb, here are the present tense options:
| (yo) hago | (nosotros) hacemos |
| (tú) haces | (vosotros) hacéis |
| (él/ella/usted) hace | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) hacen |
You might use this verb to talk about your hobbies: yo hago el arte.
5. DECIR – to say/to tell
It’s pretty common to talk about what you might tell someone or what someone would tell you to do.
Here’s how to conjugate the verb DECIR in the present tense:
| (yo) digo | (nosotros) decimos |
| (tú) dices | (vosotros) decís |
| (él/ella/usted) dice | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) dicen |
One way you might use this verb is to say what your parents have told you to do, like to eat more fruit: mis padres me dicen comer más frutas.
6. IR – to go
You can’t hardly speak Spanish if you don’t know how to say where you or someone is going. After all, it’s a pretty common verb in any language.
To conjugate this verb in the present tense, follow this chart:
| (yo) voy | (nosotros) vamos |
| (tú) vas | (vosotros) vais |
| (él/ella/usted) va | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) van |
When talking about going to work, I might say something like: yo voy a trabajar a las 8 por la mañana.
7. VER – to see
Another verb you should learn early on in your Spanish studies is VER, which means “to see.” I don’t use the verb as often as some, but it’s useful.
Here’s how you’ll conjugate it:
| (yo) veo | (nosotros) vemos |
| (tú) ves | (vosotros) veis |
| (él/ella/usted) ve | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) ven |
One common way I would use the verb is when talking about seeing family: yo veo a mi familia cada domingo.
8. DAR – to give
What’s this world without a little giving here and there? If you want to master a basic level of Spanish, you should familiarize yourself with the verb “dar.”
You’ll use the following conjugations in the present tense:
| (yo) doy | (nosotros) damos |
| (tú) das | (vosotros) dais |
| (él/ella/usted) da | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) dan |
One way you might use the verb is to talk about giving money to a relative: yo la doy el dinero a mi hermana.
9. SABER – to know
Another one of the most common verbs means “to know” but specifically to know facts about the world. There’s a whole other verb that refers to knowing people.
Here’s how to conjugate SABER in the present:
| (yo) sé | (nosotros) sabemos |
| (tú) sabes | (vosotros) sabéis |
| (él/ella/usted) sabe | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) saben |
I might use this verb in a sentence about knowing how to cook: yo sé cómo cocinar.
10. QUERER – to want
Who never wants anything? Not me! So one of the most important Spanish verbs to know is QUERER, which translates to “to want.”
You’ll conjugate it in the following way for present tense situations:
| (yo) quiero | (nosotros) queremos |
| (tú) quieres | (vosotros) queréis |
| (él/ella/usted) quiere | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) quieren |
I don’t know about you, but I remember the old Taco Bell catchphrase: yo quiero Taco Bell.
11. LLEGAR – to arrive
I wouldn’t say I use this verb as much as some in Spanish. But I do remember learning it as a beginner in middle school Spanish class.
Here’s how to conjugate LLEGAR in the present:
| (yo) llego | (nosotros) llegamos |
| (tú) llegas | (vosotros) llegáis |
| (él/ella/usted) llega | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) llegan |
You might use this to talk about when someone gets into town: mi amiga llega el lunes.
12. PASAR – to pass or spend time
One of the first places I heard this verb was the question: que pasa? It translates to “what’s up?”
No matter how you want to use the verb, here’s how you’ll conjugate it:
| (yo) paso | (nosotros) pasamos |
| (tú) pasas | (vosotros) pasáis |
| (él/ella/usted) pasa | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) pasan |
I might say I like to spend time reading: me gusta leer pasar el tiempo.
13. DEBER – should/must
I’ve found you don’t use this verb as much in Spanish as in English. That’s because there’s a whole conditional tense that suggests someone should do something.
Still, here’s how you’ll conjugate DEBER in the present:
| (yo) debo | (nosotros) debemos |
| (tú) debes | (vosotros) debéis |
| (él/ella/usted) debe | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) deben |
I would probably use this verb to tell myself I should eat at home more: debo comer en casa más que los restaurantes.
14. PONER – to put
PONER is one of the most versatile Spanish verbs. But as a beginner, all you need to know is that you can use it to say “to put.”
You’ll conjugate it in the present like so:
| (yo) pongo | (nosotros) ponemos |
| (tú) pones | (vosotros) ponéis |
| (él/ella/usted) pone | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) ponen |
I’ll never forget one of the first sentence I learned using this verb, which talks about setting the table: yo pongo la mesa antes de la cena.
15. PARECER – to seem
When comparing things, especially appearances, you might use PARECER. I don’t use this verb all of the time, but I still wish I learned it earlier.
Here’s how to conjugate it in the present:
| (yo) parezco | (nosotros) parecemos |
| (tú) pareces | (vosotros) parecéis |
| (él/ella/usted) parece | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) parecen |
You’ll rarely use this verb in the first person, instead you might say it about someone else: tú pareces más feliz.
16. QUEDAR – to stay or remain
QUEDAR can be a confusing verb, because you’ll often use it with SE (so QUEDARSE). But without the SE, it can still function as a verb meaning to stay or remain.
Here’s how you would conjugate it:
| (yo) quedo | (nosotros) quedamos |
| (tú) quedas | (vosotros) quedamos |
| (él/ella/usted) queda | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) quedan |
To be honest, I use QUEDARSE more than QUEDAR, so I might say: yo me quedo en casa cuando estoy enferma.
17. CREER – to believe
In Spanish, you’l use the verb for “to believe” more than “to think,” or at least, that’s been the truth in my case.
Here’s how to conjugate this verb:
| (yo) creo | (nosotros) creemos |
| (tú) crees | (vosotros) creéis |
| (él/ella/usted) cree | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) creen |
One example of where you might use this verb in place of “to think” is to confirm something. So when someone asks if something is true, you would say “I think so” like: creo que sí.
18. PENSAR – to think
Now, you will still use a separate verb to say “to think” in Spanish. It’s one of the most common Spanish verbs and good to know.
To conjugate it, use these present tense forms:
| (yo) pienso | (nosotros) pensamos |
| (tú) piensas | (vosotros) pensáis |
| (él/ella/usted) piensa | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) piensan |
One way you might use this verb is to tell someone you’re thinking about them: yo pienso en tí.
19. HABLAR – to speak
I covered DECIR earlier, but there is a separate verb for to speak: HABLAR. You’d use this in the context of speaking certain languages, for example.
Here’s how to conjugate the verb in the present:
| (yo) hablo | (nosotros) hablamos |
| (tú) hablas | (vosotros) habláis |
| (él/ella/usted) habla | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) hablan |
When sharing what languages I speak, I might say: yo hablo inglés y español.
Another way to use this verb is with a concept called the impersonal se. It’s like passive voice in English, and it’s an easy way for a business to say Spanish is spoken there: se habla español.
20. DEJAR – to leave or to allow
Another common Spanish verb to know is that which means to leave or to let something happen: DEJAR. Compared to other verbs on this list, it’s less common but still essential.
Here’s how you would conjugate it:
| (yo) dejo | (nosotros) dejamos |
| (tú) dejas | (vosotros) dejáis |
| (él/ella/usted) deja | (ellos/ellas/ustedes) dejan |
I don’t use this verb is the present that much, but I might use it to talk about someone leaving a company: ella dejó de la compañía hace un año.
Regular vs. Irregular Common Spanish Verbs
You may have noticed that a lot of the common Spanish verbs are somewhat irregular. That means the way you conjugate them doesn’t follow the standard pattern of AR, ER, and IR verbs.
It may surprise you to learn this is quite common across many languages. The more we use an irregular verb, the more likely it is to stay that way.
On the other hand, verbs can regularize themselves over time. If we stop using certain verbs as often, they might start to follow those standard patterns in English, Spanish, or any other language.
How to Practice Common Spanish Verbs
An easy way to practice some of the most common Spanish verbs is with Spanish flashcards. You can make a list of the verbs you struggle with.
Start with just reviewing the verbs in their infinitive (unconjugated) forms. Then, you can practice the different conjugations and tense.
But I wouldn’t just practice verbs this way. Use a method like comprehensible input to encounter verbs in context to help solidify their meanings in your brain.
You can also pair this self-study with online tutoring sessions for more support and practice.
Final Thoughts
When starting to learn Spanish, reviewing the most common Spanish verbs can do wonders. If you really understand the verbs, you can use that context to guess surrounding words.
I have some free online Spanish flashcards you can use to get started.