Spanish verbs
Course on verb tenses and forms
Lesson 1: ¿Qué estás haciendo? What are you doing?
In this lesson we will learn:
- how to use the present tense (Presente)
- what is the Spanish gerund (Gerundio) and how to use it with the verb estar
- the difference between the forms Presente and estar + gerundio
Does it seem to you that there are so many Spanish tenses, that you will never master them? You’re wrong. The secret of success is to create a clear matrix in our head where each tense has its special place. First, stop trying to remember all the tenses at once. Remember the situations and the time markers for each tense. You will see that at the end of the course, all the tenses will take their place in a logical and beautiful system of verb forms.
Vocabulary
In this lesson, we will practice the following vocabulary. Read the words, listen to the audio and remember them:
responsable
responsible
gente jóven
young people
innovador
innovative
compañero de trabajo
colleague
voz
voice
chiste sin gracia
unfunny joke
por su culpa
because of him/her (it’s his/her fault)
charco
puddle
sociable
sociable
hierba
herb, grass
mejor/peor
better/worse
Verbos:
Verbs:
recoger la habitación
to clean up a room
ayudar
to help
concentrarse
to concentrate
usar
to use
mentir
to lie / to tell lies
tirar
to throw away
empezar
to begin
odiar
to hate
sacar de quicio
to drive someone crazy
molestar
to bother, disturb
contar chistes
to tell jokes
reirse
to laugh
convertirse en
to turn into
saltar
to jump
ensuciarse
to get dirty
pegar
to beat, to strike
resolver conflictos
to resolve conflicts
Dialogues
Listen carefully to the following Spanish dialogues. They will help you understand the grammar of this lesson:
Dialogue 1
Martín, ¿qué estás haciendo? Tienes que recoger tu habitación. ¿Me oyes?
Martin, what are you doing? You should clean up your room. Do you hear me?
Claro que te oigo mamá. Pero ahora no puedo. Estoy haciendo algo muy importante.
Of course, I hear you, mom. But now I can’t. I am doing something very important.
Estás jugando con el teléfono, ¿verdad?
You’re playing on your phone, aren’t you?
No, estoy estudiando. Siempre estudio después de cenar, ya sabes. Soy un alumno responsable.
No, I am studying. I always study after dinner, you already know that. I am a responsible student.
¿Y esa música que estoy escuchando?
And what about the music I hear?
La música me ayuda a concentrarme, mamá. La gente jóven de ahora usa métodos innovadores para estudiar mejor.
Music helps me concentrate, mom. Modern young people use innovative methods to study better.
Pues, ¿sabes qué es lo que hacemos las mamás de ahora?
Well, do you know what we, modern moms, do?
¿Qué hacéis?
What do you do?
Cada vez que los hijos nos mienten, les tiramos el teléfono por la ventana.
Every time our children lie to us, we throw their phones out of the window.
Ya te entiendo, mamá. Estoy empezando a recoger.
I got you, mom. I am starting to clean up.
Dialogue 2
¿Sabes qué? ¡Odio a mis compañeros de trabajo!
You know what? I hate my work colleagues!
¿Por qué?
Why?
Porque hacen cosas que me sacan de quicio.
Because they do things that drive me crazy.
¿Por ejemplo?
For example?
Juan siempre está hablando por teléfono en voz alta. No puedo concentrarme.
Juan is always speaking on the phone in a loud voice. I can’t concentrate.
Pero, hablar por teléfono es su trabajo, ¿no?
But speaking on the phone is his work, isn’t it?
Sí, pero sé que habla tan alto para molestarme. ¡Y María siempre está contando chistes sin gracia!
Yes, but I know that he speaks so loudly to annoy me. And Maria is always telling unfunny jokes!
Pero tú siempre te ríes de sus chistes.
But you always laugh at her jokes.
Me río solo a veces. Pero el peor de todos es Pedro.
I laugh only sometimes. But Pedro is the worst.
A ver, ¿y qué es lo que hace Pedro?
Let’s see, what does Pedro do?
Siempre me invita a tomar una cerveza después del trabajo. ¡Me estoy convirtiendo en un alcohólico por su culpa!
He always invites me to have a beer after work. I am turning into an alcoholic because of him!
No sé yo de quién es la culpa.
Well, I don’t know whose fault it is.
Dialogue 3
¡Qué bien está jugando nuestro pequeño Juanito en el parque!
How nicely our little Juanito is playing at the playground!
¿Estás segura? Pero si está saltando en un charco.
Are you sure? But he is jumping in a puddle.
A todos los niños les gusta saltar en los charcos. Así aprenden.
All children like to jump in puddles. This is how they learn.
¿Y qué aprenden? ¿A ensuciarse?
And what do they learn? How to get dirty?
Ahora está jugando con otros niños. ¡Es tan sociable!
Now he is playing with other children. He is so sociable!
¿Qué dices? ¡Les está pegando!
What are you saying? He is beating them!
Claro. Así aprenden a resolver conflictos.
Of course. This is how they learn to resolve conflicts.
¿Qué es lo que tiene en la mano ahora? ¡Está comiendo la hierba!
What is he holding in his hand now? He is eating the grass!
Bueno, creo que ya es hora de irse a casa.
Ok, I think it is time to go home now.
Spanish grammar
Read carefully the explanation of the grammar of this lesson:
How the present tense is formed (Presente)
Using Spanish verbs is not an easy thing. They have different endings for almost every pronoun and we’ll have to memorize them all. So let’s start with the present tense. In general, Spanish verbs can be divided into 3 types of conjugation:
- verbs ending with -ar
- verbs ending with -er
- verbs ending with -ir
We are going to see an example of a verb for each type of conjugation. Try to memorize the endings of the verbs for every pronoun. It will help you to use the rest of the verbs in Spanish.
| person | -ar: hablar (to speak) | -er: aprender (to study) | -ir: escribir (to write) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablo | aprendo | escribo |
| tú | hablas | aprendes | escribes |
| él, ella, usted | habla | aprende | escribe |
| nosotros | hablamos | aprendemos | escribimos |
| vosotros | habláis | aprendéis | escribís |
| ellos, ustedes | hablan | aprenden | escriben |
The verbs that form the present tense according to this table are called “regular”. However, there are also “irregular” verbs. The irregular forms of the verbs should be learnt by heart. They will be useful not only to form the present tense, but also to create other verb forms.
Let’s see the most “irregular” changes:
| person | o ⇒ ue : poder (to be able/can) | e ⇒ ie : entender (to understand) | e ⇒ i : repetir (to repeat) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | puedo | entiendo | repito |
| tú | puedes | entiendes | repites |
| él, ella, usted | puede | entiende | repite |
| nosotros | podemos | entendemos | repetimos |
| vosotros | podéis | entendéis | repetís |
| ellos, ustedes | pueden | entienden | repiten |
Attention!
There are several “irregular” verbs in our lesson
Let’s pay attention to the irregular verbs that appeared in the dialogues of this lesson:
- mentir (to lie) ⇒ yo miento, tú mientes, él miente, nosotros mentimos, vosotros mentís, ellos mienten
- empezar (to begin) ⇒ yo empiezo, tú empiezas, él empieza, nosotros empezamos, vosotros empezáis, ellos empiezan
- contar (to tell) ⇒ yo cuento, tú cuentas, él cuenta, nosotros contamos, vosotros contáis, ellos cuentan
- resolver (to resolve) ⇒ yo resuelvo, tú resuelves, él resuelve, nosotros resolvemos, vosotros resolvéis, ellos resuelven
Besides, there are verbs, which have only one irregular form – the 1st person singular. The rest of the forms are regular. Remember these verbs:
- saber (to know) ⇒ yo sé
- hacer (to do) ⇒ yo hago
- salir (to go out) ⇒ yo salgo
- poner (to put) ⇒ yo pongo
Some verbs have several irregular forms that are difficult to group according to any principle. They should be memorized:
| person | ser (to be) | ir (to go) | tener (to have) | venir (to come) | decir (to say) | oir (to hear) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | soy | voy | tengo | vengo | digo | oigo |
| tú | eres | vas | tienes | vienes | dices | oyes |
| él, ella, usted | es | va | tiene | viene | dice | oye |
| nosotros | somos | vamos | tenemos | venimos | decimos | oímos |
| vosotros | sois | vais | tenéis | venís | decís | oís |
| ellos, ustedes | son | van | tienen | vienen | dicen | oyen |
Reflexive verbs
In Spanish, there is a special group of verbs called “reflexive”. These are the verbs with the ending -se which can be understood as “oneself” in English: convertirse (to turn (oneself) into), ensuciarse (to get dirty or to make oneself dirty). The conjugation of these verbs is the same as the conjugation of ordinary verbs. The only difference is that the final “-se” turns into a personal pronoun and should be placed before a verb. Let’s see how to conjugate the reflexive verbs from this lesson:
| person | convertirse (to turn into) | ensuciarse (to get dirty) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | me convierto | me ensucio |
| tú | te conviertes | te ensucias |
| él, ella, usted | se convierte | se ensucia |
| nosotros | nos convertimos | nos ensuciamos |
| vosotros | os convertís | os ensuciáis |
| ellos, ustedes | se convierten | se ensucian |
Note that these pronouns should never be omitted:
- Los niños siempre se ensucian en el parque. – Children always get dirty in the playground.
- Cuando tengo hambre me convierto en un monstruo. – When I am hungry, I turn into a monster.
With infinitives, the pronouns should be put at the end of the verb:
- No quiero convertirme en un monstruo. – I don’t want to turn into a monster.
- Cuidado, aquí puedes ensuciarte. – Be careful, here you can get dirty.
Common mistake
Those naughty pronouns!
If you omit the pronoun the meaning can change:
- Los niños siempre se ensucian en el parque. – Children always get dirty at the playground.
- Los niños ensucian mis cosas. – Children make my things dirty.
Don’t forget to inflect pronouns with infinitives. The pronoun is placed at the end in the corresponding form:
- No quiero convertirme en un monstruo. – I don’t want to turn into a monster.
- Cuidado, puedes convertirte en un monstruo. – Be careful, you can turn into a monster.
What’s that mysterious thing called “gerund”?
In English, “gerund” is the “-ing” form that we can add to verbs (reading, cooking, walking). In Spanish, there is also a gerund. It’s not always used in the same situations as in English, but the concept is very similar. First, let’s see how the gerund in Spanish is formed:
- verbs with the ending -ar: -ando (hablando, trabajando, comprando)
- verbs with the ending -er /-ir: -iendo (comiendo, entendiendo, escribiendo)
Pay attention to the verbs that have some irregularities in the present tense. The gerund of these verbs usually keeps these “irregular” changes:
- dormir –> durmiendo
- preferir –> prefiriendo
- decir –> diciendo
Sometimes the root (or the “stem”) of a verb ends in a vowel (like “o-ir”). These verbs form gerund with the ending -yendo. Remember their forms:
- oir –> oyendo
- leer –> leyendo
The construction estar + gerund is used to say what we are doing at the moment of speech. It’s an equivalent of the form “to be doing something” in English. You’ll see that this construction is very easy to use in Spanish. Read carefully the translation of these sentences and compare them:
- Estoy leyendo un libro. – I am reading a book.
- ¿Qué estás haciendo? – What are you doing?
- No puedo hablar porque estoy trabajando. – I can’t speak because I am working.
So what should we choose, “hago” or “estoy haciendo”?
Choosing between the present tense and the gerund in Spanish is quite easy. Just listen to your intuition (and to our tips):
| Presente | Estar + gerundio |
|---|---|
|
1. A regular action in present:
Siempre jugamos en este parque. (We always play at this park) 2. The verbs of perception (ver, oir): Veo que los niños están en el parque. (I see that the children are at the park) (We don’t choose whether to see or not to see. It’s not a conscious activity) 3. In set expressions: ¿Sabes? No me gusta la playa. (You know, I don’t like the beach) |
1. An action in process:
Ahora estamos jugando al fútbol. (Now we are playing football) 2. With the verbs of perception: Estoy viendo la tele. (I am watching TV) (this is an activity with a certain purpose, which I am doing consciously) 3. In order to express irritation about someone’s actions: ¡Siempre está hablando alto para molestarme! (He is always speaking loudly to bother me!) (this is a very emotional expression) |
|
tense markers:
siempre, nunca, a veces, rara vez, a menudo todos los días, todos los meses, todos los años cada mañana, cada semana, cada año, cada siglo 2 veces por semana |
tense markers:
en este momento, en este instante ahora mismo ¡siempre…! (in order to express irritation) |
Attention!
You already know how to complain in Spanish!
If somebody irritates you don’t hesitate to use “estar + gerundio” to express your indignation. Get used to being emotional. You are learning Spanish after all!
- ¡Siempre estás cantando esta canción tonta! ¡Me sacas de quicio! – You are always singing this silly song! You’re driving me crazy!
- ¡Siempre está contando chistes sin gracia! – He is always telling unfunny jokes!
Test
Check what you remember from this lesson:
