I can talk about my usual week: conjugate -ar verbs and say the days of the week without a preposition (los lunes — on Mondays).
Present tense and days of the week
Presente: -ar verbs
The present tense describes what you do regularly: habits, routines, schedules. It also states what is generally true.
Time expressions for this tense: todos los días (every day), los lunes… los domingos (on Mondays… on Sundays), el fin de semana (on the weekend).
Days of the week are lowercase (unlike English) and take no preposition, no word for “on”: el lunes — on (this) Monday, los lunes — on Mondays. In the plural only los sábados and los domingos change: the other days already end in -s and stay the same.
Form. From an -ar verb, drop -ar and add the ending: -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. English has two forms (work, works); Spanish has six. All the forms are in the table below.
The subject pronoun is usually left out: the ending already shows the person. Estudian los martes — “they study on Tuesdays”.
Negative: no goes before the verb — No trabajo los domingos. Question: same word order, ¿…? and a rising voice: ¿Trabajas los sábados?
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Yo trabajas” — correct: Yo trabajo.
• NOT “Nosotros hablan” — correct: Nosotros hablamos.
• NOT “Estudio en lunes” — correct: Estudio los lunes.
• NOT “Yo soy trabajo” — “I'm working” is just trabajo: Spanish adds no “to be” before the verb.
Present tense: -ar verbs
Drop -ar and add the ending. Formal usted takes the él form.
| Ending | trabajar | estudiar | hablar | desayunar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -o | trabajo | estudio | hablo | desayuno |
| tú | -as | trabajas | estudias | hablas | desayunas |
| él · ella · usted | -a | trabaja | estudia | habla | desayuna |
| nosotros | -amos | trabajamos | estudiamos | hablamos | desayunamos |
| vosotros | -áis | trabajáis | estudiáis | habláis | desayunáis |
| ellos · ellas · ustedes | -an | trabajan | estudian | hablan | desayunan |
Lesson notes
Presente: -ar verbs
The present tense describes what you do regularly: habits, routines, schedules. It also states what is generally true.
Time expressions for this tense: todos los días (every day), los lunes… los domingos (on Mondays… on Sundays), el fin de semana (on the weekend).
Days of the week are lowercase (unlike English) and take no preposition, no word for “on”: el lunes — on (this) Monday, los lunes — on Mondays. In the plural only los sábados and los domingos change: the other days already end in -s and stay the same.
Form. From an -ar verb, drop -ar and add the ending: -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. English has two forms (work, works); Spanish has six. All the forms are in the table below.
The subject pronoun is usually left out: the ending already shows the person. Estudian los martes — “they study on Tuesdays”.
Negative: no goes before the verb — No trabajo los domingos. Question: same word order, ¿…? and a rising voice: ¿Trabajas los sábados?
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Yo trabajas” — correct: Yo trabajo.
• NOT “Nosotros hablan” — correct: Nosotros hablamos.
• NOT “Estudio en lunes” — correct: Estudio los lunes.
• NOT “Yo soy trabajo” — “I'm working” is just trabajo: Spanish adds no “to be” before the verb.