The present tense, irregulars included

Every Spanish verb ends in -ar, -er or -ir. Drop that ending and add a new one that tells you who is doing the action. Because the ending already says who, Spanish usually leaves out yo, tú and él: hablo means "I speak" on its own.

• -ar (hablar): hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, hablan

• -er (comer): como, comes, come, comemos, comen

• -ir (vivir): vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, viven

The -er and -ir endings are identical except for nosotros: comemos but vivimos.

The classic English-speaker trap is leaving the verb in the infinitive (yo vivir en Lima) or copying the English "do" into questions and negatives. Spanish has no helper verb: "Do you read?" is just ¿Lees?, and "I don't eat meat" is No como carne.

One Spanish form does the work of several English ones: leo can mean "I read", "I do read" or, in context, "I'm reading".

Vosotros (habláis, coméis, vivís) is used only in Spain; elsewhere ustedes (hablan, comen, viven) covers every "you all". In Rioplatense and much of Central America, vos has its own stressed forms: vos hablás, comés, vivís.

Tener (to have) is irregular in two ways. Its yo form ends in -go, and its stem changes from e to ie in the forms where the stress falls on it:

• tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tienen

Several common verbs share that -go in the yo form: hago (hacer), pongo (poner), salgo (salir), vengo (venir), digo (decir). Their other forms are regular (haces, pones, sales) or follow their own pattern (vienes, dices).

The bigger trap for English speakers is that Spanish uses tener where English uses "to be". Age, hunger, thirst, cold, heat, fear and being in a hurry are all things you have:

• Tengo treinta años. I am thirty.

• Tenemos hambre. We are hungry.

• ¿Tienes frío? Are you cold?

A useful test: if English says "be" plus age or a body feeling, Spanish almost always says tener. Soy frío makes you a cold, distant person, and estoy frío describes a body that is cold to the touch; neither is what you want to say.

Tener que plus an infinitive means "to have to": Tengo que trabajar. With vos (Rioplatense, Central American) the form is vos tenés.

Four of the most frequent verbs in Spanish share an odd yo form ending in -oy: voy (ir), estoy (estar), doy (dar) and soy (ser). Learn them as a family.

Ir (to go) looks nothing like its infinitive, so it is the one learners most often get wrong:

• voy, vas, va, vamos, van

It almost always comes with a to say where you are going, and a + el contracts to al: Voy al trabajo, Vamos a la playa. To ask where, use ¿Adónde? or ¿A dónde?

Watch two English habits. First, "I'm going" does not become estoy yendo. Spanish uses the simple present for movement happening now: "Where are you going?" is ¿Adónde vas? Second, do not leave the verb as an infinitive after the person: Mis hijos van, never mis hijos ir.

Estar follows the same pattern with accents on most forms (estás, está, están), and dar is simply doy, das, da, damos, dan. With vos, these become vos vas, estás, das — the same as tú in the present.

Some verbs change the vowel in their stem whenever that vowel is stressed. The change happens in every form except nosotros (and vosotros), so if you write the forms in a grid, the changed ones make the shape of a boot.

• e to ie: querer gives quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, quieren

• o to ue: poder gives puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, pueden; dormir gives duermo

• u to ue: jugar gives juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, juegan

The usual mistake is forgetting the change (quero, podo) or putting it into nosotros (queremos, never quieremos).

Querer is the one you will use most. It takes a noun (Quiero un café) or an infinitive (Quiero dormir). Only the first verb is conjugated: "she wants to sleep" is quiere dormir, not quiere duerme. To want someone else to do something needs a different structure, which comes later.

Jugar takes a before the game in most of Latin America and Spain (juego al fútbol), though juego fútbol is common in Mexico. With vos the stem does not change: vos querés, podés, dormís.

English has one verb, "to know"; Spanish has two, and they are not interchangeable.

• saber: facts, information, and skills. Sé tu dirección. Sabe nadar.

• conocer: people, places and things you are familiar with. Conozco a tu madre. Conocemos Quito.

Both are irregular only in the yo form: sé (with an accent, to tell it apart from the pronoun se) and conozco. The rest is regular: sabes, sabe, sabemos, saben; conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocen.

Two traps for English speakers. First, "know how to" is just saber + infinitive, with no cómo: "I know how to drive" is Sé manejar (Sé conducir in Spain). Second, a name, a phone number or an answer is information, so it takes saber even though it is attached to a person: Conozco a Ana, pero no sé su apellido.

A quick test: if you could add "that", "where", "how" or "the answer", use saber. If you mean "I've met them" or "I've been there", use conocer, and remember the a before a person.

To stress that something is in progress at this very moment, Spanish uses estar plus a gerund. The gerund ends in -ando for -ar verbs and -iendo for -er and -ir verbs:

• Estoy trabajando. I'm working (right now).

• Está lloviendo. It's raining.

• Irregular gerunds to know: durmiendo, leyendo, diciendo, pidiendo.

The trap is that English uses "-ing" far more than Spanish does. Spanish keeps the progressive for actions genuinely under way now, and uses the simple present for everything else:

• Plans: "I'm leaving tomorrow" is Salgo mañana, not estoy saliendo.

• Habits: "I'm studying law this year" is usually Estudio Derecho.

• Going and coming: "I'm coming!" is ¡Ya voy!

To decide, ask whether you could add "at this very moment" and mean it literally. If yes, use estar + gerund; otherwise the simple present is usually right.

The progressive is used everywhere, though some Latin American speakers use it a little more widely than speakers in Spain. Driving is manejar in Latin America and conducir in Spain.