In this lesson, we cover the present indicative tense, also called the present simple tense, in Spanish.
However, we need to first learn about the infinitive. Verbs in their infinitive form in Portuguese have one of three endings: –ar, –er, –ir.
When conjugated, these endings are replaced with different endings based on the subject. In English, verb conjugation in the present tense is quite simple.
For example, the verb “to break” is conjugated as follows: I/you/we/they break, he/she/it breaks. Thus, there are only two conjugation forms of the verb “to break” in the present tense, which are “break” and “breaks.”
In Portuguese, it is a little more complicated. Regular verbs in the present indicative tense follow the conjugation rules shown below, with an example from each verb group: –ar, –er, –ir.
| -ar ending e.g., falar (to speak) | -er ending e.g., comer (to eat) | -ir ending e.g., partir (to leave) | |
| eu | falo | como | parto |
| ele/ela/você | fala | come | parte |
| nós | falamos | comemos | partimos |
| eles/elas/vocês | falam | comem | partem |
Dropping the Subject Pronoun
In Portuguese, unlike in English, we can sometimes drop the subject pronoun because the conjugation is usually sufficient to indicate the subject.
For instance, we could say “Eu vivo na Espanha” or “Vivo na Espanha” (I live in Spain).
Both are considered perfect speech and grammatically correct. It can sometimes sounds more native to drop the subject pronoun in informal speech.
Irregular Verbs
Not all verbs are regular in the present indicative tense. For example, the verbs “ser” (to be) and “ter” (to have) are two important verbs in Portuguese used to form sentences and as auxiliary verbs. Both are completely irregular and are conjugated as follows:
| ser (to be) | ter (to have) | |
| eu | sou | tenho |
| ele/ela/você | é | tem |
| nós | somos | temos |
| eles/elas/vocês | são | têm |
We will learn more about irregular verbs in the present indicative tense in Level II, Lesson 2.
Remember that the formal second-person singular forms, i.e., “o senhor” and “a senhora,” and the informal first-person plural form, i.e., “a gente” (we), all use the third-person singular verb conjugation, e.g., “A gente dorme cedo” (We sleep early).
Present Indicative vs. Present Subjunctive
It is important to note that the present tense we have discussed so far is also called the present indicative tense, to distinguish it from the present subjunctive tense. The indicative and the subjunctive are two different moods. You do not have to worry about the difference for now.
We will cover the subjunctive mood in more advanced lessons starting in Level IV, Lesson 6. As we progress with more advanced tenses in the levels to come, you can refer to this verb conjugation chart, as a cheat sheet, to gain perspective on the different moods and tenses in Portuguese.
Other lessons in Level I:
