Your First Regular AR Verbs
Regular ar verbs reveal a reusable present-tense pattern. Remove ar, add the ending for yo or tú, and test the pattern with everyday actions.
Learning objective
Form present-tense yo and tú forms of regular ar verbs.
Many Spanish infinitives end in ar. An infinitive is the unchanged dictionary form of a verb, such as hablar, to speak, or trabajar, to work. A regular verb follows a predictable ending pattern. This first step forms only yo and tú in the present tense.
Remove ar to find the stem, the stable beginning that carries the main meaning. Hablar gives habl, and trabajar gives trabaj. Add o for yo and as for tú: yo hablo, I speak, and tú hablas, you speak; yo trabajo, I work, and tú trabajas, you work.
The same pattern works with estudiar, to study: estudio and estudias. Spanish often omits yo or tú because the endings already distinguish the subjects. Hablo español and Yo hablo español both mean I speak Spanish, while the explicit pronoun can add clarity or contrast.
Regular describes the verb's form, not how frequently an action occurs. Pronounce every added vowel clearly, especially the final o in hablo and the final as in hablas. Keep the written accent on tú when the pronoun appears; tu without an accent means your and has a different job.
Examples
Hablo español.
I speak Spanish.
The o ending identifies the speaker.
Tú hablas inglés.
You speak English.
The as ending matches informal singular tú.
Trabajo en casa.
I work at home.
Trabajar loses ar and gains o.
¿Estudias español?
Do you study Spanish?
Estudias uses the regular tú ending and question intonation.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Yo hablar español.
- Try
- Yo hablo español. / Hablo español.
Hablar is the infinitive and does not yet match the speaker. Remove ar and add o to create hablo. The subject pronoun is optional in ordinary context, but the conjugated form is not. Conjugated means changed so the verb fits its subject.
Practice
Try it yourself
Form the yo and tú present forms of hablar, trabajar, and estudiar. Then write one statement about yourself and one informal question for a classmate.