Regular present endings (-ar/-er/-ir)
Drop the infinitive ending and add the present endings. -ar (hablar): hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan. -er/-ir match everywhere except nosotros/vosotros: comemos/coméis but vivimos/vivís (elsewhere como/vivo, comes/vives, come/vive, comen/viven). The yo form is always -o, and a regular present carries no written accent — every accent signals an irregular or stem-changing form.
High-frequency irregular presents
Learn the common irregulars. Irregular yo only (rest regular): tener→tengo, hacer→hago, decir→digo, dar→doy, ver→veo. Fully irregular: ser (soy, eres, es, somos, son); estar (estoy, estás, está, estamos, están); ir (voy, vas, va, vamos, van). tener, querer, poder also stem-change (e→ie, o→ue) in tú/él/ellos (tienes, quiere, puede) but stay regular in nosotros (tenemos, queremos, podemos).
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Accent turns present into preterite
A regular present has no written accent; adding one shifts both person and tense to the preterite: hablo (I speak) → habló (he/she spoke); llevo → llevó; gusto → gustó (it pleased). Examiners treat this as a meaning error that invalidates the answer, not a spelling slip — when you mean "now", write no accent on a regular yo/él form.
Accent pairs gustó/gusto, llevó/llevo, saludó/saludo named in Reading Key Messages (s23 P21/P23); creó/creo (s23 P22 Q4f).
Gustar agrees with the thing liked
Gustar/encantar work backwards from English: the subject is the thing liked, the person is an indirect object pronoun. Candidates wrongly match the verb to the person (✗ me gusto, se gustan). Correct: me gusta el fútbol but me gustan los deportes (plural liked → gustan). The a phrase is often dropped (a mí me gusta).
Gustar malformations me gusto, mi gusta, se gustan, lo gusto and omission of the preceding a — Writing common-errors list, every sitting (s22–w23).
Reflexive pronoun must change with person
Reflexive verbs (levantarse, ducharse) need a pronoun matching the subject (me, te, se...). A frequent Reading error copies a first-person verb without updating the pronoun: from Me levanto a las siete a third-person answer is ✗ Me levanta, correct Se levanta a las siete — the ending (levanto→levanta) AND the pronoun (me→se) change together.
me levanto → se levanta (reflexive kept) — s23 P21 Q6(g); w23 P21 Q4(j) estoy → está orgullosa (keep se, do not switch estar→ser).
Ser vs estar in the present
Both mean "to be" but split by meaning. ser = identity, characteristic, origin, profession (es médico, es alto, es español); estar = location, temporary state, feeling (está en casa, está cansado). So ✗ mi casa es cerca → está cerca; ✗ está médico → es médico. Reading tests the contrast directly (es indio vs está indio).
ser/estar confusion on the Writing common-errors list every sitting; Reading es indio vs está indio — s23 P22 Q6(h).
Forgetting the stem change (e→ie, o→ue)
Stem-changing verbs change the stressed vowel in yo/tú/él/ellos, but candidates leave the plain stem: ✗ quero → quiero; ✗ podo → puedo; also pensar → pienso, dormir → duermo, pedir → pido (e→i). The change does NOT happen in nosotros/vosotros: queremos, podemos, dormimos keep the plain stem.
(general FL trap)
First person text → third person answer
Reading Q4/Q6 texts are first-person; the answer moves to third person, changing the verb ending AND every possessive/object pronoun with it: tengo mi libro → tiene su libro (tengo→tiene, mi→su); empezamos → empezaron. Copying the first-person form, or changing the verb but leaving mi/me, is the most-penalised Reading transformation error.
Third-person transformation of first-person source (verb + pronoun + possessive) — s23 P21/P22/P23 Key Messages; w23 P21.
Gustar does not work like a normal verb
Candidates translate "I like football" word-for-word as ✗ me gusto el fútbol, treating "yo" as the subject. In fact the subject of gustar is the thing liked, so the verb agrees with THAT: me gusta el fútbol (singular) but me gustan los deportes (plural). The person is only an object pronoun (me, te, le...). Same back-to-front logic as doler and encantar.
Gustar malformations me gusto, mi gusta, se gustan on the Writing common-errors list every sitting (s22–w23).
Routine for transforming a lifted verb
When reusing a verb from a first-person text, do all four changes together: the person ending (hablo→habla), a reflexive pronoun (me→se), any possessive or object pronoun (mi→su, me→le), and add no accent unless the tense truly becomes preterite or future.
Use the tense the task signals
Use the present for habitual actions and current facts, but switch as soon as the rubric signals past or future — staying in the present when a past was required is a named Writing error every sitting. Scan the prompt first for time markers like ayer or mañana.
Choose gusta or gustan by the thing liked
Before writing a gustar sentence, find the thing liked first — it is the subject and fixes the verb: singular → gusta (me gusta el cine), plural → gustan (me gustan las películas). Add the person only as a pronoun (me, te, le...).
The present tense (el presente) describes what is happening now, a habitual action, or a general truth: hablo (I speak), come (she eats), viven (they live).
Drop the infinitive ending and add the present endings. -er and -ir verbs differ only in nosotros/vosotros.
| Person | -ar (hablar) | -er (comer) | -ir (vivir) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablo | como | vivo |
| tú | hablas | comes | vives |
| él / ella / usted | habla | come | vive |
| nosotros/as | hablamos | comemos | vivimos |
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