will find in the dictionary as the basis of the verb and which can be translated as ‘to...’,
e.g. trabajar ‘to work’.
There is a set of endings that correspond to each of these three types of verbs, and the
endings correspond to the three ‘persons’ explained above.
The -ar group is by far the largest group of verbs and nearly all the verbs in this group
are regular.
Here is the present tense of the regular -ar verb trabajar in the singular:
1st person (yo) trabajo I work
2nd person (tú) trabajas you work (one person, familiar)
3rd person (él) trabaja he works
(ella) trabaja she works
(Vd.) trabaja you work (one person, formal)
Notice that the endings are distinctive for ‘I ’and the familiar ‘you’, so there is really no
need to include the subject pronouns yo and tú, unless you want to add emphasis:
e.g. I work, but you do not work.
Yo trabajo pero tú no trabajas.
‘He’, ‘she’ and the polite ‘you’ all use the same form. So if there is any possible
ambiguity, you may need to include the subject pronoun.
e.g. Vd. trabaja en el banco ¿no?
You work in the bank,don ’t you?
Without the Vd. in the above example the sentence could have meant ‘He works in the
bank, doesn’t he?’ or ‘She works in the bank, doesn’t she?’.
Often the context of the sentence makes the meaning clear and it is not necessary to
include the pronoun.
Here is the present tense of the regular -ar verb trabajar in the plural:
1st person (nosotros/nosotras) trabajamos we work
2nd person (vosotros/vosotras) trabajáis you work (familiar pl.)
3rd person (ellos) trabajan they work (masc.)
(ellas) trabajan they work (fem.)
(Vds.) trabajan you work (formal pl.)
What has been said above with reference to the possible ambiguity of the third person of
the verb applies to the plural as to the singular.
Now that you know the pattern of a regular -ar verb, you could form the present tense
of any other regular -ar verb:
e.g. hablar ‘to speak’
(^) hablo I speak
Subject pronouns and present tense of regular verbs 21