One of the main grammatical points to study when you first start learning Spanish is the present tense - you will use it to describe your hobbies, likes and dislikes, character and so much more.
A few terms to note first of all:
Infinitive - the infinitive is the original form of the verb, which has not been conjugated according to a tense or a person e.g. hablar = to talk
Conjugation - a verb that is conjugated is one that has been changed to fit the person and the tense e.g. yo hablo = I talk (in the present tense)
Stem - the stem is the part of the verb you will need to form before adding on the appropriate endings
Verb type - in Spanish, there are three different types of infinitive, which end in either -ar, -er or -ir
To conjugate the present tense, you will need to form the stem of the verb, and then add on the appropriate endings, depending on the type of verb and the person.
Personal pronouns*: yo, tú, él/ella/usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos/ellas
*Note that, unlike in English, the personal pronouns are usually omitted e.g. I sing = canto; the 'yo' is not needed.
To form the stem: remove either the -ar, -er or -ir from the infinitive, and you will be left with the stem of the verb e.g. Beber = beb-
-ar verb endings: o, as, a, amos, áis, an
-er verb endings: o, es, e, emos, éis, en
-ir verb endings: o, es, e, imos, ís, en
Let's put this all together, and conjugate some verbs!
Hablar = to talk = hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan
Comer = to eat = como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen
Vivir = to live = vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven
Do you notice any similarities or differences between the endings?
Now your turn - conjugate these three regular verbs:
estudiar = to study
aprender = to learn
decidir = to decide
Important irregular verbs:
Unfortunately not all verbs in Spanish follow this pattern, and you will have to learn some conjugations off by heart. Some examples include:
Ir = to go = voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van
Tener = to have = tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen
Ser = to be* = soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son
Estar = to be* = estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están
Hacer = to do/make = hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen
*Note that there are two verbs 'to be'.
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