6 Very Useful Spanish Verbs You Need to Know

Verbs, verbs, verbs…-ar, -er, -ir, pretérito imperfecto, pretérito indefinido, futuro simple or future imperfecto, pretérito perfecto…if you are already starting to sweat, then serve up the gazpacho and cool it down a notch as we take a look at some useful Spanish verbs. Thankfully, like most things in life, the 80/20 rule works for Spanish grammar too. Being able to conjugate the top 6 verbs any which way is a good route to confidence.

  1. Ser To be (permanent qualities)

When do I use it? Time, date, nationality, occupation/profession, physical description of people and places, event locations, occupation/profession.

  1. Estar To be *(temporary qualities)

When do I use it? Feelings, describing food, what you’re doing or what’s actively happening (continuous tense), location of buildings

  1. Hacer To make or to do

When do I use it? In Spanish, there’s no difference between the activities we do and the things we make, both activities are described with the verb hacer. He does his homework: El hace sus deberes She makes dinner: Ella hace la cena

  1. Tener To have

When do I use it? Possession, *age, phrasal verb Tener Que + Infinitivo (non-conjugated verb) *Age: In Spanish, you possess age e.g. Tengo 20 años = I have 20 years. NEVER use ser or estar with age, as in soy 20 or estoy 20.

  1. Ir To go The verb ir is almost exclusively used with the preposition a

When to use: To go to a location, phrasal verb Ir a + Infinitivo (non-conjugated verb) Do I really need to know another language? Maybe not, but here are 10 very good reasons why you should!


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