Today is February 14, Valentine’s Day. Everyone is talking about love, flowers, and chocolates, but what is the time for love? Did you know that in Spanish, you can say I loved you, and I have loved you? Depending on the country you are in, it can mean the same thing or something subtly different. Pay attention here because the times of love are different everywhere.

Pretérito perfecto simple v/s pretérito perfecto compuesto: When and which countries use a particular verb tense the most

What tense is used to express recent actions? Well, it depends: while in that case, the pretérito perfecto compuesto (te he querido [I have loved you], lo he visto [I have seen it], or he salido [I have gone out]) is more common in much of Spain, in America, and some areas of Spain such as the Canary Islands, what would be used in this case would be the pretérito compuesto simple, that is: te quise [I loved you], lo vi [I saw it], and salí [I left]. In these areas, what happens is that both the pretérito perfecto compuesto and the pretérito compuesto simple can be used to express the same idea. That is something that occurred in the recent past.

Let’s look at an example to make it clearer.

No he desayunado
No desayuné

Depending on whether you are in Latin America or Spain, these two sentences could be interpreted in different ways:

In Spanish from Spain, sentence (a) can only refer to today (a recent past), while the second (b) refers to yesterday. In Latin America, both sentences can be used interchangeably to refer to today’s action. Even the first could mean that he has not eaten yet, but he can still do so, and the second could mention that at the moment, he has not had breakfast because it is too late. I love those subtleties of language!

If you speak English, you will realise that these two tenses in Spanish from Spain are the same as the distinction between the past simple and the present perfect in English.

Going back to the original example of this day of love, the “te quise” in Spain means that “until yesterday I loved you, but no more”, and the “te he querido” means that until sometime today I also loved you, but for some reason not anymore. 🥺

I’m sorry; love and grammar are like that sometimes.

I hope you learned something more today or that you are at least enjoying a beautiful date on this day of love. Lots of love and Spanish to you! 😍😎

Verbs are words that express the action of the subject or the state the subject is in. This is why verbs in Spanish always match in gender and number with the subject.

El niño corrió durante tres horas. (The boy ran for three hours.)

As we can see in this example, the verb is in the past simple tense. Learning the verb tenses can take a while, but don’t be discouraged, as with everything in life, Spanish grammar takes practice.

It is important to know which are the most common Spanish verbs so that we can express ourselves as a true native speaker. During these months, we have been introducing you to the most common words of different grammatical elements.

Today iScribo brings you a list of common Spanish verbs for you to practise. Read on to discover it.

Most Common Spanish Ar Verbs

The verbs ending in ar are the verbs of the first conjugation. Here you can find the most used Spanish verbs in this category:

1. Estar (to be): Estoy en la puerta de tu casa, ¿me abres? (I’m at your door, will you open it for me?)

2. Comprar (to buy): Hace falta comprar yogures de limón. (We need to buy lemon yogurt.)

3. Buscar (to look): Búscalo en Internet y sal de dudas. (Look it up on the Internet and find out for sure.)

4. Andar (to walk): Le gusta andar por las tardes. (He likes walking in the evenings.)

5. Cerrar (to close): Se me olvidó cerrar la puerta al salir. (I forgot to close the door when I left.)

6. Encontrar (to find): Te habríamos encontrado antes si me hubieras mandado tu ubicación. (We would have found you sooner if you had sent me your location.)

7. Dar (to give): Me han dado un regalo de bienvenida. (They gave me a welcome present.)

8. Empezar (to start): El curso empieza la semana que viene. (The course starts next week.)

9. Cocinar (to cook): Los abuelos cocinarán una paella. (The grandparents will cook a paella.)

10. Hablar (to talk): El bebé comenzó a hablar a los siete meses. (The baby started talking at seven months.)

11. Quedar (to meet): Quedaron a las ocho en punto. (They met at eight o’clock.)

12. Saltar (to jump): Saltaría la valla un par de veces. (I’d jump the fence a couple of times.)

13. Estudiar (to study): Estudió para el examen de español durante toda la noche. (They studied for the Spanish test all night long.)

Common Spanish Verbs Ending in Er

The second conjugation comprises verbs ending in er:

14. Aprender (to learn): Ya habíamos aprendido toda la lección cuando nos preguntó. (We had already learned our lesson when he asked us.)

15. Ser (to be): Soy tan independiente como práctica. (I am as independent as I am practical.)

16. Beber (to drink): Es importante beber agua cuando se hace ejercicio. (It is important to drink water when exercising.)

17. Comer (to eat): Iremos a comer al restaurante de la esquina. (We will go to eat at the restaurant on the corner.)

18. Conocer (to meet): Conocimos a tu primo en tu cumpleaños. (We meet your cousin at your birthday party.)

19. Entender (to understand): No entendí la moraleja del libro. (I did not understand the message of the book.)

20. Creer (to believe): No me creo ni una palabra de lo que me has contado. (I don’t believe a word you say.)

21. Haber (there is/there are): No hay nadie en la sala, tenemos que esperar. (There is nobody in the room, we have to wait.)

22. Hacer (to make): No me ha hecho gracia que te rías de mí. (I made an omelette for lunch.)

23. Leer (to read): Me tengo que leer dos libros para el grupo de lectura. (I have to read two books for the reading group.)

24. Saber (to know): No sé si sabes que el lunes es fiesta. (I wonder if you know that Monday is a holiday.)

25. Querer (to love): Te quiso tanto como a tu hermano. (He loved you as much as he loved your brother.)

26. Tener (to have): Tengo cuatro relojes y no sé cuál ponerme. (I have four watches and I don’t know which one to wear.)

Most Common Verbs Ending in Ir

The third conjugation comprises verbs ending in ir:

27. Abrir (to open): Tendríamos que haber abierto la ventana antes de salir. (We should have opened the window before leaving.)

28. Salir (to leave): Saldré del trabajo sobre las cinco. (I will leave work around five o’clock.)

29. Subir (come up): Subiríamos si nos invitaras. (We’d come up if you invited us.)

30. Decir (to tell): Te dije la verdad pero no me creíste. (I told you the truth but you didn’t believe me.)

31. Escribir (to write): La chica escribe en su diario todas las noches. (The girl writes in her diary every night.)

32. Ir (to go): Iremos al río cuando suba la temperatura. (We will go to the river when the temperature rises.)

33. Partir (to chop, to leave):Partiremos las manzanas. (We will chop the apples.)

El avión partió al amanecer. (The plane will leave at sunrise.)

34. Pedir (to order): Se ha pedido pescado para cenar. (He ordered fish for dinner.)

35. Decidir (to decide): Decidió que se pasaría por la fiesta de Ana. (He decided that he would stop by Ana’s party.)

36. Preferir (to prefer): Prefiero que te marches tú primero. (I prefer that you leave first.)

37. Imprimir (to print): Deberías imprimir todos los documentos. (You should print all the documents.)

38. Sentir (to feel): Siento muchísimo lo que te ha pasado. (I am very sorry for what happened to you.)

39. Venir (to come): Vino del gimnasio y se acostó. (He came from the gym and went to bed.)

iScribo in Defense of Grammar

There are many verbs and their use will depend on the different Spanish-speaking countries. There are verbs that are used in Spain in everyday conversations that are offensive in other Latin American countries. This is why we encourage you to learn about different Spanish-speaking cultures so that you can draw your own conclusions. iScribo advocates the correct use of Spanish grammar. Our tool corrects your written Spanish in real time according to the rules of the RAE. The Academia can also help you learn the difference between regular and irregular verbs, you can check their list here.

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