Tenses might be one of the most important parts of any language, and Spanish has lots of them. Words have many different conjugations, that not only depend on the tense, but also on the way of speaking, the number, the person. But don't worry about it, learning is a process. We'll make our first dive into this ocean with the basic tenses, the ones you need for, pretty much, 90% of conversations.

We'll check 5 basic tenses: simple future, simple present, simple past, present perfect, and past continuous.

1. Simple future: used to talk about actions that will take place in the future.
2. Mañana, yo iré a las Bahamas / Tomorrow, I will go to the Bahamas.
3. Mañana, ella irá a las Bahamas / Tomorrow, she will go to the Bahamas.
4. Mañana, tú irás a las Bahamas / Tomorrow, you will go to the Bahamas.
5. Mañana, ellos irán a las Bahamas / Tomorrow, they will go to the Bahamas.
6. Mañana, nosotros iremos a las Bahamas / Tomorrow, we will go to the Bahamas.

1. Simple present: used to talk about habits, repeated actions, general truths, facts.
2. Yo como pan todos los días / I eat bread everyday.
3. Ella come pan todos los días / She eats bread everyday.
4. Tú comes pan todos los días / You eat bread everyday.
5. Ellos comen pan todos los días / They eat bread everyday.
6. Nosotros comemos pan todos los días / We eat bread everyday.

1. Simple past: used to talk about completed actions in the past.
2. Yo estudié medicina / I studied medicine.
3. Ella estudió medicina / She studied medicine.
4. Tú estudiaste medicina / You studied medicine.
5. Ellos estudiaron medicina / They studied medicine.
6. Nosotros estudiamos medicina / We studied medicine.

1. Present perfect: used to talk about events that happened in the past, but still have relevance or consequences in the present.
2. Yo he bailado siempre / I have always danced.
3. El ha bailado siempre / He has always danced.
4. Tú has bailado siempre / You have always danced.
5. Ellos han bailado siempre / They have always danced.
6. Nosotros hemos bailado siempre / We have always danced.

1. Past continuous: is used to talk about actions that took place in a specific moment in the past, or to talk about simultaneous actions in the past.
2. Yo estaba trabajando cuando ella vino / I was working when she came.
3. El estaba trabajando cuando ella vino / He was working when she came.
4. Tú estabas trabajando cuando ella vino / You were working when she came.
5. Ellos estaban trabajando cuando ella vino / They were working when she came.
6. Nosotros estábamos trabajando cuando ella vino / We were working when she came.

And that's it! Now let's conjugate this one:

1. Yo comeré tacos / I will eat tacos - simple future
2. Yo como tacos / I eat tacos - simple present
3. Yo comí tacos / I ate tacos - simple past
4. Yo he comido tacos / I have eaten tacos - present perfect
5. Yo estaba comiendo tacos / I was eating tacos - past continuous

As you can see, for any verb that you use, the writing is pretty much the same. Keep an eye for patterns.

Remember this is our first dive, so don't feel overwhelmed. There is a lot of details to take into consideration, and we'll go little by little.

If you have any questions, don´t hesitate to ask.

:)

This is awesome. Thanks!

I was just about to ask you about subjunctive, and then I saw your other post https://langoid.com/t/subjunctive-in-spanish/476. I will go there now 😃

for present continuous tense, should I always use estar + gerund instead of ser?

I notice this sentence in lesson "no entiendo lo que estás diciendo"

Yes! Always estar + gerund. The difference between "ser" and "estar" in Spanish lies in the fact that "ser" is used to express identity and permanent characteristics, while "estar" is employed to describe temporary states or changing conditions. In the present continuous tense in Spanish, "estar" is used instead of "ser" because this tense focuses on temporary actions or states that do not represent the essence or permanent identity of the subject. For example, "estoy comiendo" indicates that the action of eating is temporary and in progress, in contrast to "soy una persona" where identity is constant and not subject to change.