Regular Present Tense Verbs in Spanish For Healthcare Context

This free Medical Spanish lesson focuses on learning and understanding the use of the Regular Present Tense Verbs in Spanish for healthcare context.

Here is the video lesson about the Regular Present Tense Verbs in Spanish that I taught to the Facebook group.

Empezamos con una lección sencilla pero fundamental: Los verbos regulares en tiempo presente en español relacionados con la salud.

Algunos ejemplos:

La asociada médica examina al paciente : The female PA examines the pacient. (Examinar = To examine):
El paciente respira profundo: The patient breathes deeply. (Respirar = To breathe)
El paciente sufre de dolor de pecho: The patient suffers from chest pain. (Sufrir = To suffer)
El paciente no come bien: The patient doesn’t eat well. (Comer = To eat)
El paciente no controla su azúcar: The patient doesn’t control his/her blood sugar. (Controlar = To control)
Él bebe demasiadas bebidas azucaradas : He drinks to many sugary drinks. (Beber = To drink)

Algunas preguntas:

¿Sufres tú de dolor de pecho? : Do you suffer from chest pain?
- No, gracias a Dios yo no sufro dolor de pecho: No, thank God I don’t suffer from chest pain.
¿Come usted bien?: Do you eat?
- A veces yo como bien, a veces no como bien: Sometimes I eat well, sometimes I don’t eat well.

Note: Both “Tú” and “Usted” mean “You”. You’ll learn how to use them properly later. Also, is good for you to know that in some regions in Latin America (mostly in Argentina, Uruguay and some cities in Colombia), people use “Vos” instead of Tú and Usted. The conjugation are quite similar and you don’t need to worry about learning this variant since they are going to understand what you are saying when using Tú or Usted 🙂

¿Bebe usted demasiadas bebidas azucaradas?: Do you drink to many sugary drinks?

Los sujetos en español / Subjects in Spanish

As we study the subjects, you’ll notice that they actually dictate the conjugations of the verbs in Spanish.

Singular	Plural
Yo = I	Nosotros = We
Tú = You (for kids)	~~Vosotros = You all (only in Spain)~~ *
Él = He	Ellos = They
Ella = She	Ellas = They (women)
Usted = You (for 13+)	Ustedes = You all

* Note: Although it is good to know the meaning of the “vosotros” form, it is not mandatory to learn how to conjugate it since it is only used in Spain. People from Latin America prefer to use the “ustedes” form.

What About “Vos”?

In some Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Uruguay (and even some provinces in Venezuela and Colombia), people use the form “vos” instead of “tú” when speaking. You don’t need to learn it but it’s good for you to know if you hear your Latino patient using this particular form when talking to you. Here some examples:

Vos sos / estás: You are (note some verbs conjugated using the “tú” form)
¿Dónde vivís?: Where do you live? (Verbs ending in -e change to -ís in the present tense)
Respirá hondo: Breathe deeply (with some verbs, you only need to add an accent at the end)

Again, this is a particular form used in some countries and requires an advanced level of Spanish to use it, so if a patient uses the form “vos” when talking to you, you can reply using “tú” or “usted” forms depending on the context.

Tres tipos de verbos en español / 3 Types of Verbs in Spanish

Each type of verbs has their own conjugation pattern depending on the subject you are using

-AR Verbs	-ER Verbs	-IR Verbs
Examinar	Comer	Sufrir
Respirar	Beber	Vivir (To live)

Steps in Conjugating Verbs in Spanish

Step 1: Drop the ending

-AR Verbs	-ER Verbs	-IR Verbs
Examin__	Com__	Sufr__
Respir__	Beb__	Viv__

Step 2: Add The Present Tense Ending to The Verb

1. Verbos -AR

Singular	Plural
Yo… o	Nosotros… amos
Tú… as	Vosotros… áis
Él, Ella, Usted… a	Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes… an

Examples:

RESPIRAR

Singular	Plural
Yo…respiro	Nosotros… respiramos
Tú… respiras	~~Vosotros… respiráis~~
Él, Ella, Usted… respira	Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes… respiran

Remember: ANY -AR REGULAR VERB in Spanish is going to take this pattern

2. Verbos -ER

You only need to change the “a” to “e” when working with -ER endings:

Singular	Plural
Yo… o	Nosotros… emos
Tú… es	Vosotros… éis
Él, Ella, Usted… e	Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes… en

Examples:

COMER

Singular	Plural
Yo… como	Nosotros… comemos
Tú… comes	~~Vosotros… coméis~~
Él, Ella, Usted… come	Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes… comen

3. Verbos -IR

-ER and -IR verbs are similar in conjugation except for the “nosotros” and “vosotros” forms:

Singular	Plural
Yo… o	Nosotros… imos
Tú… es	~~Vosotros… ís~~
Él, Ella, Usted… e	Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes… en

Examples:

VIVIR

Singular	Plural
Yo… vivo	Nosotros… vivimos
Tú… vives	~~Vosotros… vivís~~
Él, Ella, Usted… vive	Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes… viven

Práctica

Let’s try to solve these exercises on your own:

La doctora ________ (trabajar) en la clínica (The doctor works in the clinic).
Nosotros _________ (estudiar) español (We study Spanish).
Tú ______ (comer) muchas frutas y verduras (You eat a lot fo fruits and vegetables).
Ustedes no ______ (beber) bebidas alcohólicas (You don’t drink alcoholic beverages).
Yo ______ (vivir) en Colorado (I live in Colorado).
Él ______ (sufrir) de Diabetes tipo 2 (He suffers from type 2 Diabetes)

Finally…

This is the most basic level of conjugating the regular present tense verbs in Spanish and, in order to master this lesson, here are some ideas and suggestions to get more practice:

1. Memorizar verbos comunes (A full list of 200 verbs in Spanish are available in the lesson download)