High Frequency Verb Conjugations for Healthcare Workers

6 Essential Medical Spanish Verb Conjugations for Healthcare Workers in the USA

6 Essential Spanish verb conjugations

How to Manage the Most Frequently Used Verb Conjugations in Spanish for Healthcare Workers.

Verbs are are the glue that hold a language together and create meaning. A pure vocabulary-based subject/noun/adjective communication style is caveman speak, and you’re way too smart for that!

So, in this post we’re breaking down the 6 most common Spanish verb conjugations and verb tenses for everyday clinical settings. Of course there are more verb tenses in the Spanish language, but since your goal is not to be a Spanish linguist – you should probably focus on these first. Take a look below!

Get the full lesson notes here:


Spanish Verb Tense #1 – Present Tense:

Meaning: to describe everyday things that you are doing or do habitually.

Conjugations: stem of the verb + the conjugations below

AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
Yo: -oNosotros -amosYo -oNosotros -emosYo -oNosotros -imos
Tú: -as -es -es 
Él, Ella, -a
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -an
Ustedes
Él, Ella, -e
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -en
Ustedes
Él, Ella, -e
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -en
Ustedes

Common Irregular verbs in the present tense:

Caerse = to fall down
Conocer = to know (people or places)
Dar = to give
Decir = to say / to tell
Estar = to be (feelings, location, state of being)
Hacer = to do
Ir = to go
Oir = to hear
Poner = to put / to place
Saber = to know (information, facts, how to do something)
Salir = to go out
Ser = to be (occupation, characteristics, origin/nationality, time)
Tener = to have
Traer = to bring
Venir = to come
Ver = to see

Spanish Verb Tense #2 – Preterite Past Tense (simple past):

Meaning: this is the simple past tense used to describe completed actions in the past.

Uses: SPICY & SAFE Acronyms for Preterite Past tense

AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
Yo: Nosotros -amosYo Nosotros -imosYo Nosotros -imos
Tú: -aste -iste -iste 
Él, Ella, 
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -aron
Ustedes
Él, Ella, -ió
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -ieron
Ustedes
Él, Ella, -ió
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -ieron
Ustedes

Irregular Preterite Past Tense Verbs in Spanish:

Andar = to walk
Dar = to give
Decir = to say / to tell
Estar = to be (feelings, location, state of being)
Hacer = to do / to make
Ir = to go
Poder = to be able to
Poner = to put / to place
Querer = to want / to desire
Saber = to know (means “found out” in this tense)
Ser = to be (occupation, characteristics, origin/nationality, time)
Tener = to have
Traer = to bring
Venir = to come

Spanish Verb Tense #3 – Imperfect Past Tense (continuous past):

Meaning: This is the past tense that often describes habitual actions in the past “used to” or an ongoing action in the past “was doing”.

Uses: See DUWIT Acronym here

AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
Yo: -abaNosotros -ábamosYo -íaNosotros -íamosYo -íaNosotros -íamos
Tú: -abas -ías -ías 
Él, Ella, -aba
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -aban
Ustedes
Él, Ella, -ía
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -ían
Ustedes
Él, Ella, -ía
Usted
Ellos, Ellas, -ían
Ustedes

Irregular Imperfect Past Tense Verbs in Spanish:

Ir = to go
Ser = to be (occupation, characteristics, origin/nationality, time)
Ver = to see

Spanish Verb Tense #4 – Present Perfect Tense:

Meaning: to “have done” something

Conjugation: Helping verb “haber” + the stem of the verb (everything but the ending) plus the conjugations below

AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
Yo: he + -adoNos. hemos + -adoYo he + -idoNos. hemos + -idoYo he + -idoNos. hemos + -ido
Tú: has + -ado Tú has + -ido Tú has + -ido 
Él 
Ella ha + -ado
Usted
Ellos 
Ellas han + -ado
Ustedes
Él 
Ella  ha + -ido
Usted
Ellos 
Ellas  han + -ido
Ustedes
Él
Ella  ha + -ido
Usted
Ellos
Ellas  han + -ido
Ustedes

Common Irregular Verbs in the Present Perfect Tense (same irregulars for Past Perfect Tense):

Abrir = to open
Cubrir = to cover
Decir = to say / to tell
Escribir = to write
Hacer = to do / to make
Morir = to die
Poner = to put / to place
Resolver = to resolve
Romper = to break
Volver = to return
Ver = to see

Spanish Verb Tense #5a – Imperative (Command) Tense for Usted:

Meaning: this is the command tense that you need to use with your adolescent and adult patients, used for quick instructions: “Do this”, “Don’t do that”, etc

Conjugation:

  1. Go to the “yo” (of the present tense)
  2. Drop the “o”
  3. Add the opposite ending
    • AR > e
    • ER/IR > a
 AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
 UstedUstedesUstedUstedesUstedUstedes
Affirmative-e-en-a-an-a-an
NegativeNo + -eNo + -enNo + -aNo + -anNo + -aNo + -an

Common Irregular Verbs in the Usted Command Form:

Dar = to give
Estar = to be (feelings, location, states of being)
Haber = to be / to have (helping verb for perfect tenses)
Ir = to go
Saber = to know
Ser = to be (occupation, characteristics, origin/nationality, time)

Spanish Verb Tense #5b – Imperative (Command) Tense for Tú:

Meaning: this is the command tense that you need to use with your patients who are children (under 13 or 14 y/o), used for quick instructions: “Do this”, “Don’t do that”, etc

Conjugations: Tú commands are tricky because they use one form for the affirmative command, and a different form for the negative command.

Affirmative commands take the 3rd person singluar form of the present tense: ex. hablar > habla (él, ella, usted form of the verb). Negative commands take the tú form in the present subjunctive. Explained in different terms, it’s the usted command + “s”: ex. No Hablar > no hables

 AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
Affirmative-a (habla)-e (come)-e (vive)
NegativeNo + -es (no hables)No + as (no comas)No + as (no vivas)

Common Irregular Verbs in the Tú Command Form:

Decir = to say / to tell
Hacer = to do / to make
Poner = to put / to place
Salir = to leave / to go out
Ser = to be (occupation, characteristics, origin/nationality, time)
Tener = to have
Venir = to come

Spanish Verb Tense #6 – Conditional Verbs (would):

Meaning: this is when you want to say you “would do” something in the moment. Ex. I would speak Spanish = Yo hablaría el español. 

Conjugations: This is verb tense conjugation is super easy; just keep the verb whole and add the conjugations at the end!

AR VerbsER VerbsIR Verbs
Yo – íaNosotros – íamosYo – íaNosotros – íamosYo – íaNosotros – íamos
Tú – ías Tú – ías Tú – ías 
Él
Ella – ía
Usted
Ellos
Ellas – ían
Ustedes
Él
Ella – ía
Usted
Ellos
Ellas – ían
Ustedes
Él
Ella – ía
Usted
Ellos
Ellas – ían
Ustedes

Common Irregular verbs in the Conditional Tense:

Caerse = to fall down
Caber = to fit (cabría)
Decir = to say/tell (diría)
Haber = to have (habría)
Hacer – to do (haría)
Poder – to be able (podría)
Poner – to put/place (pondría)
Querer = to want (querría)
Saber = to know (sabría)
Salir = to leave (saldría)
Valer = to be worth (valdría)
Venir = to come (vendría)

Keep up the good work speaking responsible Spanish to your patients! Check out our other books, classes & products to help you learn medical Spanish!

*If the link isn’t working for you, you may need to unblock pop-ups in your browser settings.

People Also Read: Spanish Reflexive Verbs – When and How to Use them

1 thought on “6 Essential Medical Spanish Verb Conjugations for Healthcare Workers in the USA”

  1. Pingback: Medical Spanish - Regular Present Tense Verbs in Spanish For Healthcare Context | Common Ground International Language Services

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Shopping Cart
Learning Medical Spanish Facebook Group

Most Fridays Rory publishes a free medical Spanish video lesson to help you speak better Spanish. Would you like us to notify you?

Message and data rates may apply. We’ll keep message frequency to a minimum. Reply HELP for help. Reply STOP to unsubscribe from SMS messages. View Terms and Privacy Policy

Success!

Keep an eye out for weekly messages from Rory Foster [email protected] with your free weekly lessons! Ps. We don't share your email with anyone.

Scroll to Top