carecer means: to be short of, to lack
Click to see all conjugation charts of carecer in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we are going to learn how to inflect the verb carecer in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. It means we will see step by step how to create and translate forms of each grammatical person.

This lesson is specifically about the carecer verb conjugation. For a general overview of all the Simple Tenses conjugation have a look at the Simple Tenses Conjugation Chart.

You may also see this Video Presentation on how to conjugate verbs in Presente. It’s embedded below, but using the above link you will get more detailed information on conjugation in this tense as well as explanation of special cases and exceptions.

How to translate Presente to English

Notice that the phrases in English provided below next to each conjugation are not direct translations from Spanish to English. They are usually the closest general equivalents. The example differences are:

• In Spanish conjugation, there is the form usted in the third person singular. But this person does not translate to the English third person singular. It translates to the so called formal you and uses the inflected form which is most often represented as he/she/it in English conjugation charts.
• Similar situation happens in the third person plural, where ustedes translates to the English plural formal you but uses the form which corresponds to the they form in English.
• Tenses are used differently in Spanish and English, so the actual translation should always take into account the context and focus on translating the meaning, not just words.
• In both languages each verb may have multiple meanings and not every meaning translates directly to the other language. Here also, the context and focusing on the particular meaning helps to create the most accurate translation.

The Spanish Presente de Indicativo tense translates to one of the following:

• The English Present tense, for instance:
  nosotros carecemos

  we are short of
• The English Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) tense, for instance:
  hoy tú careces

  you are being short of today
  
  Notice that the Spanish equivalent of the Present Progressive also exists and is in common use – that’s Presente Progresivo (or Presente Continuo).

Note the timeline

The ability to properly locate the intended position on the timeline is a crucial skill for proper choice of tenses. So note the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while speaking, listening, writing and reading. After some practice you will be able to select the right tense to use much easier.

Step by step instructions

Presente belongs to the simple tenses group, which means that all of the inflected forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in the Spanish language, where each conjugated form consists of two words.The verb carecer has an almost entirely regular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. An exception is the first person singular, which has an irregular form. It means the other persons follow the basic rules for this conjugation group (-er) without further exceptions or spelling corrections. The basis for this conjugation is the stem of the verb, so we start by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s very easy to do. Just remove two letters from the end of the infinitive to get the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So in case of our verb:

• the stem is: carec-
• and the ending is: -er

Use the stem carec- in each subject as the basis for the conjugation, the common prefix or root that each of the forms begins with. Next, add to this regular stem the endings specific to each person. Analyze the image showing all six endings. Notice the shapes and colors of the letters. They are arranged to help you find patterns and make it easier to remember these endings.Each grammatical person has a specific ending in each of the three conjugation groups -ar, -er, -ir. The first person singular is irregular in this tense and needs to be memorized. It is carezco:

• yo carezco – I am short of

An irregular ending is necessary here.

The first person singular (yo) uses the -zco ending. It influences other tenses as well. Imperativo Afirmativo & Negativo and Presente Subjuntivo are created based on this person, except for:

• Imperativo Afirmativo tú form, which is regular
• vosotros/vosotras which is always regular in that tense

All verbs ending in -cer/-cir belong to this group and get the -zco ending.So use -zco ending to get carezco:

• yo carezco – I am short of

Add the regular ending -es for the second person singular to create careces:

• tú careces – you are short of

Also as in the previous case add the regular ending -e for the third person singular to create carece:

• él carece – he is short of
• ella carece – she is short of
• usted carece – (formal) you are short of

One more time add the regular ending -emos for the first person plural to create carecemos:

• nosotros carecemos – we are short of
• nosotras carecemos – (feminine) we are short of

Also as in the previous case add the regular ending -éis for the second person plural to create carecéis:

• vosotros carecéis – (plural) you are short of
• vosotras carecéis – (feminine, plural) you are short of

As before add the regular ending -en for the third person plural to create carecen:

• ellos carecen – they are short of
• ellas carecen – (feminine) they are short of
• ustedes carecen – (formal, plural) you are short of

This is it! The conjugation is now complete. Put together, the conjugation chart looks like this:

yo	carezco	I am short of
tú	careces	you are short of
él/ella/usted	carece	he/she/it is short of
nosotros/nosotras	carecemos	we are short of
vosotros/vosotras	carecéis	you are short of
ellos/ellas/ustedes	carecen	they are short of

Click to see all conjugation charts of carecer in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it’s important to repeat and practice the material in order to remember it. Check below for example phrases and next steps.

Example sentences

Next Steps to Perfection To practice this conjugation and test your skills try this Conjugation Exercise or the Memory Game To see other conjugation lessons for this verb choose another tense: PretéritoImperfectoCondicionalFuturoPretérito Perfecto CompuestoPretérito PluscuamperfectoFuturo PerfectoCondicional PerfectoPretérito Perfecto Compuesto (subjuntivo)Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A (subjuntivo)Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto B (subjuntivo)Futuro Perfecto (subjuntivo)  For exercises and examples related to carecer visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for carecer visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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