costar means: to cost, to take
Click to see all conjugation charts of costar in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we will learn how to conjugate the verb costar 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 costar verb conjugation. For a general overview of Simple Tenses conjugation see the Simple Tenses Conjugation Chart.

We also have a Video Presentation on how to conjugate verbs in Presente. It’s embedded below, but using the above link you may see additional information on conjugation in this tense and explanation of special cases and exceptions.

How to translate Presente to English

Note that the English phrases 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:
  tú cuestas

  you cost
• The English Present Progressive (a.k.a. Present Continuous) tense, for instance:
  en este momento yo cuesto

  I am costing at the moment
  
  Notice that the Spanish equivalent of the Present Progressive also exists and is in common use – that’s Presente Progresivo (a.k.a. Presente Continuo).

Note the timeline

The ability to correctly locate the desired position on the timeline is an important skill for the right use of tenses. So note the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, reading or writing. After a bit practice you’ll 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 conjugated forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in the Spanish language, where each inflected form consists of two words. The verb costar has an irregular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. The first person singular has an irregular stem in this tense.

This verb belongs to the group which gets a change of the last o in the stem into an ue.

It’s convenient to think about this change as happening only in Presente de Indicativo, persons 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd singular and 3^rd plural, and whatever it influences later on (like the Imperativo) it never gets beyond the above mentioned persons.

And why does this change influence the other tenses? Simply because their forms are created based on the 3^rd person singular of Presente de Indicativo. So just remembering that this verb is affected by this change and that the change doesn’t propagate to other persons – you are able to properly create forms of three other tenses!

So in the regular stem cost change o to ue to get cuest. But at least the ending is regular for this person. It is -o as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• yo cuesto – I cost

The second person singular also has an irregular stem in this tense.

So as explained before we need to change o to ue in the regular stem cost to get cuest. Like in the previous case the ending is regular for this person. It is -as as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• tú cuestas – you cost

The third person singular also has an irregular stem in this tense.

So as explained before we need to change o to ue in the regular stem cost to get cuest. And one more time the ending is regular for this person. It is -a as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• él cuesta – he costs
• ella cuesta – she costs
• usted cuesta – (formal) you cost

The first person plural has a regular stem. So we need to use cost- as the basis for this form. Add the regular ending -amos for this person to get costamos:

• nosotros costamos – we cost
• nosotras costamos – (feminine) we cost

And similarly the second person plural has a regular stem. So simply use cost- as the basis for this form. And add the regular ending -áis for this person to get costáis:

• vosotros costáis – (plural) you cost
• vosotras costáis – (feminine, plural) you cost

The third person plural also has an irregular stem in this tense.

So as explained earlier we need to change o to ue in the regular stem cost to get cuest. And exactly as previously the ending is regular for this person. It is -an as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• ellos cuestan – they cost
• ellas cuestan – (feminine) they cost
• ustedes cuestan – (formal, plural) you cost

¡Ya está! The conjugation is now complete. That’s the final result:

yo	cuesto	I cost
tú	cuestas	you cost
él/ella/usted	cuesta	he/she/it costs
nosotros/nosotras	costamos	we cost
vosotros/vosotras	costáis	you cost
ellos/ellas/ustedes	cuestan	they cost

Click to see all conjugation charts of costar in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it’s important to repeat and practice the material in order to retain it. Check below for and suggestions.

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 costar visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for costar visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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