dormir means: to sleep, to put to sleep
Click to see all conjugation charts of dormir in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we will learn how to inflect the verb dormir 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 dormir conjugation. For an overview of Simple Tenses conjugation see 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 may get additional information on conjugation in this tense and explanation of special cases and exceptions.

How to translate Presente to English

Note 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 example:
  ustedes duermen

  (formal, plural) you sleep
• The English Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) tense, for example:
  hoy ellas duermen

  (feminine) they are sleeping today
  
  Notice though, 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 properly locate the desired position on the timeline is an important skill for the right choice of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, reading or writing. After a bit practice you’ll be capable of selecting 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 Spanish language, where each conjugated verb form consists of two words. The verb dormir 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 mix of changes, both o to ue (in Presente Indicativo, persons 1, 2, 3 singular and 3 plural) and o to u (in Pretérito Perfecto Simple, persons 1 singular and 3 plural).

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

• yo duermo – I sleep

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

So as explained earlier we need to change o to ue in the regular stem dorm to get duerm. Again the ending is regular for this person. It is -es as normally in the -ir verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• tú duermes – you sleep

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

So as explained previously we need to change o to ue in the regular stem dorm to get duerm. Also as in the previous case the ending is regular for this person. It is -e as normally in the -ir verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• él duerme – he sleeps
• ella duerme – she sleeps
• usted duerme – (formal) you sleep

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

• nosotros dormimos – we sleep
• nosotras dormimos – (feminine) we sleep

And the second person plural has a regular stem. So we need to use dorm- at the beginning of this form. Like in the previous case add the regular ending -ís for this person to get dormís:

• vosotros dormís – (plural) you sleep
• vosotras dormís – (feminine, plural) you sleep

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 dorm to get duerm. And one more time the ending is regular for this person. It is -en as normally in the -ir verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• ellos duermen – they sleep
• ellas duermen – (feminine) they sleep
• ustedes duermen – (formal, plural) you sleep

¡Ya está! The conjugation is now done. Put together, the conjugation chart looks like this:

yo	duermo	I sleep
tú	duermes	you sleep
él/ella/usted	duerme	he/she/it sleeps
nosotros/nosotras	dormimos	we sleep
vosotros/vosotras	dormís	you sleep
ellos/ellas/ustedes	duermen	they sleep

Click to see all conjugation charts of dormir 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 next steps.

Next Steps to Perfection To practice this conjugation and test your knowledge 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 dormir visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for dormir visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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