jugar means: to play
Click to see all conjugation charts of jugar in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we will learn how to inflect the verb jugar 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 jugar verb conjugation. For an overview of all the Simple Tenses conjugation check 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 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:
  él juega

  he plays
• The English Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) tense, for example:
  ahora mismo tú juegas

  you are playying right now
  
  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 intended 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, writing and reading. After some 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 its conjugated forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in Spanish language, where each inflected verb form consists of two words. The verb jugar has an irregular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. The first person singular has an irregular stem in this tense.

The verb jugar is special in that it follows the rules of the group which gets a change of the last o in the stem into an ue. But it differs from the group in that it doesn’t have the o vowel at all, so its u vowel changes to ue instead.

So in the regular stem jug change u to ue to get jueg. 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 juego – I play

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

So as explained before we need to change u to ue in the regular stem jug to get jueg. Again 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 juegas – you play

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

So as explained earlier we need to change u to ue in the regular stem jug to get jueg. Once more 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 juega – he plays
• ella juega – she plays
• usted juega – (formal) you play

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

• nosotros jugamos – we play
• nosotras jugamos – (feminine) we play

And similarly the second person plural has a regular stem. So we need to use jug- at the beginning of this form. Like previously add the regular ending -áis for this person to get jugáis:

• vosotros jugáis – (plural) you play
• vosotras jugáis – (feminine, plural) you play

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

So as explained earlier we need to change u to ue in the regular stem jug to get jueg. And one more time 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 juegan – they play
• ellas juegan – (feminine) they play
• ustedes juegan – (formal, plural) you play

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

yo	juego	I play
tú	juegas	you play
él/ella/usted	juega	he/she/it plays
nosotros/nosotras	jugamos	we play
vosotros/vosotras	jugáis	you play
ellos/ellas/ustedes	juegan	they play

Click to see all conjugation charts of jugar 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 check 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 jugar visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for jugar visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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