llevar means: to carry, to take, to wear
Click to see all conjugation charts of llevar in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we are going to learn how to conjugate the verb llevar 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 llevar conjugation. For a general overview of Simple Tenses conjugation see our 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 see additional information on conjugation in this tense as well as explanation of special cases and exceptions.

How to translate Presente to English

Notice 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:
  vosotros lleváis

  (plural) you carry
• The English Present Progressive (a.k.a. Present Continuous) tense, for instance:
  hoy nosotras llevamos

  (feminine) we are carrying today
  
  Note however, that the Spanish equivalent of the Present Progressive also exists and is in common use – that’s Presente Progresivo (also called Presente Continuo).

Note the timeline

The ability to properly locate the intended position on the timeline is a crucial skill for proper 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 its conjugated forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in the Spanish language, where each conjugated verb form consists of two words.The verb llevar has a completely regular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. It means this verb simply follows the basic rules for its conjugation group (-ar) without any exceptions or spelling corrections. The basis for the conjugation in this tense is the stem of the verb, so we have to begin 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 the verb llevar it’s easy to see that:

• the stem is: llev-
• and the ending is: -ar

Use the stem llev- in each person as the basis for the conjugations, the common prefix 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. Note both the shapes and colors of the letters. It will 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. Add the regular ending -o for the first person singular to create llevo:

• yo llevo – I carry

And one more time add the regular ending -as for the second person singular to create llevas:

• tú llevas – you carry

Similarly add the regular ending -a for the third person singular to create lleva:

• él lleva – he carries
• ella lleva – she carries
• usted lleva – (formal) you carry

And similarly add the regular ending -amos for the first person plural to create llevamos:

• nosotros llevamos – we carry
• nosotras llevamos – (feminine) we carry

One more time add the regular ending -áis for the second person plural to create lleváis:

• vosotros lleváis – (plural) you carry
• vosotras lleváis – (feminine, plural) you carry

And again add the regular ending -an for the third person plural to create llevan:

• ellos llevan – they carry
• ellas llevan – (feminine) they carry
• ustedes llevan – (formal, plural) you carry

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

yo	llevo	I carry
tú	llevas	you carry
él/ella/usted	lleva	he/she/it carries
nosotros/nosotras	llevamos	we carry
vosotros/vosotras	lleváis	you carry
ellos/ellas/ustedes	llevan	they carry

Click to see all conjugation charts of llevar in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it is very important to repeat and practice the material in order to remember it. Check below for example phrases and some links.

Example sentences

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

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