practicar means: to practise, to carry out, to do, to perform, to play
Click to see all conjugation charts of practicar in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we are going to learn how to inflect the verb practicar 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 practicar verb conjugation. For a general overview of Simple Tenses conjugation see our 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 can find 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:
  nosotros practicamos

  we practise
• The English Present Progressive (a.k.a. Present Continuous) tense, for instance:
  ahora vosotros practicáis

  (plural) you are practising now
  
  Note 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 desired position on the timeline is an important skill for proper use 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 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 practicar has a completely regular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. It means this verb just follows the general rules for its conjugation group (-ar) without any exceptions. The basis for the conjugation in this tense 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 form and you have the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So in case of our verb:

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

Use the stem practic- in each person as the basis for conjugations, the common prefix or root that each of the forms begins with. Next, add to this regular stem the endings specific to each person. See the image on the side showing all the six endings. Notice both the colors and shapes 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. Add the regular ending -o for the first person singular to create practico:

• yo practico – I practise

Like in the previous case add the regular ending -as for the second person singular to create practicas:

• tú practicas – you practise

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

• él practica – he practises
• ella practica – she practises
• usted practica – (formal) you practise

Like in the previous case add the regular ending -amos for the first person plural to create practicamos:

• nosotros practicamos – we practise
• nosotras practicamos – (feminine) we practise

And as before add the regular ending -áis for the second person plural to create practicáis:

• vosotros practicáis – (plural) you practise
• vosotras practicáis – (feminine, plural) you practise

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

• ellos practican – they practise
• ellas practican – (feminine) they practise
• ustedes practican – (formal, plural) you practise

Hurray! The conjugation is now finished. That’s the final result:

yo	practico	I practise
tú	practicas	you practise
él/ella/usted	practica	he/she/it practises
nosotros/nosotras	practicamos	we practise
vosotros/vosotras	practicáis	you practise
ellos/ellas/ustedes	practican	they practise

Click to see all conjugation charts of practicar 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 some links.

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

---