tardar means: to take time
Click to see all conjugation charts of tardar in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we are going to learn how to conjugate the verb tardar 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 tardar conjugation. For an overview of all the Simple Tenses conjugation have a look at 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 will get 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 example:
  él tarda

  he takes time
• The English Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) tense, for instance:
  en este momento usted tarda

  (formal) you are taking time at the moment
  
  Note however, 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 accurately locate the intended position on the timeline is an important skill for proper use of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, reading or writing. After some 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 inflected verb form consists of two words.The verb tardar has a completely regular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. It means that this verb simply follows the basic rules for its conjugation group (-ar) without any exceptions, spelling corrections and the like. 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 really 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 the verb tardar it’s easy to see that:

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

Use the stem tard- in each subject as the basis for conjugation, 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. Note 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 tardo:

• yo tardo – I take time

As before add the regular ending -as for the second person singular to create tardas:

• tú tardas – you take time

And add the regular ending -a for the third person singular to create tarda:

• él tarda – he takes time
• ella tarda – she takes time
• usted tarda – (formal) you take time

As before add the regular ending -amos for the first person plural to create tardamos:

• nosotros tardamos – we take time
• nosotras tardamos – (feminine) we take time

And similarly add the regular ending -áis for the second person plural to create tardáis:

• vosotros tardáis – (plural) you take time
• vosotras tardáis – (feminine, plural) you take time

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

• ellos tardan – they take time
• ellas tardan – (feminine) they take time
• ustedes tardan – (formal, plural) you take time

This is it! The conjugation is now finished. The final result looks as follows:

yo	tardo	I take time
tú	tardas	you take time
él/ella/usted	tarda	he/she/it takes time
nosotros/nosotras	tardamos	we take time
vosotros/vosotras	tardáis	you take time
ellos/ellas/ustedes	tardan	they take time

Click to see all conjugation charts of tardar 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 some links.

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

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