trabajar means: to work
Click to see all conjugation charts of trabajar in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we will see how to inflect the verb trabajar 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 trabajar verb conjugation. For an overview of 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 can see additional information on conjugation in this tense and explanation of exceptions and special cases.

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:
  yo trabajo

  I work
• The English Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) tense, for example:
  ahora tú trabajas

  you are working now
  
  Notice 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 accurately locate the desired position on the timeline is a crucial skill for the right use of tenses. So note the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, reading or writing. 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 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 trabajar has a completely regular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. It means this verb simply follows the basic rules for its group (-ar) without any exceptions. The basis for this conjugation is the stem of the verb, so we need to begin by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s easy to do. Simply remove two letters from the end of the infinitive form to get the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So for trabajar:

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

Use the stem trabaj- in each subject 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 the shapes and colors of the letters. It should 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 trabajo:

• yo trabajo – I work

Again add the regular ending -as for the second person singular to create trabajas:

• tú trabajas – you work

Again add the regular ending -a for the third person singular to create trabaja:

• él trabaja – he works
• ella trabaja – she works
• usted trabaja – (formal) you work

Again add the regular ending -amos for the first person plural to create trabajamos:

• nosotros trabajamos – we work
• nosotras trabajamos – (feminine) we work

And again add the regular ending -áis for the second person plural to create trabajáis:

• vosotros trabajáis – (plural) you work
• vosotras trabajáis – (feminine, plural) you work

Once more add the regular ending -an for the third person plural to create trabajan:

• ellos trabajan – they work
• ellas trabajan – (feminine) they work
• ustedes trabajan – (formal, plural) you work

¡Ya está! The conjugation is now done. The final result looks as follows:

yo	trabajo	I work
tú	trabajas	you work
él/ella/usted	trabaja	he/she/it works
nosotros/nosotras	trabajamos	we work
vosotros/vosotras	trabajáis	you work
ellos/ellas/ustedes	trabajan	they work

Click to see all conjugation charts of trabajar 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 and next steps.

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

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