ayudar means: to help
Click to see all conjugation charts of ayudar in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we will see how to conjugate the verb ayudar 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 ayudar verb conjugation. For an overview of Simple Tenses conjugation have a look at the Simple Tenses Conjugation Chart.

You may also see the 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 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:
  tú ayudas

  you help
• The English Present Progressive (also called Present Continuous) tense, for example:
  ahora mismo vosotras ayudáis

  (feminine, plural) you are helping right now
  
  However, 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 accurately locate the desired position on the timeline is an important skill for proper choice of tenses. So note the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while speaking, listening, writing and reading. After some practice you will 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 the Spanish language, where each inflected form consists of two words.The verb ayudar has regular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. It means this verb simply follows the general rules for its group (-ar) without spelling corrections or exceptions. The basis for the conjugation in this tense is the stem of the verb, so we need 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 ayudar it’s easy to see that:

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

Use the stem ayud- in each person as the basis for conjugation, 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. 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 ayudo:

• yo ayudo – I help

Once more add the regular ending -as for the second person singular to create ayudas:

• tú ayudas – you help

Like previously add the regular ending -a for the third person singular to create ayuda:

• él ayuda – he helps
• ella ayuda – she helps
• usted ayuda – (formal) you help

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

• nosotros ayudamos – we help
• nosotras ayudamos – (feminine) we help

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

• vosotros ayudáis – (plural) you help
• vosotras ayudáis – (feminine, plural) you help

Like previously add the regular ending -an for the third person plural to create ayudan:

• ellos ayudan – they help
• ellas ayudan – (feminine) they help
• ustedes ayudan – (formal, plural) you help

Hurray! The conjugation is now complete. The final result looks as follows:

yo	ayudo	I help
tú	ayudas	you help
él/ella/usted	ayuda	he/she/it helps
nosotros/nosotras	ayudamos	we help
vosotros/vosotras	ayudáis	you help
ellos/ellas/ustedes	ayudan	they help

Click to see all conjugation charts of ayudar in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it is very important to repeat and practice the material in order to retain it. Check below for suggestions.

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

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