empezar means: to start, to begin
Click to see all conjugation charts of empezar in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we will see how to inflect the verb empezar 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 empezar conjugation. For a general overview of Simple Tenses conjugation check our 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 can 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:
  yo empiezo

  I start
• The English Present Progressive (a.k.a. Present Continuous) tense, for instance:
  en este momento yo empiezo

  I am starting at the moment
  
  Notice though, 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 the right choice of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, reading or writing. 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 inflected 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 empezar has an irregular conjugation in the Presente tense of the Indicativo mood. The first person singular has an irregular stem in this tense.

This verb belongs to the group which gets a change of the last e in the stem into an ie.

It’s convenient to think about this change as happening only in Presente de Indicativo, persons 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd singular and 3^rd plural. It never gets beyond these grammatical persons in the tenses it influences, that is:

• Presente de Subjuntivo
• Imperativo Afirmativo & Negativo

And why does this change influence these tenses? Simply because their forms are created based on the 3^rd person singular of Presente de Indicativo. So just remembering that this verb is affected by this irregularity in Presente de Indicativo and that the change doesn’t propagate to other persons – you are able to properly create forms of three other tenses!

The 1^st person singular may also be entirely irregular here, and in such case it doesn’t follow this model. And when the first person of the Present tense is irregular, all the above mentioned tenses which normally use the 3^rd person’s form as the basis of their conjugation, switch to using the 1^st person’s form.

So in the regular stem empez change e to ie to get empiez. But at least the ending is regular for this person. It is -o as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• yo empiezo – I start

The second person singular also has an irregular stem in this tense.

So as explained before we need to change e to ie in the regular stem empez to get empiez. Again the ending is regular for this person. It is -as as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• tú empiezas – you start

The third person singular also has an irregular stem in this tense.

So as explained previously we need to change e to ie in the regular stem empez to get empiez. And as before the ending is regular for this person. It is -a as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• él empieza – he starts
• ella empieza – she starts
• usted empieza – (formal) you start

The first person plural has a regular stem. So you need to use empez- as the basis for this form. Add the regular ending -amos for this person to get empezamos:

• nosotros empezamos – we start
• nosotras empezamos – (feminine) we start

Also as in the previous case the second person plural has a regular stem. So you need to use empez- as the basis for this person’s form. Similarly add the regular ending -áis for this person to get empezáis:

• vosotros empezáis – (plural) you start
• vosotras empezáis – (feminine, plural) you start

The third person plural also has an irregular stem in this tense.

So as explained before we need to change e to ie in the regular stem empez to get empiez. And again the ending is regular for this person. It is -an as normally in the -ar verb group. Add it to the stem to get:

• ellos empiezan – they start
• ellas empiezan – (feminine) they start
• ustedes empiezan – (formal, plural) you start

That’s it! The conjugation is now complete. The final result looks as follows:

yo	empiezo	I start
tú	empiezas	you start
él/ella/usted	empieza	he/she/it starts
nosotros/nosotras	empezamos	we start
vosotros/vosotras	empezáis	you start
ellos/ellas/ustedes	empiezan	they start

Click to see all conjugation charts of empezar 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 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 empezar visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for empezar visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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