The 50 Essential Spanish Verbs You Simply Must Know
To learn. To laugh. To live. To love.
Most of the things that make life worthwhile depend on actions.
And you can’t do (or discuss) any actions without one simple thing: verbs.
For any sentence to be complete, it needs one. These little action words are essential to language.
As you learn Spanish, you’ll learn a lot of verbs over time. Some you’ll use much more often than others. These 50 Spanish verbs are essential for every Spanish speaker to know in and out.
Here, we’ll list them in their infinitive forms. This is the “to” form of a verb. For example, the infinitive form of “makes” is “to make.” In Spanish, the infinitive form is when verbs end in -ar, -er and -ir.
It’s usually considered the most basic, purest form of the verb. When you’re learning new Spanish vocabulary in any context, verbs will most often be listed in their infinitive forms. Consider the infinitive the raw ingredient that you use to make more complex recipes (or in this case, more complex verb forms).
As you move forward you’ll learn present tense and preterite and imperfect tenses as well to get the recipe just right. To really polish your verbs, you might also need to try some unconventional approaches.
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Why you need to know these essential verbs
Remember how we said infinitive verbs are like the raw ingredients you use to make more complex recipes? Well, without that ingredient, you would not be able to make the recipe at all.
Sure, you can flail around, trying to find a way around the missing ingredient, but your dish (and your language skills) will tend to fall flat.
Go ahead: Try communicating an idea clearly (either in English or Spanish) with no verbs at all. It isn’t easy, is it? In any language, skipping the verbs will make you sound (and feel) like a toddler minus the adorable chubby cheeks.
Spend just a few minutes in a Spanish-speaking country, and you’ll hear most (if not all) of these 50 essential Spanish verbs. Learning them now will help prevent a lot of misunderstanding and confusion down the road.
How to practice your Spanish verbs
- Have conversations. Simply having a conversation in Spanish is an excellent way to practice your verbs. After all, each sentence you utter will use at least one verb—sometimes several. In just one conversation, you’ll probably find yourself using many of the essential verbs listed below. This will help reinforce your understanding of them. Additionally, since you won’t always use the infinitive form of the verb, you’ll have to conjugate which brings us to our next point…
- Conjugate, conjugate, conjugate. In normal conversations you’ll be conjugating all the time, so it helps to practice outside of conversation as well. Not only will this help ensure you have a strong functional knowledge of the word, it will also help reinforce the word’s meaning. You can practice conjugating by having a conversation, making tables of conjugations or you could just…
- Play games. Games are certainly the most fun way to learn verbs—from fun timed quizzes on Sporcle to conjugation quizzes for all sorts of verb tenses on Conjuguemos, Digital Dialects and Learn Spanish Today. You could even go onto FluentU and start watching authentic videos clips from the real, live Spanish-speaking world.
Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.
FluentU has a wide variety of videos topics, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used.
Plus, if you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re studying with the same video.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the iOS or Android FluentU app.
50 Essential Spanish Verbs
Being
1. Ser
Meaning: To be
Used to describe essential characteristics, such as physical descriptions.
La fresa es roja. (The strawberry is red.)
2. Estar
Meaning: To be
Used to describe places, conditions or feelings. See a full explanation of the usage of ser and estar here.
Estoy cansada. (I am tired.)
3. Deber
Meaning: To have to
This is similar to “should” or “must.”
Debo hacer mi tarea. (I should do my homework.)
4. Poder
Meaning: To be able to
Puedo ir a la fiesta. (I am able to go to the party.)
5. Haber
Meaning: To be, have
When haber can be translated as “to be,” it’s being used to describe if an object exists or if it’s actually present. When it can be translated more as “have,” it’s generally being used in combination with other verbs to describe things that have or haven’t happened.
You’ll notice from the examples below that the conjugation of haber can be a bit weird. Its conjugations are irregular, so you’ll need to pay special attention to this one.
He trabajado en la biblioteca. (I have worked in the library.)
Hay tres libros en la mesa. (There are three books on the table.)
6. Necesitar
Meaning: To need
Necesito descansar. (I need to rest.)
Feeling
7. Gustar
Meaning: To like, to please
Me gusta dormir. (I like to sleep.)
8. Esperar
Meaning: To hope, to expect, to wait
Espero que sea verdad. (I hope it is true.)
9. Creer
Meaning: To believe
Creo que la escuela es importante. (I believe school is important.)
10. Sentirse
Meaning: To feel
Me siento triste. (I feel sad.)
11. Querer
Meaning: To love, to want
Quiero comer. (I want to eat.)
Yo te quiero mucho. (I love you a lot.)
Thinking
12. Pensar
Meaning: To think
Pienso que debemos ir. (I think we should go.)
13. Saber
Meaning: To know
This is used when talking about knowledge of facts or skills.
¿Sabes la respuesta? (Do you know the answer?)
14. Conocer
Meaning: To know, to meet
This one is used with people, places and things—not with solid facts, knowledge or skills.
¿Conoces a la profesora? (Have you met the professor? / Do you know the professor?)
15. Comprender
Meaning: To comprehend, to understand
No comprendo la tarea. (I don’t understand the homework.)
16. Decidir
Meaning: To decide.
Tienes que decidir qué quieres. (You have to decide what you want.)
Sensing
17. Ver
Meaning: To see, to watch
Voy a ver la televisión. (I’m going to watch the television.)
18. Mirar
Meaning: To look
Mira, ¡qué linda! (Look, how pretty!)
19. Oír
Meaning: To hear
Oigo la música. (I hear the music.)
20. Escuchar
Meaning: To listen
Escucho música. (I listen to music.)
Going
21. Ir
Meaning: To go
Voy a mi casa. (I go to my house.)
22. Salir
Meaning: To leave
Salgo de mi casa. (I leave my house.)
23. Volver
Meaning: To return
Vuelvo a mi casa. (I return to my house.)
24. Venir
Meaning: To arrive, to come
Vengo a mi casa. (I arrive at my house.)
Doing
25. Tener
Meaning: To have
Tengo la tarea. (I have the homework.)
26. Hacer
Meaning: To do, to make
Haz tu tarea. (Do your homework.)
27. Comer
Meaning: To eat
Me gusta comer fresas. (I like to eat strawberries.)
28. Dar
Meaning: To give
Dame la tarea. (Give me the homework.)
29. Recibir
Meaning: To receive
Recibo la tarea. (I receive the homework.)
30. Dormir
Meaning: To sleep
Duermo bien. (I sleep well.)
31. Descansar
Meaning: To rest
En la tarde, necesito descansar. (In the afternoon, I need to rest.)
32. Comprar
Meaning: To buy
Necesito comprar la comida. (I need to buy the food.)
33. Pagar
Meaning: To pay
Tengo que pagar la cuenta. (I have to pay the check.)
34. Tomar
Meaning: To take, to drink, to consume
Tomo agua. (I drink/take/consume water.)
35. Vivir
Meaning: To live
Vivo en la ciudad. (I live in the city.)
36. Aprender
Meaning: To learn
Aprendes los verbos. (You learn the verbs.)
37. Escribir
Meaning: To write
Escribo un ensayo. (I write an essay.)
38. Leer
Meaning: To read
Leo un libro. (I read a book.)
39. Estudiar
Meaning: To study
¿Estudias español? (Do you study Spanish?)
40. Trabajar
Meaning: To work
Trabajo muchas horas. (I work many hours.)
41. Cambiar
Meaning: To change
Quiero cambiar mi vida. (I want to change my life.)
42. Ganar
Meaning: To earn, to win
Ellos ganan el juego. (They win the game.)
43. Preguntar
Meaning: To ask
Quiero preguntar algo. (I want to ask something.)
44. Ayudar
Meaning: To help
¿Puedes ayudarme? (Can you help me?)
45. Viajar
Meaning: To travel
Me gusta viajar a España. (I like to travel to Spain.)
46. Usar
Meaning: To use
Uso la computadora para escribir. (I use the computer to write.)
47. Poner
Meaning: To put
Pones la tarea en el escritorio (You put the homework on the desk)
Talking
48. Decir
Meaning: To say
Mi profesora dice que tenemos tarea. (My professor says that we have homework.)
49. Hablar
Meaning: To talk
Quiero hablar con mi madre. (I want to talk with my mother.)
50. Llamar
Meaning: To call
Llama a tu madre. (Call your mother.)
These 50 essential verbs are the main ingredients for using Spanish effectively.
With these in your back pocket, you’ll be able to understand and participate in virtually any conversation—at least on some level!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
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