Spanish Verbs Made Simple(r) - Hillcrest Elementary

exprimir (“to express”), and reprimir (“to repress”) only the regular forms comprimido,
deprimido, exprimido, and reprimido are accepted. 6
Satisfacer, which is essentially a compound form of hacer, 7 has satisfecho as
past participle. Apart from reescribir, compounds of escribir omit the “helping”
initial -e and thus have past participles ending in -scrito: 8
inscribir inscrito
suscribir suscrito
transcribir transcrito
Important observation:
No -ar verb has an irregular past participle.
Present Participle (Gerundio)
The Spanish present participle (gerundio) is formed by adding the following ending
to the verb stem:
-ar verbs -er/-ir verbs
-ando -iendo
Thus,
infinitive present participle
-ar verbs cantar can•tan•do
dar dando
hablar hablando
-er verbs comer co•mien•do
beber bebiendo
morder mordiendo
-ir verbs subir su•bien•do
cumplir cumpliendo
vivir viviendo
PRESENT, SIMPLE PAST, IMPERFECT, PARTICIPLES 19
6For proveer—a compound formed using the “old” form veer of ver—both provisto and the regular
proveído are acceptable.
7Like many words in Spanish (e.g., higo “fig”), hacer changed its initial f to h.
8The RAE also accepts the “old” forms ending in -scripto for all -scribir verbs apart from escribir,
rescribir, reescribir, and manuscribir, and these are still found with some frequency in certain regions
(notably Argentina and Uruguay): inscripto, suscripto, transcripto, etc.