Do Spanish verb conjugations overwhelm you?
In this guide, you’ll learn how to use any verb in Spanish right away without memorizing dozens of new conjugations. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by how many forms a verb can have, these 3 simple hacks can help fix that.
By the end of the video, you’ll know how to use just about any Spanish verb immediately with these three simple hacks.
Our first hack will help you use the present tense of any verb without conjugating it!
Before I show you how to do that, let’s look at a real-life situation where you’d want to use it. Let’s say someone asks you what you do for work. And you want to say something like:
“I talk on the phone all day with clients. Sometimes I drink coffee with them so I can tell them about our products. And I also look for new clients.”
So right there, in just a few sentences, you’re already using four different verbs:
Now here’s the problem: Trying to remember the conjugations you need for all of these verbs — hablar, tomar, decir, buscar — can get overwhelming really fast
Here’s the hack: Instead of conjugating all these verbs, just use tengo que + the infinitive form. This literally translates to “I have to” in English, which is something we use all the time!
Let’s go back to our example from earlier. Instead of saying things like “I talk on the phone” which would be hablo por teléfono, you just say:
The beauty of this is — you don’t have to conjugate Hablar at all. You just use the conjugated Tener, which is one of the most useful verbs in all of Spanish, plus the infinitive. Let’s try the whole thing, just using tengo que + infinitives:
See how much easier that is? You can use all of these verbs — hablar, tomar, decir, and buscar — without learning any of their conjugations. Just learn the infinitive, and pair it with the conjugated form of tener que.
Once you’ve practiced this structure, you can immediately use it with other conjugations of Tener.
And then plug in other verbs like this:
Basically, if there’s a new verb you want to learn, you can just learn the infinitive, like comer, hablar, pensar, and you can already start using it with tengo que.
Of course, if you want to describe the actions of other people or other tenses, such as “they have to do” or “she has to talk” or “you have to say”, you’ll need more forms of Tener beyond just tengo.
In another guide, I go over the top 10 forms of Tener that native speakers use. The great thing is if you learn just a few forms of Tener, you can start using any other verb in Spanish in the present tense.
Now let’s move on to Hack #2, which is what we use when we’re talking about the future. Let’s say someone asks you, “What are you doing tomorrow?” And you want to say something like:
So in just those two sentences, you’ve used three different verbs:
Here’s where most Spanish learners start to panic. How do you conjugate Hacer, Estar, and Ver in the future tense? Do I need to memorize all the future forms for all three verbs?
Nope! That’s where the hack comes in. All you need is this structure:
In other words: Just conjugate Ir, and then keep your main verb in the infinitive form. Let’s try it with our previous example:
That’s it. You just say “I’m going to do something” — voy a hacer algo — and you can plug in any verb you want.
Let’s play with a few other conjugations of Ir:
Now let’s make some sentences with them:
Next, let’s apply the hack in Spanish:
There are just 5 forms of Ir that you need to put any verb in the future for any person, and to get a run-down on all of them, check out this other guide about Ir.
So if you want to start speaking about future plans without getting bogged down in conjugation charts… this is your new best friend.
Time for Hack #3, and this one’s for talking about the past. This hack works with almost every verb, and it’s especially useful if the past tense has ever made you feel overwhelmed.
Let me show you why.
Say you’re in Mexico City with your family, and a local friend recommends a restaurant. Afterward, your friend asks you: “Hey, what did everybody eat?”
Now, in English, that’s easy. You might say:
In English, you just need one word: “ate”. It doesn’t change. But in Spanish? The word “eat” changes based on who did the eating:
These are three very different words that sound super different from the original verb Comer. That’s what makes past tense verbs challenging. The forms don’t follow one simple pattern you can guess. You have to memorize all of them.
So instead of doing that, let’s use this trick: Instead of trying to remember a bunch of past tense conjugations, just use the verb Haber + the past participle of the verb you’re learning.
So instead of saying:
You can say:
That way, you can also easily say, Yo he comido (or “I have eaten”) by just changing the pronoun and a simpler conjugation.
This lets you express much more without having to think about trickier conjugations. All you need to do is remember Haber’s simple, present tense conjugations, and pair it with the same past participle.
Now let’s try the full example:
In Spanish, that would be:
See how nice that is? All you have to remember was han, ha, he — the present tense of Haber — and one participle: comido.
If you want extra practice with Haber so you can build sentences like the ones we just practiced, with the participle of any verb you want, check out our guide Top 10 Forms of Haber, Part 1.
This hack works with almost any verb:
So again, just like with the other hacks:
No big conjugation charts. No surprises. Once you’ve done this with a few verbs, it becomes second nature. You’ll be talking about the past like it’s no big deal — because it won’t be.
With these three hacks, you can start using any verb in Spanish — as long as you know a few forms of Tener, Ir, and Haber.
That’s a huge win. But now it’s time to zoom out for just a second, because these shortcuts don’t really cover everything. There are a couple of verbs that don’t play by these rules. And unfortunately, they happen to be the two most common verbs in Spanish: Ser and Estar.
There’s no getting around it. You do need to learn how to conjugate them, and when to use each one correctly. You can’t just say tengo que ser or voy a estar all the time. These two verbs are everywhere in Spanish. If you want to speak naturally and confidently, you’ll need to master them as soon as possible.
As for all the other verbs in Spanish… unfortunately, you will eventually have to learn their conjugations as well. That’s because the hacks in this guide do slightly change the meaning of what you’re saying.
For example, compare these two sentences:
One sounds like you do something because you want to; the other sounds like you “have to” do it. So just like in English, there’s a difference. They’re close — but not quite the same.
If you want to speak Spanish at a high level, and really connect with the Spanish speakers in your life on a deep, personal level, you will need to learn the real conjugations.
These hacks are just to help you communicate more quickly and clearly until you reach your Spanish goals.
But they won’t be enough forever.
Here’s the good news, though: That’s exactly what LearnCraft Spanish helps you with in the free LearnCraft Spanish course.
We’ll walk you step-by-step through the top conjugations of Ser, Estar, Hacer, and all the other core verbs — with evidence-based study tools, flashcards, and sentence patterns designed to help you express yourself like a native speaker.
If you want to master the most useful Spanish words and use them correctly, check out the free LearnCraft Spanish course to get started today.