Conjugate jugar in El Presente (present tense)

Posted by Inma Sánchez
In: Level A1, Verbs Tenses & Conjugation, El Presente, Verbos con cambio ortográfico o > ue (presente)
Questions on this lesson: 2
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Jugar (to play) is irregular in El Presente:

yo juego
tú juegas
él / ella / Ud. 
juega
nosotros / nosotras 
jugamos
vosotros / vosotras 
jugáis
ellos / ellas / Uds.   
juegan

Notice how the stem of all forms changes from -u- to -ue-, except nosostros and vosotros. The endings are the same as regular -ar verbs, see Conjugate regular -ar verbs in El Presente (present tense).


Read and listen to these examples:

Yo juego al tenis los sábados por la tarde.I play tennis on Saturday afternoons.

¿Tú juegas a las cartas a menudo?Do you play cards often?

Ella no juega al ajedrez porque es aburrido.She does not play chess because it's boring.

Nosotros jugamos mucho con nuestros hijos.We play a lot with our children.

Vosotras jugáis con las muñecas.You play with the dolls.

Ellos no juegan con las chicas.They do not play with girls.

Note that to say to play an instrument we use the verb tocar, not jugar.

Yo juego al fútbol.
I play football.

Yo toco la guitarra.
I play the guitar.

See also:

Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics

El Presente

Verbos con cambio ortográfico o > ue (presente)

Examples and resources

Ella no juega al ajedrez porque es aburrido.She does not play chess because it's boring.
Ellos no juegan con las chicas.They do not play with girls.
Nosotros jugamos mucho con nuestros hijos.We play a lot with our children.
¿Tú juegas a las cartas a menudo?Do you play cards often?
Vosotras jugáis con las muñecas.You play with the dolls.
Yo juego al tenis los sábados por la tarde.I play tennis on Saturday afternoons.

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JohanC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why is it “juego al tenis”? Is it the Spanish direct translation of “I play at the tennis”"?

Asked 11 months ago
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InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Johan

In Spanish when you use verb "jugar" as in playing a sport/ game we use "al", "a la", "a los" or "a las":

"Juego al tenis" (I play tennis)*

"Juego a la pelota" (I play [with] a ball)

"Juego a los dados" (I play darts)

"Juego a las cartas" (I play cards)

*Note that here "al" is a contraction of a + el. 

Un saludos

Inma

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Johan asked:View original

Why is it “juego al tenis”? Is it the Spanish direct translation of “I play at the tennis”"?

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