Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like ayudar, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use them in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).
Ayudar (ah-yoo-dahr) (to help) is a regular -ar verb, so its conjugation is pretty straightforward. Here it is in the present tense:
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo ayudo | I help |
| tú ayudas | You (informal) help |
| él/ella/ello/uno ayuda | He/she/one helps |
| usted ayuda | You (formal) help |
| nosotros ayudamos | We help |
| vosotros ayudáis | You all (informal) help |
| ellos/ellas ayudan | They help |
| ustedes ayudan | You all (formal) help |
The following examples show you ayudar in action:
Yo ayudo en la casa cada semana. (I help in the house every week.)
Ellos siempre ayudan a sus padres los fines de semana. (They always help their parents on the weekend.)
Need to know how to conjugate ayudar in another tense? The following tables show you the preterit, imperfect, and future forms.
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo ayudé | I helped |
| tú ayudaste | You (informal) helped |
| él/ella/ello/uno ayudó | He/she/one helped |
| usted ayudó | You (formal) helped |
| nosotros ayudamos | We helped |
| vosotros ayudasteis | You all (informal) helped |
| ellos/ellas ayudaron | They helped |
| ustedes ayudaron | You all (formal) helped |
You use the preterit tense like this:
Él ayudó a los niños con su tarea ayer. (He helped the children with their homework yesterday.)
Ayudaste a tu padre anteayer. (You helped your father the day before yesterday.)
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo ayudaba | I used to help |
| tú ayudabas | You (informal) used to help |
| él/ella/ello/uno ayudaba | He/she/one used to help |
| usted ayudaba | You (formal) used to help |
| nosotros ayudábamos | We used to help |
| vosotros ayudabais | You all (informal) used to help |
| ellos/ellas ayudaban | They used to help |
| ustedes ayudaban | You all (formal) used to help |
Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:
¿Ayudabais vosotros a vuestros abuelos? (Did you used to help your grandparents?)
Sí. Los ayudábamos todos los días. (Yes. We used to help them every day.)
| Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo ayudaré | I will help |
| tú ayudarás | You (informal) will help |
| él/ella/ello/uno ayudará | He/she/one will help |
| usted ayudará | You (formal) will help |
| nosotros ayudaremos | We will help |
| vosotros ayudaréis | You all (informal) will help |
| ellos/ellas ayudarán | They will help |
| ustedes ayudarán | You all (formal) will help |
The following samples put the future tense to work:
¿Me ayudarás con mis lecciones? (Will you help me with my lessons?)
Te ayudaré esta tarde. (I will help you this afternoon.)