cortar Present Conjugation
cortar — to cut
Cortar is a regular -ar verb in the present tense: corto, cortas, corta, cortamos, cortáis, cortan.
cortar Present Forms
When to Use the Present
Use the present tense to talk about current actions or habits involving cutting, like chopping vegetables for dinner or getting a regular haircut.
Notes on cortar in the Present
Cortar is completely regular in the present tense. It follows the standard pattern for all -ar verbs without any stem changes.
Example Sentences
Yo corto las cebollas para la ensalada.
I cut the onions for the salad.
yo
Él corta el césped todos los sábados.
He cuts the grass every Saturday.
él/ella/usted
¿Vosotros cortáis el papel con tijeras?
Do you all cut the paper with scissors?
vosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'cortes' for the tú form in indicative.
Correct: cortas
Why: Learners sometimes confuse the present indicative -as ending with the subjunctive -es ending.
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Related Tenses
Preterite
yo: corté
The preterite of cortar is regular: corté, cortaste, cortó, cortamos, cortasteis, cortaron.
Imperfect
yo: cortaba
Cortar in the imperfect follows the regular -aba pattern: cortaba, cortabas, cortaba, cortábamos, cortabais, cortaban.
Future
yo: cortaré
The future of cortar is formed by adding endings to the infinitive: cortaré, cortarás, cortará, cortaremos, cortaréis, cortarán.
Conditional
yo: cortaría
The conditional of cortar uses the infinitive plus -ía endings: cortaría, cortarías, cortaría, cortaríamos, cortaríais, cortarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: corte
The present subjunctive of cortar uses -e endings: corte, cortes, corte, cortemos, cortéis, corten.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: cortara
The imperfect subjunctive of cortar is based on the 'ellos' preterite: cortara, cortaras, cortara, cortáramos, cortarais, cortaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: corta
The affirmative imperative of cortar gives direct commands: corta (tú), cortad (vosotros), corte(n) (usted/es).
Negative Imperative
yo: no cortes
The negative imperative of cortar uses 'no' plus the present subjunctive: no cortes, no corte, no cortemos, no cortéis, no corten.