pagar Present Conjugation
pagar — to pay
Pagar is fully regular in the present tense: pago, pagas, paga, pagamos, pagáis, pagan.
pagar Present Forms
When to Use the Present
Use the present tense to talk about how you usually pay for things, current debts, or general pricing facts.
Notes on pagar in the Present
This verb is completely regular in the present indicative. No stem changes or spelling shifts here.
Example Sentences
Siempre pago en efectivo.
I always pay in cash.
yo
Él paga la suscripción de Netflix.
He pays for the Netflix subscription.
él/ella/usted
¿Ustedes pagan por adelantado?
Do you all pay in advance?
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Adding a 'u' like 'paguo'.
Correct: pago
Why: The spelling change with 'u' only happens before 'e' or 'i'. Before 'o', the 'g' stays hard naturally.
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Related Tenses
Preterite
yo: pagué
The preterite of pagar has a spelling change in the first person (pagué) to keep the hard 'g' sound.
Imperfect
yo: pagaba
The imperfect of pagar is regular: pagaba, pagabas, pagaba, pagábamos, pagabais, pagaban.
Future
yo: pagaré
The future of pagar is regular: add endings to the full infinitive (pagaré, pagarás, etc.).
Conditional
yo: pagaría
The conditional of pagar is regular: add -ía endings to the infinitive (pagaría, pagarías).
Present Subjunctive
yo: pague
The present subjunctive of pagar uses the 'gu' spelling change in all forms: pague, pagues, pague, etc.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: pagara
The imperfect subjunctive of pagar is regular: pagara, pagaras, pagara, pagáramos, pagarais, pagaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: paga
Use 'paga' for informal 'tú' and 'pague' for formal 'usted'.
Negative Imperative
yo: no pagues
The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive: no pagues, no pague, no paguemos.