Agobiar Present Tense Conjugation in Spanish
The present tense of agobiar — “to overwhelm, to burden” in English — is the form you need for what happens now, for habits and for general truths. This page gives you the full present conjugation table for agobiar with all six persons, explains exactly how the tense is formed for this verb, shows when to use it with real examples, and finishes with a quiz so you can test yourself. Agobiar means to overwhelm or to burden, to make someone feel they have too much to do or to bear. It is used for work, heat, noise and worries, and it is fully regular. To see it in a real sentence: Agobio con tanto trabajo. — “I overwhelm with so much work.” Learn the six forms in the table below, and the present tense of agobiar will be ready for everyday conversation.
Present tense conjugation table: agobiar
Every person of agobiar in the present tense. The gerund is agobiando and the past participle is agobiado.
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | agobio |
| tú | agobias |
| él/ella/Ud. | agobia |
| nosotros/as | agobiamos |
| vosotros/as | agobiáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | agobian |
How the present indicative of agobiar is formed
The present indicative of agobiar is built from the stem plus the present indicative endings for -ar verbs. Take the infinitive, drop the -ar ending, and add the ending that matches the person. The table below shows the endings, and the full table above shows them attached to the stem.
| Person | Ending | Form |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -o | agobio |
| tú | -as | agobias |
| él/ella/Ud. | -a | agobia |
| nosotros/as | -amos | agobiamos |
| vosotros/as | -áis | agobiáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | -an | agobian |
Agobiar is a regular -ar verb in the present tense, so the table above is completely regular. The stem is agobi- and the endings are the normal -ar endings, so once you know the pattern you can produce every form on this page.
The gerund of agobiar is agobiando and the past participle is agobiado. Both are regular for this verb, and the participle is the form you need for all the perfect tenses with haber.
When to use the present tense of agobiar
The present tense is not one single use — it covers several situations, and agobiar appears in all of them. The five uses below are the ones you will meet most often, each with an example that shows the verb in a natural sentence.
Routines and habits
Use the present for things you do regularly, every day or every week. The present is the tense of routine, and agobiar fits naturally into daily life.
“Yo agobio con tanto trabajo todos los días.” — “I overwhelm with so much work every day.”
General facts
Use the present for facts that are true in general, not just today. When you state how something is, the present is the tense to use.
“Él agobia a su madre con preguntas.” — “He/she overwhelms his mother with questions.”
What is happening right now
Use the present for what is happening at this moment. Spanish often uses the simple present where English uses the progressive, so agobio can mean both “I overwhelm” and “I am overwhelming”.
“Ahora mismo, yo agobio con el calor del verano.” — “Right now, I overwhelm with the summer heat.”
Fixed plans in the near future
Use the present for a plan that is already fixed, such as something arranged for tomorrow. Spanish uses the present for near-future plans much more freely than English does.
“Mañana, yo agobio a los estudiantes con exámenes.” — “Tomorrow, I will overwhelm the students with exams.”
Questions and negatives
Use the present to ask about habits and to say what does not happen. The question and the negative use exactly the same forms as the statement.
“¿Tú agobias con tanto trabajo?” — “Do you overwhelm with so much work?”
The present tense vs the closest tenses
Present — habit or general fact vs Preterite — one finished occasion
The present describes a habit, a routine or a general fact — something that happens again and again or that is true in general. The preterite reports one finished occasion in the past. Use the present when the action repeats or is still true, and the preterite when you are telling what happened once, on a specific day.
- Present — habit or general fact: Agobia a su madre con preguntas. — “He/she overwhelms his mother with questions.”
- Preterite — one finished occasion: Agobió a su madre con preguntas. — the same idea, placed in the preterite.
Present — now vs Imperfect — a past habit or background
The present talks about now. The imperfect talks about the past as a background — a repeated habit, an ongoing situation, something that used to happen. If you can add “used to” in English, the imperfect is usually the right choice; if it is happening now or always, use the present.
- Present — now: Agobian con el calor del verano. — “They overwhelm with the summer heat.”
- Imperfect — a past habit or background: Agobiaban con el calor del verano. — the same idea, placed in the imperfect.
Present — now or a fixed plan vs Future — what will happen
The present describes what happens now, what you do regularly, or a plan that is already fixed. The future describes what will happen later — a promise, a prediction, a plan that is not yet under way. Spanish often uses the present for near-future plans, but the future is the form for a clear statement about tomorrow.
- Present — now or a fixed plan: Agobias a los estudiantes con exámenes. — “You overwhelm the students with exams.”
- Future — what will happen: Agobiarás a los estudiantes con exámenes. — the same idea, placed in the future.
Examples: agobiar in the present tense
Seven sentences that show agobiar in the present tense only, across all six persons. Read each one aloud, notice the ending, and check the translation.
- Yo agobio con tanto trabajo. — “I overwhelm with so much work.”
- Tú agobias a su madre con preguntas. — “You overwhelm his mother with questions.”
- Él agobia con el calor del verano. — “He overwhelms with the summer heat.”
- Nosotros agobiamos a los estudiantes con exámenes. — “We overwhelm the students with exams.”
- Vosotros agobiáis con tanto trabajo. — “You (plural) overwhelm with so much work.”
- Ellos agobian a su madre con preguntas. — “They overwhelm his mother with questions.”
- ¿Tú agobias con el calor del verano? — “Do you overwhelm with the summer heat?”
Common mistakes with agobiar in the present tense
These are the errors learners actually make with agobiar in the present tense. Each one shows the wrong form, the right form, and why the right form is right.
✗ Yo agobiar con tanto trabajo. (using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form).
✓ Correct: Yo agobio con tanto trabajo.
The infinitive is not a conjugated form. With yo, the present tense of agobiar is agobio, not the infinitive agobiar.
✗ Vosotros agobiais con tanto trabajo. (forgetting the accent on the vosotros form).
✓ Correct: Vosotros agobiáis con tanto trabajo.
The vosotros present form carries a written accent: agobiáis, not agobiais. The accent marks the stressed vowel, and leaving it out is a spelling mistake.
✗ Ayer, yo agobio a su madre con preguntas. (using the present for a finished past action).
✓ Correct: Ayer, yo agobié a su madre con preguntas.
The present and the preterite are different tenses: agobio is happening now, while agobié is a finished action in the past. Use the preterite with ayer.
✗ Treating agobiar and estresar as identical in every context. (confusing agobiar with estresar).
✓ Correct: Agobiar means to overwhelm, to burden, while estresar means to stress someone.
They overlap, but each has uses the other does not: agobiar fits sentences such as Agobio con tanto trabajo, while estresar belongs in a different sentence. Check the meaning you want before choosing.
Quiz: agobiar in the present tense
Eight questions on the present tense of agobiar. Choose the best answer for each one, then check the answer key below — every answer is explained.
1. Which is the correct present tense form of agobiar for tú?
- a) agobias
- b) agobio
- c) agobia
- d) agobian
2. Complete the sentence: Yo ______ con tanto trabajo. — “I overwhelm with so much work.”
- a) agobia
- b) agobiamos
- c) agobias
- d) agobio
3. Complete the sentence: Él ______ a su madre con preguntas. — “He/she overwhelms his mother with questions.” (present tense)
- a) agobiaba
- b) agobiará
- c) agobia
- d) agobió
4. Which is the correct present tense form of agobiar for nosotros?
- a) agobian
- b) agobiamos
- c) agobio
- d) agobia
5. Which sentence uses agobiar correctly in the present tense?
- a) Él agobió a su madre con preguntas.
- b) Él agobia a su madre con preguntas.
- c) Él agobiará a su madre con preguntas.
- d) Ellos agobia a su madre con preguntas.
6. Complete the sentence: Ellos ______ con el calor del verano. — “They overwhelm with the summer heat.”
- a) agobio
- b) agobia
- c) agobiamos
- d) agobian
7. Complete the question: ¿Tú ______ a los estudiantes con exámenes? — “Do you overwhelm the students with exams?”
- a) agobia
- b) agobiarás
- c) agobias
- d) agobio
8. What is the gerund of agobiar?
- a) agobié
- b) agobiando
- c) agobiado
- d) agobio
Answer key
a) agobias — The tú form is agobias. The -s ending belongs to tú in the present; agobio is yo, agobia is él/ella and agobian is ellos/ellas.
d) agobio — The sentence needs the yo form in the present: agobio. The other options are the wrong person.
c) agobia — The sentence needs the él/ella/Ud. form in the present: agobia. The other options are the preterite, the imperfect and the future.
b) agobiamos — Nosotros takes agobiamos. In the present the nosotros ending for -ar verbs is -amos, attached to the stem.
b) Él agobia a su madre con preguntas. — Él agobia a su madre con preguntas. is correct: the verb agrees with its subject. The other sentences use the wrong person or the wrong tense.
d) agobian — The subject is ellos/ellas/Uds., so the present form is agobian.
c) agobias — The question needs the tú form in the present: agobias.
b) agobiando — The gerund is agobiando. It is the form you use with estar for the progressive (estar + gerund), and it is not the past participle agobiado.
Frequently asked questions
Is agobiar regular in the present tense?
Yes. Agobiar is a regular -ar verb in the present tense, so the forms follow the standard endings: agobio, agobias, agobia, agobiamos, agobiáis and agobian.
What is the gerund and the past participle of agobiar?
The gerund is agobiando and the past participle is agobiado. Use the gerund with estar for the progressive, and the participle with haber for the perfect tenses.
How do you say “I overwhelm” in Spanish?
Say agobio. For example: Agobio con tanto trabajo. — “I overwhelm with so much work.”
What is the difference between agobiar and estresar?
Agobiar means “to overwhelm, to burden”, while estresar means “to stress someone”. They are related words that learners often meet together, but they are not interchangeable — use agobiar when you mean “to overwhelm, to burden” and estresar when you mean “to stress someone”. The full conjugation of agobiar is on its own page.
Related links
- Full conjugation of agobiar — every tense and mood, with the complete tables.
- agobiar examples and quiz — more sentences, dialogues and a longer quiz.
- Spanish Present tense guide — how the present tense works for all Spanish verbs.
- Spanish verbs — the full list of Spanish verbs on VerbFlow.
- Aglomerar conjugation — another -ar verb to compare with agobiar.
- Agravar conjugation — another -ar verb to compare with agobiar.
- Ahuyentar conjugation — another -ar verb to compare with agobiar.
- Present Tense Conjugator — practise this verb in the interactive tool.
- Spanish Verb Quiz — test yourself on Spanish verbs.