Cargar Present Tense Conjugation in Spanish

The present tense of cargar — "to load, to carry" 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 cargar 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. Cargar means to load or to carry, and it covers loading a van, carrying shopping bags, charging a phone and carrying a responsibility. It takes a direct object for the thing carried or loaded, and it is a spelling-change verb: the g becomes gu before e, so the preterite first person is cargué and the subjunctive is cargue. To see it in a real sentence: Él carga las maletas en el coche. — "He/she loads the suitcases into the car." Work through the table below, then the formation notes, the usage rules and the contrast with the preterite, and test yourself at the end.

Present tense conjugation table: cargar

Every person of cargar in the present tense. The gerund is cargando and the past participle is cargado.

Present indicative

Person Form
yo cargo
tú cargas
él/ella/Ud. carga
nosotros/as cargamos
vosotros/as cargáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. cargan

How the present indicative of cargar is formed

The present indicative of cargar is built from the stem carg- plus the present 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 cargo
tú -as cargas
él/ella/Ud. -a carga
nosotros/as -amos cargamos
vosotros/as -áis cargáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. -an cargan

cargar is a spelling-change verb: g becomes gu before e. That is why the written form changes in some persons — the sound stays the same, and only the spelling adapts. In this tense, watch the first-person form cargo in particular.

The gerund of cargar is cargando and the past participle is cargado. 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 cargar

The present tense is not one single use — it covers several situations, and cargar 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.

Habits and routines

The present tense describes things you do regularly. If you do it every day, every week or every morning, the present is the tense to use. For cargar, this use looks like this: "Yo cargo las maletas en el coche." — "I load the suitcases into the car." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

General facts

The present tense states facts that are generally true, not tied to one moment. It is the tense for definitions and permanent situations. For cargar, this use looks like this: "Él carga la compra hasta casa." — "He/she loads the shopping home." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

What is happening now

The present tense also covers what is happening at this moment, especially with verbs that describe an action in progress. For cargar, this use looks like this: "Nosotros cargamos el móvil toda la noche." — "We load the phone all night." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

Timetables and schedules

The present tense is used for fixed plans and timetables, such as trains, classes and opening times, even when they refer to the future. For cargar, this use looks like this: "Ellos cargan las cajas en el camión." — "They load the boxes onto the lorry." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

Instructions and requests

The present tense appears in instructions and polite requests, where it sounds softer than a direct command. For cargar, this use looks like this: "Tú cargas las maletas en el coche." — "You load the suitcases into the car." Notice how the present form carries the time meaning on its own, without any extra word for the tense.

The present tense vs the preterite

Learners often mix up the present and the preterite with cargar. The rule is simple: the present is for habits, facts and what is happening now, while the preterite is for one finished action in the past. The three pairs below show the same idea in both tenses, so you can feel the difference.

Pair 1: present vs preterite

  • Present: "Yo cargo las maletas en el coche." — "I load the suitcases into the car."
  • Preterite: "Yo cargué las maletas en el coche." — "I loaded the suitcases into the car." The first sentence uses the present because it describes a habit or a present fact; the second uses the preterite because it describes a finished action. The verb is the same — only the tense changes the meaning.

Pair 2: present vs preterite

  • Present: "Él carga la compra hasta casa." — "He/she loads the shopping home."
  • Preterite: "Él cargó la compra hasta casa." — "He/she loaded the shopping home." The first sentence uses the present because it describes a habit or a present fact; the second uses the preterite because it describes a finished action. The verb is the same — only the tense changes the meaning.

Pair 3: present vs preterite

  • Present: "Nosotros cargamos el móvil toda la noche." — "We load the phone all night."
  • Preterite: "Nosotros cargamos el móvil toda la noche." — "We loaded the phone all night." The first sentence uses the present because it describes a habit or a present fact; the second uses the preterite because it describes a finished action. The verb is the same — only the tense changes the meaning.

Example sentences in the present tense

Eight natural sentences with cargar in the present tense only. Each one uses a form from the table above.

  1. Yo cargo las maletas en el coche. — I load the suitcases into the car.
  2. Tú cargas la compra hasta casa. — You load the shopping home.
  3. Él carga el móvil toda la noche. — He/she loads the phone all night.
  4. Nosotros cargamos las cajas en el camión. — We load the boxes onto the lorry.
  5. Vosotros cargáis las maletas en el coche. — You all load the suitcases into the car.
  6. Ellos cargan la compra hasta casa. — They load the shopping home.
  7. Yo cargo el móvil toda la noche. — I load the phone all night.
  8. Él carga las cajas en el camión. — He/she loads the boxes onto the lorry.

Common mistakes

  1. Wrong: Vosotros cargais la compra hasta casa. — Right: Vosotros cargáis la compra hasta casa. — The vosotros present form carries a written accent: cargáis, not cargais.
  2. Wrong: Ayer, yo cargo el móvil toda la noche. — Right: Ayer, yo cargué el móvil toda la noche. — Ayer means yesterday, so it needs the preterite (cargué), not the present (cargo). The present is for now, not for yesterday.
  3. Wrong: Yo carga las maletas en el coche. — Right: Yo cargo las maletas en el coche. — The person matters: carga is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is cargo.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy cargado la compra hasta casa. — Right: Yo he cargado la compra hasta casa. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he cargado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.

Quiz: test yourself

Eight questions on the present tense of cargar. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ las maletas en el coche. (present tense) A. cargo B. cargas C. carga D. cargamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ la compra hasta casa. (present tense) A. cargas B. cargo C. carga D. cargamos

  3. Complete the sentence: Él ___ el móvil toda la noche. (present tense) A. carga B. cargo C. cargas D. cargamos

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ las cajas en el camión. (present tense) A. cargamos B. cargo C. cargas D. carga

  5. Complete the sentence: Vosotros ___ las maletas en el coche. (present tense) A. cargáis B. cargo C. cargas D. carga

  6. Complete the sentence: Ellos ___ la compra hasta casa. (present tense) A. cargan B. cargo C. cargas D. carga

  7. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ el móvil toda la noche. (present tense) A. cargo B. cargas C. carga D. cargamos

  8. Complete the sentence: Él ___ las cajas en el camión. (present tense) A. carga B. cargo C. cargas D. cargamos

Answer key

  1. cargo — The yo present form of cargar is cargo. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  2. cargas — The tu present form of cargar is cargas. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  3. carga — The el present form of cargar is carga. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  4. cargamos — The nosotros present form of cargar is cargamos. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  5. cargáis — The vosotros present form of cargar is cargáis. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  6. cargan — The ellos present form of cargar is cargan. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  7. cargo — The yo present form of cargar is cargo. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  8. carga — The el present form of cargar is carga. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.

Frequently asked questions

When do I use the present tense of cargar?

Use the present tense of cargar for habits, facts and what is happening now. For example: Yo cargo las maletas en el coche. — "I load the suitcases into the car." The usage rules above give five situations with examples.

How is the present tense of cargar formed?

Take the stem carg- and add the present endings for -ar verbs. The full table is at the top of this page. Remember the spelling change: g becomes gu before e.

What is the difference between the present and the preterite of cargar?

The present describes a habit or a present fact, while the preterite describes a finished action. Compare Yo cargo la compra hasta casa. with Yo cargué la compra hasta casa. — the verb is the same, but the time meaning changes.

How do I practise the present tense of cargar?

Drill the six forms in the table above until you can say them without looking, then use the cargar examples and quiz page for more sentences, and test yourself with the Cargar conjugation page for the full picture across all tenses.

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