Engañar Present Tense Conjugation in Spanish

The present tense of engañar — "to deceive" 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 engañar 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. Engañar means to deceive, and it is used for deceiving customers with false promises, deceiving a judge and deceiving family for years. It is stronger than mentir, to lie, because it implies a trick or a fraud, and it is a regular -ar verb with ñ in the stem. To see it in a real sentence: Él engaña a sus clientes con promesas falsas. — "He/she deceives his customers with false promises." 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: engañar

Every person of engañar in the present tense. The gerund is engañando and the past participle is engañado.

Present indicative

Person Form
yo engaño
tú engañas
él/ella/Ud. engaña
nosotros/as engañamos
vosotros/as engañáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. engañan

How the present indicative of engañar is formed

The present indicative of engañar is built from the stem engañ- 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 engaño
tú -as engañas
él/ella/Ud. -a engaña
nosotros/as -amos engañamos
vosotros/as -áis engañáis
ellos/ellas/Uds. -an engañan

The gerund of engañar is engañando and the past participle is engañado. 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 engañar

The present tense is not one single use — it covers several situations, and engañar 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 engañar, this use looks like this: "Yo engaño a sus clientes con promesas falsas." — "I deceive his customers with false promises." 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 engañar, this use looks like this: "Él engaña al juez con documentos falsos." — "He/she deceives the judge with false documents." 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 engañar, this use looks like this: "Nosotros engañamos a su familia durante años." — "We deceive his family for years." 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 engañar, this use looks like this: "Ellos engañan a los niños con un truco." — "They deceive the children with a trick." 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 engañar, this use looks like this: "Tú engañas a sus clientes con promesas falsas." — "You deceive his customers with false promises." 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 engañar. 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 engaño a sus clientes con promesas falsas." — "I deceive his customers with false promises."
  • Preterite: "Yo engañé a sus clientes con promesas falsas." — "I deceived his customers with false promises." 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 engaña al juez con documentos falsos." — "He/she deceives the judge with false documents."
  • Preterite: "Él engañó al juez con documentos falsos." — "He/she deceived the judge with false documents." 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 engañamos a su familia durante años." — "We deceive his family for years."
  • Preterite: "Nosotros engañamos a su familia durante años." — "We deceived his family for years." 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 engañar in the present tense only. Each one uses a form from the table above.

  1. Yo engaño a sus clientes con promesas falsas. — I deceive his customers with false promises.
  2. Tú engañas al juez con documentos falsos. — You deceive the judge with false documents.
  3. Él engaña a su familia durante años. — He/she deceives his family for years.
  4. Nosotros engañamos a los niños con un truco. — We deceive the children with a trick.
  5. Vosotros engañáis a sus clientes con promesas falsas. — You all deceive his customers with false promises.
  6. Ellos engañan al juez con documentos falsos. — They deceive the judge with false documents.
  7. Yo engaño a su familia durante años. — I deceive his family for years.
  8. Él engaña a los niños con un truco. — He/she deceives the children with a trick.

Common mistakes

  1. Wrong: Vosotros engañais al juez con documentos falsos. — Right: Vosotros engañáis al juez con documentos falsos. — The vosotros present form carries a written accent: engañáis, not engañais.
  2. Wrong: Ayer, yo engaño a su familia durante años. — Right: Ayer, yo engañé a su familia durante años. — Ayer means yesterday, so it needs the preterite (engañé), not the present (engaño). The present is for now, not for yesterday.
  3. Wrong: Yo engaña a sus clientes con promesas falsas. — Right: Yo engaño a sus clientes con promesas falsas. — The person matters: engaña is the él/ella/Ud. form, while the yo form is engaño.
  4. Wrong: Yo soy engañado al juez con documentos falsos. — Right: Yo he engañado al juez con documentos falsos. — Spanish perfect tenses use haber, not ser: he engañado. Ser plus the participle makes a passive, not a perfect tense.

Quiz: test yourself

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

  1. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ a sus clientes con promesas falsas. (present tense) A. engaño B. engañas C. engaña D. engañamos

  2. Complete the sentence: Tú ___ al juez con documentos falsos. (present tense) A. engañas B. engaño C. engaña D. engañamos

  3. Complete the sentence: Él ___ a su familia durante años. (present tense) A. engaña B. engaño C. engañas D. engañamos

  4. Complete the sentence: Nosotros ___ a los niños con un truco. (present tense) A. engañamos B. engaño C. engañas D. engaña

  5. Complete the sentence: Vosotros ___ a sus clientes con promesas falsas. (present tense) A. engañáis B. engaño C. engañas D. engaña

  6. Complete the sentence: Ellos ___ al juez con documentos falsos. (present tense) A. engañan B. engaño C. engañas D. engaña

  7. Complete the sentence: Yo ___ a su familia durante años. (present tense) A. engaño B. engañas C. engaña D. engañamos

  8. Complete the sentence: Él ___ a los niños con un truco. (present tense) A. engaña B. engaño C. engañas D. engañamos

Answer key

  1. engaño — The yo present form of engañar is engaño. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  2. engañas — The tu present form of engañar is engañas. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  3. engaña — The el present form of engañar is engaña. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  4. engañamos — The nosotros present form of engañar is engañamos. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  5. engañáis — The vosotros present form of engañar is engañáis. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  6. engañan — The ellos present form of engañar is engañan. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  7. engaño — The yo present form of engañar is engaño. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.
  8. engaña — The el present form of engañar is engaña. The other options are the other persons of the same tense.

Frequently asked questions

When do I use the present tense of engañar?

Use the present tense of engañar for habits, facts and what is happening now. For example: Yo engaño a sus clientes con promesas falsas. — "I deceive his customers with false promises." The usage rules above give five situations with examples.

How is the present tense of engañar formed?

Take the stem engañ- and add the present endings for -ar verbs. The full table is at the top of this page.

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

The present describes a habit or a present fact, while the preterite describes a finished action. Compare Yo engaño al juez con documentos falsos. with Yo engañé al juez con documentos falsos. — the verb is the same, but the time meaning changes.

How do I practise the present tense of engañar?

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

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