Venir in the Spanish present tense
Venir means to come: movement toward the speaker, the listener or a destination understood as here.
Its yo form is vengo. The stressed forms vienes, viene and vienen change e to ie, while venimos and venís keep ven-.
Vengo plus an E → IE change in stressed forms
Use vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís and vienen. Keep the preposition required by the destination or origin: venir a, venir de or venir con.
1. Meaning and form in context
Venir combines vengo with the same E → IE distribution seen in tener: vienes, viene and vienen, but venimos and venís.
2. A contrast worth noticing
Use venir for movement toward the relevant destination and ir for movement away or toward another place. Venir de can also identify where someone is coming from.
3. Let the subject guide the form
Spanish often omits a subject pronoun, but each exercise provides enough context to identify the person. Choose the form from meaning and agreement, not from the nearest noun.
4. Common mistakes
The infinitive venir must change to vengo for this subject and context.
The infinitive venir must change to vienes for this subject and context.
The infinitive venir must change to viene for this subject and context.
5. A reliable method
- Decide whether the movement is toward the relevant destination.
- Identify the subject.
- Use vengo for yo, vien- in stressed forms and ven- with nosotros or vosotros.
- Check the preposition after venir.