Preparar is a regular -ar verb in Spanish.
Practice preparar free →Preparar means 'to prepare', and it is a regular -ar verb that fits food, school and routine topics neatly. Preparo la cena (I prepare dinner), me preparo para el examen (I'm getting ready for the exam). The reflexive prepararse means to get yourself ready. Because preparing — meals, for exams, for trips — appears across so many everyday situations, preparar is a dependable verb for describing what you do. As a regular -ar verb the conjugation is straightforward, and pairing it with time expressions makes for natural, developed sentences.
Quick facts
Preparar (to prepare) is a regular -ar verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
Preparo la comida (I prepare the food).
Reflexive prepararse: me preparo para salir.
Prepararse para el examen (to prepare for the exam).
Useful for describing meals and daily routine.
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
preparar is a regular -ar verb — it follows the standard -ar pattern in every tense. That makes it a good one to drill: if you know preparar, you know the template for all regular -ar verbs.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice preparar now →Three questions, no account needed. Type the form, then press Enter or tap Check.
yo: preparo, tú: preparas, él: prepara, nosotros: preparamos, vosotros: preparáis, ellos: preparan
The past participle is preparado (he preparado) and the gerund is preparando (estoy preparando).
Verbs that are easy to confuse with preparar or that behave like it.
Preparar is on the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas GCSE Spanish vocabulary lists. Compare the exam boards.
Written by Daniel Holmes for GCSE & A-Level Spanish students.