The present tense forms is generated from the present stem of verb by adding corresponding ending. Verbs of first conjugation palatalise the final consonant of stem in present tense only , excepting second person singular.
| Final consonant | To be palatalized to | Examples |
| s | š | dzēs - dzēš |
| t | š | censt - cenš |
| d | ž | svied - sviež |
| z | ž | griez - griež |
| l | ļ | smel - smeļ |
| p | pj | stiep - stiepj |
| b | bj | streb - strebj |
| m | mj | stum - stumj |
For verbs of first conjugation which ends with -k, -g in infinitive the -k is palatalized to -c and -g is palatalized to -dz in second person singular, e.g., roc - rok.
Verbs gulēt, sēdēt has palatalization, except in the second person singular), verb tecēt has present depalatalization, except that tecēt retains the palatal c in the second person singular.
The endings of present tense are given in following table
| Verb | Conjugation, group | Singular first pers. | Singular second pers. | Singular third pers. | Plural first pers. | Plural second pers. | Plural third pers. |
| active | -u | - | - | -am | -at | - | |
| active | 1 conj. 5 group,
1 conj. 3 group which ends with p, t, d 3 conj. 3. group |
-u | -i | - | -am | -at | - |
| active | 3 conj, 1. and 2. group. | -u | -i | -a | -ām | -āt | -a |
| reflexive | -os | -ies | -as | -amies | -aties | -as | |
| reflexive | 3 conj. 1. and 2. group | -os | -ies | -ās | -āmies | -āties | -ās |
Second conjugation active verbs lose final -j in second person singular and third person singular, plural.
| 1 conj. active | 1 conj. reflexive | 2 conj. active | 2 conj. reflexive | 3 conj. active | 3 conj. reflexive | |
| es | ēd-u | smej-os | ogoj-u | sarunāj-os | tek-u | māc-os |
| tu | ēd | smej-ies | ogo | sarunāj-ies | tec-i | māc-ies |
| viņš | ēd | smej-as | ogo | sarunāj-as | tek | māc-ās |
| mēs | ēd-am | smej-amies | ogoj-am | sarunāj-amies | tek-am | māc-āmies |
| jūs | ēd-at | smej-aties | ogoj-at | sarunāj-aties | tek-at | māc-āties |
| viņi | ēd | smej-as | ogo | sarunāj-as | tek | māc-ās |