conjugation of preocupar

me preocupa means I am worried… or  worry.

Why is not it me preocupo rather than preocupa.

What verb tense is that

Thank you

Ken

¡Hola Ken3883!

Me preocupa is in the ordinary present tense; what's tricky here is the fact that yo “I” isn't its subject! 

Preocupar “to worry” it's what's called a “backward verb,” like gustar “to like,” interesar “to interest,” and a number of other verbs. With these verbs, the thing that you like, that interests you, or that worries you is actually the subject of the sentence, instead of the other way around.

So although you would say “I am worried about the future” or “I worry about the future” in English (conjugating “to be” or “to worry” with the subject “I”), you say Me preocupa el futuro (conjugating preocupar with the subject el futuro) in Spanish. So more literally, the Spanish translates to “The future worries me.”

You can find a full explanation on these types of verbs in Lesson 7.4: “To Like, To Love and To Lack.”

Let me know if you still have any questions!

Saludos,

Liss