Spanish –er and –ir verbs

Verbs in General

English and Spanish both conjugate verbs. They can be organized as 1rst, 2nd, and 3rd person. If you need to, you may review the pronoun presentation on the main page. In English, we do not change the verb much according to the subject. In Spanish, the verb ending will often tell you who or what the subject is. Observe.

-er verb endings

o

es eís

e

emos

en

1rst person

3rd person

2nd person

Singular Plural

-ir verb endings

o

es ís

e

imos

en

1rst person

3rd person

2nd person

Singular Plural

How they change

This is a rule you can use for any regular –er/–ir verbs. To conjugate a regular –ar verb, drop the –er/–ir and add the appropriate ending. The best way to see this is to demonstrate. Did you notice the only differences between –er and –ir verbs is in the “nosotros” and “vosotros” forms? We will use the verbs “comer” (to eat) and “vivir” (to live. Once you learn to conjugate one verb, you can conjugate any regular verb.

comer (to eat)

yo como

tú comes

él come

ella come

Ud. come

nosotros comemos

nosotras comemos

(vosotros) comeís

(vosotras) comeís

ellos comen

ellas comen

Uds. comen

1rst person

2nd person

3rd person

Singular Plural

What it means:

When you say either “Yo como” or “Como”, you are saying “I eat”. You will note that como is only associated with the subject pronoun “yo”. Similarly, when you say “Tú comes” or “Comes” you are saying “You eat”. Notice that it is important to include the subject pronoun when you use 3rd person because the subject has different possibilities. “Come” can mean “He eats”, “She eats”, or “You eat”.

vivir (to live)

Yo vivo

tú vives

él vive

ella vive

Ud. vive

ellos* viven

ellas** viven

Uds. viven*mixed group or all guys **all girls

vosotros* vivís

vosotras** vivís

nosotros* vivimos

nosotras** vivimos1rst person

2nd person

3rd person

PluralSingular

Now it is time to learn.

• This is meant to be a review. If you have not studied it already, you may have difficulty.

• If you want to learn Spanish, you will need to learn the –er and –ir verb endings.

• You can often tell what the subject is by the verb. Therefore in Spanish, it is not always necessary to include the subject.

• Memorize these verb endings.