Spanish verbs in –er/ir How to conjugate Spanish –er & -ir verbs

What is a verb? Verbs are words that describe actions. Like the commercial says, verbs are “what you do”. They are either “irregular verbs” like ser and tener which you have already learned, or “regular verbs” like verbs that end in –ar, -er, -ir. Verbs can either be in the infinitive form or the conjugated form. The infinitive form is the raw form of the verb, all English infinitives start with “to”.

Why do we conjugate? However, you can not use the infinitive form in a sentence: I to learn Spanish. I to learn Spanish. What’s wrong with the above sentence? TO CONJUGATE A VERB YOU CHANGE, OR CONJUGATE, THE VERB TO MATCH A GIVEN SUBJECT: TO CONJUGATE A VERB YOU CHANGE, OR CONJUGATE, THE VERB TO MATCH A GIVEN SUBJECT: I learn Spanish/ I am learning Spanish I learn Spanish/ I am learning Spanish

How do we conjugate a verb?  Spanish infinitives typically end in either –ar, -ir or –er. When we conjugate a regular Spanish verb we divide the verb into 2 parts, a stem and an ending take off the last two letters and add different ones. Yo aprender español.= I to learn Spanish Yo aprender español.= I to learn Spanish Yo aprendo español= I learn or am learning Yo aprendo español= I learn or am learning Spanish Spanish We took the -er off the end and added the letter o….now the sentence make sense.

Many Spanish verbs ending in –ir & -er follow a regular pattern that is almost identical The verb aprender (to learn) is conjugated below. You have to memorize the fact that verbs ending in –ir & -er in the infinitive follow the “normal” pattern of conjugation, meaning you can just take the ending off the infinitive and add the following endings to the stem: aprender (to learn) aprender (to learn) yo aprendo nosotros/as aprendemos yo aprendo nosotros/as aprendemos tú aprendes vosotros/as aprendéis tú aprendes vosotros/as aprendéis él/ella/Ud. aprende ellos/ellas/Uds. aprenden él/ella/Ud. aprende ellos/ellas/Uds. aprenden

What are the differences in conjugation? aprender (to learn) aprender (to learn) yo aprendo tú aprendes él/elle/ud. aprende nosotros aprendemos Vosotros aprendéis ellos/ellas uds aprenden escribir (to write) escribir (to write) yo escribo tú escribes él/elle/ud. escribe nosotros escribimos vosotros escribís ellos/ellas uds escriben

Common –er &-ir verbs On page 109 of your textbook common some of these verbs are listed. Try to guess which verb fits in the following sentences and change them to match the subject: El ____________ un mensaje. Nosotros ______________café en la cafetería. Ellas ___________________el pizza todos los días. Ud._____________________unas buenas notas.

Practice makes Perfect! The only way to learn verb conjugations is to practice often, much like you would to learn a piece of music. The link below brings to an excellent website where you can practice all Spanish verbs, and gives you helpful comparisons to English verbs :