–IR Verbs Present Tense By Suzanne Rutkowski
“ar” “er” “ir” Verb Families Let’s look at the family of “–ir” verbs. There are 3 families of verbs in Spanish. They are determined by the ending of the verb. Verbs in Spanish end in: “ar” “er” “ir” Let’s look at the family of “–ir” verbs.
“–IR” Verbs Ejemplos: abrir = asistir = compartir = describir = recibir = sufrir = to open to attend to share to describe to write to leave to receive to suffer Ejemplos:
Parts of a Verb Infinitive = the –ir form of a verb Ejemplo: escribir = to write Stem = the verb without its –ar ending Ejemplo: escrib– The –ir verb endings in the present tense are: –o, –es, –e, –imos, –ís and –en.
Forming the Conjugated Verb To form present tense “–ir” verbs, you drop the “ir” ending of the infinitive form of the verb and add the appropriate ending for each of the subjects. Ejemplo: To make the “yo” form of the verb vivir (to live), take the infinitive, drop the –ir and you have the stem: viv–. Add an –o ending to the stem viv–. Yo vivo. = I live.
The endings added to the stem of an –ir verb in the present tense are: yo = tú = usted = él, ella = –o –es –e nosotros/as = vosotros/as = ustedes = ellos/as = –imos –ís –en
Ejemplo: vivir = to live Now, add the endings: Take the infinitive of the verb vivir, drop the –ir, and you are left with the stem viv–. Now, add the endings: yo vivo tú vives usted vive él, ella vive nosotros/as vivimos vosotros/as vivís ustedes viven ellos/as viven
Otro ejemplo: escribir = to write yo escribo = I write tú escribes = You write (informal) usted escribe = you write (formal) él, ella escribe = he/she writes nosotros/as escribimos = we write vosotros/as escribís = you all write (Spain) ustedes escriben = you all write ellos/as escriben = they write Singular Plural
Más ejemplos: yo abro = I open tú vives = you (informal) live él escribe = usted parte = nosotros sufrimos = vosotros describís = ellos asisten = I open you (informal) live he writes you (formal) leave we (masculine) suffer all of you (informal – Spain) describe they (masculine) attend
Nouns María vive en España. Juan y Pablo escriben cartas. If the subject of the sentence is a singular noun, use the él/ella form. Ejemplo: María vive en España. If the subject of the sentence is a plural noun, use the ellos/ellas form. Juan y Pablo escriben cartas. Los muchachos asisten a la fiesta. Ejemplos:
Check Your Knowledge! I live she attends we (masculine) suffer they (masculine) write you (informal) open yo vivo ella asiste nosotros sufrimos ellos escriben tú abres
Credits ©2010 Teacher’s Discovery Written by: Suzanne Rutkowski Additional Information by: Adriana Miretti To find more Spanish grammar presentations, go to: www.teachersdiscovery.com Search: Grammar PowerPoints™