Spanish –er and –ir verbs
Verbs in General English and Spanish both conjugate verbs. They can be organized as 1rst, 2 nd, and 3 rd 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.main page
-er verb endings o eseís e emos en 1rst person 3rd person 2nd person SingularPlural
-ir verb endings o esís e imos en 1rst person 3rd person 2nd person SingularPlural
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 3 rd 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** vivimos 1rst person 2nd person 3rd person Plural Singular
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.