Regular Present Tense -er and –ir Verbs

There are three types of regular verbs in Spanish: verbs that end in –ar, verbs that end in –er, and verbs that end in –ir. You’ve already learned –ar verbs: yo hablonosotros hablamos tú hablasvosotros habláis él, ella hablaellos hablan

Now for –er verbs: To form –er verbs, take off the –er and then add the following endings: comer (to eat) -o-emoscomocomemos -es-éiscomescoméis -e-encomecomen Notice that the only difference between –er verbs and – ar verbs is that you use e’s instead of a’s: -ar -er -o-amos-o-emos -as-áis-es-éis -a-an-e-en-a-an-e-en

Now for –ir verbs. Drop the –ir and add the following endings: abrir (to open) -o-imosabroabrimos -es-ísabresabrís -e-enabreabren Do you see what the difference is between –er and –ir verbs? They’re just alike except for the nosotros and vosotros forms: -er -ir -o-emos-o-imos -es-éis-es-ís -e-en-e-en

So the only difference between –ar verbs and –er verbs is that you use e’s instead of a’s in the –er verbs. And the only difference between –er verbs and –ir verbs is the nosotros and vosotros forms.

So when you’re conjugating verbs, be sure you know if the infinitive (the form ending in –ar or – er or -ir; e.g., hablar and comer and abrir are infinitives) ends with an –ar, –er, or –ir so you’ll know what ending to put on it: You talk: hablas HABLARwe talk: hablamos You eat: comes COMERwe eat: comemos You open: abres ABRIRwe open: abrimos

Common –er Verbs aprender – to learn creer – to believe poseer – to possess, to own beber – to drink deber – to have to, to owe prometer – to promise comer – to eat esconder – to hide romper – to break comprender – to understand leer – to read temer – to fear correr – to run meter en – to put into vender – to sell

Common –ir Verbs abrir – to open descubrir – to discover permitir – to permit discutir – to discuss recibir – to receive asistir a – to attend escribir – to write subir – to climb, to go up cubrir – to cover existir – to exist sufrir – to suffer decidir – to decide omitir – to omit unir – to unite descrbir – to describe vivir – to live compartir- to share