Spanish –er and –ir verbs

1. Spanish –er and –ir verbs

2. 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 endingwill often tell you who or what the subject is. Observe.

3. -er verb endings Singular Plural o emos 1rst person es eís 2nd person 3rd person e en

4. -ir verb endings Singular Plural o imos 1rst person es ís 2nd person 3rd person e en

5. 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.

6. comer (to eat) Plural Singular nosotros comemos nosotras comemos yo como 1rst person (vosotros) comeís (vosotras) comeís tú comes 2nd person él come ella come Ud. come ellos comen ellas comen Uds. comen 3rd person

7. 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”.

8. vivir (to live) Plural Singular nosotros* vivimos nosotras** vivimos 1rst person Yo vivo vosotros* vivís vosotras** vivís 2nd person tú vives él vive ella vive Ud. vive ellos* viven ellas** viven Uds. viven 3rd person *mixed group or all guys **all girls

9. 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.