Regular Present Tense (-ar, -er, -ir)

How Spanish verbs work

Spanish verbs change their endings to show who is doing the action and when. This means you can often drop the subject pronoun entirely - the verb ending tells the listener everything. All Spanish verbs belong to one of three groups based on their infinitive ending:

• -ar verbs (the largest group): hablar (to speak), trabajar (to work)
• -er verbs: comer (to eat), beber (to drink)
• -ir verbs: vivir (to live), escribir (to write)

Subject pronouns

Before conjugating, let's review the pronouns:

Remember: Subject pronouns are often dropped in Spanish because the verb ending already shows the subject. Hablo español (I speak Spanish) - no need for yo.

-ar verbs: hablar (to speak)

Other common -ar verbs

-er verbs: comer (to eat)

Other common -er verbs

-ir verbs: vivir (to live)

Spot the pattern

Notice that -er and -ir verbs share almost identical endings - they only differ in the nosotros and vosotros forms:

Making sentences negative

Simply put no before the verb:

• Hablo español. → No hablo español. - I don't speak Spanish.
• Comemos carne. → No comemos carne. - We don't eat meat.

Practice

Conjugate the verb in brackets for the correct person:

1. Yo (trabajar) _____ en un hospital.
2. Tú (beber) _____ mucho café.
3. Ella (vivir) _____ en Barcelona.
4. Nosotros (estudiar) _____ español.
5. Ellos (comer) _____ a las dos.
6. Usted (escribir) _____ muy bien.

Key takeaways

• Spanish verbs fall into three groups: -ar, -er, -ir. Remove the ending and add the appropriate conjugation.
• The yo form always ends in -o for all regular verbs.
• -er and -ir verbs share nearly identical endings; they only differ in nosotros (-emos vs. -imos) and vosotros (-éis vs. -ís).
• Subject pronouns are usually dropped because the verb ending already tells you who.
• To make a sentence negative, put no before the verb.