Regular -AR, -ER, -IR Verbs in Spanish: The Complete Guide

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Grammar Guide · Verbs

Regular -AR, -ER, -IR Verbs

In Spanish, verbs change their ending depending on who's doing the action. Learn the three patterns once, and you can conjugate hundreds of verbs.

Spanish 1 Present Tense 5 Min Read

Why Verbs Change

In English, verbs barely change: "I speak, you speak, we speak" — only "he/she speaks" is different. In Spanish, the verb ending changes for every single subject (yo, tú, él, nosotros...).

The good news: almost every Spanish verb belongs to one of three families based on its ending — -AR, -ER, or -IR. Learn the pattern for each family once, and it works for every regular verb in that family.

The Three Patterns

-AR: hablar (to speak)

yo	hablo
tú	hablas
él/ella	habla
nosotros	hablamos
vosotros	habláis
ellos	hablan

-ER: comer (to eat)

yo	como
tú	comes
él/ella	come
nosotros	comemos
vosotros	coméis
ellos	comen

-IR: vivir (to live)

yo	vivo
tú	vives
él/ella	vive
nosotros	vivimos
vosotros	vivís
ellos	viven

Spot the Pattern

-ER and -IR verbs are almost identical — the only difference is the nosotros and vosotros forms (-emos/-éis vs. -imos/-ís). Every other ending is exactly the same!

Step 1: Remove -ar, -er, or -ir from the verb to get the "stem" (habl-, com-, viv-).
Step 2: Add the ending that matches your subject.

Common Mistakes

✗ Yo como, tú como.

✓ Yo como, tú comes.

Each subject needs its own ending. "Tú" always needs an -s ending (comes, hablas, vives) — don't reuse the "yo" form.

✗ Nosotros hablemos español. (using -ER ending on an -AR verb)

✓ Nosotros hablamos español.

"Hablar" is an -AR verb, so nosotros needs the -amos ending, not the -er family's -emos.

✗ Ellos vive en Texas.

✓ Ellos viven en Texas.

"Ellos" (they) always needs the -n ending (viven, hablan, comen) to match the plural subject.

Check Your Understanding

Regular Verbs — Quick Check

Question 1 of 10

Yo ___ (hablar) español.

Question 2 of 10

Nosotros ___ (comer) pizza.

Question 3 of 10

Tú ___ (vivir) en California.

Question 4 of 10

Ellos ___ (estudiar) mucho.

Question 5 of 10

Ella ___ (leer) un libro.

Question 6 of 10

Vosotros ___ (escribir) cartas.

Question 7 of 10

Yo ___ (correr) todos los días.

Question 8 of 10

Mis amigos ___ (bailar) en la fiesta.

Question 9 of 10

Nosotros ___ (abrir) la puerta.

Question 10 of 10

Tú ___ (trabajar) los sábados.

out of 10 correct

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