-er & -ir Verbs

-ER & -IR Verbs  There are three conjugations of verbs in Spanish: – AR, –ER, and –IR.  -ER and –IR verbs are often studied together because all of their endings (except one) are identical.

BEBER  Let’s look at an example, the verb BEBER, which means “to drink.” It ends in –ER, so it is included in this class.

BEBER  The verb can be split into two parts:  The base: BEB The infinitive ending: -ER

BEBER  Now let’s say “I drink.”  Start with the base: BEB When you talk about yourself, add –O, just as you did for the –AR verbs.

BEBER  yo bebo  Are you surprised?

BEBER  Now let’s talk about you. When the subject is tú, you add –ES (remember that it’s an –ER verb).

BEBER  tú bebes

BEBER  Let’s guess endings for the other persons: él, ella, Ud., nosotros, ellos, ellas, Uds.

BEBER  él bebe  ella bebe  Ud. bebe  nosotros bebemos  ellos beben  ellas beben  Uds. beben

-ER endings  The endings for regular -ER verbs are the same as for –AR verbs, except that the vowel is –Einstead of –A-!  yo -o  tú -es  él, ella, Ud. -e  nosotros -emos  ellos -en  ustedes –en

What about the –IR Verbs?  Well, take a look for yourself. Can you find the one difference?  beber vivir  bebo vivo  bebes vives  bebe vive  bebemos vivimos  beben viven

That’s right!  The endings are identical except for the nosotros form:  beber: bebemos  vivir: vivimos

Let’s Practice > ESCRIBIR  Yo _______ muchas cartas, pero mi hermana no _______ cartas.

Escribir  Yo escribo muchas cartas, pero mi hermana no escribe cartas.

RECIBIR, DEBER  Cuando yo _______ (recibir) una carta, _______ (deber) leerla [read it].

RECIBIR, DEBER  Cuando yo recibo una carta, debo leerla.  N.B. There was no change in subject, so “yo” was understood to be the subject for both verbs. It was not necessary to repeat “yo.”

LEER, COMPRENDER  Miguel ______ (leer) filosofía pero no la ________ (comprender) muy bien.

LEER, COMPRENDER  Miguel lee filosofia pero no la comprende muy bien.  Don’t forget that the base of leer is le-, so there is a double –e on the él form.

VIVIR, CORRER  Nosotros _____ (vivir) cerca de [near] un parque y ______ (correr) allí [there] por la mañana.

VIVIR, CORRER  Nosotros vivimos cerca de un parque y corremos allí por la mañana.

Regular Present Tense  To summarize, here are the endings for the three verb conjugations:  -AR -ER -IR  -o -o -o  -as -es -es  -a -e -e  -amos –emos –imos  -an -en -en