Present tense: regular verbs

A1 El presente de indicativo: verbos regulares 5 / 49

In short

Spanish verbs fall into three families by their infinitive ending - -ar, -er, -ir. Drop that ending to get the stem, then add a set of person endings. One present tense covers both English “I speak” and “I am speaking”.

The rule

The ending of the verb already tells you who the subject is, so the subject pronoun is usually left out (see Lesson 4). You build every regular verb in two steps.

Step 1 - Find the stem. Take the infinitive (the dictionary form) and drop the last two letters, -ar, -er, or -ir:

  • hablar (to speak) -> habl-
  • comer (to eat) -> com-
  • vivir (to live) -> viv-

Step 2 - Add the ending for the subject. Each family has its own set. The vowel that opens most endings is the theme vowel: a for -ar verbs, e for -er verbs, i/e for -ir verbs.

Person-ar-er-ir
yo-o-o-o
tú-as-es-es
usted, él/ella-a-e-e
nosotros/-as-amos-emos-imos
vosotros/-as-áis-éis-ís
ustedes, ellos/-as-an-en-en

Key overlap. The -er and -ir endings are identical except in the nosotros form (-emos vs -imos) and the vosotros form (-éis vs -ís). Everywhere else they match.

What it means. The present covers habitual actions (Trabajo en un banco), general truths (El agua hierve a cien grados), a scheduled near future (Mañana viajo a Madrid), and lively narration.

Forms & patterns

Three regular verbs, one from each family, side by side:

Personhablar (speak)comer (eat)vivir (live)
yohablocomovivo
túhablascomesvives
usted, él/ellahablacomevive
nosotros/-ashablamoscomemosvivimos
vosotros/-ashabláiscoméisvivís
ustedes, ellos/-ashablancomenviven

Note the written accent on the vosotros forms only: habláis, coméis, vivís. In Latin America vosotros is replaced by ustedes, which uses the same form as ellos (hablan, comen, viven).

Examples

EspañolEnglish
Yo hablo español y un poco de francés.I speak Spanish and a little French.
¿Dónde vives ahora?Where do you live now?
Nosotros comemos a las dos.We eat at two.
Ella trabaja en un hospital.She works in a hospital.
¿Estudiáis en la universidad?Do you study at university?
El agua hierve a cien grados.Water boils at a hundred degrees.
Mañana viajo a Sevilla.Tomorrow I travel to Seville.
Los niños beben leche.The children drink milk.

Common mistakes

  • nosotros comimos (for “we eat”) -> comemos - comer is an -er verb, so nosotros is -emos; -imos is the -ir ending.
  • nosotros vivemos -> vivimos - an -ir verb keeps i in the nosotros form; only -er verbs use -emos.
  • tú hables -> hablas - -ar verbs use -as for tú; -es belongs to -er/-ir verbs.
  • él come written él comes -> come - the tú ending is -es, but usted/él/ella takes just -e.
  • nosotros hablamos stressed háblamos -> hablamos - there is no accent here; the stress falls naturally on the -a-.

Tips

  • Workflow every time: infinitive -> drop -ar/-er/-ir -> add the ending.
  • Memory hook: -er and -ir are twins; they only differ in we and you-all (-emos/-imos, -éis/-ís).
  • The yo form is always plain -o for all three families - the easiest form to remember.
  • Because the ending shows the person, drop the pronoun unless you need it for contrast or emphasis.
  • Only the vosotros form carries a written accent (habláis, coméis, vivís).