Lesson 7: Present Tense –ER and –IR Verbs in Spanish

🎯 Goal

Learn how to conjugate regular –ER and –IR verbs like comer, vivir, beber, and escribir in the present tense.

🧠 Why You Need This

These verbs expand your power to talk about eating, drinking, living, reading, and writing — they’re essential for describing your daily habits and needs.

🧠 Why This Lesson Matters

In Lesson 6, we saw how to conjugate –AR verbs (like hablar, estudiar, cocinar). But that’s just one third of regular verbs. To actually hold real conversations, learners need to master the –ER and –IR families.

These verbs follow consistent patterns, and once you learn them, you’ll be able to talk about:

• Eating 🍽️

• Drinking ☕

• Learning 📖

• Living 🏡

• Writing ✍️
  …and much more.

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🔧 1. Regular –ER Verb Conjugation

Let’s use comer (to eat) as our example:

1. Remove the –ER

2. Add the correct endings:

Subject	Ending	Example	Translation
yo	–o	como	I eat
tú	–es	comes	you eat
él/ella/usted	–e	come	he/she/you eat
nosotros/as	–emos	comemos	we eat
vosotros/as	–éis	coméis	you all eat (Spain)
ellos/ellas/ustedes	–en	comen	they/you all eat

🧠 Tip: The endings are different from –AR verbs, but follow the same subject pattern.

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🔧 2. Regular –IR Verb Conjugation

Now let’s use vivir (to live):

1. Remove the –IR

2. Add the –IR present tense endings:

Subject	Ending	Example	Translation
yo	–o	vivo	I live
tú	–es	vives	you live
él/ella/usted	–e	vive	he/she/you live
nosotros/as	–imos	vivimos	we live
vosotros/as	–ís	vivís	you all live (Spain)
ellos/ellas/ustedes	–en	viven	they/you all live

🧠 The only big difference between –ER and –IR verbs is in the nosotros and vosotros forms:

• –ER: emos / éis

• –IR: imos / ís

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📚 3. Common Regular –ER and –IR Verbs

–ER Verbs	–IR Verbs
comer – to eat	vivir – to live
beber – to drink	escribir – to write
aprender – to learn	abrir – to open
leer – to read	asistir – to attend
comprender – to understand	compartir – to share

🧠 Many useful verbs are regular –ER and –IR verbs — you’ll use these daily.

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💡 4. Real-Life Examples

• Yo bebo agua. – I drink water.

• Nosotros leemos un libro. – We read a book.

• Ellos viven en Perú. – They live in Peru.

• Tú escribes bien. – You write well.

• Ella aprende español. – She learns Spanish.

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❌ 5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

• ❌ Using –AR endings for –ER or –IR verbs (e.g., yo como ❌ → yo comas ❌)

• ❌ Mixing the endings (vives vs vive)

• ❌ Forgetting the stem (e.g., comer → comeremos ❌ instead of comemos)

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📝 6. Practice Section

✏️ Part A: Conjugate These –ER Verbs for “yo”

1. comer → ________

2. leer → ________

3. comprender → ________

✏️ Part B: Conjugate These –IR Verbs for “nosotros”

1. vivir → ________

2. escribir → ________

3. abrir → ________

✏️ Part C: Fill in the blanks

1. Tú _______ español. (aprender)

2. Nosotros _______ juntos. (vivir)

3. Ella _______ café. (beber)

4. Ellos _______ cartas. (escribir)

5. Yo _______ libros. (leer)

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🧠 Bonus Challenge: Translate these to Spanish

1. I live in Mexico.

2. We write in Spanish.

3. He drinks coffee.

4. They learn fast.

5. You (informal) eat bread.

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🎯 Final Tip:

Don’t memorize in isolation. Practice with real sentences about your own life:

• Yo como arroz.

• Vivo en Georgia.

• Escribo mi blog.

Verbs are the engine of communication — keep them running!