Present Tense ER Verb Conjugation

Academic Vocab

Infinitive: The base form of a verb. When

translated, it always includes “TO” + the action.

Correr – To run

Verbs in Spanish end in “AR”, “ER”, or “IR.”

For example, think back to when we talked about activities we enjoyed. We always added an infinitive after “Me gusta.”

Me gusta correr.

I like to run

Academic Vocab

Conjugate: To break down a verb infinitive into each subject

form.

In English, you would conjugate TO TALK as:

I talk, you talk, he/she talks, we talk, they talk.

Verbs in Spanish end in “AR”, “ER”, or “IR.”

When you conjugate a verb in Spanish, you add a new verb ending to the verb stem.

COMERStem: the part of the verb that does not change when you add the verb ending.

For “regular” verbs without any spelling changes, you express the subject “I” by dropping the last two letters (ER) and replacing them with an “o,” the verb ending for “YO.”

O

Start with the infinitive:

COMER

Now, drop the “ER”To eat

And replace it with an “O”

Yo como galletas.= I eat cookies.

YO

Yo comoStem: the part of the verb that does not change.

Subject pronoun: Tells us who does the action.

Verb ending: the suffix you add to match the subject.

O

Try again with another ER verb:

BEBER

Drop the “ER” To drin

kAnd replace it with an

“O”Yo bebo café = I drink

coffee

YO

For regular verbs that end in ER, the ending of the

“tú” form is “ES,”but we follow the same

process.

ES

Start with the infinitive:

COMER

Now, drop the “ER”To eat

And replace it with an “ES”

Tú comes = You eat/ Do you eat

¿Tú comes tomates? = Do you eat tomatoes?

ES

Start with the infinitive:

BEBER

Drop the “ER” To drin

kAnd replace it with an

“ES”Tú bebes = You drink/Do you

drink

¿Tú comes hamburguesas?

Sí, yo como hamburguesas.

For regular verbs that end in ER, the ending of the “él, ella and usted” form

is “E,”and we follow the same

process.

E

Start with the infinitive:

COMER

Now, drop the “ER”To eat

And replace it with an “E”

Él come = He eats

ÉL

E

Try again with another ER verb:

CORRER

Drop the “ER”To run

And replace it with an “E”

Ella corre = She runs

ELLA

Maria corre = Maria runs

E

Try again with another ER verb:

LEER

Drop the “ER”To

readAnd replace it with an

“E”Usted lee = You read/Do you

read

USTED

Singular ER verb conjugation

Singular Plural

Yo - o

Tú - es

Él - eElla - eUsted - e

For regular verbs that end in ER, the ending of the

“nosotros” and “nosotras” form is “EMOS,”

and we follow the same process as with the

singular forms.

EMOS

Start with the infinitive:

COMER

Now, drop the “ER”To eat

And replace it with an “EMOS”

Nosotros comemos = We (boys/co-ed) eatTomás y yo comemos cereal. = Thomas and I

eat cereal.

nosotros

For regular verbs that end in ER, the ending of the

“ellos, ellas and ustedes” form is “EN,”

and we follow the same process as singular verbs.

EN

Start with the infinitive:

BEBER

Now, drop the “ER” To drin

kAnd replace it with an

“EN”Ellos beben = They (boys/co-ed)

drink.Juan y Juanita beben refrescos =

Juan and Juanita drink sodas.

ELLOS

Singular ER verb conjugation

Singular Plural

Yo - o

Tú - es

Él - eElla - eUsted - e

Nosotros - emosNosotras - emos

Ellos - enEllas - enUstedes - en

Now, write out the full conjugation of the verb “BEBER.” Include subject pronouns and

translations. It should look exactly like the grid below.

Singular Plural

Yo bebo – I drink Nosotros bebemos – We drink (boys/co-ed)Nosotras bebemos – We drink (girls)

Tú bebes – You drink (informal) XXXXXXXXX

Él bebe – He drinksElla bebe – She drinksUsted bebe – You drink (formal)

Ellos beben – They drink (boys/co-ed)Ellas beben – They drink (girls)Ustedes beben – You all drink

BEBER – To drink

And now… a list of question words!

Who - Quién

What - Qué

Where - Dónde

When - CuándoWhich - Cuál

¿Qué comes para desayuno?What do you eat for breakfast?

¿Cuándo comes desayuno?When do you eat breakfast?

¿Quién comes desayuno?Who eats breakfast?

¿Dónde comes desayuno?Where do you eat breakfast?