There are three types of regular verbs in Spanish: verbs that end in –ar, verbs that end in –er, and verbs that end in –ir. You’ve already learned –ar verbs:

yo hablo nosotros

hablamostú hablasél, ella habla ellos hablan

Now for –er verbs:

To form –er verbs, take off the –er and then add the following endings:

comer (to eat)-o -emos comocomemos-es comes-e -en comecomen

Notice that the only difference between –er verbs and –ar verbs is that you use e’s instead of a’s:

-ar -er-o -amos -o -emos-as -es-a -an -e -en

Now for –ir verbs. Drop the –ir and add the following endings:

Vivir(to live)-o -imos VivoVivimos-es Vives-e -en Vive Viven

Do you see what the difference is between –er and –ir verbs? They’re just alike except for the nosotros forms:

-er -ir-o -emos -o -imos-es -es-e -en -e -en

So the only difference between –ar verbs and –er verbs is that you use e’s instead of a’s in the –er verbs. And the only difference between –er verbs and –ir verbs is the nosotros forms.

So when you’re conjugating verbs, be sure you know if the infinitive (the form ending in –ar or –er or -ir; e.g., hablar and comer and vivir are infinitives) ends with an –ar, –er, or –ir so you’ll know what ending to put on it:

You talk: hablas HABLAR we talk: hablamos

You eat: comes COMER we eat: comemos

You live: vives VIVIR We Live: Vivimos

Practice

I put the shoes in the room. I do the homework. We set the table in the dinning room. They make the bed in the bedroom. I live with my grandparents, cousins

and my dog. We live near the department store. You live far from the waterfall.