LinguaTwo more families, almost twins
The -er and -ir verbs work exactly like the -ar verbs: stem plus ending. They even share most endings: -o, -es, -e, -en for yo, tú, él and ellos. Only two forms tell the families apart, nosotros and vosotros: comemos, coméis against vivimos, vivís. So the letter of the infinitive matters in just two places.
| Pronoun | Forms of comer | Forms of vivir |
|---|---|---|
| yo | como | vivo |
| tú | comes | vives |
| él / ella / usted | come | vive |
| nosotros / nosotras | comemos | vivimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | coméis | vivís |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | comen | viven |
Where -er and -ir part ways
| Pronoun | Ending of -er verbs | Ending of -ir verbs | Same or different? |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -o | -o | the same |
| tú | -es | -es | the same |
| él / ella / usted | -e | -e | the same |
| nosotros / nosotras | -emos | -imos | different |
| vosotros / vosotras | -éis | -ís | different |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -en | -en | the same |
| Verb | Meaning | Form for yo | Form for nosotros |
|---|---|---|---|
| beber | to drink | bebo | bebemos |
| leer | to read | leo | leemos |
| aprender | to learn | aprendo | aprendemos |
| escribir | to write | escribo | escribimos |
| abrir | to open | abro | abrimos |
A first peek: yo forms that add a letter
Three very common verbs are regular everywhere except in the yo form, which grows a letter: hacer → hago, salir → salgo, conocer → conozco. All the other forms follow the table: haces, hace, hacemos; sales, sale, salen; conoces, conoce, conocemos. Learn the three yo forms as words, and the rest costs nothing. More of these verbs will come later.
| Infinitive | Form for yo | Form for tú | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| hacer | hago | haces | to do, to make |
| salir | salgo | sales | to go out, to leave |
| conocer | conozco | conoces | to know a person or a place |
Vivimos en Sevilla y comemos en casa a las dos.We live in Seville and we eat at home at two.
No conozco Madrid, pero conozco Barcelona muy bien.I do not know Madrid, but I know Barcelona very well.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| comer | to eat | Comemos a las dos. We eat at two. |
| beber | to drink | Bebo mucha agua. I drink a lot of water. |
| leer | to read | Ana lee un libro en el parque. Ana is reading a book in the park. |
| aprender | to learn | Aprendemos español en clase. We learn Spanish in class. |
| vivir | to live | Vivo en una ciudad pequeña. I live in a small city. |
| escribir | to write | Escribes muy bien. You write very well. |
| abrir | to open | La tienda abre a las diez. The shop opens at ten. |
| hacer | to do, to make | Hago deporte los sábados. I do sport on Saturdays. |
| salir | to go out, to leave | Salgo del trabajo a las seis. I leave work at six. |
| conocer | to know (a person or place) | Conozco un restaurante muy bueno. I know a very good restaurant. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which form of vivir goes with nosotros?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.