Regular Verbs in the Present Tense

Regular verbs follow predictable patterns. The pattern that a verb follows depends on the last two letters of the infinitive form of the verb. Verbs that end in –ar are the most common and most predictable, so they are presented first. To conjugate an –ar verb follow these two steps:

  1. Remove the – ar ending from the infinitive. What is left is called the base of the verb.

  2. Using the regular endings shown in Table 1, you would place the base of the verb in front of those endings.

Table 1. Regular – ar Verb Endings

Singular Pronoun

Ending

Plural Pronoun

Ending

yo

–o

nosotros or nosotras

–amos

tú

–as

vosotros or vosotras

–áis

usted (Ud.)

–a

ustedes (Uds.)

–an

él

–a

ellos

–an

ella

–a

ellas

–an

The verb hablar (to speak) is a regular – ar verb, so it will serve as a good illustration of creating a conjugation chart using the steps above. First, remove the – ar ending, and what's left is the base habl–. When you put the base together with ending – o for yo, for example, you have the conjugated verb form hablo.

Table 2 shows the conjugation chart for the verb hablar in the present tense.

Table 2. Conjugation Chart for the Verb Hablar

Singular Pronoun

Verb

Plural Pronoun

Verb

yo

hablo (I speak)

nosotros or nosotras

hablamos (we speak)

tú

hablas (you [informal] speak)

vosotros or vosotras

habláis (you [informal] speak)

usted (Ud.)

habla (you [formal] speak)

ustedes (Uds.)

hablan (you [formal] speak)

él

habla (he speaks)

ellos

hablan (they speak)

ella

habla (she speaks)

ellas

hablan (they speak)

Verbs ending in – er are the second most common type of verb. To conjugate a regular – er verb, you use the same two-step process as you did with – ar verbs, but the endings are different for – er verbs. The patterns of – er verbs are very similar to – ir verbs, which will make it easy to learn their endings. So if you want to conjugate a regular – er verb, simply remove the –er ending from the infinitive and place the base of the verb in front of the endings presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Regular –er Verb Endings

Singular Pronoun

Ending

Plural Pronoun

Ending

yo

–o

nosotros or nosotras

–emos

tú

–es

vosotros or vosotras

–éis

usted (Ud.)

–e

ustedes (Uds.)

–en

él

–e

ellos

–en

ella

–e

ellas

–en

Now, take a look at Table 4 for the conjugated form of the verb comer (to eat).

Table 4. Conjugation Chart for the Verb Comer

Singular Pronoun

Verb

Plural Pronoun

Verb

yo

como (I eat)

nosotros or nosotras

comemos (we eat)

tú

comes (you [informal] eat)

vosotros or vosotras

coméis (you [informal] eat)

usted (Ud.)

come (you [formal] eat)

ustedes (Uds.)

comen (you [formal] eat)

él

come (he eats)

ellos

comen (they eat)

ella

come (she eats)

ellas

comen (they eat)

Verbs of the third type are called – ir verbs. In the present tense a verb ending in – ir will be conjugated the same as an – er verb in all forms except for two. As illustrated in Table 5, the endings used for the nosotros/ nosotras (the first person plural) and vosotros/vosotras (the second person plural) forms of the verb are different for – ir verbs.

Table 5. Regular –ir Verb Endings

Singular Pronoun

Ending

Plural Pronoun

Ending

yo

–o

nosotros or nosotras

–imos

tú

–es

vosotros or vosotras

–ís

usted (Ud.)

–e

ustedes (Uds.)

–en

él

–e

ellos

–en

ella

–e

ellas

–en

Escribir (to write) was one of the – ir verbs presented earlier as an infinitive. The forms of the verb escribir in Table 6 will serve as an example for any regular – ir verb.

Table 6. Conjugation Chart for the Verb Escribir

Singular Pronoun

Verb

Plural Pronoun

Verb

yo

escribo (I write)

nosotros or nosotras escribimos (we write)

excribimos (we write)

tú

escribes (you [informal] write)

vosotros or vosotrasescribís (you [informal] write)

escribís (you [informal] write)

usted (Ud.)

escribe (you [formal] write)

ustedes (Uds.)

escriben (you [formal] write)

él

escribe (he writes)

ellos

escriben (they write)

ella

escribe (she writes)

ellas

escriben (they write)

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