3 Types of Verbs in Spanish – Lesson 37

The 3 types of verbs in Spanish

This yellow lesson is a bit different: instead of learning one new verb, we’re going to learn a trick that unlocks thousands of verbs at once. Seriously, this one blew my mind when I first heard about it.

In lesson 23 I promised we’d look at the rules for regular verbs. Well, here they are!

Quick refresher: the 6 verbs we know

Verb	Meaning	Yo form
querer	to want	quiero
tener	to have	tengo
ser	to be (characteristics)	soy
estar	to be (states)	estoy
poder	can / to be able to	puedo
ir	to go	voy

Can you remember them all? Soy de Holanda (I’m from the Netherlands), estoy cansado (I’m tired)… Now look at how these verbs end: querer, tener, ser, poder, estar, ir.

Every Spanish verb ends in -ar, -er or -ir

That’s the big secret: all Spanish verbs (in their basic form, the infinitive) end in one of three ways:

• -ar verbs, like bailar (to dance), ayudar (to help), caminar (to walk). This is the biggest group.
• -er verbs, like comer (to eat), beber (to drink), aprender (to learn).
• -ir verbs, like vivir (to live), decidir (to decide), escribir (to write).

And here’s why that matters: verbs in the same group use the same endings. Learn the endings of one regular verb, and you can conjugate hundreds of others.

Stem + ending

Every verb has two parts. Take bailar (to dance): the stem is bail-, and the ending is -ar. When you conjugate a regular verb, the stem stays the same, and you swap the ending depending on who you’re talking about:

Pronoun	Bailar (to dance)
yo	bailo
tú	bailas
él / ella / usted	baila
nosotros / nosotras	bailamos
vosotros / vosotras	bailáis
ustedes / ellos / ellas	bailan

Yo bailo, tú bailas, ella baila… The stem bail- never changes.

-ar verbs: the endings

Now take those endings, and put them on any regular -ar verb:

Pronoun	ayudar (to help)	caminar (to walk)	aceptar (to accept)
yo	ayudo	camino	acepto
tú	ayudas	caminas	aceptas
él / ella / usted	ayuda	camina	acepta
nosotros / nosotras	ayudamos	caminamos	aceptamos
vosotros / vosotras	ayudáis	camináis	aceptáis
ustedes / ellos / ellas	ayudan	caminan	aceptan

-ar endings: -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an. Notice that estar follows almost the same pattern: estás, está, estamos…

-er verbs: the endings

Same idea for -er verbs, with an e instead of an a in most endings:

Pronoun	comer (to eat)	beber (to drink)	aprender (to learn)
yo	como	bebo	aprendo
tú	comes	bebes	aprendes
él / ella / usted	come	bebe	aprende
nosotros / nosotras	comemos	bebemos	aprendemos
vosotros / vosotras	coméis	bebéis	aprendéis
ustedes / ellos / ellas	comen	beben	aprenden

-er endings: -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. Recognize them? Querer, tener and poder use these exact endings too: quiero, quieres, queremos. Their stem changes a bit (that’s what makes them irregular), but the endings follow the rule.

-ir verbs: the endings

And the third group. -ir verbs are almost the same as -er verbs. Only the nosotros and vosotros forms are different:

Pronoun	vivir (to live)	decidir (to decide)	escribir (to write)
yo	vivo	decido	escribo
tú	vives	decides	escribes
él / ella / usted	vive	decide	escribe
nosotros / nosotras	vivimos	decidimos	escribimos
vosotros / vosotras	vivís	decidís	escribís
ustedes / ellos / ellas	viven	deciden	escriben

-ir endings: -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís, -en.

All the endings side by side

Pronoun	-ar	-er	-ir
yo	-o	-o	-o
tú	-as	-es	-es
él / ella / usted	-a	-e	-e
nosotros / nosotras	-amos	-emos	-imos
vosotros / vosotras	-áis	-éis	-ís
ustedes / ellos / ellas	-an	-en	-en

But watch out for irregular verbs

This trick doesn’t work for every verb. Some verbs are irregular and do their own thing: ser (soy, eres, es) and ir (voy, vas, va) don’t follow the rules at all. Others, like querer and poder, change their stem.

But here’s the thing: the trick still works most of the time. So with a new verb, start with the regular endings. If something sounds off, or someone corrects you, you just adjust. That’s way easier than learning every verb from scratch.

Practice: conjugate a new verb

Use the endings to conjugate verbs you haven’t learned yet. Say it out loud, then click to check.

1. Yo ___ (hablar, to speak)

Yo hablo.

2. Tú ___ (trabajar, to work)

Tú trabajas.

3. Ella ___ (comer, to eat)

Ella come.

4. Nosotros ___ (aprender, to learn)

Nosotros aprendemos.

5. Nosotros ___ (vivir, to live)

Nosotros vivimos. (-ir: -imos, not -emos.)

6. Ellos ___ (escribir, to write)

Ellos escriben.

7. Vosotros ___ (bailar, to dance)

Vosotros bailáis.

Quiz: -ar, -er and -ir verbs

10 questions. Time to use the trick!

Frequently asked questions

Which group is the biggest?

The -ar verbs, by far. Most new verbs that enter Spanish become -ar verbs too, like chatear (to chat) or googlear (to google).

How do I know if a verb is irregular?

You can’t always tell from the infinitive. Start with the regular endings, and you’ll learn the irregular ones as you go. The most common irregular verbs get their own lessons in this course.

Before you go to the next lesson

With this trick, you now have access to thousands of Spanish verbs. Pretty cool, right? Write the three ending tables in your notebook and practice them with a few new verbs. See you in the next lesson. ¡Hasta luego!