Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate regular verbs from all three Spanish conjugation groups in the present tense.

Lesson Explanation

Spanish verbs fall into three groups by infinitive ending: -ar, -er, and -ir. The -ar group, modeled on hablar (to speak): hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan.

The -er group, modeled on comer (to eat): como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen. The -ir group, modeled on vivir (to live): vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven. Note that -er and -ir share nearly identical endings, differing only in the nosotros and vosotros forms.

A genuinely important complication beyond these regular patterns: many common verbs are stem-changing, altering their root vowel in all forms except nosotros and vosotros. The e→ie pattern: querer → quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, queréis, quieren. The o→ue pattern: poder → puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden. The e→i pattern: pedir → pido, pides, pide, pedimos, pedís, piden.

These stem changes must genuinely be memorized per verb, since spelling alone doesn’t predict which verbs undergo them. A separate, unrelated group of verbs is simply irregular in the yo form only: tener → tengo, hacer → hago, dar → doy — with all other forms following regular or stem-changing patterns as appropriate.

Practice Questions