Regular verb endings

Conjugating regular verbs

All verbs in Spanish end either in -er, -ir or -ar. 

Regular verbs share the same rules for endings in the various conjugations, which is a big help when learning new verbs or knowing which ending to use – just memorise the way the endings work. 

We have learned regular verbs with all three endings:

Vivir means ‘to live’

Hablar means ‘to speak’

Tener means ‘to have’

Let’s take a look at ir, ar and er verb endings in the present tense.

-ir verbs - Vivir

Knock off the ir ending and add o, es, e, imos, ís and en.

vivo              I live

vives            you live (informal)

vive              he, she, you (formal) live(s)

vivimos         we live

vivís             you (plural informal) live

viven            they (also you plural formal) live

Añadir is an ir verb. It means ‘to add’. Using the rules above, can we conjugate this verb?

Añad + ending

Finding the gerund or the past participle to create present continuous or perfect tenses also follow a pattern. To create the gerund add iendo and to create the past participle add ido.

Estoy añadiendo más sal – I am adding more salt (present continuous tense)

He añadido sal – I have added salt (perfect tense)

If only it was this simple! The trouble with language is that people speak it and they are always ignoring the rules to make things easier to say … Take the verb salir (to leave). ’I leave’ should be salo but it is not, it is salgo but, after that, every other conjugation follows the rules.

-ar verbs - Hablar

Knock off the ar ending and add o, as, a, amos, áis and an.

hablo            I speak

hablas          you speak

habla            he, she, you (formal) speaks

hablamos      we speak

habláis         you (plural informal) speak

hablan          they (also you plural formal) speak

To create the gerund, knock off the ar ending and add ando. To create the past participle, knock off the ar ending and add ado.

Estoy hablando con él ahora – I am speaking to him now (present continuous tense).

He hablado con mi madre – I have spoken to my mother (perfect tense)

-er verbs – Tener

Knock off the er ending and add o, es, e, emos, éis and en.

tengo           I have

tienes           you have

tiene            he, she, it, you (formal) has

tenemos       we have

tenéis           you plural (informal) have

tienen           they, you plural (formal) have

Note that here is a verb where the beginning of the word also varies as it conjugates.

To create the gerund, add iendo … teniendo

Estoy teniendo un mal día – I am having a bad day (present continuous tense).

To create the past participle, add ido … tenido

He tenido tres maridos – I have had three husbands (perfect tense).