The verb plays what can easily be considered the most important role in a sentence. Often referred to as simply a "doing" word, the verb either expresses:
- the subject's action (examples: to walk, to jump, to eat, to listen), or
- the subject's condition (examples: to be, to live, to exist).
Unlike English, verbs compose a rather tricky part of Spanish grammar, as the verb form changes with each subject and in each tense. Here we'll keep things simple and in the present tense.
Compare the forms of the verb "to eat" ("comer", in Spanish) with their Spanish counterparts:
English | Spanish COMER | ||
| I | eat | yo | como |
| you | eat | tú | comes |
| he / she / it | eats | él / ella | come |
| we | eat | nosotros / nosotras | comemos |
| you (plural) | eat | vosotros / vosotras | coméis |
| they | eat | ellos / ellas | comen |
Verb Endings
All Spanish verbs end in one of the following ways:
- -ar (examples: amar, asar, borrar, estudiar, hablar, jugar, saltar, tomar)
- -er (beber, comer, comprender, leer, temer, vender)
- -ir (mentir, pedir, sentir, subir, vivir)
While there is certainly a collection of so-called "irregular" verbs, regular verbs follow the same pattern as other verbs with which they share endings. The root of the verb (the part up until the -ar, -er or -ir) stays the same, while the ending is replaced according to the subject.
VERBS ENDING IN -AR
| Subject | -AR verb endings | SALTAR (to jump) AMAR (to love) |
| yo (I) | -o | salto (I jump) amo (I love) |
| tú (you) | -as | saltas (you jump) amas (you love) |
| él/ella (he / she) | -a | salta (he / she jumps) ama (he / she loves) |
| nosotros/as (we) | -amos | saltamos (we jump) amamos (we love) |
| vosotros/as (you all) | -áis | saltáis (you jump) amáis (you love) |
| ellos / ellas (they) | -an | saltan (they jump) aman (they love) |
VERBS ENDING IN -ER
| Subject | -ER verb endings | COMER (to eat) COMPRENDER (to understand) |
| yo (I) | -o | como (I eat) comprendo (I understand) |
| tú (you) | -es | comes (you eat) comprendes (you understand) |
| él/ella (he / she) | -e | come (he/she eats) comprende (he/she understands) |
| nosotros/as (we) | -emos | comemos (we eat) comprendemos (we understand) |
| vosotros/as (you all) | -éis | coméis (you eat) comprendéis (you understand) |
| ellos / ellas (they) | -en | comen (they eat) comprenden (they understand) |
VERBS ENDING IN -IR
| Subject | -IR verb endings | VIVIR (to live) SUBIR (to go up) |
| yo (I) | -o | vivo (I live) subo (I go up) |
| tú (you) | -es | vives (you live) subes (you go up) |
| él/ella (he / she) | -e | vive (he/she lives) sube (he/she goes up) |
| nosotros/as (we) | -imos | vivimos (we live) subimos (we go up) |
| vosotros/as (you all) | -ís | vivís (you all live) subís (you all go up) |
| ellos / ellas (they) | -en | viven (they live) suben (they go up) |