Present Tense: Regular -IR Verbs (Spanish)

Level: A1. The third regular verb family ends in -ir — vivir, escribir, abrir. It is the smallest group, and the good news is you already know most of it: in the present it matches the -ER endings everywhere except two forms.

The rule

A verb’s infinitive is its dictionary form: vivir (to live), escribir (to write). To make the present of a regular -IR verb, drop the -ir to get the stem (viv-), then add the ending that matches the subject.

The six present endings are -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís, -en:

• yo (I) → -o: vivo
• tú (you, informal) → -es: vives
• él / ella / usted (he / she / you formal) → -e: vive
• nosotros / nosotras (we) → -imos: vivimos
• vosotros / vosotras (you all, Spain) → -ís: vivís
• ellos / ellas / ustedes (they / you all) → -en: viven

Four of these six forms are identical to the -ER endings. Only nosotros (-imos, not -emos) and vosotros (-ís, not -éis) tell the two groups apart. As with every Spanish present, one form covers three English meanings: vivo aquí is “I live here”, “I am living here” and “I do live here”.

Present tense of vivir (to live)

Every regular -IR verb takes exactly these endings: escribir → escribo, escribes, escribe, escribimos, escribís, escriben.

How to say it

Spanish spelling is regular; mind these few sounds in -IR verbs:

Example sentences

Each sentence was written for this lesson.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Nosotros vivemos aquí. → ✅ Nosotros vivimos aquí. The -IR nosotros ending is -imos, not -emos; -emos belongs to -ER verbs (comemos).
• ❌ Vosotros vivéis lejos. → ✅ Vosotros vivís lejos. The -IR vosotros ending is -ís, not -éis; -éis belongs to -ER verbs (coméis).
• ❌ Yo vivir en Madrid. → ✅ Yo vivo en Madrid. Never leave the infinitive -ir after a subject; conjugate it to vivo.
• ❌ Tú escribo una carta. → ✅ Tú escribes una carta. Match the ending to the subject: tú takes -es, not -o.
• ❌ Yo estoy escribir. for “I write” → ✅ Yo escribo. Spanish does not use “to be + infinitive”; the single present already means “I write / I am writing”.

A short conversation

— ¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?) — Vivo en Barcelona y escribo para un periódico. (I live in Barcelona and I write for a newspaper.) — ¿Y tus padres? (And your parents?) — Ellos viven en un pueblo y abren una pequeña tienda. (They live in a village and are opening a small shop.)

Every verb here is a regular -IR verb with the matching ending — vivo, vives, escribo, viven, abren.

Usage notes

• The pronoun is usually dropped. Because the ending shows the subject, vivo already means “I live”; add yo only for emphasis or contrast.
• ser and estar are different verbs. Do not mix in soy or estoy — regular -IR verbs take the -o/-es/-e/-imos/-ís/-en endings, not a form of “to be”.
• The present can point to the near future. With a time marker, the present works for plans: mañana escribo el informe (I’ll write the report tomorrow).
• Some -IR verbs change their stem. A large group changes the vowel in the stem (pedir → pido, dormir → duermo); those are learned separately. The pattern on this page is for the fully regular ones: vivir, escribir, abrir, recibir.

Compared with…

• -AR verbs (hablar, to speak) use -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an: hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan. Compare the full pattern in regular -AR verbs.
• -ER verbs (comer, to eat) use -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en: como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen. These are the closest match to -IR — see regular -ER verbs and line them up: only nosotros and vosotros differ. To review who does the action, revisit the subject pronouns, and note that the two “to be” verbs ser and estar are irregular and follow their own forms.

Quick recap before the quiz.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

Next

• Line it up with the two other families: regular -AR verbs and regular -ER verbs
• Start from the people: Subject pronouns in Spanish
• Back to the Spanish grammar section
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