Compare Regular ER and IR Verbs in the Present
Comer and vivir reveal how two verb families overlap and where they differ. Compare their endings side by side, then select the form that matches each subject.
Learning objective
Form and compare regular ER and IR verbs throughout the present tense.
An infinitive is the unchanged dictionary form of a verb, such as comer, to eat, or vivir, to live. To form their present tense, remove er or ir and add the ending that matches the subject. The two families overlap strongly, which makes a side-by-side comparison efficient.
For comer, the forms are como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, and comen. For vivir, use vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, and viven. The only differences in this regular set appear with nosotros and vosotros: comemos versus vivimos, and coméis versus vivís.
English-speaking learners sometimes keep an infinitive after a subject because English says we eat with little visible change. Spanish requires a conjugated form: Vivimos en Brisbane, not Nosotros vivir en Brisbane. The subject pronoun can disappear, but the ending cannot; vivimos already communicates we live.
Connect the two families to describe a shared lunch. Mi familia vive cerca, así que comemos juntos los domingos. Mi hermano bebe té y yo comparto el pan. Aunque beber is an ER verb and compartir is an IR verb, each choice follows the participant rather than the English translation.
Examples
Vivo cerca del trabajo y como en casa.
I live near work and eat at home.
Both first-person forms end in o despite belonging to different families.
¿Bebes café cuando escribes por la mañana?
Do you drink coffee when you write in the morning?
Bebes and escribes share the informal tú ending es.
Comemos temprano, pero vivimos lejos del restaurante.
We eat early, but we live far from the restaurant.
Nosotros reveals the family difference through emos and imos.
Ustedes aprenden rápido y comparten buenas ideas.
You all learn quickly and share good ideas.
Ustedes takes third-person plural forms in all regions where it is used.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Nosotros comen aquí y después vivir cerca.
- Try
- Nosotros comemos aquí y después vivimos cerca.
Comen belongs with ellos, ellas, or ustedes, while vivir is still an infinitive. Both actions have nosotros as their subject, so both need first-person plural forms. English does not signal this contrast as visibly, which makes deliberate ending checks worthwhile.
Practice
Try it yourself
Choose and conjugate comer, beber, vivir, or compartir to complete a flatmates’ note: Yo ___ en el centro. Marta ___ conmigo. Nosotros ___ la compra y cada noche ___ juntos.