Tips on how to Conjugate the Most Frequent Spanish -ER Verbs

Whenever you’re studying about Spanish verbs, one of many first belongings you’ll discover out is that they’re organized primarily based on their endings. There are -ER, -AR, and -IR verbs, and also you’ll have to know the variations between the three if you wish to talk clearly in Spanish.

A few of the most vital verbs you possibly can be taught are -ER verbs, so let’s take a better have a look at them. Beneath, we checklist quite a few widespread -ER verbs which are useful to know, break down what an -ER verb is, and highlight 5 essential Spanish -ER verbs you must be taught.

What’s an -ER verb in Spanish?

An -ER verb is precisely what it seems like: a verb ending within the letters “er.” Spanish verb endings are important—these last two letters sign how a verb ought to be conjugated. 

By conjugating a verb, it is possible for you to to precise that an motion has been carried out by a distinct topic (you, he, they, and many others.) or in a distinct tense (current, previous, future, and many others.)

In Spanish, nearly all of verbs have one in all these three endings: 

• -AR endings, e.g., hablar and usar 
• -ER endings, e.g., beber and leer 
• -IR endings, e.g., escribir and vivir 

Word that every of the verbs listed above is in its infinitive type, which suggests they haven’t been conjugated. Whenever you’re able to conjugate a verb, you’ll discover that verbs ending in -ER are conjugated in another way than -AR and -IR verbs.

Conjugate Spanish -ER verbs in current tense

Tense lets you specific when one thing occurred. The current tense is probably the most primary tense you’ll be taught in Spanish, and you’ll apply it to verbs whenever you need to speak about issues occurring now or frequently. 

To conjugate an -ER verb within the current tense, you take away the ending from the infinitive (i.e. unconjugated) type and add the conjugated ending for the tense you want. Check out some examples of -ER verbs conjugated within the current tense right here:

Conjugate Spanish -ER verbs within the 5 most typical tenses 

When you use an -ER verb to speak about one thing occurring prior to now, you’ll conjugate it in another way than an -ER verb used to speak concerning the current. Every verb has its personal conjugation patterns for various tenses. 

There are roughly 15 Spanish tenses, however figuring out these 5 will aid you really feel comfy in any dialog. You need to use every tense to speak about: 

• Current tense: issues occurring now or frequently (“I stroll to the shop.”)
• Preterite tense: occasions which have been accomplished, much like previous tense (“I walked to the shop.”)
• Imperfect tense: actions that occurred repeatedly or over an prolonged time frame (“I used to be strolling to the shop when…”)
• Future tense: issues that can occur sooner or later (“I’ll stroll to the shop.”)
• Conditional tense: hypothetical actions (“You’ll get moist if it rained.”)

And right here’s how you’ll conjugate -ER verbs in these tenses, utilizing the widespread Spanish verb comer (to eat) for instance:

Frequent Spanish -ER verbs

These -ER verbs — together with their conjugated kinds — are famous by the Actual Academia Española as among the most often used phrases within the Spanish language, so that they’re useful to be taught.

Many of those verbs are irregular, and a few are stem-changing or bear spelling modifications when conjugated. This implies they don’t comply with regular Spanish conjugation guidelines. We’ve marked the irregular verbs on this checklist with an asterisk (*). To see methods to conjugate these verbs, you possibly can look them up in a dependable conjugation dictionary, equivalent to SpanishDict.

• aprender = to be taught
• beber = to drink
• caber* = to suit
• caer* = to fall
• comer = to eat
• conocer* = to know
• correr = to run
• crecer* = to develop
• creer* = to imagine
• deber = ought to/to owe
• depender = to rely
• desaparecer* = to vanish
• entender* = to grasp
• leer* = to learn
• parecer* = to look
• perder* = to lose
• poner* = to place
• querer* = to need/to like
• recoger* = to choose up/to assemble
• romper* = to interrupt
• saber* = to know/to style
• suponer* = to suppose
• traer* = to deliver
• valer* = to price/to be value
• vender = to promote
• ver* = to see
• volver* = to return/to return again

5 important irregular Spanish -ER verbs

Many -ER verbs will comply with the conjugation patterns above. You also needs to know, although, that fairly a couple of -ER verbs are irregular, which suggests they’ve a number of exceptions to typical conjugation guidelines.

English has irregular verbs, too. For example, take into consideration the phrases “prepare dinner” and “eat.” Whenever you conjugate “prepare dinner” into different tenses, like “cooked”, “cooks”, or “cooking”, you comply with constant guidelines that apply to many different verbs. This makes it an everyday verb. Nonetheless, whenever you conjugate “eat” into the previous tense, you utilize “ate” as a substitute of “eated.” It doesn’t comply with these constant guidelines, which makes it an irregular verb.

These 5 Spanish -ER verbs are so widespread that you must take into account them important. They arrive up typically in primary conversations, and also you’ll have bother getting by with out being acquainted with them. All of those verbs are irregular.

Ser

Ser means “to be”. This verb has quite a lot of purposes, equivalent to describing traits, occupations, relationships, possession, and time.

Soy arquitecto. = I am an architect.

Somos hermanas. = We are sisters.

Estas herramientas eran de mi padre. = These instruments had been my father’s.

Será julio pronto. = It might be July quickly.

Haber

Haber can imply “to be” or “to have,” relying on the context wherein it’s getting used. 

When it’s used as an auxiliary verb, it means “to have.” It’s positioned earlier than the previous participle of one other verb to type the proper tense.

Había completado su tarea. = He had accomplished his homework.

Se han mudado a una nueva ciudad. = They have moved to a brand new metropolis.

Haber has a particular type, hay, which is used when it means “to be.” It’s used to explain issues being current or in a sure place. An equal in English is “there may be” or “there are.”

Hay una mosca en la pared. = There’s a fly on the wall.

Tener

Tener is one other verb that may imply “to be” or “to have,” relying on context. It may be used to precise possession, feelings, bodily state, tasks, and age.

Tengo hambre. = I am hungry.

Tenía 20 años el año pasado. = I was 20 years previous final yr.

Tendrán un bebé el próximo mes. = They’ll have a child subsequent month.

Tuviste que ir a la escuela ayer. = You had to go to highschool yesterday.

Poder

Poder means “to have the ability to,” and it’s used to speak a capability to do one thing. It’s an auxiliary verb, so it’s at all times adopted by one other verb.

Pude hacer malabares una vez. = I was ready to juggle as soon as.

Ella puede llevarte a casa esta noche. = She can drive you house tonight.

Hacer

Hacer primarily means “to do” or “to make.” 

Hicimos un cartel para la venta. = We made a poster for the sale.

Lo harás mañana. = You’ll do it tomorrow.

You may also use it to precise time passing. This may be tough for English audio system to be taught as a result of, whenever you use hacer on this method, it doesn’t have a transparent and direct English equal.

Hace una hora que canta. = He has been singing for an hour.

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