Regular -IR Verbs in Spanish

In Brief

To form the present tense of a regular Spanish -ir verb, remove -ir from the infinitive and add -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís, -en. For example, vivir becomes vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven. The ending normally makes the subject clear, so Spanish often leaves out pronouns such as yo and nosotros.

Overview

Spanish infinitives—the dictionary forms of verbs—end in -ar, -er, or -ir. An infinitive corresponds roughly to an English form such as “to live” or “to write.” This article focuses on regular -ir verbs in the present tense, including vivir (to live), escribir (to write), abrir (to open), and subir (to go up, raise, or upload).

This is a core A1 pattern. It lets you talk about where people live, what they write, when places open, and many other everyday actions. A regular verb keeps the same stem—the part before -ir—throughout this present-tense pattern. Once you know the six endings, you can apply them to many verbs without learning each form separately.

English changes most present-tense verbs very little: “I live,” “you live,” and “they live,” but “she lives.” Spanish marks every grammatical person with an ending: vivo, vives, vive, and so on. That may seem like more to remember, but it also means that the verb often identifies who is acting without an explicit subject pronoun.

How It Works

Build the form in two steps

Take vivir as a model:

1. Remove the infinitive ending -ir: vivir → viv-.
2. Add the ending that agrees with the subject (the person or thing performing the action): viv- + -imos → vivimos.

This process is called conjugation, meaning changing a verb to match its subject and tense. Here, the tense is the present: a verb form used for what happens now, generally, or regularly.

The complete present-tense pattern

Person	Subject pronoun	Ending	vivir	Usual English meaning
first-person singular	yo	-o	vivo	I live
second-person singular	tú	-es	vives	you live (informal singular)
third-person singular	él / ella / usted	-e	vive	he/she lives; you live (formal singular)
first-person plural	nosotros/as	-imos	vivimos	we live
second-person plural	vosotros/as	-ís	vivís	you all live (mainly Spain, informal)
third-person plural	ellos / ellas / ustedes	-en	viven	they live; you all live

The six endings attach directly to the stem. Notice the written accent in -ís: vivís, escribís, abrís. It is part of the vosotros/as form and must not be omitted.

Applying the same pattern to other verbs

Subject	escribir (to write)	abrir (to open)	subir (to go up/upload)
yo	escribo	abro	subo
tú	escribes	abres	subes
él / ella / usted	escribe	abre	sube
nosotros/as	escribimos	abrimos	subimos
vosotros/as	escribís	abrís	subís
ellos / ellas / ustedes	escriben	abren	suben

The stem remains stable: escrib-, abr-, or sub-. A verb ending in -ir is not automatically regular, however. The label “regular” matters: common verbs such as ir and venir do not follow this complete pattern and must be learned separately.

Matching endings to subjects

Spanish groups several subjects under the same ending:

• él, ella, and formal usted all take -e: él vive, ella escribe, usted abre.
• ellos, ellas, and ustedes all take -en: ellos viven, ellas escriben, ustedes abren.
• A named person or singular noun also takes the third-person singular: Marta vive aquí; La tienda abre temprano.
• Two or more people or things take the third-person plural: Marta y Luis viven aquí; Las tiendas abren temprano.

The English meaning of usted vive is “you live,” but its grammar is third-person singular. Likewise, ustedes viven means “you all live” while using the same form as “they live.”

Subject pronouns are often optional

A subject pronoun is a word such as “I,” “you,” or “they” that stands for the subject. Because vivo can only be the yo form in this pattern, Spanish normally allows Vivo en Sevilla rather than requiring Yo vivo en Sevilla. Pronouns are useful for emphasis, contrast, or clarification:

• Yo vivo en Sevilla, pero ella vive en Cádiz. — I live in Seville, but she lives in Cádiz.
• ¿Dónde viven? — Where do they live?/Where do you all live?

Context resolves the possible meanings of vive and viven. You do not need to force a pronoun into every sentence simply because English requires one.

Do not confuse -ir and -er in the plural

Regular -ir and -er present forms share four endings: -o, -es, -e, -en. The two plural forms distinguish them:

Subject	comer (-er)	vivir (-ir)
nosotros/as	comemos	vivimos
vosotros/as	coméis	vivís

This is why the infinitive matters. If you know only the form vive, you cannot derive the infinitive by its ending alone; vocabulary learning should pair the form with vivir.

Negatives and questions

Conjugation does not change in a simple negative statement. Put no immediately before the verb:

• No vivimos lejos. — We do not live far away.
• La biblioteca no abre los domingos. — The library does not open on Sundays.

Questions also keep the same verb forms. Written Spanish uses both opening and closing question marks, and speech uses question intonation:

• ¿Vives aquí? — Do you live here?
• ¿Ustedes escriben en español? — Do you write in Spanish?

Spanish does not add an equivalent of English “do/does” to form these questions.

Examples in Context

Spanish	English	Note
Yo vivo en Barcelona.	I live in Barcelona.	Yo is stated, but it can be omitted without changing the basic meaning.
¿Vives cerca de aquí?	Do you live near here?	Informal singular tú form; no equivalent of “do” is added.
Mi hermana vive con dos amigas.	My sister lives with two friends.	A singular noun takes the él/ella/usted form.
Tú escribes cartas.	You write letters.	Regular tú ending -es.
Escribimos mensajes todos los días.	We write messages every day.	-imos marks the nosotros/as form.
¿Escribís mucho en clase?	Do you all write a lot in class?	Informal plural form used mainly in Spain.
Él abre la puerta.	He opens the door.	Regular third-person singular form.
La cafetería abre a las siete.	The café opens at seven.	The present can describe a schedule.
No abrimos los lunes.	We are not open on Mondays.	Literally “we do not open”; natural business usage.
Ustedes abren las ventanas.	You all open the windows.	Ustedes takes the same form as ellos/ellas.
Nosotros subimos la escalera.	We go up the stairs.	Motion upward; regular -imos ending.
Subo las fotos esta tarde.	I’m uploading the photos this afternoon.	Subir commonly refers to uploading digital content.
Los precios suben cada año.	Prices go up every year.	A plural noun takes the -en form.
¿Dónde viven tus padres?	Where do your parents live?	The verb agrees with plural tus padres.

Common Mistakes

Keeping the infinitive after the subject

• Wrong: Yo vivir en Madrid.
• Right: Yo vivo en Madrid.
• Why: The infinitive vivir does not agree with yo. In an ordinary present-tense statement, remove -ir and add -o.

Using one form for every person

• Wrong: Nosotros vive aquí.
• Right: Nosotros vivimos aquí.
• Why: Spanish verbs must agree with their subject. Nosotros/as requires -imos, not the singular -e.

Copying the -er plural ending

• Wrong: Nosotros escribemos correos.
• Right: Nosotros escribimos correos.
• Why: Escribir is an -ir verb. Its first-person plural ending is -imos; -emos belongs to regular -er verbs such as comer.

Forgetting the accent in the vosotros form

• Wrong: Vosotros vivis en España.
• Right: Vosotros vivís en España.
• Why: Regular -ir verbs take stressed -ís with a written accent in this form.

Making usted agree like tú

• Wrong: Usted escribes muy bien.
• Right: Usted escribe muy bien.
• Why: Although usted means formal “you,” it takes the third-person singular form, the same as él and ella.

Assuming every -ir verb is regular

• Wrong: Yo iro al trabajo.
• Right: Yo voy al trabajo.
• Why: Ir (to go) ends in -ir, but it is irregular. The pattern in this article applies only to verbs identified as regular in the present tense.

Usage Notes

Spain and Latin America use different plural “you” forms

In most of Spain, vosotros/as is the usual informal plural “you,” so speakers say ¿Vivís aquí? In Latin America, ustedes is used for plural “you” in both informal and formal situations: ¿Ustedes viven aquí? Both are standard. Learn to recognize both forms, then prioritize the one used in the region most relevant to you.

Some regions also use vos for informal singular “you.” Its present forms follow their own conventions, such as vos vivís. This is important regional Spanish, but it is separate from the basic tú paradigm taught here.

The simple present has several jobs

Spanish uses the present for habits, general facts, states, and scheduled events:

• Vivimos en Lima. — We live in Lima. (state)
• Escribo cada mañana. — I write every morning. (habit)
• La tienda abre a las diez. — The shop opens at ten. (schedule)

Depending on context, it can also refer to an action happening around now. English often prefers “be + -ing” where Spanish can use either the simple present or a progressive construction: Subo las fotos ahora can mean “I’m uploading the photos now.” The progressive is useful when you specifically want to emphasize an action in progress, but it is not required every time English uses one.

Pronouns can change the emphasis

Escribo en español is a neutral “I write in Spanish.” Yo escribo en español may stress “I,” especially in a contrast: perhaps someone else writes in English. Frequent unnecessary pronouns are usually understandable, but they can make your Spanish sound repetitive or overemphatic.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will meet later.

First, a verb can be regular in one set of forms and still have something special elsewhere. Abrir is regular in the present (abro, abres, abre...), but its past participle—the form used in compound tenses such as “has opened”—is irregular: abierto, not abrido. This does not alter the present-tense rule.

Second, many high-frequency -ir verbs change their stem in some present forms. For example, pedir has pido and pides, and dormir has duermo and duermes. Their nosotros/as and vosotros/as forms often preserve the infinitive vowel in the present: pedimos, pedís; dormimos, dormís. These are not exceptions to memorize as part of the regular paradigm; treat stem-changing verbs as a related pattern.

Third, subir illustrates how one Spanish verb can map to several English verbs. It can mean going up (subimos al segundo piso), raising something (suben los precios), getting onto transport in some contexts (subir al tren), or uploading a file (subir un archivo). The conjugation remains regular even when the best English translation changes.

Finally, present forms sometimes point to the near future when a time expression makes that meaning clear: Mañana abrimos a las nueve (“Tomorrow we open at nine”). This is especially natural for plans and schedules. It is still the grammatical present; the word mañana supplies the future time.

Practice Tips

1. Use one stem across six short sentences. Write vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven, then replace viv- with escrib-, abr-, and sub-. Say each complete form aloud so that the ending becomes a sound pattern, not just a chart.
2. Practice without pronouns. Make pairs such as Nosotros vivimos aquí → Vivimos aquí. Then add a pronoun back only to create contrast: Yo vivo aquí, pero ellos viven allí.
3. Sort new verbs by infinitive. When you learn a verb, record the whole infinitive rather than only an English translation. Mark whether it is regular. This prevents you from mixing -emos and -imos or applying the regular pattern to an irregular verb.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subject Pronouns — learn how yo, tú, usted, nosotros/as, and the other subject forms match the six verb endings.