Regular -er and -ir Verbs | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Regular -er and -ir verbs share a single set of subjunctive endings, which makes them surprisingly easy to master. Because their indicative endings typically contain the vowel -e- or -i-, the subjunctive flips to -a-, the opposite vowel.

Formation

The procedure is the same as for -ar verbs:

Start with the yo form of the present indicative.
Drop the final -o.
Add the endings: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -an.

Beginning with the yo form means that verbs with a go-type irregularity (like tengo, vengo, salgo) carry that irregularity into the entire subjunctive.

Endings for -er and -ir Verbs

Subject	Ending
yo	-a
tú	-as
él / ella / usted	-a
nosotros	-amos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	-an

A huge benefit of the subjunctive is that -er and -ir verbs no longer have different endings for nosotros (as they do in the indicative, where we say comemos but vivimos). In the subjunctive, both become -amos.

Comer (to eat)

Subject	Present Subjunctive
yo	coma
tú	comas
él / ella / usted	coma
nosotros	comamos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	coman

Mi mamá quiere que comamos más verduras.

My mom wants us to eat more vegetables.

Es mejor que no comas tanto azúcar.

It's better that you don't eat so much sugar.

Vivir (to live)

Subject	Present Subjunctive
yo	viva
tú	vivas
él / ella / usted	viva
nosotros	vivamos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	vivan

Espero que vivas muchos años felices.

I hope you live many happy years.

Dudo que vivan en el centro de la ciudad.

I doubt they live in the city center.

Aprender (to learn)

Subject	Present Subjunctive
yo	aprenda
tú	aprendas
él / ella / usted	aprenda
nosotros	aprendamos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	aprendan

Es importante que los niños aprendan otro idioma.

It's important that children learn another language.

Escribir (to write)

Subject	Present Subjunctive
yo	escriba
tú	escribas
él / ella / usted	escriba
nosotros	escribamos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	escriban

Quiero que me escribas cuando llegues.

I want you to write me when you arrive.

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Because -er and -ir verbs use the same set of subjunctive endings, you effectively have only two patterns to remember for all regular verbs: -e endings for -ar verbs, and -a endings for everything else.

Watch the Yo-Stem

Many verbs look irregular in the subjunctive but actually follow the regular pattern once you start from the yo form of the indicative. Consider these:

tener → tengo → tenga, tengas, tenga, tengamos, tengan
salir → salgo → salga, salgas, salga, salgamos, salgan
hacer → hago → haga, hagas, haga, hagamos, hagan

Ojalá que tengas un buen fin de semana.

I hope you have a good weekend.

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The verbs that genuinely break this pattern are only a handful: ser, estar, ir, haber, saber, and dar. Each has its own dedicated page in this section.

Continue with stem changes to learn how verbs like pensar and dormir behave in the subjunctive.