The -er class is the smaller of the two consonantal classes (-er and -ir together account for around ten per cent of Spanish verbs), but its members are among the most useful in the language: comer, beber, leer, aprender, vender, creer, correr. This page covers the full peninsular paradigm — six personal endings, with the vosotros form -éis that you will hear constantly in Spain.
The six -er endings
To conjugate a regular -er verb, drop -er from the infinitive and add the appropriate ending: -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en.
| Subject | Ending | comer (to eat) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -o | como |
| tú | -es | comes |
| él / ella / usted | -e | come |
| nosotros / nosotras | -emos | comemos |
| vosotros / vosotras | -éis | coméis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -en | comen |
The written accent on coméis is obligatory. The stress falls on the é; without the accent the word would be read with stress on the diphthong (co-MEIS), which is wrong. This same accent appears on every -er verb's vosotros form: bebéis, aprendéis, leéis, vendéis, corréis.
Como en casa de mis padres los domingos.
I eat at my parents' place on Sundays.
¿Tú bebes café o té por la mañana?
Do you drink coffee or tea in the morning?
Mi hija aprende inglés en el colegio.
My daughter is learning English at school.
How -er differs from -ar (and barely from -ir)
If you have already learned the regular -ar paradigm, here is the encouraging news: the yo form (-o) and the ellos form (-en vs. -an) are functionally identical — the -en/-an split is one vowel away. The two persons where -er differs more visibly from -ar are nosotros (-emos vs. -amos) and vosotros (-éis vs. -áis).
| Subject | -ar | -er |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -o | -o |
| tú | -as | -es |
| él / ella / usted | -a | -e |
| nosotros | -amos | -emos |
| vosotros | -áis | -éis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -an | -en |
The contrast with -ir is even narrower. The -ir endings are identical to -er except in nosotros (-emos vs. -imos) and vosotros (-éis vs. -ís). In yo, tú, él and ellos, an -er verb and an -ir verb look exactly the same. That's why beginners often mistake one for the other — and why having vosotros in your active toolkit is a powerful disambiguator: only -er gives you -éis.
Six high-frequency model verbs
Each of these verbs follows comer exactly. Memorising one is memorising them all.
| Infinitive | Meaning | yo | tú | él/ella | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| comer | to eat | como | comes | come | comemos | coméis | comen |
| beber | to drink | bebo | bebes | bebe | bebemos | bebéis | beben |
| aprender | to learn | aprendo | aprendes | aprende | aprendemos | aprendéis | aprenden |
| leer | to read | leo | lees | lee | leemos | leéis | leen |
| vender | to sell | vendo | vendes | vende | vendemos | vendéis | venden |
| correr | to run | corro | corres | corre | corremos | corréis | corren |
A note on leer: the yo form is leo, written with two adjacent vowels and no accent. The stress falls on le-O (a hiatus, not a diphthong), and Spanish spelling rules don't require a written accent on two-syllable words ending in a vowel with stress on the last syllable when both vowels are open — see diphthongs and hiatus for the underlying rule.
A note on beber: in peninsular Spanish, beber is the everyday verb for drinking water, juice, or wine in a sit-down context. For ordering at a bar (una cerveza, un café), tomar is more common — ¿Qué tomas? is the standard "What are you having?" Both verbs are correct; the choice is one of register and collocation.
Leemos el periódico mientras desayunamos.
We read the newspaper while we have breakfast.
Mi tía vende productos artesanales en el mercado.
My aunt sells artisanal products at the market.
Corro tres veces por semana, pero no me gusta correr en verano.
I run three times a week, but I don't like running in summer.
A peninsular dialogue about coffee
The -er paradigm comes alive when you hear it used naturally. Here is a brief exchange where vosotros, nosotros and tú all show up in three lines.
—Mis padres beben café por la mañana, pero nosotros bebemos té. ¿Qué bebéis vosotros?
—My parents drink coffee in the morning, but we drink tea. What do you guys drink?
—En casa bebemos los dos. Yo prefiero el café, pero mi pareja bebe té siempre.
—At home we drink both. I prefer coffee, but my partner always drinks tea.
—¿Y vuestros hijos? ¿Ya beben café?
—And your kids? Do they drink coffee yet?
Notice that beben, bebemos, bebéis all sit comfortably in a single short conversation — that is what real peninsular usage looks like. Bebéis is not a textbook artefact; it's how you ask a couple about their drinks.
The simple present covers a lot of ground
A conjugated form like como can translate as I eat, I am eating, or I do eat, depending on context. Spanish does have a progressive (estoy comiendo), but it is used only for genuinely in-progress action and is far less frequent than the English continuous.
—¿Qué haces? —Leo un libro de Almudena Grandes.
—What are you doing? —I'm reading a book by Almudena Grandes.
Los lunes corremos por el Retiro a las siete.
On Mondays we run in the Retiro park at seven.
For a full account of the tense's uses, see usos del presente de indicativo.
Subject pronouns are usually omitted
As in every Spanish paradigm, the personal endings make pronouns redundant most of the time. The pronoun shows up for contrast (Tú lees novelas, yo leo ensayos), for emphasis (Yo no como pulpo, gracias), or for disambiguation in the third person where él, ella, usted share -e.
Common mistakes
These errors recur in nearly every learner's first weeks with -er verbs. Each has a single underlying cause; spotting the pattern makes it easy to correct.
❌ Nosotros comimos en casa todos los días.
Wrong: -imos is the -ir nosotros ending (vivimos), and also the preterite. -er nosotros is -emos.
✅ Nosotros comemos en casa todos los días.
Correct: -er verbs take -emos for nosotros.
❌ Vosotros comeis muy rápido.
Wrong: -éis must carry a written accent on the é.
✅ Vosotros coméis muy rápido.
Correct: every -er vosotros form has the accent.
❌ Yo aprendo, pero ella aprendo más rápido.
Wrong: -o is the yo ending; the third-person form is -e.
✅ Yo aprendo, pero ella aprende más rápido.
Correct: él/ella/usted takes -e.
❌ Ustedes leen el periódico cada mañana, ¿no, chicos?
Wrong in Spain: with friends, ustedes sounds formal or LatAm-trained.
✅ Leéis el periódico cada mañana, ¿no, chicos?
Correct: in Spain, vosotros is the everyday plural-you with friends.
❌ Mi padre vive el coche por internet.
Wrong: vivir is 'to live'; for 'to sell', use vender.
✅ Mi padre vende el coche por internet.
Correct: the -er verb vender, not the -ir verb vivir.
Once you can run through the -er paradigm without hesitation, move to the -ir verbs — only two endings change.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Presente de indicativo: verbos regulares en -arA1 — The six present-indicative endings for regular -ar verbs in peninsular Spanish, including the all-important vosotros form habláis.
- Presente de indicativo: verbos regulares en -irA1 — The six present-indicative endings for regular -ir verbs in peninsular Spanish — including the unmistakably Spanish vosotros form vivís.
- Usos del presente de indicativoA2 — The simple present is the workhorse of peninsular Spanish. It covers habits, ongoing actions, general truths, near-future plans, narration, and the running commentary of a football match — far more territory than its English counterpart.
- Vosotros vs ustedes: el sistema españolA1 — In peninsular Spanish, vosotros is the everyday informal plural "you" — alive and used constantly — while ustedes is reserved for genuine formality. Learn when each is required, what verb endings each takes, and why the Latin American merger does not apply in Spain.