Tiscali: Spanish Phrase Finder - Verbs

There are three main patterns of endings for Spanish verbs - those ending -ar, -er and -ir in the dictionary.

cantar to sing

canto I sing
cantas you sing
(usted) canta (s)he sings/you sing
cantamos we sing
cantaís you sing
(ustedes) cantan they sing/you sing

vivir to live

vivo I live
vives you live
(usted) vive (s)he lives/you live
vivimos we live
vivís you live
(ustedes) viven they live/you live

comer to eat

como I eat
comes you eat
(usted) come (s)he eats/you eat
comemos we eat
coméis you eat
(ustedes) comen they eat/you eat

Like French, in Spanish there are two ways of addressing people: the polite form (for people you don't know well or who are older) and the familiar form (for friends, family and children). The polite you is usted in the singular, and ustedes in the plural. You can see from above that usted uses the same verb ending as for he and she; ustedes the same ending as for they. Often the words usted and ustedes are omitted, but the verb ending itself indicates that you are using the polite form.The informal words for you are tú (singular) and vosotros (plural).

the verb "to be"

There are two different Spanish verbs for to be - ser and estar.

Ser is used to describe a permanent state:
soy inglés I am English
es una playa it is a beach

Estar is used to describe a temporary state or where something is located:
how are you? ¿cómo está?
where is the beach? ¿dónde está la playa?

SER estar to be

soy estoy I am
eres estás you are
(usted) es está (s)he is/you are
somos estamos we are
sois estáis you are
(ustedes) son están they are/you are

Other common irregular verbs include: