IR verbs in Spanish: Your detailed guide to Conjugating and using them in sentences

Do you want to be fluent in Spanish? If so, you cannot achieve your goal without learning IR verbs in Spanish. Most Spanish verbs have three possible endings: –ar, –er, and –ir. But –ir verbs are considered to be the most important ones. You will be requiring these verbs for all types of Spanish accents. This guide will assist you to develop the required base for Spanish verbs.

As mentioned above, Verbs in Spanish have three possible endings –ar, –er, and –ir. But here we will discuss the IR verbs in Spanish. The main reason is that these are the verbs that are mostly used in all the conversations in Chinese.

Learning a foreign language may look difficult but if you are provided with systematic and well-structured training, the journey can become easier for you. Italki, being the updated foreign language learning resource, can not only help you learn Spanish online but also provide you with real-time exposure to practical exercises. The biggest advantage of this language learning training is that the course plans are highly structured and flexible at the same time. Online Spanish tutors can help you learn Spanish grammar and Spanish verbs. Plus, the course plans are highly flexible to meet all your learning requirements.

Before moving towards IR verbs in Spanish, it is very important for you to be familiar with Spanish present tense and some basic vocabularies. To achieve this, you can seek help from italki’s app to learn Spanish. This app can become a lifesaver for you as it can provide you with Spanish words that can help you enhance your vocabulary and learn about present tense and its formation in Spanish.

In this post, we will cover the present tense for regular –ir verbs. It is important for you to remember that many many –ir verbs such as ir (to go), seguir (to follow) and sentir (to feel) are irregular and they do not follow the pattern of regular –ir verbs.

Practicing Spanish Verb Conjugations

There are broadly six conjugations of regular -ir verbs. But, to be able to speak Spanish fluently, you need to devote your time and energy to real sentence formation these verbs conjugated in the present tense.

So along with memorizing IR verbs in Spanish conjugation, you need to practically apply them in your writing pieces and speech so that you can develop the command over them and be able to speak and write Spanish effortlessly.

There is a little learning hack for you. You can develop flashcards and IR Spanish verb charts. It will make your learning easier and will help you develop a chain of all the verbs instead of learning each one in isolation. This activity will help you learn vocabulary and context along with the conjugations.

You can also start writing your weekly plans. In your weekly plan try to use as many as possible IR verbs that you know. It will improve the quality of your speech and writings in Spanish.

The Present Tense Conjugations of Spanish –ir Verbs

To create the present tense of an -ir verb, remove the -ir from the infinitive (base) form of the verb, and add the following endings:

yo                        o

tú                         es

él/ella/Ud.           e

nosotros             imos

vosotros             ís 

ellos/ellas/Uds.  en

Let us now look at how these endings can be practically applied to the regular verb escribir (to write). First, we take off the last two letters and get: escribe.

Then we add the ending that is appropriate for each pronoun. For instance:

1.    yo escribo — I write

2.    tú escribes — you write (said to one person, informally)

3.    él/ella/Ud. escribe — he/she writes, you write (said to one person, formally)

4.    nosotros escribimos — we write

5.    vosotros escribís — you write (said to more than one person, informally)

6.    ellos/ellas/Uds. escriben — they write, you write (said to more than one person, formally)

Some Common Spanish –ir Verbs

 Escribir: (to write)

As we have already discussed the conjugations for this verb, we will now look at how to combine these conjugated forms with other words to talk about the things that we actually write.

Below are the examples of the things that we normally write in our daily lives:

un correo electrónico — an email

un SMS — an SMS

un WhatsApp — a WhatsApp message (the use of Whatsapp is very common in Spanish-speaking countries)

una carta — a letter

una tesis — a thesis

un artículo — an article

And then there are the people you write to. Some of the major examples are:

a mi madre — to my mother

a mi padre — to my father

a Ana — to Ana

a John — to John

a mis amigos — to my friends

And finally the frequency of time in which you write. Some of the major examples are:

ahora — now

a veces — sometimes

cada semana — each week

todos los días — every day

una vez por mes — once per month

nunca — never

You are then required to put all these elements together and form sentences like:

1.    Ella escribe una tesis. — She is writing a thesis.

2.    Matilda y yo escribimos un artículo. — Matilda and I are writing an article.

Vivir (to live)

It is another very common ir- verb in Spanish. You can combine it with con (with) to tell people about the present situation. For example:

1.    Vivo con mi padre. — I live with my father.

2.    Él vive con su marido. — He lives with his husband.

You can also use the preposition en (in) to have a conversation about where people live. For example,

1.    ¿Vivís en un barco? — Do you guys live in a boat?

2.    ¿Vives en una casa? — Do you live in a house?

3.    Vivo en Nueva York. — I live in New York.

Confundir (to mix things up)

Confundir means to confuse between different things. For example,

1.    Confunde los dos verbos. — He has the two verbs mixed up.

2.    Siempre confundo la bachata con la merengue. — I always get bachata mixed up with merengue.

It can also be used in form of reflexive verbs. For example:

1.    Me confundo con los nuevos verbos. — I’m confused with the new verbs.

2.    ¿Te confundes? — Are you lost/mixed up?

3.    Se confunde con todo. — She’s got everything all wrong.

Discutir (to argue)

This verb usually indicates more combativeness than a mere discussion, so native English speakers are inclined to use it incorrectly. Here are a few examples of this verb:

1.    Siempre discutimos eso. — We’re always arguing about that.

2.    ¿Discutes conmigo? — Are you arguing with me?

Subir (to go up)

This verb is mostly used when you are using public transport and uploading things. The literal meaning of this verb is to rise. Some of its examples are:

1.    Subimos el volcán. — We’re climbing the volcano.

2.    Suben al autobus. — They’re getting on the bus.

3.    Subo las fotos de ayer. — I’m uploading the photos from yesterday.

Descubrir (to discover)

This verb is similar to the English word ‘discover’.

1.    Todos los días descubro cosas nuevas. — Every day I discover new things.

2.    Ahora descubrimos nuestros límites. — Now we’re discovering our limits.

Existir (to exist)

The meaning of this verb is to exist.

1.    Pienso, luego existo. — I think, therefore I am. (The translation of Descartes’ famous cogito ergo sum.)

2.    ¿Existen los zombies? — Do zombies exist?

3.    Existo en otro universo. — I exist in another universe.

These were some of the major ir verbs in Spanish. Below is the list of some of the lesser-known verbs but they will surely help you to gain practical exposure.

1.    decidir — to decide

2.    interrumpir — to interrupt

3.    percibir — to perceive

4.    permitir — to permit

We hope that now you will be able to write ir Spanish verbs correctly and effortlessly. The main hack to being fluent with these verbs is to practice them on regular basis. If you are looking for Spanish lessons, you can book your lesson plans with italki, today! These lesson plans will make your learning fruitful with the help of the best online Spanish tutors with the best practical knowledge.

Conclusion

All you are required to be consistent in your learning approach. These verbs sometimes get tricky. But once, once you develop a deep understanding you can use them in any type of sentence structure.