Every Spanish sentence needs a verb, and a Spanish verb changes its ending to say who is doing the action. This unit holds the three verb families, the six endings for each one, the four verbs you cannot avoid — ir, ser, tener, hacer — and the words for a school day: study cards to learn them, hints to hold them, a quiz to test them, and a workshop to use them.
An English sentence in two boxes. The arrow shows who is acting, and it comes from the little word in front.
That tail has a name: the ending. It already says who is doing the action, which is why Spanish can drop the pronoun. Hablo is a whole sentence — ‘I speak’, with no yo in sight.
What people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
The verb can stay as the dictionary gives it: Yo hablar español.
An infinitive names the action and nothing else. It never says who. Cut the last two letters off hablar to get habl-, then add the ending for the person: Hablo español.
An infinitive left in a sentence is an unfinished verb.
⚠️People often think…
‘I am eating’ needs a Spanish word for am, so it is Yo soy comiendo.
One Spanish form covers all three English ways. I eat, I am eating and I do eat are all Como. There is no word for am or do to look for here, so nothing has to be invented.
One Spanish word does the work of three English ones.
⚠️People often think…
Every Spanish sentence needs a pronoun in front of the verb, so you write yo, tú or él each time.
The ending already names the person, so the pronoun is usually extra weight. Keep it for three jobs: to contrast — Yo estudio, pero él trabaja; to clear up habla, which covers él, ella and usted at once; and to put weight on the person.
Say the pronoun only when it does a job the ending cannot.
⚠️People often think…
Usted means you, so it takes the tú ending: usted hablas.
Usted takes the él and ella ending: usted habla. It is polite, not plural, and the verb treats it as one other person. To a principal you say ¿Habla usted inglés?
Usted is polite, not plural. It rides with él and ella.
Stem plus ending
1Watch one
hablar — give the yo, tú and él forms.
Last two letters: -ar. That is the family.
Cut those two off. The stem is habl-.
yo takes -o. habl + o = hablo.
tú takes -as. habl + as = hablas.
él, ella, usted take -a. habl + a = habla.
hablo, hablas, habla. The stem never moved — only the tail. ✓
2Do one with me
Three verbs, three persons. Cut the stem, then add the ending.
The yo form of comer is
The tú form of vivir is
The nosotros form of hablar is
💬One sentence, then you move on
Why can Spanish leave out yo when English cannot leave out I?
3Try one
escribir, ellos — write the form.
I want a hint first
-er and -ir verbs share every ending except nosotros and vosotros. So for ellos you can borrow comer: comen, viven, escriben.
💬Last one — then you’re done here
hablo, hablas and habla all start with habl-. What does the ending add that the stem cannot?
Where this goes
Where this lives
Telling someone what you do every day, at work or at school. Salgo a las siete. Trabajo los sábados. Estudio español.
What this feeds
Next unit is Tener, Gustar and Stem Changes — the verbs that keep these endings but change in the middle.
Write one sentence about your own day, with no pronoun in front of the verb.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🧭 The unit in one line
Find the infinitive → see its family (-ar, -er, -ir) → cut off the last two letters to get the stem → add the ending for the person → say it, usually without the pronoun.
Cut two. Add one. -o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an.
🔑 The one idea
The ending does the work. In English the little word in front tells you who acts — I, you, we. In Spanish the tail of the verb tells you, so the little word can go. Hablo already means ‘I speak’, with no yo in sight.
⚠️ Traps to avoid
Do not leave the infinitive in the sentence. ‘Yo hablar español’ is wrong. Cut hablar down to hablo.
Do not add a word for ‘am’ or ‘do’. ‘I am eating’ is Como. ‘I do eat’ is Como. One Spanish word does all three jobs.
-er and -ir verbs are almost twins. They differ in only two places: nosotros (-emos / -imos) and vosotros (-éis / -ís).
The vosotros forms carry an accent — habláis, coméis, vivís. Leave it off and the word is misspelled.
No goes right before the verb: ‘No trabajo hoy.’ Not after it, and not at the end.
Usted takes the same ending as él and ella — usted habla, not usted hablas. It is polite, not plural.
📐 The three families — the chart
Person
-ar (hablar)
-er (comer)
-ir (vivir)
yo (I)
hablo
como
vivo
tú (you, a friend)
hablas
comes
vives
él, ella, usted
habla
come
vive
nosotros (we)
hablamos
comemos
vivimos
vosotros (you all, Spain)
habláis
coméis
vivís
ellos, ellas, ustedes
hablan
comen
viven
🎯 How you will be asked
“Conjugate estudiar in all six persons.”
“Fill the blank: Nosotros ____ en la biblioteca. (leer)”
“Give the yo form of hacer, salir, conocer and saber.”
“Turn this into a question, then make it negative.”
“Write five sentences about your school day, in order.”
✅ Before the test, can you…
Say the six -ar endings from memory, in order?
Name the two places where -er and -ir differ?
Give the yo form of hacer, poner, salir, traer, conocer, saber, dar and ver?
Write out ir, ser and tener in all six persons?
Build a near-future sentence with ir + a + infinitive?
Explain why ‘Hablo español’ needs no yo — and name a case where you would keep it?
📚 Go to the sources
These open another website and need the internet. Type any verb into a conjugator and read the present-tense row out loud; say the six forms in the same order every time, and the order itself becomes the memory.
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
Work like a speaker of Spanish: label a conjugation wheel, sort fourteen verbs into their families, put a school day in order, then explain why one small word can be left out.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
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The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.