35 Most Common ER Verbs in Spanish

ER verbs are very commonly used in Spanish.

Fair warning: 72% of Spanish ER verbs are irregular. Having to learn so many irregular verbs and their conjugations may feel overwhelming, but you can’t avoid them if you want to make progress in the language.

Once you know more about ER verbs and how they work, I bet you’ll feel better. So let’s take a look at them now.

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How to Conjugate Regular ER Verbs in Spanish

First, let’s review the basics.

If you need a full review of Spanish verb categories or the indicative simple verb tenses, check out this helpful article. You’ll also need to be well versed in Spanish subject pronouns, since verbs must match their subjects in person, number and gender as well as tense.

Conjugating regular ER verbs in the indicative simple tenses is pretty straightforward:

For the present, preterite and imperfect tenses, follow these steps:

1. Remove the ER ending to get the verb’s stem.

2. Add the corresponding ending to the stem for each tense and person.

For the conditional and future tenses, simply add the appropriate ending onto the infinitive form.

Here are the endings for these five tenses:

Once you remember these rules, you can conjugate any regular ER verb in the Spanish language!

Common Regular ER Verbs in Spanish

1. Aprender  — To learn

Como no aprendas a bailar, no podrás apuntarte para el concurso de baile. (If you don’t learn how to dance, you won’t be able to sign up for the dance contest.)

2. Beber  — To drink

Puedes beber el refresco, yo beberé agua. (You can drink the soda, I’ll drink water.)

3. Comer  — To eat

Vamos a comer. (We are going to eat/to have lunch.)

4. Comprender — To understand

Gracias por comprenderme. (Thank you for understanding me.)

5. Correr — To run

10. Vender  — To sell

Vendimos nuestra casa el año pasado. (We sold our house last year.)

Irregular ER Verbs in Spanish

Below, you’ll find a list of both irregular ER stem-changing verbs (E→IE and O→UE) as well as some truly irregular ER verbs, meaning they’re irregular verbs that have their own irregularities (verbos de irregularidad propia).

When conjugating this type of irregular verb, there’s no formula to follow for the conjugations—you’ll just have to memorize them.

11. Ascender — To ascend, to go up

Ascenderemos como el fénix. (We will rise like the phoenix.)

Trabajó muy duro y ascendió rápido en la empresa. (She worked very hard and quickly rose in the firm.)

12. Conocer  — To know

La conozco bastante bien y puedo decir que es muy buena persona. (I know her pretty well and can say she’s a very good person.)

¿Conoces la ciudad? (Do you know/Have you personally visited the city?)

13. Defender  — To defend

Él defiende bien sus argumentos. (He defends his arguments well.)

Muchos creen que los soldados defienden los valores de su país. (Many believe that soldiers defend the values of their country.)

14. Encender — To ignite, to switch on

Ricardo encendió la fogata. (Ricardo lit the campfire.)

El gran botón rojo enciende la máquina. (The big red button turns on the machine.)

15. Entender  — To understand

No entiendo cómo has logrado escapar. (I don’t understand how you’ve managed to escape.)

Entiende muy bien cómo funciona la empresa y por eso se ha convertido en director. (He understands very well how the company operates and for this reason he’s become the CEO.)

16. Haber  — To have, to be, there is/are

Hay mucha gente aquí. (There are a lot of people here.)

No ha descansado y por eso tiene sueño ahora. (He hasn’t rested and that’s why he’s sleepy now.)

17. Hacer  — To do, to make

Siempre hago los deberes. (I always do my homework.)

Hace buen tiempo. (The weather is nice.) [Literally: It makes good weather.]

18. Leer  — To read

Él todavía lee el periódico todas las mañanas. (He still reads the newspaper every morning.)

La semana pasada leí un libro sobre finanzas personales. (Last week I read a book about personal finance.)

19. Llover — To rain

Llueve todos los días aquí en el verano. (It rains every day here in the summer.)

Siempre me llueven regalos en mi cumpleaños. (I always get showered with presents on my birthday.)

20. Morder  — To bite

21. Mover  — To move

¡No se mueva! (Don’t move!)

¡Los niños se mueven muy gracioso cuando intentan bailar! (The kids move so funny when they try to dance!)

22. Nacer  — To be born

23. Oler  — To smell

Me desperté cuando olí el café. (I woke up when I smelled the coffee.)

Es gracioso que el café nunca sabe tan bueno como huele. (It’s funny how coffee never tastes as good as it smells.)

24. Perder  — To lose

Ella perdió las llaves de su auto en el parque. (She lost her car keys at the park.)

Si no apruebo este examen, perderé toda motivación para esta clase. (If I fail this exam, I’ll lose all motivation for this class.)

25. Poder  — To be able to

Puedes acompañarnos si quieres. (You can come along with us if you’d like.)

Puede ser. (It’s possible.)

26. Poner  — To put

Tenía frío, así que me puse un suéter. (I was cold, so I put on a sweater.)

29. Saber — To know, to discover, to taste of/like

Sé hablar español. (I know how to speak Spanish.)

No sabe cuánto lo quiero. (He doesn’t know how much I love him.)

Supimos que iba a llover y cancelamos la barbacoa. (We found out it was going to rain and canceled the barbecue.)

El pollo sabe a perejil. (The chicken tastes like parsley/has a parsley taste to it.)

30. Ser  — To be

Soy de Georgia. (I am from Georgia.)

Hoy es jueves. (Today is Thursday.)

31. Soler  — To have the tendency to

Ellas suelen hacer su tarea en ese café. (They usually do their homework in that coffee shop.)

Cuando era niño, solía ir a un campamento de verano en los Estados Unidos. (As a kid, I used to go to summer camp in the US.)

32. Tener  — To have

Tengo 21 años. (I am 21 years old.)

Él tiene que hacer algunos recados. (He has to run some errands.)

Tuve calor y por eso decidí dormir sin manta. (I was hot and that’s why I decided to sleep without a blanket.)

33. Ver  — To see, to watch

Hoy vemos una película de terror. (Today we’ll watch a horror movie.)

Hoy he visto a Carmen andando por la calle. (Today I saw Carmen walking down the street.)

No quiero verme en el espejo ahora mismo. (I don’t want to see myself in the mirror right now.)

Te ves muy linda esta noche. (You look very pretty tonight.)

34. Verter — To pour

Algunas personas vierten una libación para honrar a los muertos. (Some people pour a libation to honor the dead.)

Vertí el té sobre mi computadora. (I spilled tea on my computer.)

35. Volver  — To return

Ellos vuelven a sus asientos. (They return to their seats.)

Volví a la casa de mi amigo anoche. (I went back to my friend’s house last night.)

That’s it for our list!

A great way to learn these verbs is by immersing yourself in native media and hearing them used in context by native speakers. As these are such common verbs, you’ll hear them used everywhere, from TV shows and movies to books. You could also use FluentU to see them used in context in short Spanish videos.

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ER Verb Conjugation Quiz

Now let’s have a go at conjugating these common ER verbs! 

1. Comer in first person present (I eat)

2. Aprender in first person preterite (I learned)

3. Ser in second person past imperfect (you used to be)

4. Tener in second person conditional (you would have)

5. Saber in third person singular simple future (he will know)

6. Hacer in third person singular present (she does/makes)

7. Ver in third person plural preterite (they saw)

8. Entender in third person plural past imperfect (they used to understand)

9. Poder in first person plural conditional (we would be able to)

10. Querer in first person plural simple future (we will want)

Answers:

1. Como
2. Aprendí
3. Eras
4. Tendrías
5. Sabrá
6. Hace
7. Vieron
8. Entendían
9. Podríamos
10. Querremos

Remember, when it comes to Spanish verbs—be they of the AR, ER or IR persuasion—practice really does make perfect!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

And One More Thing…

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