Present Tense Conjugation of Regular -ER Verbs

In English, the infinitive form of a verb is typically indicated with "to". For example: "to eat” or “to learn.” In Spanish, verbs have a stem (or root) and an infinitive ending. For example: beber ("to drink"), in which beb- is the stem and -er is the infinitive ending.

Verbs that don't change their stem are called regular verbs. Conjugating regular verbs is a snap. Once you have learned the pattern of regular verbs you can confidently use any regular verbs in the same way.

If the infinitive of the Spanish verb ends in -er, it means that the verb belongs to the second conjugation.

To conjugate -er verbs in the present tense in Spanish, simply drop the -er and add the following endings to the stem: -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. Notice that él, ella, and usted share the same verb form in the singular, and ellos, ellas, and ustedes share the same verb form in the plural.

Here is the present tense of the regular -er verb aprender:

Here are some other regular -er verbs:
barrer - to sweep
beber - to drink
comer - to eat
comprender - to understand
correr - to run
creer - to believe
depender - to depend
leer - to read
vender - to sell

Now that you know the pattern of a regular -er verb, you could form the present tense of any other regular -er verb:

Yo aprendo las palabras. - I am learning the words.
Tú vendes la moto. - You sell the bike.
La muchacha lee el libro. - The girl reads the book.
Nosotros no bebemos leche. - We don't drink milk.
Vosotros corréis rápido. - You guys run fast.
Los niños comen espinacas. - The kids eat spinach.

Note that because the verb endings show the person being referred to, it is most common to omit the subject pronouns. For example:
¿Por qué aprendes chino? - Why are you learning Chinese?