Present Tense Conjugation of Regular -IR Verbs

In English, the infinitive form of a verb is typically indicated with "to". For example: "to live” or “to receive.” In Spanish, verbs have a stem (or root) and an infinitive ending. For example: escribir ("to write"), in which escrib- is the stem and -ir 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 -ir, it means that the verb belongs to the third conjugation.

To conjugate -ir verbs in the present tense in Spanish, simply drop the -ir and add the following endings to the stem: -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís, -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 -ir verb escribir:

Here are some other regular -ir verbs:
abrir - to open
admitir - to admit
asistir - to assist, attend
describir - to describe
descubrir - to discover
discutir - to discuss
permitir - to permit
recibir - to receive
vivir - to live

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

Vivo en esta ciudad. - I live in this city.
Tú escribes una carta. - You write a letter.
Sofía asiste a muchas reuniones. - Sophia attends a lot of meetings.
Nosotros recibimos un regalo. - We receive a gift.
Vosotras no abrís una ventana. - You (plural) don't open a window.
Los campos de golf no cumplen estas condiciones. - Golf courses do not meet these conditions.

Note that because the verb endings show the person being referred to, it is most common to omit the subject pronouns. For example:
Vivimos en una casa grande. - We live in a big house.