Lesson 8. Where do you live?

-er and -ir verbs

After -ar verbs (lesson 7) come the other two groups. The idea is the same: drop -er or -ir and add an ending.

Who	comer — to eat	vivir — to live
yo	como	vivo
tú	comes	vives
él / ella / usted	come	vive
nosotros / nosotras	comemos	vivimos
vosotros / vosotras	coméis	vivís
ellos / ellas / ustedes	comen	viven

Four of the six forms follow the same pattern in both groups: como — vivo, comes — vives, come — vive, comen — viven. Only “we” and “you all” differ: -emos / -imos, -éis / -ís. The vowel comes from the infinitive: comer → comemos, vivir → vivimos. Vivemos mixes the two groups and is not a Spanish form.

Beber → bebo, bebemos, leer → leo, leemos and escribir → escribo, escribimos work the same way.

Compare lesson 7: -ar endings are built on a (hablas, habla), -er and -ir endings on e (comes, vive).

Vivo en Madrid

Where you live: en + the place: Vivo en Madrid, vivo en un piso. Treat it as a set phrase for now; prepositions get their own lesson (18). Cerca is “nearby,” and cerca de + a person or place is “near”: Vivo cerca de Lucía.

¿Qué…? means “what?”: ¿Qué comes? — “What are you eating?” Question words come in lesson 16; learn this one as a whole.

Tricky words

• el agua — agua is feminine, but in the singular it takes el: that happens before a stressed a- at the start of a word. In the plural it’s back to las aguas.
• el piso — in Spain, “apartment” (and “floor”). In most of Latin America an apartment is a departamento or apartamento.
• comer — “to eat,” and in Spain also “to have lunch,” the main meal of the day.