Motifluent
Language Transfer Spanish notes

Lesson 18

The Other We Forms

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

New vocabulary

SpanishEnglish
preferirto prefer
prefieroI prefer
prefierehe/she prefers
prefierenthey prefer
preferimoswe prefer
venirto come
venimoswe come
vivirto live
vivoI live
vivehe/she lives
viventhey live
vivimoswe live
dóndewhere
entendemoswe understand
perdemoswe lose
siemprealways

"We" forms

  • -ER verbs: remove -er, add -emos → comer→comemos, vender→vendemos

  • -IR verbs: remove -ir, add -imos → venir→venimos, vivir→vivimos

  • No stem changes in the we form

Example sentences

SpanishEnglish
Prefiero.I prefer.
Prefiere.He/she prefers.
Prefieren.They prefer.
Preferimos.We prefer.
Venimos.We come / we're coming.
Vivo aquí.I live here.
No vivo aquí, pero él vive aquí.I don't live here, but he lives here.
Vivimos.We live.
Viven aquí.They live here.
¿Dónde viven?Where do they live?
Quiero saber dónde viven.I want to know where they live.
No entiende.He/she doesn't understand.
¿Por qué no entiende?Why doesn't he/she understand?
Quiero saber por qué no entiende.I want to know why he/she doesn't understand.
Entendemos.We understand.
Perdemos.We lose.
Siempre perdemos.We always lose.

Key notes

  • The we form is the only place where -er and -ir split apart in the present tense: -emos vs -imos.

  • Stem changes disappear in preferimos, venimos, vivimos, entendemos, perdemos.