The infinitive

Es interesante estudiar español

After so many lessons about how to describe and count objects, you are finally ready to learn Spanish verbs. It’s a huge and important block of grammar that will move you to the next level.

This lesson is where your knowledge about different actions will start growing. However, we will begin with a simple element – the infinitive.

The infinitive is a verb’s neutral form: to eat, to drink, to write. All personal forms like “he eats”, “she drank”, “they’ve written” start from the infinitive.

All Spanish infinitives have only three types of ending: -ar, -er, -ir. We can call them groups.

-ar (1st group)

escuchar – to listen

estudiar – to study

trabajar – to work

-er (2nd group)

comer – to eat

beber – to drink

leer – to read

–ir (3d group)

escribir – to write

abrir – to open

vivir – to live

Let’s build some sentences with these infinitives.

¿Para qué sirve? – What is it (used) for? Literally, “What does it serve for?”

¿Para qué sirve el libro? — What is the book for?

El libro sirve para leer — The book is used (serves) for reading

para – for, to

sirve – serves

¿Para qué sirve la radio? – What is the radio used for?

La radio sirve para escuchar música – The radio is used (serves) for listening to music

¿Para qué sirve el vaso?

El vaso sirve para beber

Try it yourself:

¿Para qué sirve el bolígrafo? – …

¿Para qué sirve la cuchara? – …

¿Para qué sirve la casa? – …

¿Para qué sirve la oficina? – …

What is the school used for?

The school is used for studying

What is the computer used for?

The computer is used for working

What is the key used for?

The key is for opening the door

To say the same sentences in the negative form, put “no” before the verb “sirve”.

La cama no sirve para comer

Have a look at the list of other Spanish verbs. Guess what groups they belong to.

ver — to see, to watch (TV)

hablar — to speak

cerrar — to close

comprar — to buy

llamar — to call

dormir — to sleep

Make up your own examples with each of these infinitives.

Expressions with “es”

To build sentences with infinitives you can use expressions like “it’s important to do smth.”, “it’s interesting to do smth.”, etc.

Es importante – It’s important to

Es importante estudiar español – It’s important to learn Spanish

¿Es importante trabajar? – Is it important to work?

Try it yourself:

It’s important to read books

It’s important to drink water

Es interesante – It’s interesting to

¿Es interesante ver películas? – Is it interesting to watch movies?

Es interesante hablar en español – It’s interesting to speak Spanish

No es interesante vivir en aquel pueblo – It’s not interesting to live in that village

Try it yourself:

It’s interesting to read magazines

It’s interesting to listen to music

Es fácil – It’s easy to

Es difícil – It’s difficult to

¿Es fácil estudiar español? — Is it easy to learn Spanish?

Es difícil vivir en África — It’s difficult to live in Africa

No es fácil comprar una casa en España — It’s not easy to buy a house in Spain

Try it yourself:

It’s difficult to work at a factory

It’s easy to speak Spanish

It’s difficult to open this door

Now, all you need to do is to learn all these infinitives and get ready to dive really deep into Spanish verb grammar.