How to Conjugate Vivir in Spanish — All Tenses with Examples
Vivir — “to live” — is one of the most important regular -ir verbs in Spanish. And that matters, because vivir is the model verb for an entire category: once you know how vivir conjugates, you have the template for hundreds of other -ir verbs (escribir, recibir, subir, decidir, abrir, and many more).
It’s also a genuinely high-frequency verb in everyday speech. Where are you from? Where do you live? It comes up constantly. At VerbPal, we treat verbs like vivir as high-leverage study material: if you can produce a clean, regular pattern under pressure, you’re building the foundation for faster progress across the language.
The -ir Verb Endings: Your Template
Before the full tables, here are the endings you’ll apply across all regular -ir verbs:
-es
-e
-imos
-ís
-en
-iste
-ió
-imos
-isteis
-ieron
-ías
-ía
-íamos
-íais
-ían
Because vivir is fully regular, this is mostly a pattern-recognition job: stem + ending. That makes it ideal for active drills. In VerbPal, this is exactly the kind of verb we use to help learners stop relying on recognition and start typing full forms from memory, which is where real control begins.
Pro Tip: Learn the endings as chunks, then practise producing them with one model verb like vivir before branching out to other regular -ir verbs.
Present Tense — Presente
| Person | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yo | vivo | Vivo en Londres. (I live in London.) |
| tú | vives | ¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?) |
| él/ella | vive | Vive con su familia. (He/she lives with his/her family.) |
| nosotros | vivimos | Vivimos en el centro. (We live in the centre.) |
| vosotros | vivís | ¿Vivís juntos? (Do you all live together?) |
| ellos/ellas | viven | Viven muy lejos. (They live very far away.) |
The present tense is the form you’ll use most often in conversation, so it’s worth overlearning. Notice how clean the pattern is: remove -ir, then add the present endings. No stem change, no spelling change, no surprises.
Action step: Write six short sentences about where people live using each subject pronoun once: yo, tú, él/ella, nosotros, vosotros, ellos/ellas.
Preterite Tense — Pretérito Indefinido
| Person | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yo | viví | Viví en Madrid dos años. (I lived in Madrid for two years.) |
| tú | viviste | ¿Dónde viviste de niño? (Where did you live as a child?) |
| él/ella | vivió | Vivió una experiencia única. (He/she lived a unique experience.) |
| nosotros | vivimos | Vivimos allí hasta 2020. (We lived there until 2020.) |
| vosotros | vivisteis | ¿Vivisteis en el extranjero? (Did you all live abroad?) |
| ellos/ellas | vivieron | Vivieron muchas aventuras. (They lived many adventures.) |
Note: vivimos is the same in present and preterite — context (and surrounding time words) make it clear.
This is one of those details learners need to produce, not just notice. Vivimos en Madrid can mean “we live in Madrid” or “we lived in Madrid,” depending on context. Time markers do the heavy lifting: ahora, hoy, este año push you toward present; ayer, en 2020, durante dos años push you toward preterite. In VerbPal, our custom drills force that distinction by making you type the correct tense from context instead of guessing from a multiple-choice list.
Pro Tip: Pair each preterite form with a finished-time phrase, like ayer, el año pasado, or durante tres meses, to make the tense feel concrete.
Imperfect Tense — Pretérito Imperfecto
| Person | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yo | vivía | Vivía cerca del mar. (I used to live near the sea.) |
| tú | vivías | ¿Dónde vivías antes? (Where did you use to live?) |
| él/ella | vivía | Vivía solo. (He used to live alone.) |
| nosotros | vivíamos | Vivíamos en un piso pequeño. (We used to live in a small flat.) |
| vosotros | vivíais | ¿Vivíais en España? (Did you all use to live in Spain?) |
| ellos/ellas | vivían | Vivían sin preocupaciones. (They used to live without worries.) |
The imperfect describes background, habits, and ongoing past situations. With vivir, that often means where someone used to live, how they lived, or what life was like over a period of time.
A useful contrast:
- Viví en Sevilla dos años. (I lived in Seville for two years.) → completed period
- Vivía en Sevilla cuando era niño. (I used to live in Seville when I was a child.) → background or habitual past
Action step: Create two mini-pairs of your own: one sentence with preterite for a finished period, and one with imperfect for a habitual or descriptive past.
Future Tense — Futuro Simple
| Person | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yo | viviré | Viviré en el extranjero algún día. (I’ll live abroad someday.) |
| tú | vivirás | ¿Dónde vivirás después de graduarte? (Where will you live after graduating?) |
| él/ella | vivirá | Vivirá mucho tiempo. (He’ll live a long time.) |
| nosotros | viviremos | Viviremos en el campo. (We’ll live in the countryside.) |
| vosotros | viviréis | ¿Viviréis juntos? (Will you all live together?) |
| ellos/ellas | vivirán | Vivirán en otro país. (They’ll live in another country.) |
The future tense is straightforward because you keep the full infinitive vivir and add the future endings. That’s one reason regular future forms are efficient to learn in batches.
If you’re studying systematically, this is where pattern-based review pays off. We use spaced repetition with the SM-2 algorithm in VerbPal so forms like viviré and viviremos come back just before you’re likely to forget them, which is far more effective than cramming a full table once and hoping it sticks.
Pro Tip: Memorise the future as “full infinitive + ending.” That same build applies to many other verbs, not just vivir.
Conditional — Condicional Simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | viviría |
| tú | vivirías |
| él/ella | viviría |
| nosotros | viviríamos |
| vosotros | viviríais |
| ellos/ellas | vivirían |
¿Dónde vivirías si pudieras elegir? (Where would you live if you could choose?)
The conditional uses the same stem logic as the future: keep the infinitive, then add the conditional endings. Learners often confuse future and conditional because the forms look similar, so it’s worth practising them side by side.
Action step: Answer this question in writing with at least three full sentences: ¿Dónde vivirías si pudieras elegir? (Where would you live if you could choose?)
Present Subjunctive — Presente de Subjuntivo
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | viva |
| tú | vivas |
| él/ella | viva |
| nosotros | vivamos |
| vosotros | viváis |
| ellos/ellas | vivan |
Espero que vivas cerca. (I hope you live nearby.)
Quiero que vivamos juntos. (I want us to live together.)
Even though the subjunctive can feel advanced, vivir stays regular here too. Start from the first-person present (vivo), remove the -o, and add subjunctive endings: viva, vivas, viva… Once you see that build clearly, the mood becomes much less intimidating.
Pro Tip: Collect three common subjunctive triggers with vivir: espero que, quiero que, and es posible que, then write one sentence for each.
Imperative — Imperativo
| Form | Command |
|---|---|
| tú (affirmative) | vive |
| tú (negative) | no vivas |
| usted | viva |
| nosotros | vivamos |
| vosotros | vivid |
| ustedes | vivan |
¡Vive el momento! (Live in the moment!)
The imperative is especially useful because it overlaps with forms you’ve already seen. Viva, vivamos, and vivan match the present subjunctive, which makes this section easier than it first appears.
Action step: Make four commands with vivir: one affirmative tú, one negative tú, one usted, and one ustedes form.
Non-Finite Forms
| Form | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | vivir |
| Gerund | viviendo |
| Past participle | vivido |
Estoy viviendo una aventura. (I’m living an adventure.)
Ha vivido muchas cosas. (He has lived through a lot.)
These forms matter because they show up inside larger structures: progressive tenses, perfect tenses, and verbal phrases. If you want your Spanish to sound natural, you need more than isolated conjugation tables — you need to recognise how the pieces combine in real sentences.
At VerbPal, we make learners produce these forms too, not just finite conjugations, because fluent speech depends on being able to build full verb phrases quickly.
Pro Tip: Practise each non-finite form inside a chunk: quiero vivir, estoy viviendo, he vivido.
Common Expressions with Vivir
- ¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?)
- Vivir de (to live on / off something): Vive de su música. (He/she lives off his/her music.)
- Vivir para (to live for): Vive para su familia. (He/she lives for his/her family.)
- ¡Viva! (Long live! Hurray!): ¡Viva España! (Long live Spain!)
- Vivir el momento (to live in the moment)
- Dejar de vivir (to stop living / to die, euphemistic)
These expressions are where conjugation starts becoming usable language. Don’t just memorise vivo, vives, vive in isolation — attach the verb to common collocations and sentence frames.
Action step: Pick three expressions from this list and say them aloud with different subjects and tenses.
Other Regular -ir Verbs That Follow the Same Pattern
Once you know vivir, these follow the same endings:
| Infinitive | Meaning |
|---|---|
| escribir | to write |
| recibir | to receive |
| subir | to go up / to upload |
| abrir | to open |
| decidir | to decide |
| sufrir | to suffer |
| discutir | to argue / discuss |
| existir | to exist |
This is the real payoff. Learn one clean model verb well, and you reduce the work required for a whole family of verbs. That’s why we organise practice around patterns at VerbPal: once you’ve mastered vivir, you can extend the same logic to dozens of regular -ir verbs with much less friction.
Pro Tip: After studying vivir, test yourself immediately on recibir and decidir without looking at a table. If the pattern is solid, you should be able to generate the forms.
Full Conjugation Table
Vivir is the cleanest -ir verb to learn because it’s fully regular. Get it locked in and you instantly have the template for dozens more. That’s the power of starting with the right model verb.