Hago la cena
Irregular Verbs
There are many irregular verbs in Spanish. The good news is that most only have one change in the “yo” form and others we can remember easily because they share similar patterns. There are only a handful of verbs that are completely irregular, fortunately.
*Some verbs like Ser and Estar you might already know from previous lessons, and if you don’t, check them out.
In this lesson, we break up irregular verbs into manageable chunks to learn.
Yo-go verbs
In this group, irregular verbs only have changes in their “yo” form and the change usually involves adding a single “g” behind the regular “o” conjugation ending. The rest of the conjugation endings are just like regular verbs.
*If you aren’t familiar with regular verb conjugations see this lesson on the Present Tense.
Below we have an example:
Here are other similar verbs:
*These verbs also have stem changes and their full conjugation tables are featured in our post on Stem-Changing Verbs. Check it out now if you haven’t already.
The verb “oír” also has a stem change from “i” to “y” in addition to an added “g” in the “yo” form.
Verbs ending CER and CIR
Most verbs ending in CER and CIR add a “z” before the “c” in the “yo” form only. Otherwise, these verbs are regular throughout the other forms. Let’s look at an example:
Other similar verbs:
Verbs that end in a consonant + CER or CIR just change the “c” to “z”. Let’s look at an example.
Other similar verbs:
*The verb “mecer” ends in a vowel + cer, but follows the same pattern as “convencer” despite this.
Verbs ending in GER and GIR
These irregular verbs also only have a “yo” change. In this case, these verbs change from “g” to “j” to preserve the soft G sound in Spanish. Let’s look at an example:
Other similar verbs:
*These verbs also have stem changes and their full conjugation tables are featured in our post on Stem-Changing Verbs. Check it out now if you haven’t already.
**Careful! The verb “coger” is only used in South America and Spain. In Mexico and Central America it is a swear word. Use the regular verbs “tomar” or “agarrar” instead.
Verbs with unique “yo” forms
In this group, all of these verbs have one thing in common, a unique change in the “yo” form. Otherwise, they are conjugated like regular verbs. Let’s see an example:
Other unique “yo” form verbs:
The verb “ir”
Here we have the verb “ir”, which follows a similar pattern in the “yo” form as “ser” (soy) and “estar” (estoy), but then takes the form of an -ar verb for the rest of the conjugation.
The verb “oler”
The verb “oler” is unique because it has a special stem change (“o” to “hue”), but similar to all stem-changing verbs, “nosotros/nosotras” is not affected.
UIR verbs with a “y” change in the stem
In this group, we have verbs ending in “UIR” (except those ending in “GUIR” like “seguir” and “distinguir”, which are yo-go verbs). In this group, there is a stem change where the “i” changes to “y” in all persons except “nosotros/nosotras”.
Let’s look at an example:
Other similar verbs:
IAR and UAR verbs have accents
In this final group, we have verbs ending in “IAR” and “UAR” that have accents added in all persons except “nosotros/nosotras”. Pretty easy, right? It’s as if they are regular verbs if it weren’t for this slight change. Let’s look at an example:
Other similar verbs:
Now that you’ve seen all of the groups of irregular verbs in Spanish, it’s time to practice what you’ve learned with two quizzes on irregular verbs below.
(I don’t fit in the car.)
2. Ustedes las flores, y yo compro el pastel. (enviar)
(You all send the flowers and I’ll buy the cake.)
3. Yo a David de Miraflores. (conocer)
(I know David from Miraflores.)
4. Luisa y yo a la playa, debes venir con nosotras. (ir)
(Luisa and I are going to the beach, you should come with us.)
5. Yo siempre el pastel para el cumpleaños de mi hermanito. (hacer)
(I always make the cake from my little brother’s birthday.)
6. Yo nunca nada en esa gaveta. (poner)
(I never put anything in that drawer.)
7. Juan dice que algo feo. (oler)
(Juan says he smells something bad.)
8. Yo , no debo ir a su casa. (saber)
(I know, I shouldn’t go to his house.)
9. Cuando estamos en la playa, los niños siempre un castillo de arena. (construir)
(When we are at the beach, the kids always build a sand castle.)
10. Los chicos nunca nada. (oír)
(The guys never hear anything.)
2. Casi no la televisión, prefiero jugar a videojuegos.
3. Soy muy talentosa, música electrónica.
4. A mamá nunca le gustan los regalos que yo le
5. demasiada ropa porque voy de compras frecuentemente.
6. algo extraño en el sótano, ¿debemos ir a investigar?
7. las instrucciones del profesor, pero este ejercicio es difícil.
8. Todos los domingos , a caminar con toda la familia.
9. Soy traductor, y generalmente novelas del inglés al español.
10. Casi nunca me de la bicicleta.
In this lesson, you’ve seen numerous irregular verbs. While it might be overwhelming at first, we recommend picking out from each group of verbs, the most common ones you think you’d use day-to-day and memorize them. Once you feel comfortable using a handful of irregulars, come back to this page and study it again. Ready to learn more Spanish grammar? Check out our post on the Present Progressive Tense. Want to review more verbs? See our posts on Stem-Changing Verbs and the 45 Most Common Verbs.