Present Tense: Common Irregular Verbs

📌 Nota gramatical

In Spanish, many high-frequency verbs do not follow the standard -ar, -er, or -ir conjugation patterns. These are called 'irregular' verbs. Some change only in the 'yo' (I) form, while others change their stem or are completely unique. At the A1 level, memorizing these 10 core verbs is essential for basic survival communication.

📌 Nota gramatical

The verb 'ir' is completely irregular. It does not look like its infinitive at all. Conjugation: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van. It is almost always followed by the preposition 'a' (to) when indicating a destination.

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Tener is a 'yo-go' verb and a stem-changer. The 'yo' form is 'tengo'. For tú, él/ella, and ellos/ellas, the 'e' changes to 'ie' (tienes, tiene, tienen). Nosotros and vosotros stay regular (tenemos, tenéis).

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Hacer is irregular only in the first person singular (yo). The 'yo' form is 'hago'. All other forms follow the regular -er pattern (haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen).

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Venir behaves like 'tener'. It is a 'yo-go' verb (vengo) and a stem-changer (e > ie). Conjugation: vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, venís, vienen. Note that 'nosotros' and 'vosotros' use the original 'e' and the -ir endings.

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Decir is a 'yo-go' verb (digo) and a stem-changer (e > i). Conjugation: digo, dices, dice, decimos, decís, dicen. Like other stem-changers, 'nosotros' and 'vosotros' do not change the stem.

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Poner is a 'yo-go' verb. Only the 'yo' form is irregular: 'pongo'. The rest of the forms are regular -er endings: pones, pone, ponemos, ponéis, ponen.

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Salir is a 'yo-go' verb. The 'yo' form is 'salgo'. All other forms follow the regular -ir pattern: sales, sale, salimos, salís, salen.

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Saber has a highly irregular 'yo' form: 'sé'. It must have an accent to distinguish it from the pronoun 'se'. All other forms are regular: sabes, sabe, sabemos, sabéis, saben.

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Ver is almost regular, but the 'yo' form keeps the 'e': 'veo' (instead of 'vo'). Also, the 'vosotros' form 'veis' does not have an accent, which is an exception to the usual -éis rule.

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Dar has an irregular 'yo' form: 'doy'. The rest of the forms follow -ar endings but are often used with indirect objects. Conjugation: doy, das, da, damos, dais, dan.

📌 Nota gramatical

Many common irregular verbs end in '-go' only in the 'yo' form. This group includes: Hacer (hago), Poner (pongo), Salir (salgo), Tener (tengo), Venir (vengo), and Decir (digo). Memorizing this 'g' pattern helps group these verbs together.